No seriously, why is she blue? Her abilities are easy mono green, her artwork is greener than green, she's the posterchild for green planeswalkers ... Why, Wizards, why?
Scry 2 whenever is monogreen?
Flying beaters are monogreen?
Yes, the abilities are totally blue, but I agree, Nissa is so green, and such an Avatar for green. Lands/elves/elementals/Forests, i kind of saddened me to see green's PW start to sell out.
SO Nissa is at least a 3 mana PW with 1 starting loyalty, and a + ability that's a bit ok (or is it broken?), and an ultimate which.... seriously, I don't think I'll ever play that.
Her second ability, though... too bad she can't Scry and bring cards to field at the same turn, but dayum, I love that second ability.
Just wanna note that this Nissa seems absolutely perfect for Lantern Control. The +2 is exactly what the deck already does and the ~0 takes advantage of all the mill rocks they already play. Plus, some Lantern lists already play Tezzeret as a win-con for decks they otherwise can't beat or for time's sake, and this planeswalker has the win-con built in on its own.
All in all, neat card. Wish they made Gideons or Jaces like this.
Au contraire--Lantern Control doesn't want her at all. Her +2 Scries instead of Fatesealing, and while Lantern Control might appreciate getting to its rocks faster with the Scry early-game, it needs to Fateseal the opponent out of the game late-game (especially since opponents start shuffling, drawing, and otherwise cantripping like mad at that point to avoid getting negatively affected by Fatesealing). Her +0 can only cheat out lands and creatures--it cannot cheat out Lantern Control's plentiful noncreature artifacts. Her ult temporarily creates creatures that are too fat to attack past Lantern Control's own Ensnaring Bridge (Lantern Control typically goes Hellbent late-game, or it gets run over by Lingering Souls tokens and other embarrassing stuff).
I don't see the problem with GU Nissa? That's a very natural and expected character growth after her time in Kaladesh, if you read the stories carefully. In Kaladesh she learned that humanoid-made technology can be a beautiful expression of understanding of the natural order and that even lifeforms created as a byproduct of people's "meddling"(aetherborn) are a welcome part of the world.
I'm calling it right now- worst rare in the set. Even good limited players will find better bombs at common and uncommon no sweat. Worst. Episode. Ever.
I really do predict this to be our worst rare in set award winner. I'd be happier opening a jar of eyeballs, so I think anything worse is highly unlikely. This card wont just have zero constructed potential, but not be significantly better than a mass of ghouls in a draft.
X Planeswalker - too bad the first X planeswalker is so clunky, and not vert GU. Designing a good planeswalker is hard, and these guys have trouble designing Alpha Lords...
Lord - I understand why this is "splashable", but 2/2 for 1CC with +1/+1 and some additional effect is standard. This is a 2/3 for 2C with +1/+1 and some additional... admittedly crappy... 2nd effect. They needed to live up to the elegance of Imperious Perfect and failed.
1. It should have been 2/2. No question. No debate. 1/3 might have been acceptable in some sense, but standards are standards.
2. Tapping for Menace is annoying. Why can't it just tap to exile a card from the grave...
You know, straight up obsoleting Cemetery Reaper by making it a 2/2 for 2B would be fun, flavorful, good in limited, and not step on anyone's toes too hard (Reaper is just slightly too bad. If it cost B to activate, it still probably wouldn't see much play but would be fairer).
Plague Belcher - it's a 3/2 menace for 2B with additional upside. I guess this is standard now?
Dread Wanderer - There is too much text on this card. There are better existing versions of this card. If it returned automatically if you had "heckbent"... sure. But as is, it's just unsatisfying. Which is quite surprising since it's an immortal black Jackal pup.
You know, they should reprint Jackal Pup and finally make it a Jackal Hound. Yeah, Jackal Pup will see no limited play whatsoever, but it'd be interesting to see if red wanted to try their hand at it in standard...
Those speculating on her should really not be doing that. You basically lose every single time and it is better to build your deck first and see if she actually fits anywhere.
Her price is high not because she is good, but rather because sellers see people discussing the card and thinking it is both good and has some kind of home. She has zero homes right now and if she does find one I can't imagine her being more than a two of. I so despise pre-order price mental manipulation of the community.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
SO Nissa is at least a 3 mana PW with 1 starting loyalty, and a + ability that's a bit ok (or is it broken?), and an ultimate which.... seriously, I don't think I'll ever play that.
Her second ability, though... too bad she can't Scry and bring cards to field at the same turn, but dayum, I love that second ability.
How do you not seeing her fit perfectly into 4 color kitty?
I think she's a very, very solid midrange card. I was already brewing a sultai list with the new lily as a one or two of as just a solid value card to buy back creatures, and I think this Nissa could be a solid inclusion as well. Honestly the only thing I don't like about this card is that it has Nissa's name and face slapped onto it for no apparent reason.
I'm guessing that the green tendency to accept the world and the natural order for what it is will be too difficult on this plane for Nissa. This death-obsessed world was probably twisted and tainted by Bolas, so she's Simic in Amonkhet because the world needs to change.
I'm sure WotC loves that you think they put this much thought into things,
but I'm fairly certain this Nissa is GU
because they already had THREE other mono-G Nissae in Standard.
I don't think you understood what I was saying. Of course this Nissa is simic, it says so right on the card.
I'm saying this is likely temporary for story reasons and won't persist after she leaves Amonkhet. We've had lots of monocolor planeswalkers temporarily adding a color for a set because of story reasons.
I'm saying this is likely temporary for story reasons and won't persist after she leaves Amonkhet. We've had lots of monocolor planeswalkers temporarily adding a color for a set because of story reasons.
Actually, we haven't - over the history of the planeswalker card type, 8 originally mono-color walkers were later printed in multi-color versions, but only 2 have ever then had a new mono-color version printed: Ajani, and Garruk, and Garruk only counts because of his out of chronological order M14 iteration.
With walkers like Daretti, Nahiri, or Tamiyo, their moves to multi-color might turn out to be temporary, as they each only have 2 versions total right now, but Sorin and Tezzeret have each had 3 new gold versions since their mono-color debut without subsequently changing color identities, and Ajani is currently the only formerly mono-color walker that has ever temporarily moved into a color for story reasons that later versions of his character don't reflect (Sarkhan has shifted around a fair bit but his character was not originally mono-color, so he doesn't really count. Also, time travel paradoxes).
I'm guessing that the green tendency to accept the world and the natural order for what it is will be too difficult on this plane for Nissa. This death-obsessed world was probably twisted and tainted by Bolas, so she's Simic in Amonkhet because the world needs to change.
I'm sure WotC loves that you think they put this much thought into things,
but I'm fairly certain this Nissa is GU
because they already had THREE other mono-GNissae in Standard.
Um, I've heard several possible etymologies for her name, largely because, you know, Nissa Nissa, but none are Latin. From nisse (a Scandinavian elf associated with winter, though they're really more like hobs, but I digress) to the Seneca word for "moon" (which fits very well for A Song of Ice and Fire, the Dothraki say there used to be two moons), but not Latin.
Anyway, Nissa doesn't accept all planes the way they are. Remember, she wasn't really fond of Mirrodin (I can only imagine what she'd think of New Phyrexia.) or Ravnica. Of course, that was pre-Origins.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
From my point of view, Simic Nissa is of the best Planeswalkers I've ever seen. She's versatile as hell and fits in almost every strategy, from aggro to midrange, control or ramp. her three abilities are great and topdecking her would never be a problem: on turn 3 she can improve your next two draws; on turn 8 the moment she enters the battlefield you can attack for 10 damage by air. She has to be dealt with ASAP.
Imagine this scenario:
T1: Forest, Attune with Aether
T2: Island, Let's say, longtusk cub
T3: Land, Nissa, +2 her, put a land on top and a 3 CMC creature (Rishkar, Peema renegade, Rhonas, the indomitable) second on top, attack with Cub
T4: Land you draw, Nissa's 0, put Rhonas in play, then cast Bristling Hydra.
Then you have a 4/4 Cub, Rhonas and Hydra in play. I think that's pretty awesome.
I really do like the new nissa, just I'm wary of "pre-order hype" messing with perceptions of the card as planeswalkers are notorious speculation targets that almost always blow up in the speculators faces. I think she is definitely strongest with low cost creatures and ironically it reminds me a bit of Collected Company, only instead of being very narrowly focused into 3 cmc or lower creatures, she basically lets you fix your draws, attempt to play the next card on the stack, or just slam and ultimate late game. That's a lot of versatility. Also, I got a feeling U/G is going to be particularly strong as it has several good engines to get it going. Vizier of the Menagerie gives you perfect information when combined with her and is a reasonable target for her 0 ability, both the blue and green gods are good values depending on the build, and there's a lot of good 1-3 cmc creatures right now in blue and green to work with.
I may try her over my UW enchantments deck I was planning to build. Albeit the cost of that deck is a fraction of the UG deck.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
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Yes, the abilities are totally blue, but I agree, Nissa is so green, and such an Avatar for green. Lands/elves/elementals/Forests, i kind of saddened me to see green's PW start to sell out.
Preach on! She's been the Green PW since M15.
Her second ability, though... too bad she can't Scry and bring cards to field at the same turn, but dayum, I love that second ability.
Au contraire--Lantern Control doesn't want her at all. Her +2 Scries instead of Fatesealing, and while Lantern Control might appreciate getting to its rocks faster with the Scry early-game, it needs to Fateseal the opponent out of the game late-game (especially since opponents start shuffling, drawing, and otherwise cantripping like mad at that point to avoid getting negatively affected by Fatesealing). Her +0 can only cheat out lands and creatures--it cannot cheat out Lantern Control's plentiful noncreature artifacts. Her ult temporarily creates creatures that are too fat to attack past Lantern Control's own Ensnaring Bridge (Lantern Control typically goes Hellbent late-game, or it gets run over by Lingering Souls tokens and other embarrassing stuff).
My pick for this set is 100% sure nissa
Is she way under valued right now.
Think about this she is the first walker with a X in her manna cost.
Last two creature that I know of that where both under valued with X in manna cost.
Hangarback
Walking Ballista
Just saying
Example: let's say where in a top deck war. I pull a nissa, play her for 8 or better 9 manna. Ultimate her "2 5/5 flyers with haste"
This card is the best walker since baby jace.
I miss Garruk ☹️
Lord - I understand why this is "splashable", but 2/2 for 1CC with +1/+1 and some additional effect is standard. This is a 2/3 for 2C with +1/+1 and some additional... admittedly crappy... 2nd effect. They needed to live up to the elegance of Imperious Perfect and failed.
1. It should have been 2/2. No question. No debate. 1/3 might have been acceptable in some sense, but standards are standards.
2. Tapping for Menace is annoying. Why can't it just tap to exile a card from the grave...
You know, straight up obsoleting Cemetery Reaper by making it a 2/2 for 2B would be fun, flavorful, good in limited, and not step on anyone's toes too hard (Reaper is just slightly too bad. If it cost B to activate, it still probably wouldn't see much play but would be fairer).
Plague Belcher - it's a 3/2 menace for 2B with additional upside. I guess this is standard now?
Dread Wanderer - There is too much text on this card. There are better existing versions of this card. If it returned automatically if you had "heckbent"... sure. But as is, it's just unsatisfying. Which is quite surprising since it's an immortal black Jackal pup.
You know, they should reprint Jackal Pup and finally make it a Jackal Hound. Yeah, Jackal Pup will see no limited play whatsoever, but it'd be interesting to see if red wanted to try their hand at it in standard...
Her price is high not because she is good, but rather because sellers see people discussing the card and thinking it is both good and has some kind of home. She has zero homes right now and if she does find one I can't imagine her being more than a two of. I so despise pre-order price mental manipulation of the community.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
How do you not seeing her fit perfectly into 4 color kitty?
I don't think you understood what I was saying. Of course this Nissa is simic, it says so right on the card.
I'm saying this is likely temporary for story reasons and won't persist after she leaves Amonkhet. We've had lots of monocolor planeswalkers temporarily adding a color for a set because of story reasons.
With walkers like Daretti, Nahiri, or Tamiyo, their moves to multi-color might turn out to be temporary, as they each only have 2 versions total right now, but Sorin and Tezzeret have each had 3 new gold versions since their mono-color debut without subsequently changing color identities, and Ajani is currently the only formerly mono-color walker that has ever temporarily moved into a color for story reasons that later versions of his character don't reflect (Sarkhan has shifted around a fair bit but his character was not originally mono-color, so he doesn't really count. Also, time travel paradoxes).
Um, I've heard several possible etymologies for her name, largely because, you know, Nissa Nissa, but none are Latin. From nisse (a Scandinavian elf associated with winter, though they're really more like hobs, but I digress) to the Seneca word for "moon" (which fits very well for A Song of Ice and Fire, the Dothraki say there used to be two moons), but not Latin.
Anyway, Nissa doesn't accept all planes the way they are. Remember, she wasn't really fond of Mirrodin (I can only imagine what she'd think of New Phyrexia.) or Ravnica. Of course, that was pre-Origins.
On phasing:
Imagine this scenario:
T1: Forest, Attune with Aether
T2: Island, Let's say, longtusk cub
T3: Land, Nissa, +2 her, put a land on top and a 3 CMC creature (Rishkar, Peema renegade, Rhonas, the indomitable) second on top, attack with Cub
T4: Land you draw, Nissa's 0, put Rhonas in play, then cast Bristling Hydra.
Then you have a 4/4 Cub, Rhonas and Hydra in play. I think that's pretty awesome.
EDIT: Also, she works extremely well with Rashmi, eternities crafter.
I may try her over my UW enchantments deck I was planning to build. Albeit the cost of that deck is a fraction of the UG deck.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!