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.
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.
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
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?
