Kaya, Ghost Assassin
2WB
Planeswalker - Kaya
0: Exile Kaya, Ghost Assassin or up to one target creature. Return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of your next upkeep. You lose 2 life.
-1: Each opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
-2: Each opponent discards a card and you draw a card.
<5>
Seems pretty solid to me. Versatility on the 0 is awesome. Reset her loyalty for 2 life, blank an opponent's threat, or get more value out of an ETB effect. The -2 is great card advantage and definitely makes you want to keep resetting her loyalty every couple turns if she's protected. And the -1 can recoup some of the life loss. Dang.
Not bad. I like that all her abilities are live right off the bat. Her -2 is actually pretty powerful for a 4-mana PW. She's very solid in control decks but nowhere near versatile as Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. I like her more than Sorin, Solemn Visitor and would probably rank her in the top 5 Orzhov.
Huh, that is a pretty interesting design. It's nice to see Wizards innovating a bit with the structure of their planeswalkers – even if, lacking an ultimate, she feels a bit lackluster from a flavor perspective. I can see this doing good work in tempo or control decks. Pity you can't use the -2 for reanimator purposes tho. I don't think it will quite make the cut for me but I think I'll try it out over Sorin LoI just for variety's sake.
First, probably the coolest design for a PW yet, it's up there with Sarkhan the Mad in that regard.
It's unfortunate it's BW but it's probably worth testing. I like the number of ways you can use her, there are so many decisions you can make each turn with her.
Can "protect" herself in multiple ways at the cost of 2 life
Never really "ultimates", but her abilities still effectively combine to win the game on her own.
Her protection 0 also can reset her own counters...so while she isn't working towards ultimate, she's working towars more value all the time.
Can see her working in multiple different archetypes, but best in mid-range.
Does her 0 ability open up the possibility for a B/W blink deck? Blink is obviously best suited for UW, but black adds the possibility for Nekrataal effects, and Grey Merchant in larger cubes. The fact that the creature is gone till your next turn is a downside.
Seems playable in larger cubes, testable in cubes down to 540.
Never really "ultimates", but her abilities still effectively combine to win the game on her own.
Seems best in mid-range decks, not as well suited for control.
Her 0 can be used in multiple ways to "protect" herself. The obvious use is blinking herself to reset counters, which is a tenable solution when facing down < 5 power on the other side of the board. But she can also reset Blade Splicers, Wall of Omens, Cloudgoat, Sun Titan, Flickerwisp, Nekrataal/Shriekmaw/Skinrender, Solemn, etc. I imagine she's worth testing for no other reason than her potential to create a B/W blink archetype.
She can also protect herself by blinking an opponent's creature until your next upkeep (including removing token creatures completely).
She might crack my Orzhov section. Really intrigued to see her in real gameplay.
I am definitely going to try this out in Sorin, Lord of Innistrad's place. Sorin is good, but WB has become a bit less aggro/token and so while Sorin is perfectly playable, he's just a value card rather than also an archetype card. Kaya has a lot of interesting uses and BW is full of ETB creatures. The -1 is still reasonable in a BW aggro deck too, giving it some much needed reach.
She has interesting applications in Stax decks. Not only does she kill you opponents tokens to make sure they're not getting value, she can also blink out their worst creature, to encourage them to sacrifice something better, or their only creature to force them to sacrifice lands. She can also obviously blink out your own Blade Splicer / Cloudgoat etc for great value in that archetype.
I don't think this will be as good as everyone thinks. Venser seems a lot better if you want the blink effect. The -2 is good, but the board state has to be just right for you to pop her down and activate that. 2BW draw a card, opponent discards a card, gain 3 life seems bad. Hard to crack the guilds these days.
Sad that this card does not change the board state much.
Also a flavour fail in that Kaya is the assassin of Brago, a creature, yet her paper version doesn't nothing that kills or hurts creatures. I'd rather have either Sorin's for the cube.
Read it as another permanent and thought instant staple, regardless I think I'd put this at number 3 or 4 in orzohv, excited to test, FYI it does affect the board when it comes down. It exiles an opponent dude until your enact upkeep
She is pretty horrendous if you are behind. If you are at parity or ahead, though, she will probably crush your opponent in short order. She's immediately a 2-for-1 when she comes down (you draw, they discard), you do it again, and then you reset while removing their best attacker or blinking one of your creatures and do it all again? Pretty solid.
I will test her. Not sure over what yet. Maybe INN sorin?
I like her. Really fun design, can protect herself and reset her loyalty if you get behind, she represents both card advantage and reach, she can snipe tokens, AND she can be used in the Mardu ETB abuse shells with Alesha and Feldon and stuff. Cool design, unique suite of abilities and effects that are desirable. Will test.
She is pretty horrendous if you are behind. If you are at parity or ahead, though, she will probably crush your opponent in short order. She's immediately a 2-for-1 when she comes down (you draw, they discard), you do it again, and then you reset while removing their best attacker or blinking one of your creatures and do it all again? Pretty solid.
I will test her. Not sure over what yet. Maybe INN sorin?
I don't know about horrendous when you're behind. Her 0 has real application in such a scenario.
As far as the comparison with Venser I think it is not bad, considering it is one mana cheaper. For those who like the archetype I don't know why you wouldn't play both.
She is pretty horrendous if you are behind. If you are at parity or ahead, though, she will probably crush your opponent in short order. She's immediately a 2-for-1 when she comes down (you draw, they discard), you do it again, and then you reset while removing their best attacker or blinking one of your creatures and do it all again? Pretty solid.
I will test her. Not sure over what yet. Maybe INN sorin?
I don't know about horrendous when you're behind. Her 0 has real application in such a scenario.
Yeah, if it's one huge threat a la reanimator, but if it's multiple attackers it does basically nothing, and even against a single big attacker losing 2 life a turn for a pretty bad o-ring is not great.
It's at the point now where I'm like UGH an incredible new planeswalker, boo... Trying to keep my PW count capped about where I am now, but can't do it with all these great cards they keep printing
Think this card is really powerful. not being able to protect itself may prove bigger than I think tho... And it's competition is steep. All 3 modes are great...
She can kinda protect herself, in that she can {0} herself to reset her loyalty, and keep her off the board during the opponent's next turn (which prevents her from being attacked OR being killed by sorcery-speed removal). The ability can also keep an attacker in exile so it can't attack either you or her. Or kill a token .
I like her ok and think she can slot into the number 5 spot easily and probably the number 4 spot if you really want to test her out because she looks fun and interesting. I don't think she'll be 360 material, though.
Kaya, Ghost Assassin
2WB
Planeswalker - Kaya
0: Exile Kaya, Ghost Assassin or up to one target creature. Return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of your next upkeep. You lose 2 life.
-1: Each opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
-2: Each opponent discards a card and you draw a card.
<5>
Seems pretty solid to me. Versatility on the 0 is awesome. Reset her loyalty for 2 life, blank an opponent's threat, or get more value out of an ETB effect. The -2 is great card advantage and definitely makes you want to keep resetting her loyalty every couple turns if she's protected. And the -1 can recoup some of the life loss. Dang.
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B/W Sorins always felt like consolation prizes anyway, happy to see a solid planeswalker.
This is an excellent control and midrange card with a fantastic combo element. Super happy to see this.
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It's unfortunate it's BW but it's probably worth testing. I like the number of ways you can use her, there are so many decisions you can make each turn with her.
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Seems playable in larger cubes, testable in cubes down to 540.
Edit: Misread the 0 ability.
She can also protect herself by blinking an opponent's creature until your next upkeep (including removing token creatures completely).
She might crack my Orzhov section. Really intrigued to see her in real gameplay.
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Also a flavour fail in that Kaya is the assassin of Brago, a creature, yet her paper version doesn't nothing that kills or hurts creatures. I'd rather have either Sorin's for the cube.
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She is pretty horrendous if you are behind. If you are at parity or ahead, though, she will probably crush your opponent in short order. She's immediately a 2-for-1 when she comes down (you draw, they discard), you do it again, and then you reset while removing their best attacker or blinking one of your creatures and do it all again? Pretty solid.
I will test her. Not sure over what yet. Maybe INN sorin?
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I don't know about horrendous when you're behind. Her 0 has real application in such a scenario.
As far as the comparison with Venser I think it is not bad, considering it is one mana cheaper. For those who like the archetype I don't know why you wouldn't play both.
Yeah, if it's one huge threat a la reanimator, but if it's multiple attackers it does basically nothing, and even against a single big attacker losing 2 life a turn for a pretty bad o-ring is not great.
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Think this card is really powerful. not being able to protect itself may prove bigger than I think tho... And it's competition is steep. All 3 modes are great...
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