I've seen a lot of threads that are titled: Who is the best planeswalker, so i've decided to do a thread about the worst planeswalker. So who do you think it is?
I know most people are gonna say Chandra Nalaar, but I think it's Jace Beleren. Everyone loves Jace, but if you add up the abilities, he's pretty much the worst planeswalker.
Um, Jace has less powerful abilities, but he costs only 3 mana. That's like saying Akroma, Angel is Wrath (just to make a point) is the best creature in Magic, just because "if you add up all her abilities..." and not take mana cost into account. So I'll say you are quite simply... wrong.
Chanda Ablaze is probably the worst planeswalker. She is too expensive for a red deck, and a control deck don't want a six-mana PW which doesn't provide card advantage with the first ability. Many other reasons for why she's bad, but those are maybe the most important.
I'm gunna have to say Chandra Ablaze as well. Not because she's "the worst" but because she has the least playability. She needs a deck built around her. Next would be Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Also not that he isn't very cool and usually game changing when he hits the field, but because he is rather expensive and you have to run Grix to get him.
Jace is an absolute beast and one of the most playable planeswalkers. If you're running anything that can handle UU then you probably run Jace for the draw.
Chandra Nalaar is actually really good in the current Standard.
I'd say Chandra Ablaze is probably the weakest since she's almost always strict card disadvantage, even though her design is my favorite among the walkers.
Not sure why you call Jace the worst planeswalker. In all honesty I think he's one of the absolute best planeswalkers. Constant stream of card advantage = win.
Worst? Chandra Ablaze probably. Too little impact on the game at her mana cost. Recurring removal is nice, but not being able to pitch lands is just meh.
Every planeswalker except Chandra Ablaze has seen play. Sarkhan Vol saw extensive play in Shards/Conflux block constructed before Alara Reborn came out on Magic Online.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker saw play back in 5cc. Not in every build, but it did see play.
Liliana Vess has also seen play back in 5cc. Gotta love a repeatable tutor.
Chandra Ablaze? Not a single competitive deck uses her. Easily the worst. Not even close.
The worst planeswalker is most likely Liliana Vess. Chandra Ablaze could be up there with her but I'll give her some more time to make a mark.
I am sorry, but WUT???? Vess is perhaps one of the best Planeswalkers right up there along with Jace, Sorin, and Elspeth. This is mainly due to her -2 ability, I mean a Reusable Vampiric Tutor is nothing to cry home about.
As for worst, I am going to have to agree that Chandra Ablaze is right up there amongst the worst, if not THE worst. I mean her abilities are great and all, but her mana cost is way to prohibitive to make her worthwhile in all but the slowest of formats. Even her older sister Chandra Nalaar has an easier time being competitive, I mean a -X ability that acts as an undercosted removal spell for all but the largest of creatures is not half bad.
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None of them are bad. They're all at least decent.
And no, Chandra Ablaze is not card disadvantage. I think the big problem with her is the meta. If there were tons more control decks, her -2 would be devastating. Right now, the least useful planeswalker is most likely Sarkhan Vol, with Ablaze following second and Bolas takin third. This doesn't mean they're bad, they're just the least useful at this time.
Nicol Bolas is probably the worst, imo. He's gamebreaking and all, but at his mana cost you're talking about things like Cruel Ultimatum instead. Every planeswalker will have decks where they're at least a useful choice, because every planeswalker (with the possible exception of Sarkhan Vol in normal use) is going to provide card advantage, but Nicol Bolas is a very edge case.
Chandra Ablaze is also a pretty bad one, though I will say I think Chandra would see play if there were strong control decks in the format. Her second ability is pretty damned gamebreaking if you're playing a rdw strategy against a control deck - if she resolves, she reloads your hand while wiping out all the card draw that your opponent has so carefully cultivated. I've 7- and 8-for-1ed with her the turn she hit play in casual play (draw 3 more cards and opponent discards 3 or 4 cards, plus has to deal with the planeswalker still).
I'm not saying Chandra is GOOD, mind - in fact, I just said she's the second worst PW printed (Nicol Bolas is a Timmy card), and I'm reasonably confident she will never make a splash in constructed tournament play.
EDIT: And who said Chandra is card DISadvantage? She's only card disadvantage if you end up feeding non-red cards to her first ability. If that's even a possibility, you're playing her in the wrong deck. Her + ability is not card ADVANTAGE - it's 1 for 1 removal. Her second ability should only be played when it will provide card advantage (or a few other edge cases - they're at 3 and you're out of cards in a burn-heavy deck, she'll draw you into that 3 damage even if its not technically CA, stuff like that). But there's no way besides playing her badly (playing her against creatures with no way to protect her, or misusing her first two abilities) to end up with card disadvantage out of playing her.
If you're playing standard - Nicol Bolas is probably the worst. Live to turn 8? Play a permanent that has to live to win you the game?
In most games, Nicol Bolas is just pulse for 8. Considering that grixis has cruel ultimatum... it's hard to want to play Nicol Bolas. I think once there are ways to cheat planeswalkers out into the field, he'll see play.
Chandra Ablaze is pretty bad, IMO. I had people make fun of my valakut control deck for running Nalaar over Ablaze, but most games, she was as good as drawing a banefire or better.
Anyone who thinks Jace is bad is simply judging him based on his ultimate. In my opinion, the reason Jace's ultimate is mill is because his other abilities are too good. If they'd given him a good blue ultimate (maybe double negative?) then he'd be too overpowered.
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Edit: @ Fade to Black. Sarkhan Vol is only useless because jund is more or less a solved deck and doesn't need it right now. I honestly think a lot of jund decks could benefit from -1 BMD +1 Sarkhan Vol.
It's abilities are-
Goblin Bushwhacker
Act of Treason
Broodmate Dragon, Broodmate Dragon
In the mirror, it's ultimate dies to pulse, but your opponent needs to have pulse in hand or they lose the game. That's pretty good. Plus in a lot of games, act of treason just wins you the game. Especially with Naya creeping back into the format and Baneslayer showing up in all these sideboards, act of treason on a stick is very good.
While Sarkhan Vol isn't played in serious decklists, he isn't something you can ignore when your opponent unexpectedly plays one. His ability are quite strong for his cost. The main problem with him is the fact that he can't really defend himself properly. Definitely not very good, but still overall better than Chandra Ablaze and Nicol Bolas as of right now, I believe.
Chandra Ablaze does have potential, though, if someday she gets to see a more favorable metagame to her. That's true for basically every planeswalker.
While Sarkhan Vol isn't played in serious decklists, he isn't something you can ignore when your opponent unexpectedly plays one. His ability are quite strong for his cost. The main problem with him is the fact that he can't really defend himself properly. Definitely not good, but still overall better than Chandra Ablaze and Nicol Bolas as of right now, I believe.
You can actually defend him just fine with a thrinax in jund, or dragon fodder in an RG deck. You still have to hope your opponent doesn't have removal, but that's true for any card.
The problem with Nissa is the fact you need to run Nissa's Chosen together with her. While a 2/3 elf for GG isn't exactly terrible, you'll usually wish that your topdeck was something else whenever you draw him.
Other than that, she's fine.
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I rolled 5 D6's and got 3 fours. They must have changed the odds of getting a 4!
All planeswalkers have to be built around a little.
TBH im sick of people talking about what is the best and worst Planeswalker. If i built a deck that cranked out a turn 4-5 Nicol bolas. Most people would flailing to kill it. But if i happen to put down a Tezzeret in a deck with no Artifacts my opponent would ignore him.
So moral of the story, All the planeswalkers have strengths and weaknesses and honestly the best ones are only the best ones as long as the deck they run in is the top deck.
I am sorry, but WUT???? Vess is perhaps one of the best Planeswalkers right up there along with Jace, Sorin, and Elspeth. This is
mainly due to her -2 ability, I mean a Reusable Vampiric Tutor is nothing to cry home about.
All I can say is Liliana Vess has seen incredibly low tournament play for a reason. A repeatable Vampiric Tutor isn't that great when it costs 5 mana and often dies before you get to repeat it. I mean its not awful in a vacuum, but compared to the rest of the Planeswalkers and what else you could be doing in the format...
Could someone explain how jace gives ca? To me, ( i dont play it, i mean my experiences facing someone who does play jace) It seems like someone drops it, and either provides me a card and him a card, or provides 1 card for him, and dies the next turn. in order for it to work, it has to giive teh opponent cards too right?
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GENERATION 15: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig and add 1 to the generation. social experiment.
Could someone explain how jace gives ca? To me, ( i dont play it, i mean my experiences facing someone who does play jace) It seems like someone drops it, and either provides me a card and him a card, or provides 1 card for him, and dies the next turn. in order for it to work, it has to giive teh opponent cards too right?
Play Jace (0-1)
Draw a card (1-1)
Opponent Kills Jace (2-1)
They spent two cards or wasted an attack to kill your Jace.
What a lot of people will do with a Jace they can protect is...
Play Jace (0-1)
Everyone Draws 1 (1-2)
Draw 1 (2-2)
Draw 1 (3-2)
Draw 1 (4-2)
Draw 1 (5-2)
Sometimes Jace just reads UU1 - Opponent wastes an attack/discards a card, Draw a card
That's still better than divination, making Jace basically this format's mulldrifter. Jace's high loyalty comboed with his +2 means he usually doesn't die to a single bolt/blightning and draws you a couple of cards.
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I know most people are gonna say Chandra Nalaar, but I think it's Jace Beleren. Everyone loves Jace, but if you add up the abilities, he's pretty much the worst planeswalker.
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Even Chandra Nalaar has her place.
Chanda Ablaze is probably the worst planeswalker. She is too expensive for a red deck, and a control deck don't want a six-mana PW which doesn't provide card advantage with the first ability. Many other reasons for why she's bad, but those are maybe the most important.
Jace is an absolute beast and one of the most playable planeswalkers. If you're running anything that can handle UU then you probably run Jace for the draw.
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I'd say Chandra Ablaze is probably the weakest since she's almost always strict card disadvantage, even though her design is my favorite among the walkers.
The worst planeswalker is most likely Liliana Vess. Chandra Ablaze could be up there with her but I'll give her some more time to make a mark.
0 Karn
W Darien
U Arcanis
B Geth
R Norin
G Yeva
UW Hanna
RB Olivia
WB Obzedat
UR Melek
BG Glissa
WR Aurelia
GU Kraj
BRU Nicol Bolas
RGB Prossh
BGW Ghave
GUB Mimeoplasm
WUBRG Sliver Overlord
GWU Treva, the Renewer
EDH Spike:
U Azami, Lady of Scrolls
Trades
Worst? Chandra Ablaze probably. Too little impact on the game at her mana cost. Recurring removal is nice, but not being able to pitch lands is just meh.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker saw play back in 5cc. Not in every build, but it did see play.
Liliana Vess has also seen play back in 5cc. Gotta love a repeatable tutor.
Chandra Ablaze? Not a single competitive deck uses her. Easily the worst. Not even close.
she's uber badass if you can get her ultimate off, but that rarely happens.
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I am sorry, but WUT???? Vess is perhaps one of the best Planeswalkers right up there along with Jace, Sorin, and Elspeth. This is mainly due to her -2 ability, I mean a Reusable Vampiric Tutor is nothing to cry home about.
As for worst, I am going to have to agree that Chandra Ablaze is right up there amongst the worst, if not THE worst. I mean her abilities are great and all, but her mana cost is way to prohibitive to make her worthwhile in all but the slowest of formats. Even her older sister Chandra Nalaar has an easier time being competitive, I mean a -X ability that acts as an undercosted removal spell for all but the largest of creatures is not half bad.
And no, Chandra Ablaze is not card disadvantage. I think the big problem with her is the meta. If there were tons more control decks, her -2 would be devastating. Right now, the least useful planeswalker is most likely Sarkhan Vol, with Ablaze following second and Bolas takin third. This doesn't mean they're bad, they're just the least useful at this time.
Chandra Ablaze is also a pretty bad one, though I will say I think Chandra would see play if there were strong control decks in the format. Her second ability is pretty damned gamebreaking if you're playing a rdw strategy against a control deck - if she resolves, she reloads your hand while wiping out all the card draw that your opponent has so carefully cultivated. I've 7- and 8-for-1ed with her the turn she hit play in casual play (draw 3 more cards and opponent discards 3 or 4 cards, plus has to deal with the planeswalker still).
I'm not saying Chandra is GOOD, mind - in fact, I just said she's the second worst PW printed (Nicol Bolas is a Timmy card), and I'm reasonably confident she will never make a splash in constructed tournament play.
EDIT: And who said Chandra is card DISadvantage? She's only card disadvantage if you end up feeding non-red cards to her first ability. If that's even a possibility, you're playing her in the wrong deck. Her + ability is not card ADVANTAGE - it's 1 for 1 removal. Her second ability should only be played when it will provide card advantage (or a few other edge cases - they're at 3 and you're out of cards in a burn-heavy deck, she'll draw you into that 3 damage even if its not technically CA, stuff like that). But there's no way besides playing her badly (playing her against creatures with no way to protect her, or misusing her first two abilities) to end up with card disadvantage out of playing her.
In most games, Nicol Bolas is just pulse for 8. Considering that grixis has cruel ultimatum... it's hard to want to play Nicol Bolas. I think once there are ways to cheat planeswalkers out into the field, he'll see play.
Chandra Ablaze is pretty bad, IMO. I had people make fun of my valakut control deck for running Nalaar over Ablaze, but most games, she was as good as drawing a banefire or better.
Anyone who thinks Jace is bad is simply judging him based on his ultimate. In my opinion, the reason Jace's ultimate is mill is because his other abilities are too good. If they'd given him a good blue ultimate (maybe double negative?) then he'd be too overpowered.
--
Edit: @ Fade to Black. Sarkhan Vol is only useless because jund is more or less a solved deck and doesn't need it right now. I honestly think a lot of jund decks could benefit from -1 BMD +1 Sarkhan Vol.
It's abilities are-
Goblin Bushwhacker
Act of Treason
Broodmate Dragon, Broodmate Dragon
In the mirror, it's ultimate dies to pulse, but your opponent needs to have pulse in hand or they lose the game. That's pretty good. Plus in a lot of games, act of treason just wins you the game. Especially with Naya creeping back into the format and Baneslayer showing up in all these sideboards, act of treason on a stick is very good.
Chandra Ablaze does have potential, though, if someday she gets to see a more favorable metagame to her. That's true for basically every planeswalker.
I'm surprised no one has tried to make an extended deck with nissa yet. At least you'd have access to some better elves.
I guess people just don't want to get that creative when they make extended decks. Plus you'd still die to all the decks that go off turn three.
Ah well. People love elves, and Nissa at least has a place in casual decks.
Now I want to build a Sarkhan Vol fog deck...
You can actually defend him just fine with a thrinax in jund, or dragon fodder in an RG deck. You still have to hope your opponent doesn't have removal, but that's true for any card.
Other than that, she's fine.
TBH im sick of people talking about what is the best and worst Planeswalker. If i built a deck that cranked out a turn 4-5 Nicol bolas. Most people would flailing to kill it. But if i happen to put down a Tezzeret in a deck with no Artifacts my opponent would ignore him.
So moral of the story, All the planeswalkers have strengths and weaknesses and honestly the best ones are only the best ones as long as the deck they run in is the top deck.
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All I can say is Liliana Vess has seen incredibly low tournament play for a reason. A repeatable Vampiric Tutor isn't that great when it costs 5 mana and often dies before you get to repeat it. I mean its not awful in a vacuum, but compared to the rest of the Planeswalkers and what else you could be doing in the format...
0 Karn
W Darien
U Arcanis
B Geth
R Norin
G Yeva
UW Hanna
RB Olivia
WB Obzedat
UR Melek
BG Glissa
WR Aurelia
GU Kraj
BRU Nicol Bolas
RGB Prossh
BGW Ghave
GUB Mimeoplasm
WUBRG Sliver Overlord
GWU Treva, the Renewer
EDH Spike:
U Azami, Lady of Scrolls
Trades
Thank you for Kennethwong, for inspiring me to do this sig pic when I was bored.
GENERATION 15: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig and add 1 to the generation. social experiment.
Play Jace (0-1)
Draw a card (1-1)
Opponent Kills Jace (2-1)
They spent two cards or wasted an attack to kill your Jace.
What a lot of people will do with a Jace they can protect is...
Play Jace (0-1)
Everyone Draws 1 (1-2)
Draw 1 (2-2)
Draw 1 (3-2)
Draw 1 (4-2)
Draw 1 (5-2)
Sometimes Jace just reads
UU1 - Opponent wastes an attack/discards a card, Draw a card
That's still better than divination, making Jace basically this format's mulldrifter. Jace's high loyalty comboed with his +2 means he usually doesn't die to a single bolt/blightning and draws you a couple of cards.
chandra ablaze is flavorful, but useless
nicol bolas is... win-more.
so yeah, chandra ablaze gets my vote for worst pw... closely tied by sarkhan. cause even bolas sees more play than vol in the standard format.
official rules advisor. it gets me there.