Ranking the Planeswalkers 4: 50-41

We're back from the exciting Aether Revolt spoilers for commander to talk about another ten walkers for commander. We're getting into some options today with the halfway point but we're still looking at the 40 after this.



50: Nahiri, the Litomancer

Poor Nahiri just escaped the last list but barely. The heavy equipment decks really want her and even some voltron builds that may not have access to green. With Nahiri you can make decent sized blockers with her plus and with the right sword they can have protection from opponents. That gives her a big leg up over Ob Nixilis with his wimpy 5/5 demon.
Her Minus gives white something it normally doesn't have which is recursion from the yard for equipments. Without a regrowth effect it's fairly difficult to reanimate in white or white/blue. I really like the minus when used something like Batterskull.
He ultimate is gain a big equipment that gets bounced.

Ok, sure if you swing with it you have a good amount of damage going through but there is no reason an equipment that gives plus 10 damage a turn shouldn't have trample on it. I get that it's not a white mechanic but ultimates are supposed to make it so you don't get chump blocked by 1/1 dorks forever.

Score: 48/100

Played in: Equipment.Dec, Voltron decks.



49: Saheeli Rai

There is quite the buzz around this lady and her ability to go infinite with her minus and the right card but other than that I don't see much appeal. Her plus basically scrys. In a 40 life format the one damage isn't much, and hell I've faced her in sealed before and the plus wasn't much. The minus two is where it's interesting because with the right cards (Felidar Guardian or mycosynth lattice) you could just win the game on the spot but it really needs a deck to be built around it in order to utilize it.

The ultimate is interesting since you can tutor up another infinite but if you're deck is already focused on that I feel like it would be easier to just infinite with her minus two rather than that. She's an artifact planeswalker that does something else instead. And I'm not sure that's good enough since her interaction with artifacts isn't great and her infinites can be done in easier methods since she's often a dead card in those decks when you don't have the combo.


Score: 49/100

Played in: Infinite artifact.Dec




48: Garruk, Apex Predator

Another 400 mana planeswalker.
I find him most similar to Bolas, both change the game in your favor if they stick but I went with Garruk over him for a few reasons. First, he can put in creatures to defend himself. Bolas can steal the biggest creature on the board but this brings him down to only 3 loyalty while Garruk gains loyalty to defend himself. Garruk and Bolas both plus to kill walkers which is sweet but Bolas can kill more than just walkers with his so the point goes to him. Both Garruk and Bolas pretty much kill an opponent with their ults but with Garruk there is pretty much no recovering from that unless you can win on your very next turn. So the main difference really came down to cmc and color combination. Garruk cost less mana and is less color restrictive. Also helps that he's in green so the possibility of ramping into him is much easier
Both help you out dramatically when they are cast but I feel like Garruk isn't dead in your hand as long as Bolas is. But the fact that he could take forever to cast and by then it could just be too late with three opponents having a few turns to amass presence makes him in the bottom half.

Score: 50/100
Played in: Decks where 7 mana isn't a huge deal.




47: Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

Poor Beefslab. His best card just barely beat out Garurk's worst.
Our resident 12 foot tall planeswalker killing badass at his worst is on par with Gideon's best in commander. Let that sink in...


Anyway Beefslab here actually is ok. He can make blockers forever and can ult on the spot giving your team a nice boost for the rest of the game. However that's about it. It fits well with the Gideon giving heartfilled speeches to troops to give them a massive +1 boost for the rest of the game but in the end Garruk just kills him in every way. Sorry Gideon, you're just the posterboy for 60 Standard and not so much for commander.


Score: 50/100

Played in: Anthems and white weenie decks




46: Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

Even more Zendikar!

Nissa is slightly different. She seems like a more solid Ajani with her ability to pump up the whole team and make blockers forever. Sure they can't swing but they work ok with the pump ability. The ability to come down turn 2 when make a blocker and then pump up the rest of your army later seems solid but hardly impressive. Without a dedicated deck that has focus in making creatures bigger she will probably just stick to the sidelines.

Score: 52/100

Played in: +1 Counter heavy decks









45: Nissa, Vastwood Seer
Is sylvan ranger a mythic? Oh well, that's not what matters. Nissa works fairly well in the ramp forever deck. Once you hit 7 lands she pretty much becomes a Phyrexian Arena with an upside. Her plus will either net you a land on the field or a card in the hand, either way that's pretty decent. The minus gives you a decent blocker but by the time you have 7 lands on the field I'm hoping you have something more worthwhile to block with. The ultimate is irrelevant because turning your mana sources into creatures so they can die to wipes is shit. You could always target opponents lands but it's fairly hard to creature wipe in green, which is where you'll normally find Nissa. Just treat her like a draw outlet every turn and you'll be just fine.

Score: 53/100
Played in: Decks where 7 lands isn't a big deal. Probably with Fastbond or something





44: Elspeth Tirel

With Sun's Champion being a card there really isn't much reason to run this card but I'll talk about her even with the other much better version. You won't be seeing other Elspeth for a bit....

Anyway, her plus is meh because you need creatures in order for it to do anything in the first place so depending on yourself to have board presence is never good. The minus two is good because now you have a ton of blockers but now elspeth is at two loyalty and will die to a strong wind. The ultimate is sweet if you can reach it but the amount of time it takes to get there you really should just play the other Elspeth. Who I will be talking about.....


Not now, are you crazy? That card is sweet.

Score: 54/100
Played in: Decks that can't find Sun's Champion




43: Liliana, the Last Hope
While I think this card is pretty good I don't think it's useful outside of the first few turns of a game. Lets say you get her out turn 2/3 against someone, you can plus and take out any Llanowar elf, Birds of paradise, Dark Confidant, Aven Mindcensor. Even if you don't take it out you still make it much weaker until your next turn. That's kinda like defending yourself but not really.
The minus is ok but often you want access to any card, not just the creatures and this Lili really seems like she would shine in mono black where getting a demonic tutor or toxic deluge would help her out far more.
The ultimate is sweet because it is very likely to win you the game but you need lili to stay on board for 4 turns just using her plus so I don't see that happening against three other players. While I think she's decent as the game goes on her usefulness just lowers.

Score: 55/100
Played in: Mono black control




42: Arlinn Kord

I'll be honest, I almost forgot this card existed. Arlinn can transform at will while protecting or killing something so that's sweet but the rest of her abilities don't really do enough. With the human side you can make one creature pumped but it's just one turn and the counters won't stick. The werewolf side has a decent plus but requires a good sized army to be great. My problem with that is you need a full turn to switch back and forth to adjust to the situation you may have and by then it could/should change to something else. Waiting a full turn to use another ability that could not even be relevant anymore just seems too weak.
Score: 55/100
Played in: Creature heavy decks



41: Ral Zarek

We're at the halfway point with one of the three good cards in Dragon's Maze (Other two are Voice of Resurgence and it's token).
Ral is decent, he comes down and can kill a good amount of early creatures. His plus is decent since you can untap your own mana rocks or dorks or untap something after combat. You can also tap down something of your opponents and cut off mana or a creature from blocks. Most of his plus use is in Stasis style decks where you can keep mana sources open to pay for Stasis for the game while your opponents never untap. Also works well with Winter Orb and Static Orb effects so you can untap some more resources and tap down opponents resource.
The ultimate is probably my favorite in the game. While not reliably in any way taking extra turns via flip is just fun and can easily result in some wins. The main problem is it doesn't work as well in the Stax decks that he seems to usually be in.
He gets a lower score because most stax decks don't fall into the Izzet colors with a lot of them needing black or white.

Score 60/100
Played in: Keranos and other stax decks



Don't forget to put in your prediction for what the top ten walkers will be in my Giveaway here:
http://diestodoomblade.blogspot.com/2017/01/ranking-planeswalkers-giveaway.html


Anyway, those are the walkers I'm reviewing today.
Any you're surprised haven't made the list yet?
How about any that you didn't expect to see yet?
Let me know what you think and let's start a discussion


DoomBlade, Signing out



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