Planeswalkers in Grand Melee, part 36: Ral Zarek

Ral Zarek is the most recent planeswalker to hit the magic tables, and also one of the oddest. More than any other planeswalker Ral Zarek encourages you to gamble. Very fitting for a blue/red character.

Ral Zarek costs four mana to cast, of which one must be blue and one red. He enters the battlefield with four loyalty counters and has three abilities. The first two are useful, the third is more of a gamble. Literally. We’ll get to that.

The first ability lets you tap target permanent, then untap another target permanent, for the cost of adding a loyalty counter. Very nice. You be be untapping one of your creatures or lands, while tapping down something one of your opponents needs.

The second ability costs two loyalty counters, and with this one Ral Zarek deals three damage to target creature or player. Lightning Bolt is a popular spell even with multiple players at the table, and this ability will be useful at all times.

The final ability is the one that catches the eye, and makes this planeswalker unique. You need to remove seven loyalty counter to pay for this one, and you flip a coin five times. For each flip you win, you get to take an extra turn after this one. This could be fantastic (five additional turns) or useless (no extra turns), but will more likely be generally very good, as two or three additional turns is going to set you up nicely.

Verdict: Good. The abilities look unconnected, but Ral Zarek is actually an excellent representation of his colours. The first ability gives you the controlling finesse of blue, the second gives you the straight blasting ability of red. The final ability gives you the chaos that the red/blue colour pairing is known for. All in all a perfect card, and a great addition to the game. This is not the most powerful planeswalker, but this is certainly a character that feels right, and will no doubt be a joy to use.

Connections: Like Ral Zarek? You may also like [Ajani Vengeant] [Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker] [Domri Rade]

Don’t like Ral Zarek? You may prefer [Liliana of the Veil] [Jace, Architect of Thought] [Vraska the Unseen]

 

Planeswalkers in Grand Melee, part 35: Domri Rade

Domri Rade is a young rebel of a planeswalkers, in the green and red colours. He makes his debut in the Gatecrash set.

Domri Rade costs three mana to cast, of which one must be red and one green. He enters the battlefield with three loyalty counters and has three abilities. These abilities all work well together, but demand that you use them in a particular kind of deck.

The first ability adds a loyalty counter and lets you reveal the top card of your library. If it’s a creature card, you may put that card into your hand. Nice for the extra card draw, but it does lean you towards building a deck with Domri Rade, creatures and lands only.

The second ability costs two loyalty counters and a creature your control fights another target creature. When two creatures fight, each deals damage equal to its power to the other. Abilities such as Deathtouch or Lifelink still work, but other abilities such as reach, flying or first strike don’t do anything in a fight.

The final ability costs seven loyalty counters, so you must have used Domri’s first ability at least four times. This ones gives you an emblem, with creatures you control have double strike, trample, hexproof, and haste. It may well be worth taking the time to get there, drawing extra creature cards along the way. Remember an Emblem is an effect that lasts for the remainder of the games regardless of what happens to Domri Rade after that. There is no card or effect that can remove and emblem, though if the game is restarted (through Karn Liberated for example), the emblems won’t be there at the start of the new game.

Verdict: Marginal. Domri’s abilities are all strong, but demand that you turn up with a deck made up of little more than Domri Rade, creatures, and land. You may not survive long enough to see the full potential unfold.

Connections: Like Domri Rade? You may also like [Garruk Wildspeaker] [Sarkhan Vol] [Vraska the Unseen]
Don’t like Domri Rade? You may prefer [Karn Liberated] [Jace, Architect of Thought] [Gideon, Champion of Justice]

Planeswalkers in Grand Melee, part 34: Gideon, Champion of Justice

Yes, the name is stupid. Luckily, everything else about this white Planeswalker is awesome. He will have a huge impact on multiplayer tables and is the best multiplayer Planeswalker yet printed.

Gideon, Champion of Justice costs four mana to cast, two of which must be white. He enters the battlefield with four loyalty counters and has three abilities. Each ability is awesome in its own way, and when combined together they become close to unbeatable.

Gideon’s first ability adds one loyalty counter, for this “cost” you add a loyalty counter to Gideon for each creature target opponent controls. You should gain a clutch of counters each time you use this ability.

Gideon’s second ability has a cost of zero; it neither adds nor removes counters to use. For this Gideon becomes and indestructible human soldier creature util the end of turn. His power and toughness are each equal to the number of loyalty counters he has. When you consider how many loyalty counters Gideon would have after using the first ability even once, you can see how great this creature would be. But wait, there’s more!

The third and final ability has a huge cost and a huge effect. The cost is to remove 15 loyalty counters from Gideon. Remember you have to have that many loyalty counters to use this ability, and you’ll want more. What does this ability do? Four simple words; Exile all other permanents.

After using this ability, there will be nothing other than Gideon, Champion of Justice remaining, assuming you waited util there were more than 15 counters of Gideon before using this ability. Players are building again from scratch, except that what they once had is now out of their reach in the exile zone. You have a planeswalker with an ability that turns himself into a creature. Using this ability with enough counters on Gideon (say 20-30) should see you kill your opponents one by one before they can recover.

Verdict: Awesome. This is a planeswalker you will love to have and hate to see.

Connections
Like Gideon, Champion of Justice? You may also like [Elspeth, Knight Errant] [Ajani Vengeant] [Karn Liberated]
Don’t like Gideon, Champion of Justice? You may prefer [Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker] [Tamiyo, the Moon Sage] [Vraska the Unseen]

Planeswalkers in Grand Melee, part 33: Vraska the Unseen

Vraska the Unseen is a gorgon planeswalkers and part of the Golgari guild of Ravnica. She is the first green/black planeswaker, unless you count the flip side of Garruk Relentless, which I don’t.

Vraska’s abilities are interesting, but not that easy to evaluate at a glance. In the right deck she can shine, but simply throwing this card into a random green/black deck is not going to help you.

Vraska the Unseen costs five mana to cast, of which one must be black and one green. She enters the battlefield with five loyalty counters and has three abilities.

The first ability adds a counter, and sets up an effect that lasts until your next turn. If a creature deals damage to Vraska, that creature is destroyed. This is less useful in Grand Melee, where you only have to worry about one attacking player, than in other multiplayer formats, but regardless of how useful it is, this is how to add counters to your new gorgon.

The second ability is powerful, and costs three loyalty counters: destroy target non-land permanent. Useful and powerful, although you can only use it once before you will need to recharge using Vraska’s first ability.

The third ability needs some careful reading and careful thought. For the cost of seven loyalty counters, you put three 1/1 black assassin creature tokens onto the battlefield. These tokens have “whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player loses the game.” A nice ability, but you’ll need careful preparation to make it work for you.

Verdict: Marginal. Vraska the Unseen will work, but only is a deck specifically designed to take advantage of her unique abilities.

Connections: Like Vraska the Unseen? You may also like [Venser, the Sojourner] [Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas] [Liliana of the Veil]
Don’t like Vraska the Unseen? You may prefer [Elspeth Tirel] [Chandra, the Firebrand] [Jace, Architect of Thought]

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Planeswalkers in Grand Melee, part 32: Jace, Architect of Thought

The fourth version of Jace Beleren seems tailor-made for multiplayer. You’ll know what I mean when we get to his final ability.

Jace, Architect of Thought costs four mana to cast, two of which must be blue. This relatively low costs means you can start using him early in the game. He enters the battlefield with four loyalty counters and has three abilities.

The first ability adds a loyalty counter, and until your next turn, whenever a creature an opponent controls attacks, it gets -1/-0. This applies to attacks against you or attacks against other players. This is a great way of slowing all your opponents down while building to your third ability.

The second ability costs two loyalty counters and is well worth considering. With this ability you reveal the top three cards of your library. An opponent separates those three cards into two piles. You choose one to put into your hand and one to put on the bottom of your library in any order. A great way of getting through your deck to the cards you need.

The final ability is a big one, as has a cost of eight loyalty counters. This ability take a few turns to build up to, but its worth the wait. For each player, search that player’s library for a nonland card and exile it, then that player shuffled his or her library. You may cast those cards without paying their mana costs. Note that if you cast the spell it will move from exile to its owner’s graveyard.

Remember it is for each player, and you are a player, so you can search your own library too. This ability can have you casting up to five spells for free, or simply removing four problem cards (legendary eldrazi?) from your opponents’ libraries, and casting something from your own.

This ability is fantastic and can cause some serious chaos at the multiplayer table.

Verdict: Strong. Jace, Architect of Thought is a serious power at the multiplayer table.

Connections: Lke Jace, Architect of Thought? You may also like [Jace Beleren] [Karn Liberated] [Tamiyo, the Moon Sage]
Don’t like Jace, Architect of Thought? You may prefer [Ajani Vengeant] [Garruk Relentless] [Vraska the Unseen]

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Planeswalkers in Grand Melee, part 31: Liliana of the Dark Realms

The third version of Liliana Vess may well be the most relevant for multiplayer games. Her ultimate ability can cause you to win the game on the spot, provided you have the right cards in your hand.

Liliana of the Dark Realms costs four mana to cast two of which must be black. That’s fine as you are unlikely to use this planeswalker outside of a mono-black deck. She enters the battlefield with three loyalty counters and has three abilities. All three abilities are connected to one another, and they all revolve around the use of Swamps.

The first ability adds a loyalty counter and allows you to search your library for a swamp card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. The wording ‘swamp card’ means you can search for any card with the subtype ‘swamp’ including cards like Overgrown Tomb or Leechridden Swamp. Note this ability puts the card into your hand, so you won’t get to play the land unless you haven’t already played one in your turn.

The second ability costs three loyalty counters and gives target creature +x/+x or -x/-x until the end of turn, where x is the number of swamps you control. Nice against threats including indestructible creatures as those go to the graveyard if their toughness reaches 0. Also nice to choose the +x/+x version on one of your own creatures. Even the smallest creature becomes aggressive once you’ve done this.

The final ability gives you an emblem, like many other Planeswalkers. This emblem means that for the rest of the game, your swamps tap for four black mana. That’s right. Tap a swamp, get 4 black mana. At ths point even five swamps nets you 20 mana, and you’ll probably have more than that simply from using Liliana’s first ability several times. This ability costs six loyalty counters, and should allow you to cast something like Exsanguinate to kill multiple players at once.

Verdict: Strong. Liliana of the Dark Realms has three relevant abilities, which all complement each other. She is best in a mono black deck, but if you have access to dual lands with the swamp type then you have the option of splashing for other colours should you wish.

Connections: Like Liliana of the Dark Realms? You may also like [Garruk Wildspeaker] [Koth of the Hammer] [Tamiyo, the Moon Sage]
Don’t like Liliana of the Dark Realms? You may prefer [Sarkhan the Mad] [Venser, the Sojourner] [Ajani, Caller of the Pride]

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Planeswalkers in Grand Melee, part 30: Ajani, Caller of the Pride

We last saw Ajani Goldmane way back in part 8, as the red/white Ajani Vengeant. The third version of this planeswalker returns to his mono-white roots, and brings an army of cats with him!

Ajani, Caller of the Pride costs three mana to cast, two of which must be white. He enters the battlefield with 4 loyalty counters and has three abilities.

The relatively low mana cost means you should be able to get this Ajani out early, and start building up his loyalty quickly. HIs loyalty is already a pretty good four, considering his mana cost, and you need to get to eight to activate his inal ability, but it’s worth it as you will see.

Ajani’s first ability adds a loyalty counter and puts a +1/+1 counter on a target creature. Of course in a multiplayer game this doesn’t have to be one of your creatures, but the best target would be one of your creatures that has lifelink. You’ll find out why.

The second ability costs three loyalty counters. A hefty price but you can use it the turn you cast Ajani, Caller of the Pride and still have him available in your next turn. This ability gives double strike and flying to a target creature. A powerful combo, doubling the hitting power of your attacker, and giving it the ability to fly past an opponent’s defences.

The final ability is the one you have been waiting for. For the cost of eight loyalty counters, you put x 2/2 white cat creature token onto the battlefield, where x is your life total. That should make everyone sit up and take notice! 10 life would give you 20 power worth of creatures, 20 life gives you 40, and so on. An army summoned and ready to attack… next turn.

Verdict: Marginal. Ajani, Caller of the Pride has three useful abilitties, but this plaeswalkers is best lending assistance to an existing white deck of yours. A deck built around this Ajani will do okay, but his best use is as a supporting card.

Connections:
Like Ajani, Caller of the Pride? You may also like [Elspeth, Knight-Errant] [Sarkhan Vol] [Sorin, Lord of Innistrad]
Don’t like Ajani? You may prefer [Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker] [Jace, Memory Adept] [Liliana of the Dark Realms]

See all articles in the series.

Planeswalkers in Grand Melee, part 29: Tibalt the Fiend-Blooded

He has a long name and some incredible artwork from Peter Mohrbacher. Tibalt is a planeswalker native to Innistrad, where he experiemnted with himself and some fiends, and well you can probably guess the rest.

More interestingly Tibalt is an inexpensive red planeswalker. He has the mana cost that Chandra Ablaze should have had. Tibalt costs tow mana to cast, both of which must be red. They got that bit right, lets see about the abilities.

Tibalt has three abilities. The first adds a loyalty counter, for which you may draw a card, then discard a card at random. Okay, and works nicely if you have cards with the Madness ability, or cards that want to be in the graveyard anyway.

The second ability costs four loyalty counters. Tibalt enters the battlefield with two counters, so it will be a few turns before you can use this ability. The ability is Sudden Impact; that is it deals damage to target player equal to the number of cards in that player’s hand. Being able to choose the most vulnerable player to target makes this ability useful, although perhaps you’d rather save up for the third ability…

Tibalt’s last ability is another red spell popular in multiplayer – Insurrection. For the cost of eight loyalty, you gain control of all creatures on the battlefield until the end of the turn. This ability should spell the end of one of your opponents.

Verdict: Marginal. Tibalt is hardly the worst red planeswalker you could use in your deck. However a deck built around Tibalt is unlikely to do well at the table, though you should be able to sneak in a kill or two. Tibalt can also be used to strengthen certain red decks.

Connections: Like Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded? You may also like [Chandra Nalaar] [Jace, the Mindsculptor] [Garruk, Primal Hunter]
Don’t like Tibalt? You may prefer [Elspeth Tirel] [Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas] [Sorin, Lord of Innistrad]

See all articles in the series.

Planeswalkers in Grand Melee, part 28: Tamiyo the Moon Sage

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is a planeswalker tailor-made to fit into blue control decks. Her abilities all work well in such a deck, strengthening its core functions. Tamiyo also strengthens such decks at the multiplayer table, and her ultimate ability should give you control of the table for as long as the game lasts.

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage costs five man to cast, two of which must be blue. This cost gives you the option of playing her in a mono-blue or multicolour deck that can generate blue reliably. She enters the battlefield with four loyalty counters and has three abilities.

The first ability adds a loyalty counter and allows you to tap a permanent, which doesn’t untap in its controller’s next untap phase. The fact that this ability allows you to target any card on the table is very powerful. You can keep an opponent’s key attacker or defender out of combat, or tap a land to deny an opponent some much-needed mana. You can also target a permanent that is already tapped with this ability.

Tamiyo’s second ability lets you draw a card for each tapped creature target opponent controls. In a multiplayer game you are more likely to target the player with the mass creature token deck, and draw a new handful of cards. Casting Tamiyo and then using this ability to draw a new hand of cards can set you up for the rest of the game.

The third ability makes any player sit up and take notice, whether playing duel or multiplayer magic. For the cost of removing eight loyalty counters, you get an emblem that gives you two advantages for the rest of the game. The first is that you have no maximum hand size. Great if you have 8 or more cards in hand. The second is that whenever a card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may return that card to your hand.

Any instant or sorcery spell you cast and be returned to your hand ready to cast again, even in that same turn. Any creature, land or artifact destroyed you can bring back ready to cast once more. With the no maximum hand size clause, you can even survive mass board wipes with everything back in your hand while your opponents are reduced to hoping the next card they draw will be worthwhile. It is also a ‘may’ ability meaning you can let the card go to your graveyard if you wish. An extremely powerful ability to use at any table.

Verdict: Strong. Tamiyo the Moon Sage will strengthen existing decks that can cast her, and a deck built around her will do very well.

Connections: Like Tamiyo, the Moon Sage? You may also like [Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker] [Karn Liberated] [Chandra, the Firebrand]
Don’t like Tamiyo, the Moon Sage? You may prefer [Sarkhan Vol] [Koth of the Hammer] [Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded]

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Planeswalkers in Grand Melee, part 27: Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

The vampire planeswalker Sorin Markov has returned home. He doesn’t get on so well with the other vampires of Innistrad, for various reasons. Rather than black, this Sorin is black and white, showing his mixed motives for returning. For our purposes what this gives us is one of the most powerful multiplayer planeswalkers available. Read on!

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad costs four mana to cost, of which one must be black and one must be white. He enters the battlefield with three loyalty counter and has three abilities.

The first ability adds a loyalty counter and puts a 1/1 black vampire with lifelink onto the table. Veterans of multiplayer games will know that lifelink if a high relevant ability to have on your creatures if you want to do the distance.

The second ability costs two loyalty counters and gives you an emblem. This emblem grants all of your creatures +1/+0. Emblems last for as long as the game, even if Sorin leaves play. Multiple emblems stack, giving your creatures an even bigger bonus. Combined with the lifelink of the vampires Sorin brings in with his first ability and the combination already offers more than many planeswalkers.

The last ability costs six loyalty counters, and so takes some time to build up to. The ability allows you to destroy up to three target creatures or planeswalkers, and then return those to the battlefield under your control. Great for dealing with large creatures or planeswalkers that represent a threat to your own position.

Verdict: Awesome. Sorin, Lord of Innistrad has the ability to single-handedly dominate the table. He becomes more potent when combined with planeswalkers who also product creature tokens, such as Elspeth, Knight-Errant, or who boost all your creatures like Ajani Goldmane. While restricted to decks that generate black and white mana, he is well suited to those colours. Spells such as Lingering Souls become far better with Sorin around to boost the power of your creatures. Sorin can boost already powerful decks, or else build a deck around him for some serious power at the multiplayer table.

Connections: Like Sorin, Lord of Innistrad? You may also like [Elspeth, Knight-Errant] [Garruk, Primal Hunter] [Liliana of the Veil]
Don’t like Sorin, Lord of Innistrad? You may prefer [Sorin Markov] [Jace, the Mindsculptor] [Sarkhan the Mad]

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Planeswalkers in Grand Melee, part 26: Garruk Relentless

One of the most noticeable features of the Innistrad set was its introduction of double-faced cards. This was used primarily to represent some unfortunates who would transform into werewolves from time to time. Garruk Relentless has a worse affliction than this. After being contaminated by Liliana’s veil, he is being transformed from a green planeswalker into a black one.

On the card this is shown by a transformation trigger that occurs when his loyalty reaches a certain point. You then flip the card over to reveal Garruk the Veil-Cursed, a black/green planeswalker with a different set of abilities.

But first to Garruk Relentless. A a double-faced card you can only cast this side. He costs four mana to cast, one of which must be green, and enters the battlefield with three loyalty counters, and has two abilities.

Each of these abilities cost 0 to activate, and he transforms only if his loyalty reaches two or fewer.

The first of his abilities will help you do this. Garruk Relentless deals 3 damage to a creature, and that creature deals damage to Garruk Relentless equal to its power. As damage dealt to a planeswalker causes that many loyalty counters to be removed, even a power 1 creature can cause Garruk Relentless to flip.

You might not want him to flip right away, as the second ability puts a 2/2 green wolf into play. You may wish to build up your 2/2 wolf count before Garruk Relentless transforms into Garruk the Veil-Cursed.

Or maybe you do! Garruk the Veil-Cursed has three abilities. His +1 ability puts a 1/1 black wlf with deathtouch into play. This token will be more useful than the bigger wolves of Garruk Relentless if you need to defend, less so if you want to attack.

The -1 ability lets you sacrifice a creature, and if you do, you may search your library for a creature card and put that card into your hand. This is a great way to get the creature you need for whatever the current situation at the table is.

Garruk the Veil-Cursed’s final ability costs three loyalty. So if you want to use this one, you’ll have to so spend a turn or two bringing 1/1 wolves into play. With this ability your creatures get trample and +x/+x where x is the number of creature cards in your graveyard. Potentially this ability will kill an opponent.

Verdict: Strong. Garruk Relentless is a versatile planeswalker who can aid quite a few decks. With five abilities between his two sides, you are going to have some uses for him.

Connections: Like Garruk Relentless? You may also like [Sarkhan the Mad] [Elspeth Tirel] [Sorin, Lord of Innistrad]
Don’t like Garruk Relentless? You may prefer [Karn Liberated] [Chandra, the Firebrand] [Tamiyo, the Moon Sage]

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Planeswalkers in Grand Melee part 25: Liliana of the Veil

Your opponents will hate seeing you bring this Planeswalker down on turn 3, and that’s a great recommendation to have Liliana of the Veil in your deck. This version of Liliana costs just three mana to cast, two of which must be black. She enters the battlefield with three loyalty counters and has three abilities.

Liliana of the Veil’s first ability adds a loyalty counter, and each player discards a card. As early as turn three, chances are your opponents will be discarding cards they would rather keep. You discard too, but black has so many cards that want to be discarded, from Madness to creatures that can be cast out of the graveyard, you have a lot of choices that mean this ability actually strengthens your position.

The second ability costs two loyalty counters, and target opponent sacrifices a creature. The target of this ability is a player, so it gets around protection from black. Also the effect is sacrifice, which means it can force someone to get rid of their indestructible creature. The opponent you target chooses which creature he or she sacrifices.

The final ability costs six loyalty counters and will spoil someone’s party. You divide all the permanents one opponent controls into two piles. That opponent chooses one pile to save and sacrifices everything in the other pile. You don’t have the make the two piles the same size. This ability allows you to force some hard choices on someone. Just make sure it is you who can capitalise on this player’s sudden weakness!

Verdict: Strong. Liliana of the Veil needs a correctly built black deck, but will shine with the right deck around her. This card has some uses in multicolour decks, especially those that want to use flashback spells.

Connections: Like Liliana of the Veil? You may also like [Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker] [Gideon Jura] [Sorin, Lord of Innistrad]
Don’t like Liliana of the Veil? You may prefer [Venser, the Sojourner] [Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas] [Ajani, Caller of the Pride]

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Planeswalkers in Grand Melee part 24: Garruk Primal Hunter

The original Garruk was great in aggressive decks playing a lot of creatures, and worked nicely as detailed here. This Garruk brings something quite different to the game.

Garruk, Primal Hunter costs five mana to cast, three of which must be green. This effectively limits his use to mono-green decks, or dual colour decks with good mana fixing. These are precisly the decks he works best in. Garruk enters the battlefield with three loyalty counters and has three abilities.

The first ability adds a loyalty counter and puts a 3/3 green beast into play. Those familiar with the original Garruk will note this ability used to cost a loyalty counter. Not any more!

The second ability costs three loyalty counters. This ability allows you to draw cards equal to the greatest power among creatures you control. Very nice ability, especially for green decks built around building up mana early to spend on big creatures. This ability rewards you for doing so, and fills your hand so you can do it again.

The last ability isn’t quite connected to the first two. For each land you control, you put a 6/6 green Wurm creature token into play. Now this ability works well in the same decks that the second ability works with. After all your green deck is most likely putting extra lands into play. Now you get rewarded for that with even more big green creatures! Garruk, Primal Hunter’s ability to put an army of large creatures into play out of nowhere is what makes this card well worth considering.

Verdict: Strong. Although Garruk, Primal Hunter’s mana cost restricts his use as I’ve mentioned above, he is worth playing in those decks that can cast him. The planeswalker is set up to work very will with such decks, increasing their power. You can also build a deck around Garruk, Primal Hunter to great effect.

Connections: Like Garruk, Primal Hunter? You may also like [Garruk Wildspeaker] [Sarkhan Vol] [Garruk Relentless]
Don’t like Garruk, Primal Hunter? You may prefer [Ajani, Caller of the Pride] [Ajani Vengeant] [Elspeth Tirel]

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Planeswalkers in Grand Melee part 23: Chandra the Firebrand

Chandra Nalaar’s third outing is a very interesting one. Chandra, the Firebrand costs four mana to cast, one of which must be red. This makes the card and easy choice for inclusion in any deck that can make use of it. It’s not that difficult to find one red mana by turn 4 if you need it.

Chandra, the Firebrand enters the battlefield with three loyalty counters and has three abilities. The first ability adds a loyalty counter and deals a point of damage to target creature or player. This is simply better than the +1 ability on the original Chandra. Remember that you can always aim this at a player and then redirect to one of that player’s planeswalkers if you need to. A versatile ability that makes this planeswalker stronger.

The second ability costs two loyalty counters and is the main reason why you might include Chandra, the Firebrand in your deck. This ability copies the next instant or sorcery spell you cast this turn. From Lightning Bolt to Blatant Thievery, it’s rare you’ll be casting an instant or sorcery you wouldn’t mind casting twice. Chandra the Firebrand makes that possible.

The third an final ability is perfect for multiplayer. For the cost of six loyalty counters, you deal six damage to up to six target creatures or players. At the melee table you’ll be able to target a maximum of four different players. You can’t choose the same player or creature twice with this ability, but you’ll leave a lot of burn marks when it goes off. Just be sure you can survive the inevitable retribution!

Verdict: Marginal. This was a line call between Marginal and Strong, so I’ve gone with the lower score for now. Chandra, the Firebrand is a useful card that can strengthen other decks by enabling duel casting of key instants and sorcerys. A deck based around use of this planeswalker will do okay, provided it has sufficient defence.

Connections: Like Chandra, the Firebrand? You may also like [Ajani Vengeant] [Koth of the Hammer] [Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded]
Don’t like Chandra, the Firebrand? You may prefer [Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas] [Jace, Memory Adept] [Garruk Relentless]

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Planeswalkers in Grand Melee, part 22: Jace, Memory Adept

The third incantation of Jace Beleren is closer to the first version than to the second. This blue planeswalker focuses around card drawing and emptying players’ libraries. As with the first Jace, this makes our Memory Adept version weak in multiplayer, where ‘milling’ strategies don’t do so well.

Jace, Memory Dept costs five mana to cost, tow of which must be blue. He enters the battlefield with four loyalty counters and has three abilities.

The first ability adds a loyalty counter and allows you to drawn a card, and put the top card of target player’s library into their graveyard. The card is nice, the secondary ability is less relevant for multiplayer. It will stop the players around you from placing their miracle cards on the tops of their libraries. That’s about it.

The second ability has a zero cost; it neither adds nor removes loyalty counters. This ability causes target player to put the top ten cards f their library into their graveyard. In a duel, especially a limited duel this is quite relevant. In a multiplayer game where multiple players are around the table, often with 80, 100 or more cards in their decks, this ability does little to nothing for you.

The final ability is interesting, for the removal of seven loyalty counters, you can have any number of target players each draw twenty cards. Feel free to target yourself in this too, especially if you are sporting cards such as Reliquary Tower or Spiraling Embers. Otherwise, this ability works nicely with Underworld Dreams. Although you’l need a deck with plenty of man fixing to combine these two cards successfully.

Verdict: Weak. Milling has little use at the multiplayer table, outside of the combinations outlined above, Jace, Memory Adept will do you few favours at the table.

Connections: Like Jace, Memory Adept? You may also like [Sorin Markov] [Nissa Revane] [Sarkhan the Mad]
Don’t like Jace Memory Adept? You may prefer [Jace, the Mindsculptor] [Elspeth Tirel] [Sorin, Lord of Innistrad]

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