Without question. Kaya is niche and subpar, Tibalt is actually just bad even if he costs one less. I have yet to see someone make Tibalt useful, but Kaya is at worst meh and conditional (and the conditions to make her useful are more common than many expect, not plentiful by any stretch of the imagination, but more common than nonexistent like Tibalt).
I think it's fairly obvious she is too situational to see main board play in Standard. But older formats have such degenerate graveyard based interactions, as well as ways to actually make her lethal that you would board in anyway, that she might actually be good in some sideboards. I mean, Nihil Spellbomb and other similar effects already see ton of play off of sideboards. Against those decks, Kaya is a similar answer while actually being a win condition.
I’d like to say something constructive and supportive about this card, but I just lack the language to do so, thus i’ll just yell that this card is utter toss.
So she's like 3 hate cards in one. +1 hates on Izzet/Golgari with a bit of lifegain for aggro matches. -1 hates on tokens and weenies. -5 Punishes Drakes pretty hard. That's pretty much it though. Interesting sideboard value in that it's just so modular.
I wouldnt necessarily say she hates on tokens... exiling 1 token is usually... pretty sub par... at best. Most tokens are usually pretty expendible...
Shes generally good in modern, as there are a lot of potential targets for non-land permanents that cost 1 or less.
All the Mox, 0 mana stuff, Aether Vial, Chalice of the Void, Engineered Explosives, a bunch of 1 mana creatures, tokens in general and so on.
Plenty of stuff.
Exiling cards from graveyards is also a thing that matters in modern. Exiling cards so they cant Delve them away, good, exiling flashback stuff good, exiling spells in general good, Exiling creatures for dredge, Phoenix and the like, all good.
All the abilities are made to matter in modern and they are super fringe and either hit a "metagame" or they do absolutely nothing.
Its pretty much the absolute most metagame depended planeswalker ever made.
The card is even a "win-option" for a Lantern control deck, as you can easily exile stuff from the library, and it hits a lot of stuff that your Ensaring Bridge does not stop naturally.
----
Let me repeat, its a SUPER FRINGE planeswalker, but if it does what you want, it does it pretty well.
For the vast majority of casual Timmy players its a terrible card, but for the Spike that wants to win, it might be exactly what they are looking for.
Her -1 is relavant against most modern decks, and can be done three times. She's no liliana, but she's OK agaist somne specific decks du to the fact she exiles. Against KCI or lantern, she'd be doing work. Funny that she can take on Marit Lage.
Her -1 is not relevant against most Modern decks. Far too many of them don't play 1-drop permanents or 0-drop nonland permanents. For example, BGx Midrange rarely plays mana dorks, and the only one of those decks that plays tokens is Junk. (Cue the typical creature base being Bob, Goyf, Scavenging Ooze, 3+-cmc drops...) Uxy Control's only 0-1-drop permanents are in the sideboard. UR Storm's only permanents are lands and 2-drops. If Tron (any Tron) is leaving their cheap artifacts open, they are taking a large risk. Too many Arclight Phoenix builds don't play Monastery Swiftspear at all. Valakut builds aren't really maindecking Relic of Progenitus lately. Ad Nauseam can immediately pop its Lotus Blooms FTW too often. I could go on and on.
Her -1 does look better in an aggro meta, with its plentiful 0-1-drops. Affinity, Hardened Scales Robots, Collected Company decks, BR Hollow One, Dredge, Burn, Humans, and Spirits all have something to lose.
Well Dack Fayden already exists and he is just way better in that environment.
Dack is UR, Kaya is WB, so she fits in a hole in Vintage. But I don't see a deck that would want her over Chalice, Fragmentize, or more proactive cards (like some of the Eldrazi or D&T permanents in Vintage). But what do I know about Vintage.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
Her -1 does look better in an aggro meta, with its plentiful 0-1-drops. Affinity, Hardened Scales Robots, Collected Company decks, BR Hollow One, Dredge, Burn, Humans, and Spirits all have something to lose.
Granted I haven't played Modern in over a year already, but as a traditional Affinity player back then, I feel like this would only do some work if you're going first and dropped Kaya on turn 2 (following a mana dork). You would probably be dead if you spent turn 3 (even going first) removing the tiniest piece of the affinity board... and that's only if Ravager isn't there to convert it to a +1/+1 counter to begin with...
This is easily one of the most interesting planeswalker designs out there. Every other planeswalker (except Estrid, I guess) is at least vaguely interested in goodstuff. This is so weirdly specific that I can't help but love it.
And worse yet she doesnt even get a Planeswalker Deck card. ? Why only two decks (domri and dovin (both of which for PW Deck are pretty dece)
Cant even get a Kaya for a casual romp. Only this one which seems useful as a sideboard in hyper competitive. So Sad.
I feel like this should have cost just 1 hybrid mana instead.
Planeswalkers never have less than 2 colored mana symbols.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
As far as Kaya 2.0 goes: I like the design, definitely feels WB (not super Orzhov though) and it looks like it could be an allstar out of the board in very specific matchups.
How TF did WotC manage to make a worse PW than Tibalt???/ I didnt know that was possible...
... Was Tibalt Sideboard playable?
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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!
Most planeswalkers have an identifiable gameplay gimmick. Chandra likes to burn things, Gideon likes to join your creatures on the front lines, Sarkhan likes to make dragon tokens, and Kaya...likes to insist on being the most niche thing imaginable.
Personally, I like how they made Kaya (and to a lesser extend Dovin) more niche than other walkers. It's a lot more interesting than just making them the biggest possible bombs and I'm very fine with a sideboard-utility-walker.
You definitely can't just slam her into any W/B deck and be done with it, but she has her uses and can do quite some work in the right cases.
There is a difference between niche walkers and a walker having niche abilities. This walker has niche abilities but doesn't really fill a niche.
A good 3 CMC Niche Walker is Sarkhan, Fireblood where his first +1 is just good, his second +1 is dragon mana acceleration, and his ult just makes some dragons to finish the game. The niche is Dragons.
As for Dovin don't know why they didnt just give him 2 +1 Abilities like Sarkhan.
Without question. Kaya is niche and subpar, Tibalt is actually just bad even if he costs one less. I have yet to see someone make Tibalt useful, but Kaya is at worst meh and conditional (and the conditions to make her useful are more common than many expect, not plentiful by any stretch of the imagination, but more common than nonexistent like Tibalt).
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She's good at killing Marit Lage, though.
All the Mox, 0 mana stuff, Aether Vial, Chalice of the Void, Engineered Explosives, a bunch of 1 mana creatures, tokens in general and so on.
Plenty of stuff.
Exiling cards from graveyards is also a thing that matters in modern. Exiling cards so they cant Delve them away, good, exiling flashback stuff good, exiling spells in general good, Exiling creatures for dredge, Phoenix and the like, all good.
All the abilities are made to matter in modern and they are super fringe and either hit a "metagame" or they do absolutely nothing.
Its pretty much the absolute most metagame depended planeswalker ever made.
The card is even a "win-option" for a Lantern control deck, as you can easily exile stuff from the library, and it hits a lot of stuff that your Ensaring Bridge does not stop naturally.
----
Let me repeat, its a SUPER FRINGE planeswalker, but if it does what you want, it does it pretty well.
For the vast majority of casual Timmy players its a terrible card, but for the Spike that wants to win, it might be exactly what they are looking for.
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Her -1 is not relevant against most Modern decks. Far too many of them don't play 1-drop permanents or 0-drop nonland permanents. For example, BGx Midrange rarely plays mana dorks, and the only one of those decks that plays tokens is Junk. (Cue the typical creature base being Bob, Goyf, Scavenging Ooze, 3+-cmc drops...) Uxy Control's only 0-1-drop permanents are in the sideboard. UR Storm's only permanents are lands and 2-drops. If Tron (any Tron) is leaving their cheap artifacts open, they are taking a large risk. Too many Arclight Phoenix builds don't play Monastery Swiftspear at all. Valakut builds aren't really maindecking Relic of Progenitus lately. Ad Nauseam can immediately pop its Lotus Blooms FTW too often. I could go on and on.
Her -1 does look better in an aggro meta, with its plentiful 0-1-drops. Affinity, Hardened Scales Robots, Collected Company decks, BR Hollow One, Dredge, Burn, Humans, and Spirits all have something to lose.
Dack is UR, Kaya is WB, so she fits in a hole in Vintage. But I don't see a deck that would want her over Chalice, Fragmentize, or more proactive cards (like some of the Eldrazi or D&T permanents in Vintage). But what do I know about Vintage.
Granted I haven't played Modern in over a year already, but as a traditional Affinity player back then, I feel like this would only do some work if you're going first and dropped Kaya on turn 2 (following a mana dork). You would probably be dead if you spent turn 3 (even going first) removing the tiniest piece of the affinity board... and that's only if Ravager isn't there to convert it to a +1/+1 counter to begin with...
Planeswalkers never have less than 2 colored mana symbols.
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Except the ones who do :
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Just get OG conspiracy Kaya, Kaya, Ghost Assassin. She's actually quite good.
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You have no idea what you are talking about.
As far as Kaya 2.0 goes: I like the design, definitely feels WB (not super Orzhov though) and it looks like it could be an allstar out of the board in very specific matchups.
Spicy!
... Was Tibalt Sideboard playable?
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!
Anyway I love this card what a fun ultimate!
Shards of awful never
You definitely can't just slam her into any W/B deck and be done with it, but she has her uses and can do quite some work in the right cases.
W(W/U)U Ephara - Flash & Taxes W(W/U)U || B(B/G)G Meren - Circle of Life B(B/G)G
RGW Marath - Ever shifting Wilds RGW || (U/R)C(W/B) Breya - Artificial Dominion (U/R)C(W/B)
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A good 3 CMC Niche Walker is Sarkhan, Fireblood where his first +1 is just good, his second +1 is dragon mana acceleration, and his ult just makes some dragons to finish the game. The niche is Dragons.
As for Dovin don't know why they didnt just give him 2 +1 Abilities like Sarkhan.
This aint your girlfriends meta! This is a man's meta! TURBO META.