Ranking the Planeswalkers 5: 40-31

Here we are with part 5 of ranking every walker in commander. We're getting to some good cards today and while the others mentioned before were more niche and some were plan bad we're getting to cards that may have multiple options in multiple decks. These ten here I all consider pretty decent but not quite the super best the format has to offer. They have spots in decks but not quite as many as the ones we will see later.

Anyway, enough of that, lets start the second half with number 40!



40: Jace, Architect of Thought

This may be a controversial pick. Some people have Mark Hamill here as one of their favorites and swear by him. Others think he' s just outside the bottom worst. Personally for me he's just middle of the road. The plus seems better than previous entries and he shrinks entire armies so he can live longer. While the minus often gives you the best card from your top three or two decent out of those. With that he's ok at protecting himself. He also falls into the walkers that can ultimate right away with doubling season.
But why stop there? Land Wheel of Sun and Moon and when Jace dies you can search for him again since he goes into your library. Get him out and double his counters and repeat, searching for every card in your opponents libraries.
Kinda nonsensical and don't count on it actually happening in more competitive tables but this interaction is hilarious.


Score: 62/100
Played in: Superfriends, Bant control, Fog decks, Mono Blue control



39: Ajani, Vengeant
The final Ajani is here at last. Which naturally means I hate Ajani and am super biased towards him. Or maybe, Ajani is more meant for 60 card formats rather than commander. Anyway he's pretty ok. Both his first two abilities can protect him while messing with opponents resources. His first ability has been done better though by walkers coming up later. His second can gain life and kill things but isn't often going to kill problematic creatures. And his ult only takes card of one player. While overall he's solid since all his abilities are often relevant it's just a little underwhelming. Still has homes in control or aggro but probably a little niche in those.

Score: 62/100

Played in: Aggro, Jeskai control, Boros LD






38: Garruk Relentless

Garruk here is pretty ok. The main thrill is he comes in and kills something like Fauna shaman, Yisan, Dark Confidant, and then he flips into his real walker. There you can make blockers with Deathtouch or better yet sacrifice creatures to search up any creature. This ability works super well with his plus since you can make a token and then search up whatever you want. Problem with that is when cards like Fauna shaman, Survival of the fittest, Yisan, Birthing pod, Chord of calling, and Green Sun exist it's hard to include Garruk outside of token based strategies as well. And even then there are better options

Score: 63/100

Played in: Creature Based token decks.







37: Vraska the Unseen

Back when this card came out I traded a foil Liliana of the Veil for Vraska the Unseen in foil.

Oops

What can I say? This card is so cool and one of my favorite designs on a walker ever made. The problem is while she can protect herself with her plus and nuke pretty much anything with her minus that impact isn't worth the five mana investment.
Maelstrom pulse does the same thing and can also wipe all tokens and sol rings off the board for just 3 mana and plusing her to her ult just isn't worth it since you're not really impacting the board.
With Doubling season you can drop her and make 6 tokens but you also can't do anything with them until next turn unless you set up more. Even then it's easy to take them out with a well placed Toxic Deluge.
While I think this card is super cool and I may have placed her way too high because of that I still don't think she's super good.

Score: Too Legit to quit/100

Played in: My binder (But Golgari midrange too)


36: Garruk, Caller of Beasts

Green Beefslab is pretty good. In the right decks his plus can often net you 2/3 cards (Sometimes more) and his minus can throw in a devastating card at discounted mana or if you don't want it countered.
Craterhoof, Terastodon, Avenger of Zendikar, Progenitus (Why not) can all be cheated into play to protect Garruk and even win the game. The problem here is the 6 mana isn't really worth it. Sure you can early drop something but in green you often don't have issues reaching more than that. The plus is decent to get some more cards but you're leaving Garruk more open that way. So either you already have some creatures on board or you didn't really need to cast him anyway.
The ultimate is fantastic though and will likely win you the game. Just think it may take too long to get there and 6 mana is steep when you can just hard cast tooth and nail shortly after.



Score: 64/100

Played in: Mono Green beats

 35: Tamiyo, Field Researcher

I think this Tamiyo is far more powerful than every other card mentioned today (Even higher entries) and some of the entries in the next list. Problem is the 3 colors makes it hard to find a slot for her.

I'm sure Derevi, Rafiq, Atraxa, and Angus will find room for her but sadly there isn't anywhere else she can really fit in.
That ultimate wins the game so she also fits in doubling season decks too. She draws cards with her plus or your opponents could not attack. Or attack with your own to draw cards. All the abilities are relevant. Just the lack of decks she can go in makes her worse than she is.

Score: 64/100

Played in: Pretty much all the decks that she can fit in.





34: Kiora, Master of the depths

Do I have to keep mentioning which walkers work well with Doubling season?
I like Kiora more than other walkers before her because she can be used as ramp and protection with her plus or used to utilize utility creatures like Arcanis.
Her Minus two is also like a slightly better/worse forbidden alchemy. Netting two cards rather than one from your top 4 is good but not being able to choose other cards you could want more and the potential of missing a land or creature makes it have less impact than I'd hope. Overall decent but not quite the Simic walker we're looking for.

Score: 65/100

Played in: Ramp into fatties decks







33: Chandra, Pyromaster

I love Outpost Siege. It's a great draw outlet for Mono Red and Chandra is just a better version of that.  Netting a card every turn is great for red decks or ones without access to card draw. The plus can both kill small creatures or allow you to take something out of combat so you can alpha strike that player out of the game. The ultimate is a gamble but hilarious in an Izzet deck where you can hit multiple time walks in the top for easy wins. The main problem is the ultimate works very well with blue while the other abilities work more for non blue decks. Overall decent but doesn't seem to have as good fits as the other walkers.

Score: 65/100

Played in: Mostly Mono Red or two color decks. Izzet/Gruul




32: Domri Rade

Domri fits the Gruul game style very well. You want a metric shit ton of creatures in the deck so you never miss with the plus and they can be used to kill other creatures.
Yell "Not Gruul? THEN DIE" and continue using Domri to net creatures and use those creatures to take out other less scary creatures. The ultimate is great for Gruul as well since you just now how creatures that are damage dealing maniacs. Problem with Domri is that while the work in Gruul creature based decks is amazing there is literally no where else Domri fits in. But Domri does that role so well that I put this card decently high on the list.

Score: 65/100
Played in: Gruul decks where I don't know Domri's Gender





31: Liliana of the Dark Realms

Liliana of the realms is different than the other one's Wizards has made. While I feel like she's better than the two mentioned so far there are certainly better options. However Lili here does a very strong role for the Mono black decks (Kinda like Garruk for green) She can make sure you don't miss land drops and either pump up your Blight Dragon to take someone out or kill a creature. Both of those modes are very relevant for what Mono Black wants to do. The Ultimate doesn't really have much use as Mono Black will not have a problem generating insane mana with Crypt Ghast, Coffers/Urborg and the usual suspects running around but I don't think anyone will complain if they can get it off and be able to drain someone for four times the amount of an Exsanguinate.

Score: 68/100

Played in: Mono Black Stax/Control



And there you have it. These walkers here all feel about the same power level and have a decent slot in a few decks. While they're seen a lot less than the ones we're going into soon I feel like they do have homes in a few decks. Consider them if you have an extra slot to try out.

So that's todays list. Any you expected to see already? Any you're surprised to see so low? Let me know what you think and lets start a discussion.

Also be sure to enter the Giveaway I have posted here.
http://diestodoomblade.blogspot.com/2017/01/ranking-planeswalkers-giveaway.html

 There isn't too much time left as we're almost done ranking every walker




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