So in case anyone hadn't seen yet, we've had a spoiler of one (perhaps of two) walkers from Born of the Gods. Those of you who play Duels of the Planeswalkers on your various gaming platforms might remember this little lady, Kiora Atua, or as she's called here, Kiora, the Crashing Wave.

You can see the official Wizards post here: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/279

Let the brewing begin...

Not a single response or reaction?

I'm intrigued by her and the fact that practically EVERY pro is saying that her price will drop, but then follow that up by saying they'll pre-order her (as if that makes any sense).

Thoughts? Brewable? No?

TyWooOneTime wrote:Not a single response or reaction?

Its hard to say much about her without knowing more about the set.

Her +1 is alright but Im not sure how useful it is.
Her -1 is neat but doesnt quite do it for me.
Her Ult is solid.

I could see her fitting into something that could proliferate onto her a couple times maybe? I suspect we'll see some moderate play in Standard with maybe some use in other formats? Low starting loyalty and a slow tick up make her harder to keep alive in games like Modern, but her -1 could be really solid in the right Commander Deck.

most people around here are calling her garbage. I'm waiting to see how it plays out. I think in the right control shell she could be okay. Her ultimate is only 3 turns away and in those colors that could be as early as turn 5, probably later in control.

Really it boils down to, would you pay 4 mana to draw a card and play an extra land, and take a spell/attack away from your opponent? That _seems_ like okay value, but i'm not 100% sure.

I'm going to wait to see how she plays before I make a judgement.

The main problem with this planewalker is that shes only got 2 loyalty counter. A single shock can kill it. In Modern, even after a +1 ability, it dies to bolt.

Also, in multiplayer, shes not that great. The -1 ability is the best for multiplayer and multiplayer EDH.

In 1 Vs 1, the +1 ability is solid.

I never look at ultimate, cause it happens 1% of the time ;)

I think she'll find a home in BUG or Bant control. She curves great from Ashiok or Detention Sphere into Prophet of Kruphix, Vraska or Far / Away.

She's also good to drop after Supreme Verdict and use her +1 on Mutavault.

Speaking strictly standard here she's not playable in modern or legacy.

Lets also not forget that Jace - AoT was only a 1-2 of in most control decks until rotation or not played at all against the backdrop of the great array of four drops from innistrad block.

When rotation happens we lose a lot of viable 4 drop options from control and she could fill an important role.

Also, just my $.02, but I think 4 mana is the new 3 mana very soon, the fast aggro decks aren't as fast as they were a year ago and we would have laughed at a 6 mana planes walker being playable, but yet there are 2 in heavy use atm.

Good points.

Ahh how we miss the days of the T4 Hellrider always sealing the deal? ;)

I can see where she'll be decent in standard, someone normally finds a way to make PWs work (even Ral Zarek sees some competitive play these days). The starting loyalty is a bit of an issue, but she's far more likely to get taken out by Hero's Downfall than any of the burn spells people are mentioning... and even then, she may have already provided value. Think about Vraska after her -3 or Jace, AOT after his -2... they're all in Shock range yet everyone isn't all "they're easy targets for Shock!" It's not like that's the normal burn spell of choice these days anyway... But being able to shut down their biggest threat even for 1-3 turns can provide a LOT of breathing room to do all sorts of fun things.

I don't really play other formats beyond EDH, but for someone not to be looking at her and proliferate in the same sentence is amazing me. If she stays on the board for any amount of time you can get her to 5 and BAM, free Krakens. Either way...

At a 4 drop and only 2 loyalty she seems to me to be one of those types of cards that depending on the situation can be useless or completely awesome (wait a second, that's like most cards in this game).

The major reason people use the non-ultimate -X ability right after they land the Planeswalker right now is because of the potential of Hero's Downfall or lethal attacker damage on the board already. It really depends on what your opponent is playing. As primarily a Standard player who only so far dabbles in EDH I can see how differently people who focus on different formats might look at this card.

Most board wipes in EDH deal with creatures, letting this survive with a big creature later in the game potential still growing. Meanwhile her +1 ability let's you tag the biggest flying or unblockable creature on the board or some other damage inducing threat, this is generally a good thing in EDH especially if you consider the political side, your Planeswalker is stalling the guy who managed to cheat out the 7/7 flying trampler from abusing us.

In Standard it gets a bit more complicated. Especially not knowing what new cards are coming with it. Perhaps a Simic Permission/Control deck could evolve to push her to highly desirable. Her +1 is a better counter to a Desecration Demon than sac'ing creatures or tokens for 2 reasons 1) You don't need to sac something preventing it from growing 2) His demon is only a chump block if you attack with smaller dudes.

I think there is potential, but I don't have a major boner for the card in general, that might change after we see some more spoilers.

TyWooOneTime wrote:I don't really play other formats beyond EDH, but for someone not to be looking at her and proliferate in the same sentence is amazing me. If she stays on the board for any amount of time you can get her to 5 and BAM, free Krakens. Either way...

you're right with Proliferate shes pretty solid. But think of it in other formats.

In Legacy you can do alot better things in general but she may have a place in some BUG variants?
In Standard you cant get proliferate.
In Modern Proliferate is generally speaking too slow to make her count. On the other hand maybe some sort of Assault Loam variant could make use of her.

Thats not to say she couldn't be played in any of these just that these are the broad generalizations. As with any card she just needs to find the right home.

Oh I'm quite well aware of the format restrictions for proliferate. Legacy has the same established decks and she's hardly going to change that. Standard is going to have to find a new footing once the rest of the set hits... but I can see where the low loyalty isn't as big of a deal as everyone is making it out to be.

TyWooOneTime wrote:Oh I'm quite well aware of the format restrictions for proliferate. Legacy has the same established decks and she's hardly going to change that. Standard is going to have to find a new footing once the rest of the set hits... but I can see where the low loyalty isn't as big of a deal as everyone is making it out to be.

I guess my point was more that shes good just very commandery for the moment until people figure out what she could work in. My money is on a BUG control deck for modern that will eventually come.

TRZ wrote: I guess my point was more that shes good just very commandery for the moment until people figure out what she could work in. My money is on a BUG control deck for modern that will eventually come.

Modern? no way, too slow not enough synergy and other card already do her job better. She's a standard card all the way like jace.

I see bant control in her future, or some kind of Simic ramp/devotion.

Not sure I agree. She stops 1 target. Alot of Modern Decks rely on a few hard hitting creatures. Being able to hold off a goyf for example is quite nice. Same goes for a Delver, a baneslayer or a Serra Ascendant (Is that the name of the card soul sisters uses? I've lost track now)

Moving back to standard, Seeing as i'm currently playing Maze's End (My FNM motto is "I make bad choices"), She'll be absolutely perfect for me.

As for her usefulness for people who make good choices, I just don't think its there as long as RtR is in standard. RtR provides a very fast environment (see MonoU), and kiora just isn't built for it. I still believe that wotc is trying to slow down the format, and once rotation happens, I believe that they will have succeeded. Once that happens, these 'terrible' walkers will see more of a chance to shine.