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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Kiora, the Crashing Wave
Image from Wizards.com

Kiora, the Crashing Wave
- Born of the Gods

Reviewed February 10, 2014

Constructed: 3.33
Casual: 4.17
Limited: 4.45
Multiplayer: 3.33

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 being the worst.  3 - average.  5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Kiora, the Crashing Wave

Our first green/blue planeswalker, and she seems like a solid choice. At 2GU, she's fairly easy to cast, and her +1 ability is pretty solid for controlling the board. Don't fall into the trap of thinking of it as "giving your opponent a free 0/X blocker". The effect lasts until your next turn, so you want to use it on their best attacker (who is likely already tapped). If they have an untapped blocker who can kill all your best guys, then the +1 will let you swing without fear of losing a creature to it. And if the +1 effect really would improve your opponent's position, then just wait until after you attack to use it!

Kiora's -1 ability is pretty solid too. It doesn't quite obsolete Urban Evolution, since that gives you more cards, but even if all you do with Kiora is draw two cards and play an extra lands or two, that's good value. Green/blue decks tend to be all about tempo and ramp, so getting the lands you need into play is a solid benefit. Still, I can't blame you for trying to save up for Kiora's Ultimate. A free 9/9 Kraken every turn will put away just about any game you can imagine, as long as you're not already dead on the board. I fully expect Kiora to find her way into tournament-caliber decks, and possibly become the foundation for one of her own.

Constructed- 4
Casual- 4.5
Limited- 4.9
Multiplayer- 4

Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Kiora, the Crashing Wave which is a four mana Green and Blue planeswalker with two loyalty.  The +1 of preventing all damage to and from a target permanent an opponent controls until your next turn is a very solid stall against many decks and will often be enough to help keep her in play.  The -1 of drawing a card and allowing an extra land drop is just about enough to warrant playing Kiora by itself as one or two uses adds some card advantage and can potentially be more depending on the game.  The -5 to add a 9/9 Blue kraken at each of your end steps takes a bit of stalling to build into, but once enabled is a serious threat for just about any deck.  Overall this is a powerful and interesting card that adds a great deal to Blue/Green designs, even if it doesn't have much that is specifically Simic in nature.
 
For Limited the stall into the ultimate is a very effective strategy that should be utilized whenever a land shortage or inability to defend Kiora isn't a factor.  An easy first pick in Booster even with the two opposing colors as Green acceleration alongside Blue's evasion or defenses is a viable pairing.  In Sealed it depends on the Blue and Green pools, but even splashing one of the colors to gain the potential 9/9 tokens as a win condition is worth the effort.
 
In Multiplayer the stall is less effective as a personal defense and more useful as a bargaining chip with opponents to lock down one threat for each of their turns.  Negotiating a target to make temporary alliances or enemies adds another element to her gameplay, though keeping it going long enough to get the 9/9 tokens out may be difficult.
 
Constructed: 4.0
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4.0


Skid Rambo

Kiora, the Crashing Wave looks great and has potential but I really dislike this planes walker. Come on, her mana cost is 4! She has 2 loyalty counters and there so many different ways to kill planes walkers. Not to mention the fact that you are paying 4 mana to either Fog one creature or to draw and play a land. That is not worth it in my book. Maybe if I was playing a Maze’s End standard deck, then I would be in love with Kiora, the Crashing Wave. I’m happy to say that will never happen! This planes walker is just a casual fun card to me. I can see people throwing a bunch of “fog” spells together with some counter spells and adding Kiora, the Crashing Wave. I can’t wait to work around Kiora Fog! Yay

Constructed: 2
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 2


David Fanany

Player since 19

Kiora, the Crashing Wave
 
Kiora Atua's first appearance was in one of the early installments of Duels of the Planeswalkers, and fans have been asking for her to appear in card form ever since, to the point that Wizards of the Coast felt the need to put her in the first set they could fit her in. Just goes to show that sometimes a game head-designed by someone who wants to set himself up as a knowledgeable authority or even a fatherly figure has to listen to fans anyway. Was the wait worth it? Well, I was a big fan of Kiora and her deck in Duels of the Planeswalkers, and I'm not disappointed. Her +1 ability is great at stalling all the undercosted creatures in recent sets, and the fact that it can prevent the original Chandra's ultimate from going off until time stops is hilarious. Even if all you use Kiora for is drawing two cards and getting up to two additional land plays, that's pretty much worth it. But you really should be aiming for the more spectacular when you use her - I mean, why else did we wait so long?
 
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5


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