Lets look at the Commander Ban list part two

Before I posted the previous article I was told that it would be a trap subject. Regardless of what my opinion on things may be, if I've played with them before in the past or not there would be flack from tons of people. While everything I write is opinion based and naturally there will be disagreement I can't believe how much discussion it started. While there was some negative talks a lot of it was positive and that's what I like to see. I wasn't planning on doing part two so soon but I'm excited to bring it out now.

Some things to note were I was probably too lenient on bannings last time. I don't want them all unbanned at the same time but the ones that I'm not sure why they're banned I think could have a test period. I'm sure most of them will fail and get thrown right back in ban prison but if even one or two cards get freed from their unjust confinement then it's still a win...except Library of Alexandria. I've said some dumb things before but man, that card should never be unbanned.


Also, I'm aware there is only one ban list and it's for a casual EDH format. I'm discussing the format from the views of someone who likes to play more cutthroat decks and probably kicks children in his spare time.


Anyway, let's finish off this list and I have a surprise for you all at the end of the article, something that I've been wanting to do for blogs for a good while and something that I hope will set this blog apart from others.







PANOPTIC MIRROR

Casual: This was recently an errata for Commander. It reads "If your opponent doesn't have an answer, you win"
Safe to say this needs to stay banned. You could argue that Soulfire Grandmaster does the same thing but then you're forcing yourself into at least three colors, creatures are easier to kill than artifacts most of the time, and it's, even more, mana in one turn to do it so I think that's fair. Infinite turns is crazy strong.

Competitive: I'm not sure if this falls into too oppressive when the table is trying to kill each other in the first few turns. I think it could shake the format a little bit but deserves some looking at before.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Test it out






PRIME TIME

Casual: This guy was banned because he frequently became the focus of any game and was often stolen, cloned, and abused to all hell. While I think there is certainly a case for him to be unbanned I'm not sure that the casual Commander players want every game to be whoever gets this out first and abuses it for wins.

Competitive: Prime Time would likely see a good amount of play as a higher CMC card for land focused decks. I'm sure that he would absolutely be a threat to the table when he lands since he can get Strip mine, Wasteland, Gaea's Cradle, The Tabernacle at Pendrells vale, and plenty of powerful lands to sway the favor of the game. I'm not sure that's quite enough to be considered oppressive in a format where Ad Naseum, Hermit Druid, and Necropotence reign supreme.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Unban





PROPHET OF KRUPHIX

Casual: The most recent banning and I don't really disagree. Like Prime Time most games became focused around who got her out first, copied, and abused her. Unless someone wipes the board and then it's likely that one player flashes out a Mystic Snake to stop it. In casual it was too strong and made sense for it to be removed.

Competitive: There are plenty of generals who would love for this to come back. Thrasios, Momir Vig, Maelstrom Wanderer all seem like decks in where she would shine and I think for competitive games she was perfectly ok.
At five cmc she is often the high end of the curve and when destroyed would set back the player casting her a lot. Sure she could spiral out of control with a player untapping and having a card advantage engine but competitive decks are built to handle that.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Unban





PROTEAN HULK

Casual: You could argue that players can do cool plays with this card rather than kill the table. But the fact that this guy ends the game in the right decks is enough to keep him on the banned list forever for me. Pair him with Flash and the game is over.

Competitive: At least you can interact with Academy Rectory and Flash. You could always exile the Rector in the graveyard or blow up the Omniscience in response to whatever card they play (Assuming it's not Enter the Infinite). It's hard to come back but it's certainly possible. With hulk, nope, whole combo on board and it's over. At least it has fun flavor text.


Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Ban






RECURRING NIGHTMARE

Casual: I think in certain situations this could be ok. However; it's super easy to abuse this card even in casual to the point where it may be too oppressive. I think it warrens a test to see how bullshit it possibly could be.

Competitive: Probably more safe as an unbanning. It could easily cause infinities but that's what competitive decks are meant to do so it's likely a safe unban there. At least worth a test considering I think it may be ok for casual as well.

Verdict:
Casual: Test but probably ban
Competitive: Test but probably unban









ROFELLOS, LLANOWAR EMISSARY

Casual: Removal of banned as commander was dumb. Rofellos is super powerful but in the 99 he's perfectly ok. Before the removal of our sacred list, he wasn't causing problems. He just wants to part in the forest with his friends.


Competitive: In competitive, I think Yisan is the better Mono Green general since he can just combo out with the deck while Rofellos is casting Eldrazi. Both are powerful but Yisan will end the game with his sequence.
Also, Selvala has been printed since then while not as powerful she hasn't been destroying the meta by a long shot (I still love you Selvala)

Verdict:
Casual: Banned as commander
Competitive: Unbanned






SHAHRAZAD

Casual: This should just be banned. Two mana spells that can take multiple hours to resolve and can be reused over and over is not too powerful for anything but just not meant for the format.

Competitive: I don't care if you can finish games within 10-15 minutes. This shouldn't be unbanned because it's just a troll card.


Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Ban










SUNDERING TITAN

Casual: I'll let my unnatural bias and love for this card slide. I think this may be too strong for casual games. It's not hard to get him out and destroy plenty of lands and flicker to stop land drops from ever happening. Plus the colorless aspect of the card means it goes in everything.

Competitive: Ummm...I'm a little torn. While the 8 mana is a lot the possibility to kill up to ten lands that aren't yours every time seems powerful. I think it deserves a test to see how insane it is in a competitive group but wouldn't be surprised if it's too strong.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Test

SWAY OF THE STARS

Casual: This card is stupid. I think ten mana spells that don't even really help you and just make the game up to this point entirely pointless are just a waste of time so similar to Shahrazad before it I think it should stay banned. Sure you could float mana and get ahead but it's much harder when you don't know what seven you'll get.

Competitive: Other than Jhoira I can't think of any deck that would want to play this. Sure it's annoying in casual but there is no point to play this in competitive at all. Unless you wanna troll people in which case you're gonna lose anyway.


Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Unban









SYLVAN PRIMORDIAL

Casual: The old Prime time syndrome where a card is copied, stolen, and blinked to absolute shit for abuse. Banning it in casual formats makes total sense. Even if I hate losing it from my Reanimator deck...sigh.


Competitive: 7 mana is a bunch for this guy and outside of dedicated ramp or reanimator decks it likely wouldn't see play. Blowing up three resources and getting three of your own is far from broken in a competitive group so I think this guy slides by just fine.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Unban






TIME VAULT

Casual: Infinite turns in pretty much any deck, and as early as turn one with a god hand? Yeah, this should totally be banned.

Competitive: Infinite turns in pretty much any deck, and as early as turn one with a god hand? Yeah, this should totally be banned.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Ban











TINKER

Casual: Turn one into a Blightsteel Colossus is way too strong. Being able to vomit artifacts out is far easier than creatures and Tinker is blue and lower CMC than Natural order. While Natural Order is certainly strong it isn't going to be bringing in Blightsteel


Competitive: Umm...probably too strong. The possibility of a turn one Blightsteel is even more likely in a competitive meta where there are far more mana rocks. I'm not sure there are better options than Blightsteel as a tinker target but killing people on turn two is something competitive decks do anyway, that's my only hesitation.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Probably ban






TOLARIAN ACADEMY

Casual: Gaea's Cradle is pretty strong already but not super oppressive. Academy can tap for more, earlier, faster, and more consistently.
Also. blue mana is clearly better than green.

Competitive: Adding a land that can tap for 4 mana pretty easy on turn one is like adding Library of Alexandria to the format. Only a complete idiot would think that's ok.

Verdict:
Casual: No
Competitive: No way







TRADE SECRETS

Casual: It's funny that a commander set card is banned. And I'm A-ok with this one. Yeah, it's too easy to just draw your whole deck with someone wanting the game to end. Some people can't be bartered with, they just want to watch the world burn.

Competitive: I think this could be ok since there isn't really any trolling going on in competitive tables and it's just a draw four and target opponent who's losing will draw two. It's likely not gonna go past that. I may be giving people too much credit.


Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Probably unban. This card is stupid





UPHEAVAL

Casual: Like Sway this will reset the board but now you'll more mana open for crazy things. Also works well with things like Oblivion ring effects to make it more degenerate. But the main thought is board resets are too powerful for regular Commander.

Competitive: This is borderline for me. While six mana is a ton the effect it brings is absurd. Probably too absurd and if you can get it to resolve, float some mana you'll likely be winning the game. And blue decks are pretty much the only thing that can interact with Upheaval so I think this is a safe ban.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Ban





WORLDFIRE
Casual: Like Sway and Upheaval this guy is no go. Another reset that makes the game pretty much a crap shot to win unless you have an oblivion ring effect. But once again, the reset and often making the game up to that point not matter at all makes sense why this card is banned.

Competitive: Like Sway this probably wouldn't see any play outside of Jhoira decks. Being able to cheat it in followed by any creature would easily win games but other than that deck I don't see why it would be played. And helping Jhoira out wouldn't have been the worst since she's far from the bogeyman she used to be years ago

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Unban




YAWGMOTH'S BARGAIN

Casual: Shame that the final card has to be such a clear cut insane monster but that's the way the alphabet works. Bargain could be considered worse or better than Griselbrand but the fact that it can be compared to Griselbrand is reason enough that it should never be unbanned. Drawing until you get an answer or a win is just broken.

Competitive: No, even at six mana this is far too strong. Like I said before the ability to just draw until you get an answer or combo just makes it far too strong.

Verdict:
Casual: No
Competitive: Ok....no just kidding.






And that's my analysis on the ban list. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Am I stupid? That seems to be a popular train of thought these days.


AND FINALLY

Here's what I've been working on, now that you have my opinion on these cards I want to hear yours.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1xzUspjtolL6_YNtVypcKFlvg7t7cTrnJQGycRm1orLE/edit?usp=forms_home&ths=true


Follow that link to a survey in which you can put down what you think should or shouldn't be banned. I'll take the results from that survey and let you guys in know the future the results.

Thanks for the support and this is DoomBlade, Signing out.

Lets look at the Commander Ban list

Well I'm home and can't make Aether Revolt Prerelease...fuck it lets make an article

The commander ban list is something that gets a ton of attention from players around the world. There are tons of discussion on if X should be banned or if Y is too powerful and blah blah blah.
I'm here to talk about the ban list and if some cards are prime ideas for unbanning. I'm gonna discuss the cards in both a casual and competitive meta and how they may fit in there and what impact they may have if unbanned.  I know there isn't only one ban list but competitive and casual decks are completely different so talking about both impacts makes sense to me
I'm also not gonna bother with the Ante, Conspiracy, or dexterity cards cause duh.

There are currently 40 banned cards in commander so let us not waste any more time.



Power 9 (Minus Timetwister)

Power 9 (Minus Timetwister)

For Casual: NO NO NO. These cards are way too strong for casual players and shouldn't even be considered for unbannings there. You can argue this all you want but you're wrong and stupid.


Competitive: Timetwister is a staple in decks and it's not destroying the format, however, I think adding the rest may make the multi-colored decks too strong. Let me explain. Right now a majority of the strongest decks are 3+ colors. Giving them 4 to 6 extra cards compared to some decks only getting potentially 2 gives them a massive boost over the others. Pretty much all the best decks already run Mox Diamond and Chrome Mox so there isn't any reason to not put them in your decks and the fact that the many colored decks are getting so much more of a boost than this makes me hesitant.
I don't think it's too powerful since competitive EDH is pretty much singleton vintage but giving certain decks a massive boost while others get far less makes me wonder if it's worth testing out. What's the worst that could happen?!

Verdict:
Casual: Ban forever
Competitive: Test it out but be keep an eye on...probably not


BALANCE

BALANCE

Casual: Far too strong. Being able to Mind twist, Geddon, and wrath for two mana is far too strong for casual groups. Every white deck will want this and I feel like it's power is too strong, even for...


Competitive: No, this card must stay banned. The turn one or two wipe of hands for all opponents is super strong. Dumping your hand into a balance cripples everyone and pretty much ends the game for two mana. Sure you could argue that flash/rector will do the same but this is one card.


Verdict:
Casual: No way, Jose
Competitive: No chance, Lance

BIORHYTM

Casual: Is this card even good? I get that ending the game out of nowhere is frowned upon but Tooth and Nail and Shaman of the Forgotten Ways are fine in the meta and aren't that absurd. I'm not even sure this card would be played if it was unbanned.


Competitive: This card wouldn't even be played. Nowhere good enough to handle tier one or two decks at all.


Verdict:
Casual: Unban
Competitive: Unban but still wouldn't see play









BRAIDS, CABAL MINION

Casual: The removal of the "banned as commander" list was dumb. I'm sorry but if having people remember a list of 40 cards isn't too hard then remembering that a few cards are just banned as commander is fucking stupid.


Competitive: Braids would likely see play in Stax decks and would be either tier one or two as a commander. I don't think she would be a more powerful than Brago, Teferi, Derevi but would likely impact the format as a general and as a solid part of the 99.

Verdict:
Casual: Banned as commander
Competitive: Unban entirely







COALITION VICTORY

Casual: Like Biorhythm I don't think this will really see play. Sure you win if you have your general out and a basic of every color but again it's 8 mana to win and only when conditions are met. Any opponent can just bounce the general or strip mine a land to stop this, not to mention counter the damn spell.

Competitive: This card is shit and if unbanned wouldn't impact competitive in the slightest.


Verdict:
Casual: Unban
Competitive: Unban







CHANNEL

Casual: No. Turn one Ugin, Emrakul, Karn, Kozilek or whatever is far too strong. The fact that such a powerful card is on the same list as bad cards like Coalition Victory or Biorhythm makes me wonder how those two are even close to being banned.

Competitive: Ummm....I think it may be too strong. I'm not certain on this but giving storm this much more power or adding more things to just hard card Eldrazi or threats like Ugin as early as turn one may be too strong even in competitive. Sure you could get Ugin out with Treasonous ogre but that's more than two cards and costs you over half your life. I think it's pushing it but maybe it could see a unban and just be watched super closely?

Verdict:
Casual: Ban forever
Competitive: Unban? But probably not




EMRAKUL, THE AEONS TORN

Casual: Admittedly I never got a chance to play with this card when it was legal but I think it's safe to say that it's real powerful. Eldrazi are often at most tables and this gives the player with a Bribery a big advantage. This pretty much says, well I hope you have a wrath. And if hard cast in elves or artifact heavy decks it will likely end the game by itself. Probably too strong for that.

Competitive: Eldrazi don't see much play outside of decks like Selvala, Animar, and Sisay so putting this guy in would give those decks some help. I don't think it would warp the format as it doesn't help out stax or combo decks out too much and gives "Fair" decks more of a shot to take them out before combo or lockdown happens


Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Unban



ERAYO, SORATAMI ASCENDANT

Causal: Like I said for Braids the banned as commander thing is stupid. While she may be too oppressive as a commander I don't think she ever saw play outside of the general slot. Bring back banned as commander


Competitive: This will likely be another contender for tier one or two stax decks that stop opponents from playing but against three players I think it can be managed. There is tons of removal and enchantment destruction so I'm sure even as a general it would be ok. If not banned as commander for sure


Verdict:
Casual: Banned as commander
Competitive: Unban





FASTBOND

Casual: Hahahahaha....no. If you need me to explain why this is too strong go watch some gush vintage lists with fastbond in it.


Competitive: Eh...probably not safe to unban. Fastbond + Crucible is insane. Add any fetch to search up a ton of lands, add Strip Mine to kill all your opponents lands, Add wheels to make sure you keep drawing cards and this card is doomed for a forever ban


Verdict:
Casual: No
Competitive: No






GIFTS UNGIVEN

Casual: I don't see the appeal. You could easily give yourself piles where you are gonna do the desired effect regardless of what your opponent gives you but that's true for Intuition as well. And even so, you could get Unburial rites or whatever for easy reanimation of Jin-Gixatais or Iona....well you could also Survival of the fittest a Loyal Retainers in your hand. I don't understand this ban.


Competitive: Would likely see play in combo decks but those decks are already running lower CMC tutors. May not even see play

Verdict:
Casual: Unban
Competitive: Unban




GRISELBRAND

Casual: Man, this ban list is so unbalanced. You have insane cards like Balance next to garbage like Coalition Victory. Then you have Griselbrand, which is likely the most insane creature ever printed. The mere fact that you can draw instantly and over and over until you have an answer to whatever makes this card an easy ban. Drawing 35 cards end of turn is too strong.


Competitive: Also likely too strong. If he was unbanned most decks would want to get him in play as fast as possible and then draw 35 cards and combo out. It would be super easy and he may warp the format.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban forever
Competitive: Ban




KARAKAS

Casual: An uncounterable ability to bounce generals...hm....next


Competitive: I actually maybe could see it getting unbanned but I think it would be safer banned forever. Being able to remove generals instantly and at no cost would make this played in every deck that can and it's just too abusable.


Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Probably ban









LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRA

Casual: The price tag alone makes me wonder if it's too strong but then again things like Tabernacle, Workshop, and Bazaar are not banned. I don't get why this one is banned. Yes, it will likely see play in most decks where it can but that's not enough reason to ban a card. You want to be playing cards and that reduces your hand size so I'm not certain on this one.


Competitive: Likely a safe unban, netting an extra card off a land is strong and all but the colorless mana isn't exciting and in a world of combo and lockdown decks I don't see the card draw happening too often

EDIT: So, after posting this I got a lot of people telling me how there is no way this one is safe and that it's oppressive even in Vintage.
I went ahead and played some games, really focusing on Library as much as I could and it's fair to say that I'm insane and this card should never be unbanned.

Verdict:
Casual: Probably Unban
Competitive: Unban




LIMITED RESOURCES

 Casual: Yeah it's hard to play without lands and doesn't scale super well in games with tons of players so keeping this banned makes sense.

Competitive: Well...if your opponents can't stop you while this is on board then you're likely not playing at a competitive table anyway. Most decks can win from 2-3 lands so this probably wouldn't see too much play and in a world where removal is often one mana it's not gonna be hard to kill when needed.


Verdict:
Casual: Banned
Competitive: Unban







PAINTER'S SERVANT

Casual: You could argue that this guy would be too strong but the eleven mana investment for Servant + Iona or ten mana for Ugin + Servant to wipe lands doesn't seem much more powerful that other legal combos already in the format. Sure he can go in every deck but that doesn't mean he will. Yes there is the kill with Servant and Grindstone but that's only one player and you could also kill a single player with Rest in peace and Helm. I don't thin that's enough reason to have this guy banned.

Competitive: I don't think he would see play in the competitive field at all. The mana cost to lock out the table is too high and killing just one player at a time is kinda slow when other cards that work well by themselves and not only with certain other cards exist.


Verdict:
Casual: Unban
Competitive: Unban




Well, that's it for today guys, we will continue with the remainder of the list next time. Is this a cop out? Probably.

Let me know what you think, do you agree or disagree? Let me know and lets start a discussion.


Also, if you haven't already put your predictions on which Planeswalkers are the best for EDH here:
http://diestodoomblade.blogspot.com/2017/01/ranking-planeswalkers-giveaway.html


Doomblade, Signing out.


If you want to support the blog please visit my Patreon for more. Every little bit helps a ton and allows me to make more content for you guys in the future https://www.patreon.com/diestodoomblade

Ranking the Planeswalkers 6: 30-21

Man, when I was writing up todays article it brought up some good memories. These following cards are so much better than the last ten and while still not the best of the best they're all cards worth considering for decks. Anyway, enough of the Mr. Nice guy talk, lets get into why these guys aren't amazing and why they're good

30: Narset Transcendant

Narset could have easily made the last ten but just escaped due to her absurdly high starting loyalty. Four mana for Six loyalty is pretty much unheard of right now. The first two abilities are very relevant to what Narset wants to do, she wants to copy and draw cards but only instants and sorceries. I don't know why she doesn't want to copy planeswalkers or enchantments anymore but I guess that was the red of her previous card.
Anyway, you have a huge starting loyalty and two very relevant abilities. Not to mention, if she ults you better be able to take her out with creatures only because your deck is now crippled. A lot of the best decks in commander use none to few creatures so a Narset ult is bad news there.
The problem with Narset is while she works well with what you have she doesn't really help you at all when behind. She could maybe draw you a card or copy a wrath effect to clear the board for a bit but that's not super relevant in more competitive games. I think the top 30 is a good spot for Narset.

Score: 68/100
Played in: Heavy Control or Time walk decks (Grand Arbiter, Brago, Shu Yun)




29: Chandra, Flamecaller

Wow, Chandra has come a long way from Pinging players and creatures. Lets Start that if you want to Chandra can pretty much wipe the board of small to medium sized creatures and even have a little loyalty left over. Board wipes on a planeswalker are very rare and they're all super good. The plus is a great way to do some damage a turn (MORE THAN ONE).
And finally she doesn't have an ult but rather has access to three relevant modes right away. Her middle ability is my favorite since she can net you cards and you can play your relevant spells, dump the rest and get more cards. This is something mono red loves and works well in spellslinger decks as well. Of course the mana cost is a problem but 6 mana for a decent wipe is never a bad start. Much better than Ablaze in every way

Score: 70/100
Played in: Daretti, Izzet control, Mono Red,




28: Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

It's been a real long time since Sorin came up here. He's progressively gotten worse and worse as the years went on so lets look at a pretty good version finally.
Sorin protects himself well with a lifelink blocker and his ult isn't completely out of range. With it you can nuke and steal the biggest threats on board. If there isn't any threats then you can easily keep plusing him to make more blockers until there is something worth stealing. However that's not why Sorin is so high...
His minus two is so good. Your 1/1's become bigger and now your blockers are more relevant, not to mention every creature you play now and it's not difficult at all to get more than one emblem in a game. Pumping up your team to make sure you can kill even with the smallest token is fairly strong for four mana. And the ability to pump out tokens and add loyalty at the same time works well in token based decks.

Score: 70/100
Played in: Orzhov Stax/Token/Control




27: Koth of the Hammer

I originally had Koth much lower but as I was writing up his entry I found him much better than I gave him credit for.
Let's start that with his plus you can both net 1 mana or have a attacker for the turn. If you want to attack don't pick the mountain you played because it will have summoning sickness. His minus two is something red really needs and that's a massive ramp in mana. You can easily generate 5-8 mana off Koth and play some devastating spells for essentially free. That's just insane. The Ultimate can also be done right after an activation and will turn all your mountains into machine guns to kill opponents, take out creatures, or make attacking for opponents a massive pain. Also if you have mana to spare before your turn you can always kill a creature or do some nice damage to a player. However Koth works best in Mono Red and pretty much that since you don't want to clog the board with too many not mountains. But in those decks he's so good that I placed him higher than the other Mono planesalkers so far.
Score: 71/100
Played in: Mono Red, and pretty much all of them (Not Daretti)





26: Nahiri, the Harbinger

When you play Nahiri you need to have some massive Eldrazi or Blightsteel to work with her ultimate. This also works well since they can be shuffled back into the deck with her plus ability. Flavor win. The minus two is pretty sweet as well since it can take care of pretty much any problem as long as it's tapped. So dropping her and taking something out is relevant and she gains loyalty quickly so you can end the game with the ultimate fairly soon. Nahiri however isn't doing too much while plusing and most of the time you want to be taking out threats with her minus and making sure you don't lose instead of searching for one creature that can easily be killed/Exiled/Bounced or whatever before it attacks. Mostly because it takes a little bit to get to that ultimate so it's fairly easy to hose. If you can get it off I can argue you're gonna win that game anyway. Also she doesn't do too much that Boros wants since she doesn't make attacking any better. I think she works better in decks with access to blue

Score: 71/100
Played in: Jeskai control or 4 color control maybe. Needs a finisher


25 Nissa, Worldwaker

Nissa cost pretty much one mana when she lands. That's sweet. The untapping of so much mana can make it so the next turn you can play massive threats. I placed this higher than Koth because green has no problem reaching five mana and has bigger threats than red (Cratorhoof, Terastodon, etc). This ability alone is why Nissa is so high as generating this much mana early and often while increasing your loyalty is very strong. The other two abilities make your lands into creatures. This is not something you want to do when Green is fairly weak against wraths already. Unless you can kill the whole table with the lands in one go I don't recommend using Nissa for much more than her middle ability. But what an Ability that is.

Score: 71/100
Played in: Mono Green stompy





24: Liliana, Hertical Healer

I fucking love this card. It's so god damn cool...but biased aside it's fairly decent. Discard into reanimation while slowing down opponents is sweet. Also she gets a token when you flip her so you can protect her even easier. Her Ultimate pretty much wins the game but like I said with Narset not many people play that many creatures in more competitive groups so it's not viable there. She's not quite another walker that's coming up later but this Lili has some good slots in decks.

Score: 73/100
Played in: Mono Black everything and some stax



23: Chandra, Torch of Defiance

Even the best Chandra can't crack the top twenty. Oh well, at this rate Chandra in 4 years will be unbeatable. She's come a long away. Anyway we have a walker that can both damage players (ALL of them at the same time) but you could also play the card if you want and that's the plus, naturally better than Pyromaster. The other plus ability adds mana to your pool so you can  play 7 drops the following turn or just a few more things to protect her. She also kills creatures when she lands, the three abilities give chandra the whole package of protection, ramp, and card draw AND on top of that you will likely win the game with that ultimate being able to nuke creatures for every spell and players when you want to end the game. While all of these abilities are good by themselves the top twenty walkers all have much more to offer so I feel like just outside of it is a good slot for her

Score: 74/100
Played in: Control, aggro, ramp



22: Jace Belern

Party Jace...well no. I think using this guy solely to draw three cards is far better than helping out opponents. Sure you could plus him when he's at one and it's not a big deal if you think he will live longer but it's really the second ability that excels him so high. That super low cmc puts him over the edge on other walkers that are mostly used for card draw like Pyromaster and the fact that he's abuseable with Sun titan gives him some more edge. I don't think he's much better than the other cards mentioned so far but just enough to get passed the others by a hair. The incremental card draw can help you excel past opponents by itself.

Also the ultimate is trash

Score: 74/100

Played in: Mono blue and two color decks that want more draw



21: Venser, the Sojourner

And the last entry for today was actually fairly popular for guesses in the top ten. A lot of people think that ultimates make a walker and that is not true. Granted that ultimate will win you the game. It's pretty much over once you get there however against three competent players it shouldn't be happening unless you're already gonna win that game, lets look at the other abilities. The plus is needed in blink decks as you can abuse tons of great creatures, you can reset a mana vault so you have more mana next turn, or bounce a walker who's close to death. Plenty of good use and if you bounce a creature you have someone who can block after attacking, fairly sweet but it's also dependent on you having anything worth while to begin with.
The minus also needs you to have something since it makes your creatures unblockable. Great for voltron or massive armies to take out someone but the need for other cards on board and opponents never letting you ult kept him just out of the top twenty for me.
Score: 76/100
Played in: Blink, Voltron, Superfriends




Well that's our rankings for today. Any you're surprised to see?  Any you thought you'd see by now?
Let me know in the comments and lets start a discussion.


Also this is the last entry before my giveaway here closes
http://diestodoomblade.blogspot.com/2017/01/ranking-planeswalkers-giveaway.html


I'm not posting the 20-11 walkers as my next entry so you guys can have a little more time to think and post your thoughts but when it is uploaded I will not take anymore entries.

These are the remaining walkers:

Dack Fayden

Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast

Daretti, scrap savant

Elspeth, knight-Errant

Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury

Garruk Wildspeaker

Garruk, Primal hunter

Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

Jace, the mind sculptor

Karn Liberated

Liliana of the veil

Nissa, Vital Force

Sorin Markov

Tamiyo, the moon sage

Teferi, Temporal Archmage

Tezeret, the seeker

Tezzeret, Agent of bolas

Ugin, the Spirit dragon

Xenagos, the reveler

Good luck and thanks for the support!



If you want to support the blog please visit my Patreon for more. Every little bit helps a ton and allows me to make more content for you guys in the future https://www.patreon.com/diestodoomblade

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




If you want to support the blog please visit my Patreon for more. Every little bit helps a ton and allows me to make more content for you guys in the future https://www.patreon.com/diestodoomblade