We haven't had a three-mana planeswalker (at
least not a good one) for a while. Ashiok comes
down on turn three and immediately builds up to
5 loyalty. How many decks do you know are
prepared to deal 5 damage, after blocks are
considered, on turn three? Well, in Standard
Naya aggro can do it, IF they curved out with
turn one Firewalker Satyr, turn two Voice of
Resurgence (and the necessary dual land of
course). But then you weren't winning that game
anyway.
Ashiok's biggest drawback compared to most other
'walkers is that usually, a 'walker can choose
to open with their first ability and start
charging up, or just use their second ability
immediately with the understanding that doing so
will drop them to 1 loyalty or so. Ashiok's
second ability is linked to her first, so you
have to +2 at least once before using the second
ability. Depending on how lucky you are with
what you exile, you may not be able to use the
second ability for a while, and how good that
ability actually IS depends on your opponent's
deck. Ironically, it's best when your opponent
is playing the very same extreme aggro deck I
was just describing-- you're more likely to get
a strong creature at a good value that way... if
Ashiok survives long enough.
Against a slower deck, you likely won't mind
this drawback, as Ashiok's ultimate is
absolutely ruinous against decks that like to
slow-roll and hold back cards in hand. It also
exiles cards, which means if Ashiok is still
around and your opponent hasn't forfeited, you
can use the -X ability to nab creatures that
your opponent never even got to play!
I remember another planeswalker who started
at three loyalty and cost three mana: Jace
Beleren. That card's apparent vulnerability was
offset by the fact that he could significantly
increase his loyalty with little effort, giving
his controller access to additional resources in
the process. Ashiok is the first planeswalker
I've seen in a long time that can do the same
(other than Nicol Bolas, but he's in a different
league than everyone else), and while you don't
dig deeper into your deck like with Jace, you do
get to attack the opponent along one axis that's
difficult to defend against, and later
potentially using their own resources, which
presumably they chose for a reason. Especially
once they know that you're playing blue and
black, they probably have something that they
think is going to be difficult for you to deal
with - hexproof creatures, saboteurs, Gods - but
they may or may not be so ready to face these
things themselves. And even if they are, you can
just keep running down their library and making
Ashiok harder to deal with in the process. I
predict that this card's name will turn out to
be apt, and that facing Ashiok will be an
absolute nightmare for any deck.
Today's card of the day is Ashiok, Nightmare
Weaver which is a three mana Blue and Black
planeswalker with three loyalty. The +2 feeds
into the second effect, makes killing Ashiok
fairly difficult, and supports several mill
themes. The -X can either take a few turns to
have both enough loyalty and a worthwhile target
or can be used on whatever is available, either
way each extra creature adds card and field
advantage. The ultimate is perhaps the weakest,
costing quite a bit of loyalty at ten and not
meshing with the -X as well due to the lack of
remaining loyalty. It does exile the hand, which
is a nice advantage, but overall it is the first
two effects that will see the most play and
combined with the low casting cost it should be
a popular choice for Dimir and other library
destruction builds.
In Limited this is a very effective card for
getting additional creatures into play and
shouldn't be overlooked as a result of being
multicolor. Splashing to play this is well worth
the effort and even if it is out of color the
power and value make it a clear first pick in
Booster. Playing it in Sealed depends on whether
either color can carry a deck, but even one
creature of converted mana cost between four and
five or several adding up to that and the value
is well above the casting cost of Ashiok.
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver is the new U/B
planeswalker from Theros. Let me start off by
saying that 3 mana for a planeswalker is only
good if the abilities match the cost. Ashiok,
Nightmare Weaver has 3 loyalty counters to match
the mana cost. Ashiok’s +2 ability exiles three
cards from an opponent’s library. That ability
by itself is great. Ashiok’s second ability
makes this planeswalker fun to play with. Who
doesn’t like to steal an opponent’s Blood Baron
of Viskopa and then beat them with it? Even if
you don’t exile a beat stick, there is good
chance to get a blocker to protect Ashiok. Let’s
take a look at Ashiok’s Ultimate ability. -10 to
exile all cards from opponents’ hands and
graveyards. This ability is not that powerful,
but it could be annoying in multiplayer games.
Ashiok, the Nightmare Weaver definitely has the
ability to cause your opponents to have bad
dreams. If you like mil or control then Ashiok
might be your planeswalker.
