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Can we all take a second to appreciate that R&D finally printed a {G}{U} planeswalker?
And that she's super good? Any planeswalker with a way to protect itself, like her +1 ability kinda does, can be broken. And with an ultimate like that that leaves Timmies drooling, why not make it a thing in Standard?
I mean, at the very least, she's two Explores on one card for {2}{G}{U}. That's like extra card advantage because you don't have to play 2 cards.
My Vorel of the Hull Clade EDH deck will never be the same(and NOT because they can interact, I recognize they can't).
-ALSO-
A little speculation here, but I think the next block after Theros might be another block set in Zendikar. Here's why:
There was an article on DailyMTG this morning, a flavorful one(here it is:http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ur/286), about how Kiora got to Theros. It says:
"Zendikar.
Home. She longed to return to her own world, with its wild and ... (see all)
Posted By:
SirLibraryEater
(2/17/2014 9:28:11 AM)
@MattyWayne - It can, but it won't do damage to or take damage from the attacking creature.
@fibonacci - I'm not from NZ, I'm a skip, but that's the first thing I noticed too.
As for the card, I think it's an elegant design. Plenty of upside but not OP. I thought the "target permanent" was pretty cheeky, took me a sec to figure out just what other type of permanent is going to take damage :P
It is a shame that she's boltbait, but landing that emblem makes you dangerous for the rest of the game regardless of what happens.
And that middle ability is actually quite likely to see some usage unlike some of the other planeswalkers.
4.5/5
Posted By:
CptStormCrow
(3/1/2014 4:30:33 AM)
Man, she's so good. I run her in my Bant Superfriends Control deck, and she's just so amazingly versatile. You can use her to ramp, you can use her to shut down an opponent's threat, and if you activate her ultimate, you have a 95% chance of winning the game (if the opponent actually sticks around and doesn't scoop).
Her low loyalty isn't as much of a problem as I would have thought when I first saw her. If you think you're opponent isn't going to let her survive until your next turn, just use her -1 and let him or her waste an attack/burn spell/Hero's Downfall on her. If she happens to survive until your next turn, you get a free Explore, and if you're running four of these in your deck, you'll hopefully draw another one soon after the first one departs.
What makes Planeswalkers good is their versatility, and with that, Kiora is one of the better walkers in Standard right now. Just wait until Kruphix hits the scene with Journey into N... (see all)
Posted By:
jlbyellin
(3/7/2014 5:24:46 AM)
I was really busy and trying to cut back on spending so much on cards when Born first came out, but last time I went to the card shop in my town my two friends and I split a booster box, and out of my share of 12 packs I got two of these ladies. She's (both are) in my BUG proliferate deck, and although I've only gotten to use her twice, I managed to build up both and use all their loyalty for the ultimate, thanks to some simple proliferate and overkill Magistrate's Scepter. Having two 9/9 kraken tokens appear before their turn, every turn, just felt awesome. Very, very happy to see a simic planeswalker, and even more in disbelief I got two . Lot's of fun, great great card to play and doesn't require much building around to be useful - any strong blue and green could probably benefit from at the very least her +1 -1 abilities, and the ultimate is always a nice threat to go for. 4/5 easily.
Posted By:
FarisV
(3/8/2014 6:07:23 AM)
People don't like her because she doesn't make a huge impact as soon as she hits the table, but what she excels at is forcing your opponent to make bad moves.
Her +1 locks down your opponent's best (or most evasive) creature and makes them work to get her off the table. I've played plenty of games against her where I've had to swing with an elvish mystic or something just to have enough creatures to stop her from ulting.
Her -1 is useful. Makes her not a dead draw even when you aren't controlling the board well enough or won't be able to protect her from a lightning strike. It especially goes well with Courser of Kruphix.
Her ult is absolutely ridiculous. If you manage to get it off, you are pretty much guaranteed the game. And its an emblem, so it keeps being useful and there is nothing they can do about it.
I'd argue that what makes her cool is that her ult is the scariest part about her. Normally the ults are win-more,... (see all)
Posted By:
jonrds
(3/19/2014 1:56:22 PM)
Sexy. Pulled her at draft tonight. Not sure what the hate is all about? 4.5/5 and I don't even play these colors.
Posted By:
Silence9
(4/5/2014 12:09:00 AM)
I managed to get her, and boy was my simic deck happy! Maybe not the best planeswalker out there but she is far better then people give her credit, even without the ult ever going off she can give you more land and card advantage. Like Vraska the ult is pretty sweet but it her minus ability is better.
Posted By:
ChandraAblaze
(4/14/2014 10:35:20 AM)
Kiora is a great card. Keep in mind that, although she starts out with low loyalty, she only starts three counters away from her ultimate, which is game-winning. This means that she works amazing with Clockspinning, which she actually curves perfectly into. Consider this example:
Turn 4
Land, Kiora, use the +1 on the opponent's most dangerous creature.
Turn 5
Land, Clockspinning on Kiora with buyback, Clockspinning on Kiora without buyback, use Kiora's -5 ability. GG.
In the right deck, Kiora is amazing.
4.5/5
Posted By:
OlvynChuru
(4/21/2014 10:16:28 AM)
She's very bad against decks with multiple small creatures and especially lightning strike. Boros burn is an example of a horrendous matchup for Kiora; tons of small creatures and a 3-point burn spell that can kill her even after a +1. Explore is also not a particularly useful effect against aggro, since your whole gameplan against aggro is to gain life and kill their stuff. She's also quite bad against mutavault, and while you can say that for a lot of planeswalkers, Kiora's issues are magnified because of the low starting loyalty (yes, she can bubble the mutavault, but often the opponent has other stuff on the board).
However she's great against everything else. Against midrange-decks like monoblack devotion, unless they stick a pack rat or hero's downfall the kiora, they often have trouble deploying multiple threats quickly, and the +1 is great at neutralizing a desecration demon or nightveil specter.
Against control she's just as good as any other walker, where grinding out cont... (see all)
Posted By:
mdakw576
(4/25/2014 6:04:28 AM)
Her +1 does not have any immediate board impact or card advantage generator. But it does fantastic job of protecting herself against creatures.
Her -1 is very weak when compared to other walkers bribe abilities. Lets compare it with a simple spell like consecrate. With consecrate you get an immediate bang of 3 cards. With kiora -1, you get only 1 card and then are sitting at a fragile 1 counter. Consecrate seems like the safer play here...
Her ultimate can be very powerful, a 9/9 every turn is more then enough for a win condition, and it fits her theme and flavor perfectly.
There are three ways to go about playing her. You can either +1 spam to build up for ultimate, go for double -1, or oscillate between -1 and +1.
If you are just spamming +1 you are vulnerable to many forms of planeswalker removal without generating any bang for your buck, a true 1 for 1 trade. Where as with another walker you would have gotten some mileage for your buildup ability.
If you g... (see all)
Posted By:
TheWrathofShane
(5/16/2014 11:00:33 PM)