------------------------------------------------------ Kaya the Inexorable3WB
Legendary Planeswalker - Kaya
+1: Put a ghostform counter on up to one target nontoken creature. It gains "When this creature dies or is put into exile, return it to its owner’s hand and create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying." -3: Exile target nonland permanent. -7: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may cast a legendary spell from your hand, from your graveyard, or from among cards you own in exile without paying its mana cost."
Another WB walker, and it looks quite interesting to me. The -3 seems very versatile, and she ultimates very quickly. The Ultimate is not an instant win, but it does seems very powerful. Note that it can also get back walkers, including Kaya herself, as it says legendary spell, not just creautre. Biggest downside is being 5 mana and the +1 not protecting herself.
I think I prefer Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, Vindicate and Lingering Souls to this by quite a lot. But I might give it a test run as the fourth Orzhov card where I am currently playing Anguished Unmaking. In the end, I think she might cost one mana too much, so I think I will stick with Unmaking.
On a different note, I am disappointed she isn't dual wielding her hatchets in the art, having opted for purple icicles instead. Neither the standard or the full art is that great in my opinion.
It's OK against 1 big threat, but being unable to protect itself against more than 1 threat and having a + that does nothing unless you have a creature on board that can block or otherwise is likely to die makes it a miss IMO.
I like OG kaya a LOT more, she is a card advantage machine if she gets to stick around and she's 1 less mana.
On the axes, apparently she gets them in the story at some point so this is pre her getting them.
WB tends to play aristocrats and/or tokens - is this better than any of the Sorins in that archetype? those sorin's make tokens or provide stat buffs usually, which aristocrats / tokens want. This seems better than the +1 for those decks. Vindicate is cheaper on the minus and can hit a land, though maybe this is better than anguished unmaking? The ability to ult quickly and recur itself is neat. It's not better than Sorin's for usual BW archetypes, but not generically good to be in the top imho.
I think she might have some potential - Aristocrat decks often lack removal. Packaging an aristocrat payoff + removal into one package.
Unconditional removal is very strong in cube.
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Orzhov is one of the more shallow guilds for larger Cubes. That said, I think I would consider this a “solid” Cube card if it cost 4 instead of 5, started at 4 loyalty instead of 5, and the +1 were a +2 so you could have the play pattern of minus Vindicate, plus for a turn, cash in for a second Vindicate. As it stands this card is too clunky and slow with a plus ability that is too low impact.
The +1 is not mega powerful, but pretty neat, and could lead to some stylish plays. The -3 is basic, but effective. The ultimate is fun, but ultimately not back-breaking most of the time.
All in all, it's a totally fair planeswalker not unlike many planeswalkers before. For a weaker cube, she's totally fine, but of the 4 other Kayas and 4 Sorins in Orzhov, she's not top of the pile for power, versatility, or uniqueness. Nor most likely for budget after the dust settles. Personally I think Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord is the sleeper black/white planeswalker.
I like OG kaya a LOT more, she is a card advantage machine if she gets to stick around and she's 1 less mana.
Interesting. I would definitely rank new Kaya above OG Kaya, she seems much more versatile to me. If left unchecked she seems much more threatening than OG Kaya, and if you are slightly behind she also seems great, unconditional removal for one big threat to take over the game. If you are you further behind, neither will do much for you. Either way, I probably won't play either of them in the end.
WB tends to play aristocrats and/or tokens - is this better than any of the Sorins in that archetype? those sorin's make tokens or provide stat buffs usually, which aristocrats / tokens want. This seems better than the +1 for those decks. Vindicate is cheaper on the minus and can hit a land, though maybe this is better than anguished unmaking? The ability to ult quickly and recur itself is neat. It's not better than Sorin's for usual BW archetypes, but not generically good to be in the top imho.
Fair enough. In my environment WB sees a lot of play in control archetypes, especially Esper Control, and I view her mostly through that lens as a type of unconditional removal ala Anguished Unmaking.
I definitely rank Sorlin, Lord of Innistrad above her. Not sure about the others. Played Solemn Visitor for a while, but I never liked him that much. But to be fair, WB sees a lot of play as a control archetype in my cube, often as Esper Control, and probably less aristocrats/tokens. I might have evaluated Kaya a bit too heavily through that lens, where you always want a few unconditional removal like vindicate, anguished unmaking, etc. Kaya feels great there to me, where you can slot in a general win-con in the place of a removal.
Kaya: Hey, can I copy your homework.
Vraska: Yeah, just change it up a bit so it doesn't look obvious you copied.
Kaya: Ok
Haha, yeah, I had to do a double take when I first saw her too - felt like a carbon copy of Vraska. However, I think this looks better than Vraska by a mile. Vraska's +1 is pretty useless, while Kaya's +1 can potentially provide a lot of value. The -3 being exile instead of destroy is a small upgrade, and the ult is way, way better.
All in all, it's a totally fair planeswalker not unlike many planeswalkers before. For a weaker cube, she's totally fine, but of the 4 other Kayas and 4 Sorins in Orzhov, she's not top of the pile for power, versatility, or uniqueness. Nor most likely for budget after the dust settles. Personally I think Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord is the sleeper black/white planeswalker.
After thinking more about this for a day, I think I definitely overrated her a bit when I first saw the spoiler. Think one could still argue for her being the second or third best of the WB walkers, but that does place her pretty far down the list in Orzhov I guess.
I like OG kaya a LOT more, she is a card advantage machine if she gets to stick around and she's 1 less mana.
Interesting. I would definitely rank new Kaya above OG Kaya, she seems much more versatile to me. If left unchecked she seems much more threatening than OG Kaya, and if you are slightly behind she also seems great, unconditional removal for one big threat to take over the game. If you are you further behind, neither will do much for you. Either way, I probably won't play either of them in the end.
I fully admit I am way higher on OG Kaya than most people, and probably higher then I should be. I tested her on a whim cause we opened one and I wasn't thrilled with my Orzhov section at the time, fully expecting to replace her in a fairly short time, but she just kept overperforming. If you're at parity or ahead she is just absolutely backbreaking, and she can buy you time with the 0 against one big threat and with the -1 against aggro. She just kept being great when she hit the battlefield for us, and she's a lot more interesting than a lot of other PW's IMO.
I think this is the second best Orzhov PW behind Sorin LOI. Exile any nonland permanent is big game and this can do it twice. This is like a better Elspeth Conquers Death so long as you can protect it which the -3 also simultaneously assists with. Most common line of play will be -3,+1,-3. The biggest strike against this card for me is that replacing Lurrus with this turns Orzhov into exactly what most Golgari sections look like now which is a whole guild section full of just great removal. I already have Vindicate and Anguished Unmaking, adding this as well is overkill and Lurrus even without companion is more interesting and lends to differing archetypes. For me this is #6 overall in Orzhov which puts it just narrowly outside of inclusion into my cube.
The biggest strike against this card for me is that replacing Lurrus with this turns Orzhov into exactly what most Golgari sections look like now which is a whole guild section full of just great removal. I already have Vindicate and Anguished Unmaking, adding this as well is overkill and Lurrus even without companion is more interesting and lends to differing archetypes. For me this is #6 overall in Orzhov which puts it just narrowly outside of inclusion into my cube.
I think this is a great point. I'm currently playing Vindicate, Lingering Souls, Lord of Innistrad and Anguished Unmaking. So to me, Kaya seemed more interesting, as trading out Anguished Unmaking for Kaya would give more lines of play, not less. But definitely agree that running Vindicate, Anguished Unmaking and Kaya would be very linear. I don't play Lurrus as my playerbase are not too big on black aggro or artisocrats, but I definitely see Lurrus as a better and more interesting card in the right cube.
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Kaya the Inexorable 3WB
Legendary Planeswalker - Kaya
+1: Put a ghostform counter on up to one target nontoken creature. It gains "When this creature dies or is put into exile, return it to its owner’s hand and create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying."
-3: Exile target nonland permanent.
-7: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may cast a legendary spell from your hand, from your graveyard, or from among cards you own in exile without paying its mana cost."
Starting Loyalty: 5
------------------------------------------------------
Another WB walker, and it looks quite interesting to me. The -3 seems very versatile, and she ultimates very quickly. The Ultimate is not an instant win, but it does seems very powerful. Note that it can also get back walkers, including Kaya herself, as it says legendary spell, not just creautre. Biggest downside is being 5 mana and the +1 not protecting herself.
I think I prefer Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, Vindicate and Lingering Souls to this by quite a lot. But I might give it a test run as the fourth Orzhov card where I am currently playing Anguished Unmaking. In the end, I think she might cost one mana too much, so I think I will stick with Unmaking.
On a different note, I am disappointed she isn't dual wielding her hatchets in the art, having opted for purple icicles instead. Neither the standard or the full art is that great in my opinion.
I like OG kaya a LOT more, she is a card advantage machine if she gets to stick around and she's 1 less mana.
On the axes, apparently she gets them in the story at some point so this is pre her getting them.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
360 Uncommons only Cube!
Unconditional removal is very strong in cube.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
Vraska: Yeah, just change it up a bit so it doesn't look obvious you copied.
Kaya: Ok
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
All in all, it's a totally fair planeswalker not unlike many planeswalkers before. For a weaker cube, she's totally fine, but of the 4 other Kayas and 4 Sorins in Orzhov, she's not top of the pile for power, versatility, or uniqueness. Nor most likely for budget after the dust settles. Personally I think Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord is the sleeper black/white planeswalker.
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My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
Interesting. I would definitely rank new Kaya above OG Kaya, she seems much more versatile to me. If left unchecked she seems much more threatening than OG Kaya, and if you are slightly behind she also seems great, unconditional removal for one big threat to take over the game. If you are you further behind, neither will do much for you. Either way, I probably won't play either of them in the end.
Fair enough. In my environment WB sees a lot of play in control archetypes, especially Esper Control, and I view her mostly through that lens as a type of unconditional removal ala Anguished Unmaking.
I definitely rank Sorlin, Lord of Innistrad above her. Not sure about the others. Played Solemn Visitor for a while, but I never liked him that much. But to be fair, WB sees a lot of play as a control archetype in my cube, often as Esper Control, and probably less aristocrats/tokens. I might have evaluated Kaya a bit too heavily through that lens, where you always want a few unconditional removal like vindicate, anguished unmaking, etc. Kaya feels great there to me, where you can slot in a general win-con in the place of a removal.
Haha, yeah, I had to do a double take when I first saw her too - felt like a carbon copy of Vraska. However, I think this looks better than Vraska by a mile. Vraska's +1 is pretty useless, while Kaya's +1 can potentially provide a lot of value. The -3 being exile instead of destroy is a small upgrade, and the ult is way, way better.
After thinking more about this for a day, I think I definitely overrated her a bit when I first saw the spoiler. Think one could still argue for her being the second or third best of the WB walkers, but that does place her pretty far down the list in Orzhov I guess.
I fully admit I am way higher on OG Kaya than most people, and probably higher then I should be. I tested her on a whim cause we opened one and I wasn't thrilled with my Orzhov section at the time, fully expecting to replace her in a fairly short time, but she just kept overperforming. If you're at parity or ahead she is just absolutely backbreaking, and she can buy you time with the 0 against one big threat and with the -1 against aggro. She just kept being great when she hit the battlefield for us, and she's a lot more interesting than a lot of other PW's IMO.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
I think this is a great point. I'm currently playing Vindicate, Lingering Souls, Lord of Innistrad and Anguished Unmaking. So to me, Kaya seemed more interesting, as trading out Anguished Unmaking for Kaya would give more lines of play, not less. But definitely agree that running Vindicate, Anguished Unmaking and Kaya would be very linear. I don't play Lurrus as my playerbase are not too big on black aggro or artisocrats, but I definitely see Lurrus as a better and more interesting card in the right cube.