I got up to Nissa here before realizing that I
haven't yet commented on what storyline events
the transformation conditions might be intended
to represent. Nissa's is also the hardest one
for which to make such an association: honestly,
I've never been sure what controlling lands in
play was supposed to represent in general, much
less when you're talking about for a summoned
creature rather than a player!
For these characters, most people are going to
be focused on getting them to transform into
their planeswalker form; unfortunately, Nissa's
conditions are hard to achieve early in the
game, and require a lot of other support
besides. The payoff is quite strong, though -
repeatable card drawing is always good and
occasionally crazy, and using her -2 even once
can shore up your side of the table decently. If
you never reach that point, she's only a (more
limited) Borderland Ranger, but Borderland
Ranger is a decent card.
Today's card of the day is Nissa, Vastwood Seer
which is a three mana
2/2 Legendary with a more resource intensive
transformation requirement compared to the rest
of the cycle. Needing seven lands in play
dramatically slows down the potential to see
Nissa, Sage Animist and leaves this as a 2/2
that adds a Forest to your hand. If this gets
transformed it isn't bad at all with the +1
providing late game mana acceleration or
reduction of dead draws. The -2 of a 4/4
Legendary is good, but not being able to produce
multiples limits the value noticeably. The
-7 of turning lands into 6/6 creatures and more
importantly untapping them has quite a bit of
potential both for massive mana production and
game winning alpha strikes. Overall this
is far too slow and provides minimal impact on
the game state to see much serious play
especially compared to the rest of the cycle or
the original Nissa Revane.
In Limited this is a three mana 2/2 that adds a
land to your hand from the library which is
reason enough to play it in Sealed while the
potential transformation is just a bonus.
For Booster this can be a rare draft or a first
pick for the card advantage or if Green is a
color of choice, but it is fairly low on the
power curve for a rare.
Easily my favorite of the new batch, Nissa's a
hell of a card for those decks running green.
Her creature form tutors a basic forest, which
is always nice. The flip check is reasonable,
but it's her Walker form that really shines.
Coiling oracle was a card from way back when in
rav block that netted you advantage every time.
Extra land drop is terrific, and even if it
doesn't happen, you more or less draw a revealed
card. That's really strong. And now it's
repeatable til Nissa dies. Her legendary 4/4
token is crazy and unexpected, though I suppose
something has to stop a potentially repeatable
4/4 trigger from swarming the field. Sure, the
ultimate's a little dull in untapping and making
lands creatures, but rarely are planeswalkers
strictly played for ultimates anyway. You
probably won't see it often in standard, but its
abilities easily warrant a slot in any
green-based EDH.al
conditions might be intended
to represent. Nissa's is also the hardest one
for which to make such an association: honestly,
I've never been sure what controlling lands in
play was supposed to represent in general, much
less when you're talking about for a summoned
creature rather than a player!