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By: Sirskills, Mitch Somes
Sep 23 2010 2:57am
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Hello Everyone,

            It has been a while since my last article but the real world has been calling. I was down in Vegas for a week and things got a little nutty with the family but I think I’m back on track to play some magic.

            Firstly, I am going to talk about Planeswalkers. More specifically (at the time of this writing anyway), the lack of green planeswalkers. Let’s take a look at all the planeswalkers currently released, or spoiled in Scars of Mirrodin. I will keep a running tab by colour of the amount of walkers in each colour.

 

Jace Beleren

Garruk Wildspeaker

Ajani Goldmane

Chandra Nalaar

Liliana Vess

           

            Okay, clearly the first set of walkers and the most “basic” if you will have a +1, a -1 and an ultimate ability. Arguably Garruk Wildspeaker is the best here.

All colours are at total count of 1 walker each.

Next up we have:

 

Sarkhan Vol

Ajani Vengeant

Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Tezzeret the Seeker

Sorin Markov

Chandra Ablaze

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

Nissa Revane

            Here we start to see some deviation from the +1,-1 and ultimate formula with Elspeth, but everyone else seems to stick to the original formula. Arguably Elspeth is the most powerful out of this bunch. Ajani Vengeant has definitely been in some top tier decks and with Scars rotating in Tezzeret may have his day in the sun but not in the standard format. Sarkhan Vol has seen some fringe play Sorin is difficult to cast but has seen play in mono black control and Chandra is not very good. Nicol Bolas is too cost constrictive to see much competitive play beyond the odd grixis deck which tries to run him. Finally green gets a walker of its own that is elf specific and requires the deck to run 3-4 commons which are marginal at best. The multicolour walkers will count as ½ point per colour and Bolas at 1/3 of a point so we are current totals are:

Blue: 2.33

Black: 2.33

Green: 2.5

Red: 3.33

White: 2.5

Next up we have:

Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Sarkhan the Mad

Gideon Jura

            Wizards really broke the mold of the planeswalker with this bunch. Jace, the Mind Sculptor is the most powerful planeswalker, with 4(!) abilities and a hefty price tag to boot. Gideon Jura is certainly powerful enough for some top tier decks and doesn’t have an ultimate per se. Sarkhan has gone mad and made Jund very happy but has no way of boosting his loyalty.

The new totals of the colour wheel are now:

Blue: 3.33

Black: 2.83

Green: 2.5

Red: 3.83

White: 3.5

  ***Minor spoiler alert***. If you don’t want to know a few new cards from Scars of Mirrodin please skip this section.

 

 

 

 

            Just what we needed.... more white, blue and red walkers (note the sarcasm). Not only are the colours with the most planeswalkers getting more, but they are also getting what appear to be great planeswalkers. They do fit the flavours of the representative colours well, Koth moves mountains, Elspeth creates tokens, gains life or destroys everything and Venser blinks creatures, makes them unblockable or starts exiling everything. Maybe it’s just me, but does blue/white control really need two more planeswalkers?

The latest tally:

Blue: 3.83

Black: 2.83

Green: 2.5

Red: 4.83

White: 5

            Clearly Green and Black are on the short end of the planeswalker stick. They both also have the most restrictive walkers (Bolas aside) in Nissa Revane and Sorin Markov. White and Red are the clear winners in terms of quantity while Blue has the most powerful single planeswalker in Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

            My hopes are that the next set in scars will be Nature and Death teaming up against the abundance of artifacts and control walkers that are coming out of Scars of Mirrodin. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has seen this discrepancy with the Planeswalkers and maybe the reasoning is that Wizards feels that Green and Black are more creature and aggro oriented and therefore don’t need planeswalkers which feel like control, but I do feel the next “big” planeswalkers should be green, black, green/black, black/blue or green/black/blue.

            Maybe Nissa ditches elves and goes to the dark side? Or how about Garruk gets corrupted or finds a blue mage to make friends with? I for one would like to see a planeswalker take a casting cost of 1GB or three colour in either 1BGU or 1GRU. These two-three colour combinations have been under used and don't fit your standard shards like esper, jund, grixis etc. Both these would break the traditional casting cost of planeswalkers and help out these forgotten colours and colour combinations. As an aside, imagine a Rafiq planeswalker? Oh wait, that would give white another 1/3.

            This little planeswalker rant has taken more space than I thought it would so I will briefly touch on me selling out before moving onto a rogue deck. Some of you may recall I had been trying to build decks that beat decks with Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Primeval Titan. Well if you can’t beat’em join’em. No I didn’t get Jace, but I did get my playset of Titans.

            I can’t claim credit for this deck but here is what I have been playing to some great numbers in the tournament practice room:

 

            The deck is a lot of fun and I think the key piece here is the Joraga Treespeaker. If he survives, he allows for an easy turn three Primeval Titan or Summoning Trap off the back of a turn two level up and Rampant Growth, Everflowing Chalice, Overgrown Battlement or even Explore. Turn 1 land, Joraga. Turn 2 land, level up, Rampant Growth. Turn 3, land Primeval Titan fetching either two Eldrazi Temple or one temple one Eye of Ugin. Turn 4 your sitting on 10 mana for eldrazi spells or tutoring with the eye before you even attack or play a land.

            Now finally, here is a truly rogue deck.

 

            It can play as either an aggro or control deck utilizing the Mystifying Mazes and/or the sideboard. It is easy to keep 1 or 2 creatures at bay with a creature of your own and a Mystifying Maze and force your opponent to over commit into an All is Dust. Alternatively, multiple Lodestone Golems with supporting Steel Overseers can get out of hand quick. The Expedition Maps are a great way to find your utility lands including the ever important Eye of Ugin. This is a key piece in tutoring up the three Eldrazi in the deck. The Artisan is there due to the fact that Lodestone Golem is counterproductive with Eldrazi and the fact that it can get back the creatures lost earlier. The main deck Relic of Progenitus is there to deal with a lot of the decks this deck has a problem with pre-board. Pyromancer ascension is pretty much a walk, Vengevine, Bloodghast and anything else that abuses the graveyard is shut down. When all else fails it is a two mana cantrip. Triskelion works wonders with Steel Overseer and helps kill pesky fliers and planeswalkers. The (Pilgrim’s Eye) is a chump blocker that in a pinch will grow with the overseer and also ensures you don’t miss any land drops. The deck comes complete with its own manlands and a full complement of Tectonic Edges for messing with opponents manabases that are hopefully already screwed up due to Lodestone Golem. It is hardly perfect, but with Scars of Mirrodin I think it can become a real contender. Please share your thoughts on what should get the nod from Scars for a deck like this. I will share my thoughts in a later article.

            Anyway thanks for reading, hopefully next week I’ll be able to write about some matchups with the above two decks, and maybe I’ll even try some standard dailies with them.

 

Thanks to the Editor: Quagmire11

 

 

 

 

           

 

13 Comments

Actually I have a different by Lord Erman at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 05:49
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Actually I have a different point of view in terms of planeswalkers. The color that needed the boost was not green but it was red in my opinion. And aparently WotC also thinks like that (say hello to Mr.Koth the Powerhouse).

Green already had the best planeswalker (Garruk) during the first "wave"; I mean the Lorwyn era planeswalkers. Then Nissa came and her elves deck backed up by Eldrazi Monument became quite popular. Yes, she was and still is only good in one single deck but that one single deck was Tier-1 for a very long time. Oh and please also do not forget that Garruk also made an appearance in that deck as well.

Mono red on the other hand only had Chandra v.1 and v.2. I'm sure everyone would agree if I say that Chandra v.2 is by far the worst planeswalker ever printed and v.1 was/is only occasionally good. So red was in urgent need of a good planeswalker and thus Koth came.

LE

PS: As far as I know, Nissa will eventually become a GB planeswalker. I read somewhere that she planeswalked to Kamigawa to learn/study/practice/examine some black magic. Of course I may be horribly wrong as well; I'm not the expert of this kind of things (Magic stories).

I somewhat agree by Sirskills at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 08:20
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I can see your point to a certain degree, even though red has had some access to power walkers in Ajani vengeant, Sarkhan vol, sarkhan the mad and to a much lesser extent nicol bolas. Sure in terms of straight mono colour red had a bigger shaft than green but now koth. Can you agree after koth gets printed that it should be green's turn? If you want to play a green planeswalker today you really have 1 choice, or you go with a splash of red and have 2 choices, nissa will lose monument and there might be a new elf deck around the corner with the new regenerating overrunning elf from scars (I know I will try to make something) but as it stands, in terms of top tier walkers after koth, green and yes black are both a little short.
Also, for those who are probably going to call me on it, I apologize as I had not been tracking the price of all is dust and realize it is hardly a budget card anymore. I got them around 5 a piece so I haven't had the Ned to track their price.

At 5 tickets All is Dust was by Paul Leicht at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 12:38
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At 5 tickets All is Dust was hardly budget then. In fact it has never been budget. Now it is a little insane.

Actually the next logical by Lord Erman at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 12:54
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Actually the next logical step is a UB Tezzeret (who of course will be another $50,00 worth of mythic planeswalker). Phyrexia is slowly invading Mirrodin but they need a general. They need someone who can lead their machines to victory.

And does anyone has a better candidate than Tezzeret? Besides, we just had the Elspeth vs. Tezzeret thing. A coincidence? I don't think so.

LE

PS: Why do you say that Nissa is losing Monument?

I think both Green and Red by Leviathan at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 12:53
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I think both Green and Red have been hosed in the planeswalker department. Garruk is obviously top tier, but the remainder are mediocre at best. I personally hate Nissa, as she forces you to play Elves. And I hate Elves.

The original Chandra was good enough when there were only 5, but now she is just outclassed. And if you have ever tried to build a deck around Ablaze, you know just how tough it is. There aren't many times when you want to toss a red card in hand for 4 damage. Most of the time you want to play the card instead of lose it.

Koth is a step in the right direction at least. But then again, he's only playable in mono red. He obviously makes mono red a beast though.

Is anyone surprised that blue gets the best planeswalker?

You are all wrong on the by The_Gunslingers at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 14:06
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You are all wrong on the planeswalker front. The color that is getting cheated out of a good planeswalker is Black. Sorin is cool but way too costly, he is not type 1 at all. Garruk and Nissa are both better, and now with Red getting Koth, Mono Black is the only color that does not have a realistic tier 1 planeswalker. I would love to see them get a cheaper Planeswalker and MBC become an option again.

What is missing is a black by ArchGenius at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 14:22
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What is missing is a black planeswalker that costs 3 or 4 mana. Every other color has at least one, and they are all quite playable. The problem with Sorin and Liliana is not their power level, it is their casting cost. A card needs to be unbelievably good to make the cut if it costs 5+ mana.

I agree with your points by Drbenwayy at Fri, 09/24/2010 - 12:01
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I agree with your points here. You wouldn't think there would be much of a difference of playability between 4 mana and 5 mana but this has been the case since the planeswalkers were released, with the only one seeing a good amount of play being Gideon.

UB tezzeret does seem by Sirskills at Thu, 09/23/2010 - 15:27
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UB tezzeret does seem fitting. Yes black has been hosed for mono colour walkers. Maybe my idea of budget is quite different than others. In any event bring on black and green walkers! An my apologies for some reason I thought monument was m10.

Your rogue deck looks fun but by Longshot356 at Fri, 09/24/2010 - 13:16
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Your rogue deck looks fun but it seems to be only 56 cards (unless my arithmetic is very faulty). Whats missing?

Decks look fun, but I don't by Jyalt at Fri, 09/24/2010 - 14:34
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Decks look fun, but I don't have any Primeval Titans or All is Dust, so guess I'll pass.

Nissa stayed in Zendikar, by seydaneen at Fri, 09/24/2010 - 18:37
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Nissa stayed in Zendikar, because she left them loose. Yes, she is so stupid that she believed if she releases them they will leave Zendikar even though Sorin told him not do so. Worst and most stupid Planeswalker by far. that is what she is

Shows how rusty I am after by Sirskills at Sat, 09/25/2010 - 10:34
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Shows how rusty I am after taking a few weeks off, missing cards are 4 everflowing chalice