So, is anyone else bothered by the fact we just got literally another new Ajani right after JOU? As much as i like this card in my superfriends edh deck, it feels like theres a lot of ajanis going around for standard.
Jeez, and my Superfriends EDH is still waiting to add the *last* Ajani!
At least he's better than Caller of the Pride, even if he's more niche.
Still, would it have broken things for that Emblem to add Indestructible,
or prevent all damage?
I feel like the effect will be underwhelming in actual gameplay
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
So, is anyone else bothered by the fact we just got literally another new Ajani right after JOU? As much as i like this card in my superfriends edh deck, it feels like theres a lot of ajanis going around for standard.
Yeah... We've gotten three new Ajanis in a row, now.
Don't know how I feel about this one. Does nothing to protect himself, nothing to give you any sort of card advantage (unlike the last Ajani) and requires other cards/an already decent board state to be good.
I fear Nissa, Garruk or Jace being really good. So far none of the mythics in this set are must-haves for me (which is actually great, unless they make one of the previously-mentioned planeswalkers really amazing, then it's going to be another Worldwake/Dragon's Maze where one mythic ends up being super expensive because the rest suck).
He does kinda protect himself just like ajani goldmane did. Vigilance on creatures, making smaller creatures bigger and having large starting life.
Lets say you curve Brimaz into ajani. Thats more then enough protection. Also he can come down and give your whole team the counters making them large enough to force blocks or defend ajani.
I don't think you can really consider that protecting himself, though. That's relying on you to have another creature in play. At least with Mentor of Heroes, even if you have nothing to block with, you still have a chance to net a card and get a fog before your opponent takes him out. This guy probably won't even act as a fog half the time, because he's not much of a threat on his own. If you drop him on an open board and you're facing down opposing creatures, your opponent will probably proceed to bash your face in with them and ignore Ajani, banking on you not drawing another relevant planeswalker.
We'll see. I ran two copies of Ajani, Caller of the Pride in my GW deck with minor success, but mainly because his -2 closes out games quickly, he only costs 3 and his +1 had good synergy with my Gyre Sage and Chronicler of Heroes.
I'd love to hit that -7. Make Emrakul a twenty-turn clock? Why not.
The other abilities seem decently strong enough to make him a good card, but that's the one that amuses me the most.
I got a good chuckle imagining someone make their opponent play it out as they attack for 1 with their Emrakul over and over again into an empty board.
The emblem is clearly very good. The plus one I believe is stronger than it first appears. On the surface, it is just a minor creature buff spell and one clearly not worth spending 4 mana on, and temp P/T isn't as good as the +1/+1 counter that 3 mana ajani gives or the trio of such that 5 mana ajani gives, however, also giving vigilance and first strike is this ajani's method of protecting himself (something a playable planeswalker is expected to be able to do).
The minus 2? well, we can certainly brew with it in mind, I mean, t3 Ajani into t4 Kiora is a turn 5 Kiora emblem when facing a goldfish... I'm not convinced that having a loyalty battery is going to be relevant, however I do intend to test out some brews with him at the very least.
Read what you wrote again. You have to have d00dz = doesn't protect himself.
This is probably my least favorite planeswalker ever. I get it, he protects/helps your other planeswalkers, and I'm not saying he's terrible, but man is he disappointing and kind of un-fun.
Unless his ultimate says "YOU or a planeswalker...", it is the lamest ultimate ever. If translation = no "you" then wow, that is lame. (If it does shield you, then I guess it's really good, but still a very un-fun ability.)
All you people saying, "ermagosh, teh new Ajani sux," just wait. His -2 changes everything about the way Planeswalkers are played. Before they were a clock to the opponent, and the clock never sped up because there just wasn't any way to do that. "Oh, Kiora's only at 4? I can do this other move instead and hit her next turn." NOPE. I've been playing with a Standard Superfriends deck since Born came out, and I have a ton of experience with Planeswalkers. Most players wait until the turn before their ultimate to go in for the kill because they have time. Not anymore.
So, is anyone else bothered by the fact we just got literally another new Ajani right after JOU? As much as i like this card in my superfriends edh deck, it feels like theres a lot of ajanis going around for standard.
All you people saying, "ermagosh, teh new Ajani sux," just wait. His -2 changes everything about the way Planeswalkers are played. Before they were a clock to the opponent, and the clock never sped up because there just wasn't any way to do that. "Oh, Kiora's only at 4? I can do this other move instead and hit her next turn." NOPE. I've been playing with a Standard Superfriends deck since Born came out, and I have a ton of experience with Planeswalkers. Most players wait until the turn before their ultimate to go in for the kill because they have time. Not anymore.
Yup and any 3cc Plaeswalkers that curve into the 4cc Ajani could be Yahtzee.
No, this card isn't obviously broken (sorry bandwagoneers/wambulance drivers) but exciting... hell yeah.
It's an instant speed 5/5 trampler for 4. Wtf do you people want seriously? It has applications in populate/ above the curve beats decks, or in Bant control/ flash. I seriously think anyone mad at this card for any reason other than losing an attacker to instant speed wurm, should go home and make their own awesome card game and leave the rest of us alone.
All you people saying, "ermagosh, teh new Ajani sux," just wait. His -2 changes everything about the way Planeswalkers are played. Before they were a clock to the opponent, and the clock never sped up because there just wasn't any way to do that. "Oh, Kiora's only at 4? I can do this other move instead and hit her next turn." NOPE. I've been playing with a Standard Superfriends deck since Born came out, and I have a ton of experience with Planeswalkers. Most players wait until the turn before their ultimate to go in for the kill because they have time. Not anymore.
Very true. He is going to be a silly addition to that deck. Silly as in stupid good.
Ajani 5.0
Has to be the final one... but probably not. I mean, it's the first walker to reach fifth evolution. Ajani Mentor looked like final version, but with this we are like assured they're going infinite. Also, 3 different Ajanis in one Standard. Hasn't happened before, even with the rapid appearings of 2 Garruks (Primal Hunter and Reletnless).
EDIT: also, it's like the weakest of all (on the Goldmane level).
EDIT2: updated translations make it much better than I've initially thought. Now has some potential.
You played JESUS?!?! I heard none of his guys stay in the graveyard, and once you think you have him beat he ALWAYS comes back to win within three turns. I like...WORSHIP him.
Seems moderately strong. I'll never play him because I don't even play Standard, but I like the fact that this is a PW which explicitly buffs/protects other PWs. This is new territory for WotC, and I think it's an interesting move.
It's a "build-around-me" card rather than a "shove me in anywhere" card, so I think the lack of protection isn't that big of a deal. Expect to see him in lots of decks with Nyx-Fleece Ram.
Alright, now that the card's been translated... I guess mono white Ajani's set up going forward is going to be 1 ability that makes a creature ridiculous for 1 turn, 1 ability that plays with +1/+1 counters, and then the ultimate. I'm glad to see he's finally got an emblem, and even more so that we finally have a card that explicitly manipulates planeswalker loyalty counters. That being said, while I love everything he does, I don't think he'll see competitive play. He requires a very specific board to be used effectively, and even then, his costs aren't good enough to warrant the risk, IMO.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Defends you well (via the +1 gaining you life indirectly) but doesn't defend himself. -2 isn't high impact enough, and the emblem is beatable (probably a little weaker than original Elspeth's emblem).
If the -2 was better, this would be a strong Standard card. As it is, I think I prefer 3 mana Ajani.
He is having an identity crisis...
At least he's better than Caller of the Pride, even if he's more niche.
Still, would it have broken things for that Emblem to add Indestructible,
or prevent all damage?
I feel like the effect will be underwhelming in actual gameplay
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Huh? Caller had two printings.
Standard
W.I.P.
EDH
WNorn Tokens
I don't think you can really consider that protecting himself, though. That's relying on you to have another creature in play. At least with Mentor of Heroes, even if you have nothing to block with, you still have a chance to net a card and get a fog before your opponent takes him out. This guy probably won't even act as a fog half the time, because he's not much of a threat on his own. If you drop him on an open board and you're facing down opposing creatures, your opponent will probably proceed to bash your face in with them and ignore Ajani, banking on you not drawing another relevant planeswalker.
We'll see. I ran two copies of Ajani, Caller of the Pride in my GW deck with minor success, but mainly because his -2 closes out games quickly, he only costs 3 and his +1 had good synergy with my Gyre Sage and Chronicler of Heroes.
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I got a good chuckle imagining someone make their opponent play it out as they attack for 1 with their Emrakul over and over again into an empty board.
The emblem is clearly very good. The plus one I believe is stronger than it first appears. On the surface, it is just a minor creature buff spell and one clearly not worth spending 4 mana on, and temp P/T isn't as good as the +1/+1 counter that 3 mana ajani gives or the trio of such that 5 mana ajani gives, however, also giving vigilance and first strike is this ajani's method of protecting himself (something a playable planeswalker is expected to be able to do).
The minus 2? well, we can certainly brew with it in mind, I mean, t3 Ajani into t4 Kiora is a turn 5 Kiora emblem when facing a goldfish... I'm not convinced that having a loyalty battery is going to be relevant, however I do intend to test out some brews with him at the very least.
Read what you wrote again. You have to have d00dz = doesn't protect himself.
This is probably my least favorite planeswalker ever. I get it, he protects/helps your other planeswalkers, and I'm not saying he's terrible, but man is he disappointing and kind of un-fun.
Unless his ultimate says "YOU or a planeswalker...", it is the lamest ultimate ever. If translation = no "you" then wow, that is lame. (If it does shield you, then I guess it's really good, but still a very un-fun ability.)
Two?
- Main Cube
- No Brains, All Feelings Cube
Yup and any 3cc Plaeswalkers that curve into the 4cc Ajani could be Yahtzee.
No, this card isn't obviously broken (sorry bandwagoneers/wambulance drivers) but exciting... hell yeah.
Very true. He is going to be a silly addition to that deck. Silly as in stupid good.
Has to be the final one... but probably not. I mean, it's the first walker to reach fifth evolution. Ajani Mentor looked like final version, but with this we are like assured they're going infinite. Also, 3 different Ajanis in one Standard. Hasn't happened before, even with the rapid appearings of 2 Garruks (Primal Hunter and Reletnless).
EDIT: also, it's like the weakest of all (on the Goldmane level).
EDIT2: updated translations make it much better than I've initially thought. Now has some potential.
So you can still tick up his toughness even if there's no creature on the board you want to buff.
My 180 Modern Bordered Only Cube
"One each +1 / +1 counter, I put one each loyalty counter on each planeswalker other you control on top of each creature you control: [-2]."
"[-7]: You gain emblem with "If damage to a planeswalker you control source or you, to reduce all but 1 of that damage." The."
As crappy as google translation is, it still picks up important keywords.
It's a "build-around-me" card rather than a "shove me in anywhere" card, so I think the lack of protection isn't that big of a deal. Expect to see him in lots of decks with Nyx-Fleece Ram.
Lots of small words I kind of skimmed through. I resign from my unofficial translating.
That's one of the buff-iest +1 abilities ever,
and an emblem that protects you too is rad.
Okay, now I need it
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Defends you well (via the +1 gaining you life indirectly) but doesn't defend himself. -2 isn't high impact enough, and the emblem is beatable (probably a little weaker than original Elspeth's emblem).
If the -2 was better, this would be a strong Standard card. As it is, I think I prefer 3 mana Ajani.
Cool card. Likely won't be some gamebreaker, but if you have anything even resembling stability, he'll be a nightmare for the opponent.
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