especially if they had great art like said card. And different art from the annoying photo realism they push on almost every PW.
Looking at the poll Jace has by far the least votes. Well that is not surprising. I always imagined that nobody really likes him because of his personality or appearance but just because his cards always turned out to be powerful until recently.
Quick question, where is Gideon actually from? His art says Theros but Boros... Personally i think Chandra will be cool followed by Gideon. The rest im not as fussed about.
I believe he's from Akros in Theros. The boros coloured city.
Fair enough, seems like a stupid question now haha. If that's the case, and slightly off topic, how and why did he end up on Zendikar?
After what happens with Gideon after he meets Chandra and they have their adventure from The Purifying Fire. If I remember correctly he leaves the service of the Order of Heliud because they want to toss Chandra into the Purifying Fire. After some soul searching he goes to find Chandra on Zendikar (they met while she was stealing the "Scroll of Ugin" and I guess he read it too) but finds that she is gone already but the Eldrazi are wrecking the place. Being a Champion of Justice he gets into the fray.
EDIT: Remembering the name Order of Heliud and that Gideon is from Theros has caused me to ask Doug Beyer on Twitter if there is a relation to Heliod.
I really hate the dfc mechanic so I don´t expect much from these "half-walkers". Because of this, I am not particularly exicted to see them - especially since I fear that every one of them will start as a mediocre creature which needs even more work to turn into a planeswalker. ~ So in most games you don´t even get to play with the planeswalker side.
But I would love to be wrong about this, an agressive 1-2 mana drop for "Chandra the creature" with an easy way to flip (e.g. dealing damage with red) would be amazing :D. At the moment I don´t expect much play value from these cards.
Dude, have you seen the new Liliana http://www.mtgsalvation.com/spoilers/149-magic-origins? She's dope! I realize that countering creatures before they enter the battlefield is about the easiest thing you can do in Magic, but once she does enter the battlefield, there are multiple ways to turn her into a planeswalker easily enough. She's the closest we'll get to a reprinting (at the moment) of Liliana of the Veil, a card that was WAY undervalued at the time of it's initial release, but then went on to cost upwards of $80+ (on the cheaper end). Although I don't think it has been officially stated in the rules yet, I believe that her "flipping" from a creature into a planeswalker WILL NOT use the stack, much the same way morphing a creature with the Morph Mechanic does not use the stack. And she passes the "planeswalker test" because she immediately "protects herself" by putting out a 2/2 Zombie to block for her. All for 3 mana!!!
You really shouldn´t compare her with Liliana of the Veil - that Lili version is a powerhouse the moment it enters the play. And lets be fair, she´s undercosted & overpowered for 3 mana ;).
This new dfc one is a 2/3 Lifelink creature for 3 - not that amazing in my opinion. If you want her planeswalker side you need to invester further cards, mana and speed. Minimum is another creature & an opponent willing to let her flip or playing a sacrifice-outlet yourself.
I think her trigger ability uses the stack.
I think you're right abut her "flipping" using the stack. My mistake. I will say that I wasn't making the comparison between Liliana of the Veil and Liliana, Defiant Necromancer based on "power level" but based on mana cost and the fact that they share a similar ability. So, again, closest thing we're getting to a reprint, unitl, uh, we get a reprint of Veil Lili. Also, like I said before, when Veil Lili was first released, she was considered a "powerhouse" at all. People had VERY low expectations of her. Boy, were many of them wrong!
It does feel strange to me that WotC thinks people would most like Jace. I'd expect people to like those whom they aspire to be similar to, not already near the point of--and to me, that generally keens "heroic" (i.e. the likes of Ajani and Elspeth). This might explain reticence in developing characters--too far, and you somehow alienate the target audience from them. I will admit that I don't buy into the idea that identification with a character is all about vicarious experiences. Although that precept DOES explain how they designed Jace, as it would take the anticipated target the least amount of effort to imagine themselves to be like Jace. But again, that doesn't do much for any given audience member's attempts to aspire philosophically.
I voted for Nissa myself. I'd like to see her old psyche at play, how it began to diverge from the usual Joraga mindset on meeting Lorwyn's elves. (My favorite color? White, with blue and green running close behind. Red, I have almost no use for.)
Perhaps part of the problem with the current storytelling is that Creative is over-focusing on "epic", perhaps with thoughts of recapturing the glory of the Weatherlight Saga. But is epicness necessary and sufficient for an interesting story? I wonder about that.
I remember that there were some posts on Rosewater's Tumblr that touched on this, even if obliquely. Planes visited are usually discord-addled because it's difficult to build up tension in a peaceful setting. But there was broached the idea of visiting a plane during a competition of some sort. No plane(s) at risk of destruction, but plenty of place for tension nonetheless.
I'm thinking as well of my own take on making Azor a new threat. Not an existential threat, though. Rather, I imagined Azor becoming increasingly embittered with discord and disharmony throughout the planes, and ultimately deciding to fix the problem by giving the respective planes gods in the forms of undying planeswalkers rather like the Living Guildpact scheme, whether the planes wanted them or not. And they usually didn't. The kind of story arc here would be two-pronged--fixing up the messes Azor left in his wake, while trying to intercept him and put a stop to his meddling.
What I just described is, at least in my eyes, a more philosophical crisis than usual. The threat isn't consistently physical--it depends on what kinds of "gods" Azor managed to install, and how/if they went loopy. But it's definitely something that generates a pall of dread, for living under tyrants is never conducive to calm. Granted it doesn't have to be Azor, but could easily be a new planeswalker just as enamored of "fixing" the multiverse's paucity of authority, but the point remains.
I'm excited about the ones that can be played off Collected Company.
Well that Chandra spoiler has her at 3 mana too just like Liliana so maybe they will all cost 3 mana.
That being said if the Chandra spoiler is true then Im really sorry for all you Chandra fans who is even currently leading the poll. She is quite mediocre.
In order of power, from top to bottom, I'd rank them like this
Liliana - on-curve body, easy to transform, gets extra creature when she transforms, and 2 good abilities
Gideon - savannah lions,easy to transform, gets even bigger after transform, has other utility too
Jace - merfolk looter, easy to transform, might cast 1 or 2 cards from your graveyard
Nissa - borderland ranger, slow to transform, but when she does, she draws cards, and can make dudes when she has to. This one will probably be bad in 60 card formats, but good in edh.
Chandra - slightly better than a prodigal pyromancer, difficult to transform, abilities do some damage
In order of power, from top to bottom, I'd rank them like this
Liliana - on-curve body, easy to transform, gets extra creature when she transforms, and 2 good abilities
Gideon - savannah lions,easy to transform, gets even bigger after transform, has other utility too
Jace - merfolk looter, easy to transform, might cast 1 or 2 cards from your graveyard
Nissa - borderland ranger, slow to transform, but when she does, she draws cards, and can make dudes when she has to. This one will probably be bad in 60 card formats, but good in edh.
Chandra - slightly better than a prodigal pyromancer, difficult to transform, abilities do some damage
Chandra isn't difficult to transform at all. Her ability says "dealt 3 damage this turn", not "3 damage this way" or "3 damage to a creature/player" so all you would have to do is tap to deal 1, play a red spell (burning away a blocker if they have one), then attacking with Chandra for the last two damage. I like her more than Jace, but I also agree that Liliana is the best of the five.
Okay, so after seeing them all spoiled, I feel like I'm a bit partial to Gideon and Liliana, but that's probably only because I have decks where they'd fit in pretty well. In the right deck, Gideon is actually not too hard to flip by turn 2, and Liliana can easily flip the turn she comes into play. Other than that, I think Jace is at the very least decent being a merfolk looter who can block 1/1s and he's in a color where we don't feel bad to play him late to get the most out of his abilities. Nissa I was a bit disappointed with since I don't even feel that she adds much to my own ramp deck. By the time she's better than a Borderland Ranger who can only fetch forests, I don't feel like her abilities are really that helpful (I could get an Oracle of Mul Daya a long ways before Nissa flips, and a recurring single 4/4 is nice but I could be playing better things at 7 mana). As for Chandra, I kind of wish that she'd at the very least have haste. However, thinking about it some more, her 4th turn potential is pretty decent with a ping for 1, play a red spell that deals 2-3 damage to untap her, attack for 2, then flip, and ping the player for 2 more. She may be even funnier in a casual legacy deck with things like fireblast.
My excitement level for the combined Origins planeswalkers is => 0
As an EDH player, it's very hard to be excited about any of these.
Wait, really? Not that I'm knocking your opinion, but just the fact that these are all legendary creatures already means that any of them can be your general. But yeah, on closer inspection, I can see some of the planeswalker sides to be a bit underwhelming at certain points in the game. I'm still willing to bet that Liliana would at the very least be a decent build-around-me commander though.
My excitement level for the combined Origins planeswalkers is => 0
As an EDH player, it's very hard to be excited about any of these.
Wait, really? Not that I'm knocking your opinion, but just the fact that these are all legendary creatures already means that any of them can be your general. But yeah, on closer inspection, I can see some of the planeswalker sides to be a bit underwhelming at certain points in the game. I'm still willing to bet that Liliana would at the very least be a decent build-around-me commander though.
They're all generally kinda "meh" for the majority of EDH decks. Gideon can play voltron, and Liliana can be a grindy reanimator general if you can play MBC to keep her in play long enough (or she could potentially be a decent stax general). Jace is a slow Snapcaster in your command zone without flash and that's all he really has going for him. Nissa can produce nice card advantage, but getting there in a timely manner requires more resources than is reasonable. And Chandra is just bad unless you only treat her as Tim with an upside.
Looking at the poll Jace has by far the least votes. Well that is not surprising. I always imagined that nobody really likes him because of his personality or appearance but just because his cards always turned out to be powerful until recently.
After what happens with Gideon after he meets Chandra and they have their adventure from The Purifying Fire. If I remember correctly he leaves the service of the Order of Heliud because they want to toss Chandra into the Purifying Fire. After some soul searching he goes to find Chandra on Zendikar (they met while she was stealing the "Scroll of Ugin" and I guess he read it too) but finds that she is gone already but the Eldrazi are wrecking the place. Being a Champion of Justice he gets into the fray.
EDIT: Remembering the name Order of Heliud and that Gideon is from Theros has caused me to ask Doug Beyer on Twitter if there is a relation to Heliod.
I think you're right abut her "flipping" using the stack. My mistake. I will say that I wasn't making the comparison between Liliana of the Veil and Liliana, Defiant Necromancer based on "power level" but based on mana cost and the fact that they share a similar ability. So, again, closest thing we're getting to a reprint, unitl, uh, we get a reprint of Veil Lili. Also, like I said before, when Veil Lili was first released, she was considered a "powerhouse" at all. People had VERY low expectations of her. Boy, were many of them wrong!
Neither of them really do it for me in terms of their personalities, but at least Gideon's doesn't entirely suck.
I just hope that the art in the spoiler tags are NOT used on the actual cards. They're all pretty terrible, save for little-Chandra. She's adorable.
Thank you to Rivenor for this awesome banner!
Palladia-Mors of {The Spirit of EDH}
EDH
WLinvala, Queen of the AngelsW
WUThe Prison of the Grand ArbiterUW [Primer]
URNiv-Mizzet, Handcycling ComboRU
UTalrand, Drake-Slinging to VictoryU
WUGDerevi, Tactical ShufflingGUW
BCao Cao, Discard Stax of Absolute MiseryB
Well, they didn't use the Liliana art on her card, so you're probably safe there.
I voted for Nissa myself. I'd like to see her old psyche at play, how it began to diverge from the usual Joraga mindset on meeting Lorwyn's elves. (My favorite color? White, with blue and green running close behind. Red, I have almost no use for.)
Perhaps part of the problem with the current storytelling is that Creative is over-focusing on "epic", perhaps with thoughts of recapturing the glory of the Weatherlight Saga. But is epicness necessary and sufficient for an interesting story? I wonder about that.
I'm thinking as well of my own take on making Azor a new threat. Not an existential threat, though. Rather, I imagined Azor becoming increasingly embittered with discord and disharmony throughout the planes, and ultimately deciding to fix the problem by giving the respective planes gods in the forms of undying planeswalkers rather like the Living Guildpact scheme, whether the planes wanted them or not. And they usually didn't. The kind of story arc here would be two-pronged--fixing up the messes Azor left in his wake, while trying to intercept him and put a stop to his meddling.
What I just described is, at least in my eyes, a more philosophical crisis than usual. The threat isn't consistently physical--it depends on what kinds of "gods" Azor managed to install, and how/if they went loopy. But it's definitely something that generates a pall of dread, for living under tyrants is never conducive to calm. Granted it doesn't have to be Azor, but could easily be a new planeswalker just as enamored of "fixing" the multiverse's paucity of authority, but the point remains.
...Wait...no Ugin?
Man Orgins is going to be lame!
Okay fine. Jace I suppose.
Well that Chandra spoiler has her at 3 mana too just like Liliana so maybe they will all cost 3 mana.
That being said if the Chandra spoiler is true then Im really sorry for all you Chandra fans who is even currently leading the poll. She is quite mediocre.
Thoughts? Happy/disappointed how certain walkers turned out?
Liliana - on-curve body, easy to transform, gets extra creature when she transforms, and 2 good abilities
Gideon - savannah lions,easy to transform, gets even bigger after transform, has other utility too
Jace - merfolk looter, easy to transform, might cast 1 or 2 cards from your graveyard
Nissa - borderland ranger, slow to transform, but when she does, she draws cards, and can make dudes when she has to. This one will probably be bad in 60 card formats, but good in edh.
Chandra - slightly better than a prodigal pyromancer, difficult to transform, abilities do some damage
Chandra isn't difficult to transform at all. Her ability says "dealt 3 damage this turn", not "3 damage this way" or "3 damage to a creature/player" so all you would have to do is tap to deal 1, play a red spell (burning away a blocker if they have one), then attacking with Chandra for the last two damage. I like her more than Jace, but I also agree that Liliana is the best of the five.
Signature courtesy of Rivenor and Miraculous Recovery
EDH Altered Cards by Galspanic (Seriously, this guy's awesome.)
My Pauper Cube
Tapped-Out Simulator
My Trade Thread
-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
Podcast
As an EDH player, it's very hard to be excited about any of these.
Wait, really? Not that I'm knocking your opinion, but just the fact that these are all legendary creatures already means that any of them can be your general. But yeah, on closer inspection, I can see some of the planeswalker sides to be a bit underwhelming at certain points in the game. I'm still willing to bet that Liliana would at the very least be a decent build-around-me commander though.
I'm happy about some of them, but I see them as part of the 99. Also, you wrote equal to or greater than 0...
I also like him with Ojutai's Command, especially since that card has seen a lot of play lately.
Eh, that's what you get for trying to respond while attending a wedding.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)