One of the worst of the best: Ajani Goldmane has
been pretty well overshadowed by the other
planeswalkers, most notably Jace and Garruk, has
gotten a new "improved" form that conveniently
makes it impossible to have both Vengeant and
Goldmane out at once, and even has suffered the
indignity of having a second planeswalker,
Elspeth be released in his color and be arguably
more playable. The only other planeswalker
that's had to put up with that is Jace Beleren,
and even then Tezzeret only works in
artifact-heavy decks. Elspeth and Goldmane both
work pretty equally well in any mono-white
deck-- heck, they even both have the exact same
mana cost?
All that said, is Ajani worth playing? Yes. It's
a good card, just waiting for the right time to
shine. Heck, he's even gotten some appreciation
already in token decks, what with that
"Marshaling Cry" second ability. But as one of
the original five, it just feels like he never
got his day in the sun.
I think it's funny how harsh some people are
when a new planeswalker first comes out. Back
when Ajani was part of that category, I must
have heard everything about him, from "his first
ability is useless" to "his third ability is
useless" to "no-one has enough creatures to make
him worthwhile." Because it's not like Cloudgoat
Ranger and Captain of the Watch were released
within two years of him. In the right deck,
Ajani is devastating, a game-winner - and the
definition of "right deck" gets broader the more
creatures they release.
-Balding
for just over 5 years
-Playing MTG for just over 10
Ajani Goldmane
I learned my lesson a prerelease with this card.
Don't fail to realize that the counters added
are permanent in the second ability. Only is the
vigilance temporary. If I had known this, I
could have turned around a game quickly.
However, I chose to keep gaining life instead.
Bad choice. This card is showing up in several
planeswalker decks. It is a fun card to play as
are most of the planeswalkers because of the
flexibility.
Today's card of the day is the planeswalker Ajani
Goldmane, reprinted from Lorwyn in 2010. He
remains a solid support card and quite useful in
both White weenie decks and life gain themes. I
don't really consider this to be a game winning
card, but as a tool to support a deck's
strategy.
To Constructed, Casual, and Multiplayer his
abilities are fairly standard and either work on
gaining life or using his -1 to have a few
powered up attacks without losing your defense.
Maintaining a defense is especially useful in
multiplayer, but in all formats this can help
swing the tide of battle.
In Limited Ajani is a decent pick if you have a
good number of low cost creatures and possibly
some included life gain. I prefer his -1
ability, but in the right situation the avatar
can be deadly. It really isn't a card you can
pass in booster and if you open it in sealed
you'd be hard pressed to build a deck without
it.
