I ran my first cube draft in ages yesterday. I forced U/G and seeing as everyone was fine with it, I proxied up a Kiora and threw it into my U/G brew. It was a sort of controlling midrange affair with Vorapede and Aetherling as the big win-cons, and some nice filtering including Thassa (who is super with Kiora). Here are my first impressions:
Let's get the negative out of the way: Kiora is straight-up bad against aggro. She can redeem herself by blanking something like a Flametongue Kavu who's sitting there, but it's only temporary removal and the haste creatures give her fits. Nor is she of any use in an aggro deck. It's a bad investment of four mana, and my advice against aggro would be to cantrip instantly for the land and hope to do another [-1] next turn unless there's a nice 'removal' target.
Onto the positive: Both the [+1] and [-1] have good applications in control and midrange, and are useful against control and midrange as well. After getting some play time with Kiora, it's very clear why her starting loyalty is 2. She's all about the ultimate, and getting rid of her requires two dedicated threats; one is blanked by the plus ability. The plus ability being a form of removal is something extremely useful to the average Simic deck, one of whose defining characteristics is a lack of access to burn and kill spells. That removal is temporary and relatively ineffective compared to four mana worth of traditional removal, but as part of the package it's a great addition.
She is very vulnerable to burn on the turn she comes down, although this isn't a terrible result for the Simic player by any means. You still blanked a creature next turn for the cost deficit of two-three mana - not that shabby.
The ultimate is quick to attain and gives you an instant impact, unlike many emblems. A vanilla 9/9 is something easily underestimated despite the lack of evasion, as you aren't going to kill it through combat or burn. One every turn is obviously going to spell gg pretty fast.
The middle ability is the odd child here. It is very complimentary to the other pair of abilities, allowing you to dig for answers and, if you're lucky, accelerate towards a big creature all at once. This is the best answer if accelerating to the 9/9 ultimate is not an option. Kiora's first two abilities are not likely to have a huge effect on the board state, so she tends to sit there across turns and do her thing with 1-2 loyalty. Combined with the psychological hang-up of PW 'overkill' - attacking with a creature large enough to get through to the 'walker, but whose power is much greater than needed to kill it - she isn't really a priority target, but can accrue a good incremental advantage.
The verdict: I love this card, in terms of design. The abilities are individually not particularly potent and are functionally on different levels from one another, unlike someone like Xenagos, who has high synergy with himself. Despite this, it's a wonderful addition in every U/G deck I could brew up, especially for the midrange and control varieties. A huge hit on the card is the fact that it is very lacklustre in control's worst matchup. However in board states where you're even or ahead already, it is just great. It's one of the more easily attainable ultimates, up there with the likes of Sarkhan Vol, and it even protects itself better than the latter, hence the low starting loyalty. Even if you're behind, nullifying a creature each turn or cantripping you and maybe ramping a land into play is something to hold onto.
Overall, it's a strange package of abilities that happen to fit really well into most U/G decks, with the exception of tempo. It has one very weak matchup, but two excellent ones. Four mana is a lot, but it's a small investment IF you get it at the right moment. I also am not embarrassed to admit that I'm always a bit more likely to include a card with good art, and this is just awesome! I think Kiora is going to be one of those cards that varies for every group. Its performance vs. different archetypes is quite varied, so depending on each group's preference I can see this being ranked as high as #1 (yep, I said it), or not even making the top 5. For that reason, pitching a cube size number suggestion seems tricky. It's not the obvious all-star that Ral Zarek was but it could make a similar impact to refresh that old-ass Simic section.
Speaking of which, the current Simic options are fairly divisive. Swallower, Trygon and Mystic Snake have been in place for such a long time that the desire to replace them is understandable. I don't consider any of the three uncuttable, but they are all very good at what they do. Snake is unique as a counterspell-dude and I'm most inclined to keep that one. I think that Simic Sky Swallower's days are coming to an end, since the quality of the monocolour finishers and artifact finishers has improved recently. He'll be my cut for Kiora, and if Kruphix is good in JIN, then Trygon might be out too. That said, I'll be on the look out for a big green finisher to come in instead, preferably that elusive six drop.
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Goodking posted a message on [[SCD]] [BNG] Kiora, the Crashing WavePosted in: Cube Card and Archetype Discussion -
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kingneb posted a message on [[SCD]] [BNG] Kiora, the Crashing WaveWe got to draft with Kiora in my 540 powered on Friday. She only showed up in one draft & my neighbor got her second pick of the draft and was able to build around her. The player is an experienced Cuber and a very good Magic player. I got to watch parts of the matches she was in and it looked like she was doing some work. I'll let his tweets about her speak for his experiences:Posted in: Cube Card and Archetype Discussion
Tonight we tested Kiora in #mtgcube and I'm already confident that it is the new best card in Simic.
Example opening against RB was t1 Heirarch, t2 GSZ for wall of roots, t3 Kiora. She did Maze of Ith impersonation until 6 drops came online
I never managed to ultimate Kiora, but BR player had to spend burn to keep her down.
Next round against BW aggro I played t3 Kiora to lock down evil's Soltari Monk and survive until Prime Time took over.
I did get Kiora early to build around. But I'm pretty sure if I was green ramp I'd go into Blue to play her.
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I love testing almost every new walker that gets spoiled because it's tricky to judge how they will actually play. I was so focused on her being a double explore (an average Cube card at best) versus her being a constant Maze of Ith (a very good Cube card). As an aside to cards that I'm glad I tested I still (happily) play Ashiok and that's a card that most people didn't test or have already cut. It won me a match the other night. I think it's worth testing almost every walker in every Cube at 450 or higher to see if it fits in your environment. Early indications are that Kiora will fit in my 540. - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
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ophiomancer
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i'm right there w/ you MJ, creatures these days are just ridiculous. back in the day, Juzam Djinn was arguably the best creature in mtg & now... its a joke (but he's still got badass art). he's just retired drinking mai-tai's on the beach somewhere
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100% agree Sauce, card is truly that good. i have it in my micro degenerate cube
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100% agree about having more mana than not enuff. if someone ever hands me a deck to play, i almost always take out the worst card & add another land b/c i'd rather be able to play than not play @ all. however, 3 mana is pretty much the sweet spot for a low to the ground aggro deck. beyond that, the major difference between frontier explorer & Recruitment officer, is that the 1st has to tap to do its thing, while the latter does not. being able to continue to turn the creature sideways to apply pressure vs having to choose to activate is a really big deal; the officer @ least allows you to do both
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here ya go Monkey, the + & or - # is in the weird little box w/ the pointed section @ the top or the bottom depending on if you tick the loyalty up or or tick it down
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also, not sure how up to date the list is on page 1 of the thread, but wouldnt hero's downfall be better than dismember? you've already got a few -x/-x effects w/ mutilate & toxic deluge & being able to hit planeswalkers is nice. besides, how often are you really needing to kill a creature in the 1st cpl of turns before you actually have the mana to cast dismember w/o losing life & @ that pt, you could just spend the 3 mana & cast hero's downfall.
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asmallcat said that they ranked clamp higher but i like the copter better; i'd rather my threats not die & still draw cards. clamp is really a combo enabler, than an actual equipment/vehicle.
the reason i mentioned that to dschumm, was b/c he said that he removed the swords from his cube b/c he was tired of "protection". i believe that "protection" can lead to some un-fun game interactions, so i try to avoid those when i'm trying to have fun w/ my friends. i dont ever want someone to have a bad time playing a game w/ their buddies, b/c to be honest none of us has enuff free time to do the things we enjoy... thats my approach to EDH as well, sure i could make my decks "better" (read more competitive) but i want my friends to have a good time too. that being said, if we're playing in a tournament, then all bets are off, once $$ is paid, then i dont really care about my opponents having fun b/c i'm trying to win, its just a difference in mentality based on the situation
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