MTG Salvation

So, the new Nissa, Worldwaker planeswalker in M15 is extremely impressive, and I definitely would like to find a way to utilize her to the max. I've created a pretty effective-looking land animation shell, but as always, I welcome constructive feedback.

I'm trying to stay away from the really expensive land abuse stuff like Exploration, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, etc. There's a splash of white for Karametra, but it's primarily for Terra Eternal, which is a knockout in this deck. The ideal plan is straightforward aggro - filling my hand with lands, getting them on the field, animating and attacking.

This is a really interesting Legacy list. It's funny seeing Karametra in here, but I can see her utility in a deck like this, although those Forests are coming into play tapped, which doesn't do much for me. I'd be curious to see how this deck test-plays. I don't see any major changes I would make right away.

Gee.. that new Nissa is pretty decent.
I would think anything that drops lands into play that you can use that very same turn would be useful to abuse Nissa's +1.
Her -2 is useful for green ramp or untapping after a combat phase.

Stuff like Skyshroud Claim (soooo much better than seek the horizon), Oracle of Mul Daya & some Primeval Titan seems good to me, as would a small number of Life from the Loam just in case.
Being able to drop Terra Eternal with Green Sun's Zenith > with GSZ you could include a singleton tookbox to ramp up with Veteran Explorer, Dryad Arbor, Sakura-Tribe Elder and friends that essentially ramp, rather than only drop lands into play one turn at a time.
Dryad Arbor here becomes a 1-mana (via GSZ) or a 0-mana indestructible chumper you can depend on, and is a choice for Terra Eternal, with no Nissa.
Life from the Loam also fetches Arbor from the grave for getting more creatures when you need them.

I'd wanna play Nissa ASAP given the amount of otherwise useless cards like Terra Eternal etc. that depend on Nissa being in play.
Unless you want to include a way to find Nissa, I'd consider some other cards you could use to turn lands into creatures besides massive beatsticks that only come out after you're dead. Hunting Wilds, Jolrael, Empress of Beasts, Natural Emergence are some examples.

3 Terra Eternal and an Earth Surge to support 2 Nissas? Aren't you putting the cart before the horse with those kinds of numbers? If this is going to be a "lands are creatures deck" then you need more than 2 ways of achieving that feat.

Otherwise the only thing that I'll say is that I don't really understand the "lands in hand" aspect of this deck. Why not just run normal ramp such as Skyshroud Claim and Nature's Lore? Why play a bunch of horrendous creatures to support bad spells? I would much rather load up on Dungrove Elders and Obstinate Baloths (any good 4 drops works well with Nissa it seems) than play some 1/1s with marginal abilities.

Avenger of Zendikar? You're going to have a lot of lands and you're going to be placing more into play. Also, Rampaging Baloths.

You kind of lack some card draw so I'd suggest Rowen or Rites of Flourishing (despite helping your opponents).

How about 2x Sterling Grove to protect and tutor?

I agree about changing your ramp spells and get the lands onto the battlefield instead of putting them in your hand.

I also agree with switching up your ramp spells. You also need more than Nissa for this deck to work. Running Ambush Commander, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, Life and Limb, or Nature's Revolt is a good backup plan.

Quote from hippononymous »

Life and Limb, or Nature's Revolt is a good backup plan.

The former made me raise an eyebrow and the latter I'd avoid like the plague if I was running Terra Eternal, which I likely would be here. I wouldn't want my opponents to benefit that much.

I'm with you on the recommendation of Ambush Commander

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Thanks, everyone, for the feedback. I made a small number of changes, namely cutting down on 2 lands so that I could add 2x Ambush Commander. I actually found during the game that the "land in hand" spells were the perfect tempo to keep at; dumping tons of lands on the table would have definitely made me a target in the games, I was able to stay ahead of everyone else but not so far that I was obviously aggressive; further, Nissa can only animate one land at a time until she reaches her ultimate, so I ended up having more than enough mana to cast my spells and still animate a 4/4 indestructible every turn. Baru, Fist of Krosa was also absolutely outstanding here. All in all, it was a ton of fun to play.

I was wondering if mana would be an issue or not. I have always had in the back of my mind to recommend Genju of the Cedars here.

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