{+1} Look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal a creature or a land card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of the library in a random order.
{-3} Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or creature with flying.
{-8} You get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +2/+2 and have vigilance, trample and indestructible."
{5}
..........
Vivien is pretty solid. She's a card advantage engine with her {+1} that can grab more bodies to defend herself or secure more lands to hit more top-end cards. Her {-3} ability can provide a clutch Naturalize when needed or can kill an opponent's flying creature with her Plummet trigger. And she has a pretty powerful ultimate that will win games in conjunction with her {+1} that has secured multiple additional bodies.
I don't think she's going to push Nissa, Worldwaker out of cubes that are using her to support a super-ramp package, but in a generic value midrange deck she might be better than a card like Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury in decks that aren't ramping hard.
Her high starting loyalty, clutch utility trigger and reliable card-advantage ability that doesn't require you to overcommit might make her the best generic 5cc planeswalker in green, replacing the Garruk, Primal Hunter that held that belt before.
Even though this planeswalker feels uninspired, it's quite decent for 540+ cube. I like the Return to the Earth effect. I just don't like the fact it seems hard to activate more than one time in a game. If you already either run Nissa, Vital Force, Garruk, Primal Hunter or Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury, Vivien can replace one of them and be serviceable. Not sure if she's really better than Vital Force though. I guess she's arguably better in heavy creature decks, but VitalForce excels in Midrange and Control strategies that run powerful nonland permanent removals such as Oblivion Ring, Song of the Dryads, Vedalken Shackles or stuff like the Nemesis' Parallax.
Overall, I beleive she competes for the 5th best green planeswalker out there. The strong ultimate (kind of a mix between Domri Rade, Elspeth, Sun's Champion and Elspeth, Knight-Errant) and its ability to also Plummet something help in that matter. It's not everyday we see a Planeswalker with a reliable removal ability, especially in the green color pie, Garruk Relentless being the only one, right?
I think -3 is a lot for Naturalize + Plummet. Not being able to defend herself is huge and I don't think she's any better than Garruk, Primal Hunter / Nissa, Vital Force as a generic 5-cmc walker. She's definitely the green version of Jace, Unraveler of Secrets / Ob Nixilis Reignited, and we know how mediocre those are.
Yeah I'm not super impressed. CMC 5 green cards is a tough section to crack and this doesn't really do enough for me. If it was a bit more unique or build-around or aggressive or etc I might be more inclined, but that's a pretty 'blah' set of abilities.
If Jace Unraveler of Secrets and Ob Nixilis Reignited fit your cube's power level, this prob will too.
I don’t think she’s terrible. Her only real weakness is ground creatures, and that’s usually something that green decks are usually capable of handling. The +1 is about on par with Jace, Unraveler of Secrets, a strong bar to clear for a nonblue planeswalker. Mostly I just wish her -3 were a -2 so she could be a legitimate Naturalize machine or that her -8 were a -7 to really put the test to your opponent.
Seems very solid, but uninteresting.
High loyalty ++
+1 creature/land impulse is fair bit better than "draw a card"
-3 there are plenty of targets for the naturalize/plummet ability... It helps that flyers are something green struggles with. Given how expensive the opportunity cost is for using it, probably won't want to use it on a random mana rock. Would want to hit a high value target.
-8 Ultimate is game winning in a deck with a lot of creatures.
Doesn't defend itself well, and is a pretty weak card against agressive decks... Although, if you can accelerate into it quickly, it probably has to be dealt with asap. Just two activations and you dig 8 cards deep for your thragtusk or whatever. Also naturalizing a sword, an Oring or a Sulfuric vortex can be clutch.. so its not totally dead.
Yes, the five mana Garruk and the two nissas defend themselves and have a higher intial board impact on average, making this the #4 PW at her mana cost at best.
Seems like a solid card but I think I prefer Nissa, Worldwaker for my list.
Her high loyalty and card advantage are interesting but she lacks the ability to protect herself the turn she comes down unless you have spare mana to cast whatever she hits. Artifact destruction is pretty sweet but it feels so expensive in terms of loyalty but the plummet stapled to it probably accounts for it feeling so pricy, am I undervaluing the effect?
Does her design also feel a bit generic? +1 is generic green card advantage, -3 is generally useful but apart from the flying part nothing new, and her ultimate feels like something that could be slapped on any green walker. What is her identity? As far as I can see the only thing that sets her apart from the general green walker is she shoot fliers, the art really feels like she should be summoning spirit wolves as her +1.
On an unrelated note something about the name Vivien Reid feels very non-magical to me, I think it's because I picture a larger Australian man rather than a sleight Elven lady.
I would be excited for this at four mana, possibly with a lower starting loyalty, but paying 5 for a slow card draw engine isn't where I usualy want to be, and while the flexibility of the disenchant is nice, I feel like the card will often times just shoot something and die. I think it may be slightly better than it looks at first glance, as digging four cards deep is powerful, but I'd rather have my 5+CMC cards pressure the opponent, or help catch up, and this does neither particularily well, unless you curve into it.
They left out the part where Yawgmoth is resurrected,but has been cleansed as Yawgmoth the Redeemed,and now must awaken Chromium so that Karn can fuse with him and create what can only be known as : the ultimate taco.
This walker doesn't excite me, feels very much like green Ob Noxilis, Reignited as some have already mentioned. I like the board advantage that other green 5 mana walkers can produce over the card advantage she can create. Pass.
Meh. I happen to have a copy of Freyalise, so I'll stick with that, even if I open Vivien. Llanowar Elves tokens are just cooler than anything this does. This planeswalker is a bit bland.
I've been testing Vivien for the past 5-6 months or so, and she has performed well enough to earn a semi-permanent home.
Have enough reps now that I would confidently recommend her for powered cubes in the 540+ zone. (Low tier @ 540, clear include @720).
I'd rank her as the #2 5 mana green planeswalker, and between #4 - #6 green planeswalker overall.
She's slightly better in powered cubes than unpowered cubes... would maybe prefer Garruk Primal hunter in unpowered.. but definitly not in powered.
While she appears to be another vanilla ob nixilis variant, IMO that undersells her value.
The +1 is ~draw 1.5 cards in value, and in a powered cube, I'd estimate the -3 is about equal or greater to destroy target creature (95%-110% as good). Using the additional option of killing a flier comes up frequently in gameplay, and naturalize is a very good effect in powered cubes.
3GG
{+1} Look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal a creature or a land card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of the library in a random order.
{-3} Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or creature with flying.
{-8} You get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +2/+2 and have vigilance, trample and indestructible."
{5}
..........
Vivien is pretty solid. She's a card advantage engine with her {+1} that can grab more bodies to defend herself or secure more lands to hit more top-end cards. Her {-3} ability can provide a clutch Naturalize when needed or can kill an opponent's flying creature with her Plummet trigger. And she has a pretty powerful ultimate that will win games in conjunction with her {+1} that has secured multiple additional bodies.
I don't think she's going to push Nissa, Worldwaker out of cubes that are using her to support a super-ramp package, but in a generic value midrange deck she might be better than a card like Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury in decks that aren't ramping hard.
Her high starting loyalty, clutch utility trigger and reliable card-advantage ability that doesn't require you to overcommit might make her the best generic 5cc planeswalker in green, replacing the Garruk, Primal Hunter that held that belt before.
Thoughts?
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Overall, I beleive she competes for the 5th best green planeswalker out there. The strong ultimate (kind of a mix between Domri Rade, Elspeth, Sun's Champion and Elspeth, Knight-Errant) and its ability to also Plummet something help in that matter. It's not everyday we see a Planeswalker with a reliable removal ability, especially in the green color pie, Garruk Relentless being the only one, right?
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If Jace Unraveler of Secrets and Ob Nixilis Reignited fit your cube's power level, this prob will too.
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High loyalty ++
+1 creature/land impulse is fair bit better than "draw a card"
-3 there are plenty of targets for the naturalize/plummet ability... It helps that flyers are something green struggles with. Given how expensive the opportunity cost is for using it, probably won't want to use it on a random mana rock. Would want to hit a high value target.
-8 Ultimate is game winning in a deck with a lot of creatures.
Doesn't defend itself well, and is a pretty weak card against agressive decks... Although, if you can accelerate into it quickly, it probably has to be dealt with asap. Just two activations and you dig 8 cards deep for your thragtusk or whatever. Also naturalizing a sword, an Oring or a Sulfuric vortex can be clutch.. so its not totally dead.
Probably worth looking at for larger cubes
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Her high loyalty and card advantage are interesting but she lacks the ability to protect herself the turn she comes down unless you have spare mana to cast whatever she hits. Artifact destruction is pretty sweet but it feels so expensive in terms of loyalty but the plummet stapled to it probably accounts for it feeling so pricy, am I undervaluing the effect?
Does her design also feel a bit generic? +1 is generic green card advantage, -3 is generally useful but apart from the flying part nothing new, and her ultimate feels like something that could be slapped on any green walker. What is her identity? As far as I can see the only thing that sets her apart from the general green walker is she shoot fliers, the art really feels like she should be summoning spirit wolves as her +1.
On an unrelated note something about the name Vivien Reid feels very non-magical to me, I think it's because I picture a larger Australian man rather than a sleight Elven lady.
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Have enough reps now that I would confidently recommend her for powered cubes in the 540+ zone. (Low tier @ 540, clear include @720).
I'd rank her as the #2 5 mana green planeswalker, and between #4 - #6 green planeswalker overall.
She's slightly better in powered cubes than unpowered cubes... would maybe prefer Garruk Primal hunter in unpowered.. but definitly not in powered.
While she appears to be another vanilla ob nixilis variant, IMO that undersells her value.
The +1 is ~draw 1.5 cards in value, and in a powered cube, I'd estimate the -3 is about equal or greater to destroy target creature (95%-110% as good). Using the additional option of killing a flier comes up frequently in gameplay, and naturalize is a very good effect in powered cubes.
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