for the avatar ability, it seems like Serra avatar... but Both of them don't fly at all and can die with a simple creature-destroyer ...
Correct, you have accurately described how creatures work in the game of magic.
I still think it's good.
Yes, the avatar is removable, but that's kind of the game. Things would be pretty boring if every creature was untargetable and indestructable, yes, things can die in this game, get over it.
Basically this is a glorious anthem + serra's blessing rolled into one, which is maybe useful in aggro mirror. The other two abilities might as well not even exist.
Scenario:
It's a mirror match. You and your opponent are deadlocked. Ajani's -1, pump ability isn't enough to break through. Rather than attack, you use the +1, lifegain ability because otherwise Ajani would be wasted for a turn. Three turns later, use Ajani's -6 ability and you break the lock with a 14/14 creature.
So yeah, I agree with you, but there will be times when Ajani's other abilities will wreck an opponent.
I think the card is good. It looks like fun. I have a problem with the 2nd ability. All 3 of the green PW's abilities seem to mesh and be green. Same with the red and black. Ajani's 2nd ability seems kind of just tacked on because it's white, though. Yeah, it does fit white's theme, but it doesn't fit with the other two abilities.
Not very impressive, honestly. I guess I can't be surprised—white's my least favorite color.
But guess which color IS my favorite? That's right... BLUE!
So, anyone want to join me in a "prayer to the rumor gods" that Hydro will get the information and finally reveal to us the powers and abilities of Jace Beleren? (hey, it worked for Madding)
Not very impressive, honestly. I guess I can't be surprised—white's my least favorite color.
But guess which color IS my favorite? That's right... BLUE!
So, anyone want to join me in a "prayer to the rumor gods" that Hydro will get the information and finally reveal to us the powers and abilities of Jace Beleren? (hey, it worked for Madding)
I'll be praying too, dude.
I expected more from the "add a loyalty counter " ability... so far garruk's (untap 2 lands) is the best one followed by liliana and chandra...
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Not very impressive, honestly. I guess I can't be surprised—white's my least favorite color.
But guess which color IS my favorite? That's right... BLUE!
So, anyone want to join me in a "prayer to the rumor gods" that Hydro will get the information and finally reveal to us the powers and abilities of Jace Beleren? (hey, it worked for Madding)
You're lucky than, Blue always gets cool stuff.
The problem is that players that like white, like me, are dissappointed each set because of the lameness and boring things that white gets.
The problem with life gain is that whenever they make it too strong games become boring and slow, therefore they tend to keep its power level down. The idea that it "doesn't have any long term effect on the game" is ridiculous - a) repeatable life gain certainly continues to have an effect (see pulse of the fields), and b) even burst life gain can be very important (see renewed faith among others)
The first ability would be too weak on its own, but it gives life right away, and it can dump out a big creature after a few turns and maybe continue giving life. Used purely as that, I can see it being an interesting win condition in a U/W deck (which should be able to protect the token and has access to clockspinning). The life gain isn't the point, but it is nice while you build up to the finisher, and the permanent is either more difficult to remove, or simply distracting (both good things for a control deck). It might turn out to be too slow, or more likely, there will be something else that is better, but just on its own, I think gain 4 life, put a large creature into play has proven to be quite strong at 4 mana, and even with suspend 2 and no haste for potentially a 10/10 instead of a 4/4, it is not necessarily a bad thing.
The other aspect, though, is that we already know that merfolk are going to have a bunch of tap-related abilities. In a merfolk deck (which is likely to be viable at least in block if not standard, especially given the dual lands), vigilance and +1/+1 may be a very important ability to allow you to keep attacking and using the merfolk machinery.
So overall, I'd say that just like Liliana and Chandra, this card is only hovering at the border of playability given the cards we know right now, but could easily be pushed over the edge if Lorwyn has the right tools or if some metagame in the next 2 years does. I know we were all expecting to see game swinging, obviously tier 1 cards from the planeswalkers, but it really is better that they be more balanced tier 2 or even 2.5 cards that do interesting things.
As for the abilities being "boring" and "recycled", I think it is a good thing that the first two abilities of these initial planeswalkers are well known ones - evaluating and playing with them would be much more confusing if the abilities were also new mechanics. There is plenty of time for far-out stuff to be done with planeswalkers - no rule states that they can't have static abilities, or that there won't be auras with "enchant planeswalker" or any of the many possible interactions they can have.
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People's Front of 422
Used purely as that, I can see it being an interesting win condition in a U/W deck (which should be able to protect the token and has access to clockspinning).
It's not costed horribly, but finishers that are hard to kill and/or chump-block tend to be better control investments. Getting something big, fast, and flawed out is missing the point of reactive control.
I think Ajani is not that bad as what most people think. Comparing Ajani's and Chandra's first abilities make Ajani's ability superior as Ajani always negate Chandra's damage and gain 1 life to its controller. Let's skip the second ability, let's assume both players have no creatures in play. The power of the third abilities of these PW depends on who comes into play first. If Chandra comes into play first, Chandra can surely kill Ajani. If Ajani comes into play first then Chandra will have a hard time dealing with the 20/20 (Assuming) Serra Avatar in play. I believe Ajani is not that bad.
But compare to Liliana and Garruk. Ajani may be inferior. But as you can see now white has Oblivion Ring which deals with other pesky PW. Also with the existence of Martyr of Sands,Beacon of Immortality, Angelic Chorus, Ajani might be playable in standard because you'll have super double double life with these cards.
Its now time to bring back the old times Serra Avatar + Angelic Chorus sick. Ajani + Angelic Chorus + Beacon of Immortality + Martyr is way sicker! Now I'm sad they didn't printed that white Lich in PC. More life gain baby! More! More! More!
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White is the one color for equality. So how do you get advantage when you're unwilling to give yourself a leg up? You find a way to turn equality into a weapon. Make it active and offensive. Wrath of God answers this call. Evening the playing field is quite aggressive when you're the one behind. Or you're the one that knew such an event was coming and planned ahead. Wrath of God gives the most defensive color some teeth. - MaRo http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr164
The problem with life gain is that whenever they make it too strong games become boring and slow, therefore they tend to keep its power level down. The idea that it "doesn't have any long term effect on the game" is ridiculous - a) repeatable life gain certainly continues to have an effect (see pulse of the fields), and b) even burst life gain can be very important (see renewed faith among others)
The first ability would be too weak on its own, but it gives life right away, and it can dump out a big creature after a few turns and maybe continue giving life. Used purely as that, I can see it being an interesting win condition in a U/W deck (which should be able to protect the token and has access to clockspinning). The life gain isn't the point, but it is nice while you build up to the finisher, and the permanent is either more difficult to remove, or simply distracting (both good things for a control deck). It might turn out to be too slow, or more likely, there will be something else that is better, but just on its own, I think gain 4 life, put a large creature into play has proven to be quite strong at 4 mana, and even with suspend 2 and no haste for potentially a 10/10 instead of a 4/4, it is not necessarily a bad thing.
The other aspect, though, is that we already know that merfolk are going to have a bunch of tap-related abilities. In a merfolk deck (which is likely to be viable at least in block if not standard, especially given the dual lands), vigilance and +1/+1 may be a very important ability to allow you to keep attacking and using the merfolk machinery.
So overall, I'd say that just like Liliana and Chandra, this card is only hovering at the border of playability given the cards we know right now, but could easily be pushed over the edge if Lorwyn has the right tools or if some metagame in the next 2 years does. I know we were all expecting to see game swinging, obviously tier 1 cards from the planeswalkers, but it really is better that they be more balanced tier 2 or even 2.5 cards that do interesting things.
As for the abilities being "boring" and "recycled", I think it is a good thing that the first two abilities of these initial planeswalkers are well known ones - evaluating and playing with them would be much more confusing if the abilities were also new mechanics. There is plenty of time for far-out stuff to be done with planeswalkers - no rule states that they can't have static abilities, or that there won't be auras with "enchant planeswalker" or any of the many possible interactions they can have.
You shouldn't put clockspinning in your U/W control deck to help your finisher.
Finishers are ment to kill your opponent while you neutralize his threats with counters and control.
The abilities are only boring, not recycled!
Instead of giving white a good white ability, they just come up with something that has proven to be unplayable since Alpha came out.
We know discarding is good, as is untapping lands and burning.
So why couldn't this make Spirit or soldier tokens? I think that ability has a more white feeling than life gain.. which adds nothing to a game.
Secondly, the second ability was supposed to defend the planeswalkers..
If you have an army that is big enough to use the second ability on you should be winning anyway.
A condemn/stp would be more on it's place here. As would 2 soldier tokens.
The 3th ability is rather nice, though it should have been flying and angelic.
Other abilities from planeswalkers win the game.. This one just gives a creature without any evasion.
Sigh, this card appears to be much weaker than the other planeswalkers and of course Im not surprised at all. Gaining 2 life is worthless and waiting 3 turns to put a big token into play that can be answered by a single bounce spell (venser, riftwing cloudskate, cryptic command) or a terror effect or some chump blockers (epoc for example) is not strong. The only application for this card is maybe in a dedicated weenie deck where his +1/+1 vigilance ability could be useful i guess. It would be better if the planeswalker was a creature himself so you would have another swinger with +1/+1.
As it is, this card acts like a 4 mana glorious anthem that only works on your turn and in exchange gives vigilance in addition to the +1/+1.
Ajani is probably the weakest spoiled so far. If he had something similar to Garruk's second ability, Ajani would be arguably better. However, with the way the abilities are meshed, it seems like Ajani would work best in a WW deck as an answer to ***/Damnation or a way to win aggro mirrors. Not the most exciting thing, obviously, but it does give WW an option besides running 30+ creatures to swarm over Wrath effects. It certainly isn't terrible, just not the best.
I see alot of bashing for this card, but it is not that bad. Definately not the best one, but it does have potential and will probably see some play in standard.
It says "as the token comes into play." It makes me think that Ajani, as given by Hydro on page 1, is creating a Serra Avatar. I know the token doesn't have a CDA itself, but it can happen that Ajani creates a continuous effect that modifies the p/t of the token - something similar has happened before, but I don't remember what.
Also, I think a lot of people are forgetting that the planeswalkers activate any time you could play a sorcery.
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Awesome avatar provided by Krashbot @ [Epic Graphics].
Hmm... some of these Planeswalkers are just begging to be combined into tag-teams... This guy and Garruk for example would play well together. (same for Garruk and Chandra)
I am liking these guys alot. There are some changes to how Planeswalkers work I would love to see, but I can understand not wanting to complicate them too much.
This card will likely make me want to make a Doubling Season deck, This + the Green one have the best Interaction with Season of the bunch. Drop Season, Play this, make two massive avatars...Nice fun.
I've avoided Season until now as pointles junk, but these guys as a team may make me take a casual stab at them.
Life gain was pretty bad, when basically all they did was 1-shot effects. Now, however, it is better (Faith's Fetters, Martyr, and now Ajani.) Ajani is a repeatable effect. A single dose of 2-3 life doesn't do much, but 2 life a turn that, in turn, gives you access to bigger and better things is quite nice. Also, a large, chumpable creature is still large, and will be a threat until they can find an answer. Besides, it will tie up, and likely kill, one of their critters each turn, allowing another of your dudes to get through. As for the second ability, +1/+1 isn't that much, but pump for your entire army is still pretty sweet. Vigilance is just a nice plus (that will also allow your army to play some defense.)
I'm not saying that this is the best of the 'walkers so far, because it isn't (I think Liliana may well be, but only time will tell,) but it isn't bad, and, like all of them, can be absolutely game-breaking.
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According to the philosopher Ly Tin Wheedle, Chaos is found in greatest abundance wherever order is being sought. It always defeats order, because it is better organized. -- Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times
"My plans are ALWAYS practical! It's the laws of physics that get in the way of my success." Red Mage, 8-Bit Theater.
Scientia non habet inimicum nisp ignorantem - Science has no enemies but the ignorant
Yeah, I think this is weaker in comparison to the other Planeswalkers. It only has marginal potential in limited. it's good early - you start building up your life while you build up your army, allowing you to later turn on the offensive. Mid-game, as long as your board position isn't dominated, it can help dig you out of a hole. But as an "I need a top-deck solution right now", it'll be really iffy whether or not "gain 2 life" is the top deck you were looking for.
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This is our last dance, this is ourselves under pressure.
In the thread http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=89056, several posters make the argument that all planeswalkers are effectively, from a strategic point of view, a form of lifegain. Ajani Goldmane seems to take this argument more literally than than the other planeswalkers.
Nice mockup, Freak of Nature. Good work; I like how you took care to make sure that the blade cuts out of the frame. Now if you only had the collector number, you could almost convince us it was real.
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Correct, you have accurately described how creatures work in the game of magic.
I still think it's good.
Yes, the avatar is removable, but that's kind of the game. Things would be pretty boring if every creature was untargetable and indestructable, yes, things can die in this game, get over it.
mtg - satire - photoshoppery - strategy - arcade - PMO - chat
Scenario:
It's a mirror match. You and your opponent are deadlocked. Ajani's -1, pump ability isn't enough to break through. Rather than attack, you use the +1, lifegain ability because otherwise Ajani would be wasted for a turn. Three turns later, use Ajani's -6 ability and you break the lock with a 14/14 creature.
So yeah, I agree with you, but there will be times when Ajani's other abilities will wreck an opponent.
t: Destroy target breakfast.
But guess which color IS my favorite? That's right... BLUE!
So, anyone want to join me in a "prayer to the rumor gods" that Hydro will get the information and finally reveal to us the powers and abilities of Jace Beleren? (hey, it worked for Madding)
Co-Host, In Contention Podcast / Yo! MTG Taps! Podcast
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Twitter.com/AffinityForBlue
I'll be praying too, dude.
I expected more from the "add a loyalty counter " ability... so far garruk's (untap 2 lands) is the best one followed by liliana and chandra...
You're lucky than, Blue always gets cool stuff.
The problem is that players that like white, like me, are dissappointed each set because of the lameness and boring things that white gets.
The first ability would be too weak on its own, but it gives life right away, and it can dump out a big creature after a few turns and maybe continue giving life. Used purely as that, I can see it being an interesting win condition in a U/W deck (which should be able to protect the token and has access to clockspinning). The life gain isn't the point, but it is nice while you build up to the finisher, and the permanent is either more difficult to remove, or simply distracting (both good things for a control deck). It might turn out to be too slow, or more likely, there will be something else that is better, but just on its own, I think gain 4 life, put a large creature into play has proven to be quite strong at 4 mana, and even with suspend 2 and no haste for potentially a 10/10 instead of a 4/4, it is not necessarily a bad thing.
The other aspect, though, is that we already know that merfolk are going to have a bunch of tap-related abilities. In a merfolk deck (which is likely to be viable at least in block if not standard, especially given the dual lands), vigilance and +1/+1 may be a very important ability to allow you to keep attacking and using the merfolk machinery.
So overall, I'd say that just like Liliana and Chandra, this card is only hovering at the border of playability given the cards we know right now, but could easily be pushed over the edge if Lorwyn has the right tools or if some metagame in the next 2 years does. I know we were all expecting to see game swinging, obviously tier 1 cards from the planeswalkers, but it really is better that they be more balanced tier 2 or even 2.5 cards that do interesting things.
As for the abilities being "boring" and "recycled", I think it is a good thing that the first two abilities of these initial planeswalkers are well known ones - evaluating and playing with them would be much more confusing if the abilities were also new mechanics. There is plenty of time for far-out stuff to be done with planeswalkers - no rule states that they can't have static abilities, or that there won't be auras with "enchant planeswalker" or any of the many possible interactions they can have.
People's Front of 422
It's not costed horribly, but finishers that are hard to kill and/or chump-block tend to be better control investments. Getting something big, fast, and flawed out is missing the point of reactive control.
But compare to Liliana and Garruk. Ajani may be inferior. But as you can see now white has Oblivion Ring which deals with other pesky PW. Also with the existence of Martyr of Sands,Beacon of Immortality, Angelic Chorus, Ajani might be playable in standard because you'll have super double double life with these cards.
Its now time to bring back the old times Serra Avatar + Angelic Chorus sick. Ajani + Angelic Chorus + Beacon of Immortality + Martyr is way sicker! Now I'm sad they didn't printed that white Lich in PC. More life gain baby! More! More! More!
You shouldn't put clockspinning in your U/W control deck to help your finisher.
Finishers are ment to kill your opponent while you neutralize his threats with counters and control.
The abilities are only boring, not recycled!
Instead of giving white a good white ability, they just come up with something that has proven to be unplayable since Alpha came out.
We know discarding is good, as is untapping lands and burning.
So why couldn't this make Spirit or soldier tokens? I think that ability has a more white feeling than life gain.. which adds nothing to a game.
Secondly, the second ability was supposed to defend the planeswalkers..
If you have an army that is big enough to use the second ability on you should be winning anyway.
A condemn/stp would be more on it's place here. As would 2 soldier tokens.
The 3th ability is rather nice, though it should have been flying and angelic.
Other abilities from planeswalkers win the game.. This one just gives a creature without any evasion.
As it is, this card acts like a 4 mana glorious anthem that only works on your turn and in exchange gives vigilance in addition to the +1/+1.
Chandra
Liliana/Garruk
Ajani
GIVE US JACE BELEREN!
Yeah. Terrible card. (rolls eyes)
The deck continues!
PS:
I say the order of the PW's, from best to worst, is Garruk; Liliana; Ajani; Chandra.
It says "as the token comes into play." It makes me think that Ajani, as given by Hydro on page 1, is creating a Serra Avatar. I know the token doesn't have a CDA itself, but it can happen that Ajani creates a continuous effect that modifies the p/t of the token - something similar has happened before, but I don't remember what.
Also, I think a lot of people are forgetting that the planeswalkers activate any time you could play a sorcery.
Awesome avatar provided by Krashbot @ [Epic Graphics].
This card will likely make me want to make a Doubling Season deck, This + the Green one have the best Interaction with Season of the bunch. Drop Season, Play this, make two massive avatars...Nice fun.
I've avoided Season until now as pointles junk, but these guys as a team may make me take a casual stab at them.
I'm not saying that this is the best of the 'walkers so far, because it isn't (I think Liliana may well be, but only time will tell,) but it isn't bad, and, like all of them, can be absolutely game-breaking.
"My plans are ALWAYS practical! It's the laws of physics that get in the way of my success." Red Mage, 8-Bit Theater.
Scientia non habet inimicum nisp ignorantem - Science has no enemies but the ignorant
Anyways, like the old avatar, this loves lifelink
Warhammer FTW
Favorite decks:
:symu::symb::symr:Spike Mishra:symr::symb::symu:
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:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg:Johnny Conflux:symg::symr::symb::symu::symw:
Nice mockup, Freak of Nature. Good work; I like how you took care to make sure that the blade cuts out of the frame. Now if you only had the collector number, you could almost convince us it was real.
- Jon Finkel believes in maintaining a healthy, balanced diet. He gets all his fiber from eating Magic cards for breakfast, and all his protein from eating Magic players for lunch.