This chick is CRAZY. Continuously generates protection for herself, uber-Wellwisher ability, and that last one basically says, "Your opponent may play Day of Judgment during their next turn. If he or she doesn't, you win the game." Her only weakness is her high vulnerability to burn, and I suppose she gets to 7 counters pretty slowly, but then again she has two plus abilities. So I'm gonna have to say I like her, I like her a lot.
Zulp
★★☆☆☆ (2.6/5.0)(12 votes)
I really hope green gets a new planeswalker that ISN'T tribally aligned soon. I'm not the biggest fan of Elves.
LeafWheels
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(7 votes)
Personally I think Elves are repetitive and annoying. Like Goblins, I wish they weren't put into almost every single Magic expansion as the token green/red creatures (that invariably seem to make tokens). That being said, she fits this model very well. Her first ability is very good, very-very good. It will arguably be the one that wins the most games. You get a free 2/3 creature every turn, until you get 4 in play, and then you have her second ability to gain decent amounts of life. Her last ability says to search your library for any number of elves, not every single elf in you deck. You just search for the one(s) you need to win. More than likely it'll be some ability elf if anything, unless you're sure that your horde of 1/1 guys isn't going to blasted off the field.
darkfury
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
unless you have an elf obliterater, (like i will likely always have on the field), destroy all creatures, or way to stop the elves from curbstomping you, her ultimate will kill you
Demonic_Angel13
★★☆☆☆ (2.6/5.0)(6 votes)
She just begs to be Lightning Bolted or just downright killed. Compaired to the other two planeswalkers, Nissa kinda sucks, but if you can pull her off in an Elf deck, go for it.
Eggroll
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(9 votes)
Starts at 2...ultimate at 7. Your opponent deserves all those elves in his face if he lets you pull off her ultimate.
Laguz
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(12 votes)
She's not all that great. The ability to play Nissa's Chosen every turn is easily her best ability, but she'll be lucky if she doesn't get hit with any burn spell and die instantly.
Her ultimate is an even bigger let-down. You'd need the luck of the gods just to get her to 7, and what happens if your opponent plays wrath of god, day of judgement, infest, pyroclasm or anything like that if you ever do manage to get it off? I hope you enjoy drawing lands for the rest of the game...
Unless you only grab a couple of elves, but is that worth waiting 5 turns for?
Weak planeswalker.
Volcre
★★★☆☆ (3.1/5.0)(10 votes)
I hate how narrow this card is...
Adren
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
meh... i'd play her w/ my elves but she's not that awesome. she get burned out quick, Sorin can outright kill her, and unless you have 4 Chosen and a deck full of elves, she's useless... all in all, 3/5
billpasdmf
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
you only really need a couple chosen i say, if for whatever reason she doesn't die and you got Lys Alana you can keep throwing the chosen at your opponent and getting free elves
more elves means more mana means big beasties and twisters
and as far as the last ability being suicidal you don't have to put out ALL your elves, you CAN
and again feldon's cane will help if theres a wrath of god or something
legiosastartes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
While I am forced to admit that she is a bit one sided, when she is used appropriately (by which I mean in an elf deck, of course) she can be devastating. I'm thinking of a particular combination with Door of Destinies and Elvish Promenade, or Lys Alana Hunt Master. Hmmm...
Styny
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Compared to Sorin, Nissa's pretty weak. While she does have some nice abilities that could cpmpletely screw someone over in an elf deck, i just dont think she would last long enough to many of them. Here abilities are just too narrow.
OutlawD1
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Kinda pricey She should have cost 1GG and ultimate only -5 either that or start at 4 loyalty
fun in a causal elf tribal deck 3.5/5
makochman
★★★☆☆ (3.6/5.0)(8 votes)
Apart from her glaring vulnerability to burn, she's pretty decent.
N/B the Zendikar storyline suggest a green-black version of Nissa may be printed in the future.
Bladewing1989
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This card is ridiculously amazing in extended.
Jokergius
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Oh, Nissa. You're so fragile! I would at LEAST have given her 3 Loyalty counters rather than 2...virtually ANYTHING can kill her. But her blood-thirsty counterpart, however can pack a wallop AND beetch slap Nissa, here...tisk, tisk. And also, if someone did NOT kill her the first couple of turns to LET her use her final, then... Wow...bravo...you just let the easiest prey to kill make you THEIR prey.
Dingo777
★★☆☆☆ (2.6/5.0)(9 votes)
ok, people, this card is awesome/sucks
how is it both? well because her usefulness varries in insane amounts depending on the format you are playing
Standard = Sucks, just not enough elves with lorwyn gone to make her good now, but we will see what worldwake offers us
Extended = Pretty Good, all those lorwyn elves hit the board and hit it hard, watch out for a WoG and you win the game
Legacy = Not Bad, there are better, but this can be pretty good, I dont play legacy so I am not sure
Tribal = Awesome, this card in any tribal elf deck is instant win, G/R and you can sharkon vol's first, or call to action to haste your army, there are not many board wipes at instant speed, and pulling enough elf lords, 4 perfects, 4 champions, now they are 9/9 elves, hard to infest/fallout
EDH = if your EDH deck is elf, see the above part, not as many lords, but still out of range of one or 2 infests/fallouts
that is my 2 cents on this one, time will tell how good she is in the end, and dont forget, worldwake is coming, merfolk and elves may make a come back then, cross your fins lullmage mentor
Franconomicon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I have an Elf Deck (Vintage) and never have considered to put this card on it. her abilities are not too great, and the Nissa's Chosen Elf... they are not the half of what are some other elfs like Treetop Scout
Concluding: Fun to play, Not a winner card
Rainyday2012
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(14 votes)
Everything I wanted to say about this card has already been said here, except this: Her illustration has no parts sticking out of the frame! All the other 'walkers have something sticking out, why not Nissa? Could it be it was meant to be her staff, but somehow the artist didn't realise it would partially cover her mana cost? And in that case, couldn't her picture just be moved a little to the left?
PapaPalpatine
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(3 votes)
But you are all forgetting that Nissa's chosen goes back into your library so you can just get it again.
Duddits
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I just never pictured elven women with really big boobs...
ArturoB616
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(11 votes)
Like many who have already commented on this card, i was skeptical at first about it. A planeswalker for 4 with only 2 counters? Come on now this card has got to be the worst planeswalker printed. Then one of my friends urged me to put together my green/red aggro elf standard deck and i included 3 of these cards in the deck and found out first hand just how good this card's potential can be. May not seem good, but once i sat down and tournament test the deck, Nissa proved to be a huge piece in the deck. Against the burn match up without passing priorty she helped me gain enough life and tutor up a fairly decent blocker and attacker to hang in there and finish. A huge combo piece that my opponents hated to see is nissa tutoring up her body guard and then me putting a counter on it with Oran-reif, the vastwood. So Nissa is just a card you have to play first hand to appreciate, a sleeper card until tested.
Ganadote
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Combo with Eldrazi Monument. The only thing you have to watch out for is bolts, if you're opponent doesn't have that they're screwed since you're going to put at least 1 creature in play per turn, and if you play Eldrazi the next turn, well they'll really gonna have a hard time.
Donovan_Fabian
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I could see some real combo potential with some of the lorwyn elves, but seriously speaking, a planeswalker that requires you to play elves in order to work means shes only useful in an elf deck. I still play a lot of green and I wont be using her, I like my naya beasts from shards of alara and she doesn't give any of them any kind of benefit. She can still be especially awesome with a bunch of elves, but until I put a mono green elf deck together, I'm sort of 50/50 on how useful this planeswalker really is. There are some really powerful elves out there.. I mean gilft leaf arch druid + nissa = take control of all your opponents lands. However, being serious.. planeswalkers can only use one ability a turn, even if she has double +1's, thats 5 turns of waiting, and 6 if you don't want her to be whisked off the field by using the ability. In 5 turns you better believe someones going to burn it.
Changelings and chameleon colossus just became important again.
For all the people saying she's a sleeper hit, consider chandra's +1 knocks off her counter once per turn, and sorin markov can bring her to 0 just using his own +1 ability. Lavalanche is just brutal.. you kill all her elves and her in one go, and in extended final judgement kills even with eldrazi monument. Actually child of alara would be especially brutal too, taking out everything except itself including whatever elves are in play and nissa at the same time. Profane command would also kill her, plus an indestructible creature on the same turn.
@eldrazi monument, yes I also saw that someone put together an eldrazi monument elf deck using nissa.. and nissa still isn't a good planeswalker. Consider that anything that exiles still kills an indestructible, and you can always just destroy the monument instead. It's great when people don't have any of those things and aren't expecting it, but it's not a competitive strategy realistically speaking. It might be fun for kicks though.
Dark_Raider
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(3 votes)
I'd have never thought she'd be as expensive as she is right now with lightning bolt running amok everywhere. Still, I guess she's okay. But for the cost, I think I'd almost always rather play garruk.
Gezus82
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
also why is everyone hating on her second ability, wellwisher is one of the most broken elf's (or at least was pre lowryn I skipped that set) so what is bad about having double that, and pulling out more elves is never bad, in fact it's great a 2/3 is good and it gains her loyalty as opposed to garruk's 3/3 which costs a point. Her last is damn good. Everyone keeps talking about how her ultimate is bad for you if they pull of a wipe. but as long as you have a Elvish Soultiller your pretty safe from any board wipes. and also in standard her last is great, pull out some elvish archdruid's and bloodbraid elf's to get some hasty lethal damage. as it doesn't cost manna you can probably get an overrun off too (which is also in standard) insuring death despite any amount of blockers. and if you'r worried about fog there's plenty of red antifog cards in standard and you're already splashing red for bloodbraid. who said elves weren't good in standard? RG elvish domination is more like it.
Also, if you'r playing something other than standard (not to savvy on other formats than standard and casual) you could drop some Wirewood Hivemaster's with her final and get an shitload of insects. what 4 times however many elves you pull?
wolfbear2
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I run 2 of her in this endless extra turn deck I have (yes it's standard and yes it works, just throwing time warp and the blue quest and a bunch of howling mines) and she kicks ass. I've seen her in red/green elves and she rocks.
I agree with others, she's a sleeper. Just go test with her and stop complaining.
U-caster
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Oh great. An ELF paneswalker. Perfect.
no_body
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
considering how there's a vampire poaneswalker and a elf planeswalker, there'll probably be a goblin planeswalker soon...i hope.
about nissa, i wouldn't even consider putting her in an elf deck because she only serves as a quck life boost or to get out 1/2 nissa's chosen most of the time and will probably be kiled before she reaches 5 loyalty, let alone 7. if u get hit by her ulti, you totally deserve it.
LukeMan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This card is amazing in a elf deck, IF you can keep her alive long enough. I did and if lys alana huntsmaster comes into play before most of your other elves, you can get lots of tokens. After I used her ultimate move(combined with Elvish promenade), I attacked with Heedless One, my opponent used Holy day, but next turn I did the gaining life move, and when I won I attacked With Heedless one, all of my elves, and three 38/38 treefolk elementals (Thanks to three Elvish branchbenders) boosted Heedless one with Timberwatch Elf, and won, I ahd 208 life, and won with a overkill of 103. needless to say, if you can keep her alive for 4 or 5 turns, you have won the game.
AXER
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(11 votes)
This planeswalker helps get you all your Elves out for 4 CMC... why do people keep saying it sucks. Maybe getting creatures out isn't your deal, so it's not good for you but it still DOESN'T SUCK.
Mumba
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Really vulnerable planeswalker as has already been stated. Black and red has burn spells, blue and white has flying. Dunno what WotC was thinking when they decided her starting loyalty.
But still, if you manage to use the ultimate and already have the Worldwake elf lord in play you have an army strong enough to face the forces of Mordor.
Micashbran
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This all you need to do... get as many Elf Allies as you can (4 each of Joraga Bard, Turntimber Ranger, etc.) 4 Ondu Clerics, Maybe a Felidar Sovereign, and Narrow escape. Keep Nissa alive until she has at least 8 counters, have felidar on the field, play Nissa's finally ability..... ALL of your elf allies hit the field and their abilities all trigger, not to mention you play an ondu cleric or two and gain insane amounts of life, then if you haven't won yet, use narrow escape to bring the ondu cleric back/use Nissa's gain life ability and gain MORE life, and unless your opponent has Day of judgment.... next upkeep, you have won.
magog360
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
i kind of like this card...but definitely not for standard. and good luck on a draft. pulled this in the Worldwake prerelease along with NO Nissa's Chosen or elves to speak of. in that instance it's totally worthless. (also pulled an eye of ugin)
Touch_Of_Red
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Is it just me, or have anyone else noticed that Nissa is the only planeswalker that does'nt come out of the art box?
Smilezilla
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Only good for elf fanboys obviously, but admittedly there are an awful lot of them
The_Somnambulist
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love this card, very fun for me :) I love the life gain ability. The ultimate was really fun to use! ^_^ 5/5
spectermonger
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My only problems with this card is:
1. If you run "X' of her, she takes up X+4 Deck slots
2, The oft mentioned 2 loyalty. Bolt, Burst...it pretty much takes her out right off the bat.
Aside of my qualms, she's still pretty good. She's a good tribal Planeswalker with a giant target on her chest.
Sir_Kaeru
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
does that mean if u have an elf deck with strictly only elf creatures, you could do the -7 ability and put every creature in your deck onto the battlefield????
Knives_
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
this card worked great for me in my last turnnie shes awesome if your under 10 health and in a bind and have a few elves on the field i run a mono green power elf deck (so i got mostly elves but i use alot of big beast creatures as well) i had my 4 nissa's chosen on the field and 2 more elf creatures i used her +1 to give me 2 life for every elf i had and brought me up buying me a few turns agenst a black/red deck i ended up letting him attack nissa with all his cards (she had 8 counters on her) and took him out while his cards were tapped out best card in my deck id say she has way more than one use if you can find them id say as much of a necessity for any green deck as much as fog or giant growth
Vorthosian
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Seems like a lot of people don't like her because she's fragile and narrow. She is, but she's also really powerful. Elspeth makes 1/1 tokens. Nissa makes 2/3 tokens in a deck that is guaranteed to have tribal support for it. The life gaining is great too, especially if you already have all of your Chosens out of your deck. The ultimate opens you up to mass removal, so I'd only use it if Nissa has 8 or more loyalty, but if you manage to untap with all those elves in play, you're pretty much guaranteed a win.
4.5/5
le.marquis
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Wanna know what I'd like to see? I wanna see Nissa in an elf deck beat Jace. That would be hilarious, however unlikely it is. After you pull all your elves out you need to win FAST because your deck becomes a neon sign saying, "Kill me! I'm vulnerable and small!" Other than that, and as everyone else pointed out, her vulnerability to burn (haha, my brothers are mainly the only people I play with and only one of them has a deck with any red in it), she's a good card. Who thinks her next version will be green black? I'm getting the Elvish Predation deck ASAP and I want to put Nissa in it, but I'm not sure if I should wait for a new version of her to come out since Elvish Predation is green-black. . .
Zoah
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Potently a very cool plainswalker although "search your deck of a card named" effects seem a bit too much like Yu-Gi-Oh to me. I think she would have been much better with something more like a minus ability like: "Search your deck of an elf creature card, pay it's manna cost, and put it into play"
Something like that might also make her more flexible and make your opponent much less afraid of her because you could keep her counters low. As she is, your opponent will take one look at that ability and think: "She dies now!" This combined with her low loyalty will likely take her out of the game quickly.
Her biggest downside is her rigidity; you can only use her to do one thing, and only in an elf deck. that and if she activates her ultimate ability and your opponent has any sort of clear the stage tricks your game is over; a little paranoid, but still.
My personal thing I want to see is this plainswalker against Lilliana after relatively late in the game so that there are a few things in Lilliana's graveyard. Nissa activates her ability, summoning all the elves in her deck. It looks like there is going to be an epic battle of an army of undead vs an army of elves, but that never happens. Lilliana plays Damnation and then activates her ability leaving Nissa alone against both an army of undead, and her own army, now also undead. *Evil smile*
Base rating: ***
Always building (Two plus abilities): +* Game ending move: +* Ridged: -* Delicate: -*/4 Potentially game ending move in the wrong direction: -*/4
Final: *** */2
Nuclear_Pony
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
People here are way too worried about massive removal. I play a lot with massive removal but only so many decks are filled with massive removal. I have maybe 2 or 3 decks that are filled with 4 copies of Wrath of God, but even I am not that lame to play the same deck over and over again (and I have at least 12-15 decks that are playable). Same goes for lightning fast damage like lightnig bolts (or lightning helix). You can't expect people to build 10 decks with at least 4 wrath of gods in each of those 10 decks (if you ask me that's pretty insane...Not to mention, you have way too much money to spend on magic if so). It's my favourite planeswalker right next to the absolutely fabulous Elspeth, Knight-Errant.
Fun to play but extremely hard to keep alive if not focused on that task. Try using "That Wich Was Taken" , or messing around with "Gilder Bairn", don't be so freakin' pessimistic :D
Let's face it people, every planeswalker has a huge bullseye on it. My friends go like "Oh my gawd, it's Elspeth !!! Everybody, nuke it !!!
I make it a challenge of making my planeswalker survive nowadays, keeps it fun in a sense :)
Lunarblade
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(5 votes)
If you start a planeswalker at 2, atleast give them a +2 ability Wizards!
olliefu
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I really love this card. I haven't played MTG in 11 years, i have no clue about Planewalkers. Since I love elfs...I got this planewalker...she is fun. :)
Paleopaladin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Question: Can you use her ultimate to put a Chameleon Colossus into play?
After reading her character page, I'm fairly certain we'll be seeing another incarnation of her within the next set or so (not counting the M11 core set). Most likely as a two color Green/Black instead of a mono green. Look for her upgrade to be absolutely sick.
Sk8ermikes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
i think that Nissa a garruk make the best combo beacuse if you take all your elfs out of your deck and you can kill beacuse Garuks -4 abillity give all your elfs +4/+4 and trample until end of turn is amazing
iNathan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
i love the picture, she loos so cool. and her 2nd ability is obviously awsome in an elf heavy deck. she would be perfect with Elvish Promenade and Rhys the Redeemed
Besides, she doesn't even stand out of the frame like other planeswalkers.
achilleselbow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
She's mainly useful for her first ability, which I would almost say is the best among planeswalker abilities that add counters (except possibly Chandra Ablaze's). Not only is it nearly as good as Garruk's -1 ability in terms of pure creature advantage, but it provides infinite sacrifice fodder for the right deck. The only bad thing is that unlike most of the other planeswalkers that start at 3 and with whom you can use their +1 as soon as you drop them to get them out of bolt range, she is extremely vulnerable to bolt. But if you're not playing against red, she could be better than Garruk in many cases.
Test-Subject_217601
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm not complaining but, much like Tezzeret, she seems to have a very narrow role. She either has to be in an elf deck or not in any deck.
Sironos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I don't like this one, she is so incredibly narrow, all of her abilities depend on other cards in your deck, so if you want to play her it has to be in an elf deck. Garruck is so versatile and can be played in any green deck with creatures of any kind. She has 2 life, which means she is not only bolt bait, she is shock bait too, along with a lot of other weak burn spells. I can see that in an elf deck she is devastating, but in decks without elves she is useless, and if i got her in a booster, I would be forced to make an elf deck if I wanted to play her, where most other planeswalkers can be played in most decks, at least while remaining useful.
Way too situational to score high.
Tribal planeswalkers are a disgrace imo.
androkguz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The people that think that her ultimate is not that strong don't really know Changeling Berserker and the other "champion a creature" changelings that would protect you from a Wrath of God while been an inmediate threat.
Actually, you can look for a Gilt-Leaf Archdruid and six other elf druids (what a rare combination right?) and inmediately prevent any sorcery-speed comeback from your opponent.
Bishop084
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm no too worried about a Day of Judgment the turn after I pop her ultimate ability. At least one of the elves I bring in will be a Gilt-Leaf Archdruid. Let's see you cast much of anything with no land.
Gelzo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have this in my elf EDH deck, and I've used her at least twice. Both times she didn't last nearly long enough to use the ultimate, but the lifegain was very helpful.
If you can manage gaining 20 life for 4 mana, it's usually a good deal.
TheBoctor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Works really, really well with Artificial Evolution if you aren't fond of Elves.
DacenOctavio
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(9 votes)
I'd play this for the boobs.
.Blaze.
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Her only down side is she is narrow. Really, side from that most elf decks will enjoy the massive amounts of life she can create as well as the ability to summon a decent sized elf for free. Also, thanks to Proliferate it's much easier to hit her ultimate and just keep her around in general.
dragonking987
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(5 votes)
Nissa thank you for all the victorys have 5 stars.
Gatsumon
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
I love Nissa, but she is indeed very limited in what decks she can go in.
TheChosenOne97
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I pulled her from a Zendikar pack about 2 weeks ago.
Along with my two Koths she is my 3rd Planeswalker.
But, she is really only good in elf decks which I do not have.
~TheChosenOne97
ninjaman98
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
The most badass planeswalker
land_comment
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(9 votes)
Aha! You guys are forgetting something important... Proliferate! Use Nissa's Chosen to sac each turn with that proliferate green thing in Mirrodin Beseiged, and she pops up to 7 in no time.
klithgow53
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
idk why everyone is saying this card is a downfall... how ever she does only start with 2 counters and only has 3 by the time an opponent has a chance to lighting bolt it, its still broken... look at this i play 4 elderazi monuments in my standard mono green elf deck, along with 2 nissa and 3 garruks. nissa is awesome she makes it to wear i can just keep throwing creatures out on the field... and if you really see no point in playing her cause she has so little counters on her why not splash blue for the protection...
iSlapTrees
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This planes walker doesn't cost your first born to get! :O
SeiberTross
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If they have any removal/damage LEFT for her by turn 4 in a proper elf deck...you're doing something wrong.
PhyrexianAssassin
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(8 votes)
Nissa's Chosen has a better rating than this Planeswalker... ^^
Riki1232
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
well in any other deck besides an elf deck she kinda sucks, but o wait SHE'S SUPPOSED TO BE FOR THE ELF DECK that's what she was made for so shut the hell up she's good no matter what you say
remake
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
if u played RG u could have Urabrask the Hidden and win right away if u get to youse nissas finnal abillity given all youre lame elfs haste and attack befor they can react to it or have mana produceing elfs for a giant fireball lol
SolidSoldier
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
She is quite possibly my most favorite Planeswalker. Maybe because I biased for elves...
Ninjazilla
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(4 votes)
For some reason, Nissa is the planeswalker that I always forget. I dunno', its just, compared to the other planeswalkers, she just is far more forgettable
Shadoflaam
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Did someone just like 0.5 all the comments on here just to troll? Some of these aren't bad comments. Also, I was skeptical at first, but she is horribly painful if you don't have a bolt RIGHT THAT SECOND. By turn 4 a lot of Elf decks should have at least 3 elves down (my opponent had 7, I had 3 goblins, and yet no bolts in hand), that's a lot of life quickly, or another elf doesn't hurt. I killed her right before he swung for 27 at 48 life himself. I had him down to 1 two or three turns ago. Sick beyond belief and the only thing keeping Elves from fading into oblivion. 4/5.
blink182zombies
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Ok people who say she dies immediately to Bolt or to anything are wrong. You cast this card when you have priority and priority passes around the table. If nobody counters, you have priority again. You may now activate an ability, including Nissa's ability. They now have priority and cast Bolt. You now gained a bunch of life without loss of card advantage or you gain board advantage with a Nissa's Chosen.
Nismo
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(6 votes)
Anyone who down talks this card doesnt realize its true potential. I run this in my black green elf deck and have won countless bouts with it.
Captain_StarFleet
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Apart from her being extremely weak when she hits the field, she is s solid addition to any tribal Elf deck. Yes, she can get burned, but so what? Think of the possibilities. With her alone, you could start gaining 2 life a turn for each Elf you control. And if you're running full Elves, that can add up quickly. The Nissa's Chosen ability sucks, in my opinion. There are WAY more Elves out there with FAR better abilities than Nissa's Chosen has. The mass Elf drop is nice, VERY nice, but unnecessary if you can play your cards right. It's more of a last resort, in my opinion. I like Nissa strictly for the life gain. HOWEVER, the Elf drop can in fact win the game for you. (or lose it) I will agree with most though, the final ability costs way too much. Seven is rather high to me, but I won't argue with it. Keep reading to find out why. The card Doubling Season is perfect for most any planeswalker. It can help save them from certain death, as well as ramp the heck out of your tokens (a classic Elf tactic) and counters (great for Joraga Warcaller and others). Rings of Brighthearth is another card practically made for planeswalker aid. Pay (2) and double any ability off of planeswalker you wish. Very nice in deed. Then you could gain 4 life a turn for each Elf on your field. I personally have ended games with over 40,000 Elf tokens on turn 6. Just imagine how much life that amounts to.
All in all, Nissa has great potential. But true to any Elf, she likes to be used in combo for the greatest effect. For instance, what good would a Joraga Treespeaker do you if you didn't run Elves? For Elves, it's all about the combos.
marwinshieldscale
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(3 votes)
ok this card sucks completely unless you build a deck centered around her, but that aside they've made a elf planeswalker now I want a goblin plainswalker, come on think about it.
sarroth
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(14 votes)
"this card sucks completely unless you build a deck centered around her." Boohoo. I wish people wouldn't expect planeswalkers to be playable in any deck that runs the same colors. Planeswalkers that do that lend to lazy deckbuilding: everyone starting their Color A/B deck list just goes 4x Planeswalker A and 4x Planeswalker B.
I'd much prefer to see more planeswalkers like this that are good cards and fit amazingly into an existing strategy, but you can't just pick them up and put them into any deck with the same colors.
ChaosK
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The life gained by her second ability is so ridiculous, it puts ajani goldmane´s first ability to shame. Considering both at the same cost and white the main color for life gain (although green is second best in that, agreed) i really think either one of the two planeswalkers lifegain amount should be different. For example gaining 1 life per elf should still be a hell of a lot in most situations or giving ajani 3,4 or even 5 wouldn´t overpower him in my opinion.
All in all this makes me sad :D But both still great Planeswalkers nonetheless.
TheDonMega
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(5 votes)
Eit'sa Nissa!
Also I want a zombie planeswalker now, Innistrad perhaps?
BrutalJim
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
She's definitely amazing for elves, the only disconcerting thing I find is that you can throw her down, use her +1 and she can still get bolted.
GengilOrbios
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
nice b**** sorry but i had to say
whoiam
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Elves don't need any planeswalker. There is a reason why she doesn't see play in Legacy. It is better to play another elf creature than elf planeswalker, even in casual.
JFM2796
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Nissa is probably a more linear planeswalker than Tezzeret. Your only choice with her is Elf Tribal.
Nucleon
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(13 votes)
It's kind of weird how Nissa and Jace 2.0 came out in the same block, they more or less represent opposite sides of Planeswalker design. Nissa's abilities are very specific, she's more or less useless outside of a dedicated elf deck. I wouldn't call that a bad thing, it's bad design when cards exist that are auto-includes in any deck. See Jace 2.0 in blue for a perfect example, if you played blue before Jace 2.0 got banned, you played 4 copies of him if you had 340ish bucks to spare on a card game. Back to the main point, I think we need more Nissa-style planeswalkers that fit niche deck archetypes. Better than seeing the same damned card in ever deck that runs its color.
Superfrasse
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Revane has a tribe, screw you Markov. You haven't got anything to do with vampires.
Gahoojin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Only Planeswalker that doesn't have a staff or body part or something sticking out of the picture space
not perfect, but just a few elves, built around each other is already great
throw Nissa in, and you have a a massive life gainer, and a way to summon an army in an instant
in terms of pulling out creatures Nissa and Liliana Vess are great, but Liliana requires your opponent to play creatures and you to kill them, or your's to die Nissa only requires that you have them.
imo, despite being one of the more niche planeswalkers, one of the best. if you can build around her, and pull off her ultimate, it's an absolute game ender, considering it drastically changes the field
TherealphatMatt
★★★☆☆ (3.3/5.0)(5 votes)
Nothing feels worse than having your Planeswalker get nuked by a Lightning Bolt.
GracefulAssassin14
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
i use nissa in my elf deck solely for her lifegain, im not running any nissa's chosens. i WOULD use her final, but in my fnm she hasnt yet lasted three turns. :(
nevertheless, when shes out i almost always have 5+ elves out, so that leads to me being able to take some heat and then pound them with the creatures i didnt have to block with. shes prolly won me almost half of my elf deck victories in fnm, or at least led to them.
hastln
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Bbbbbboooooooooooobbbbbbbbiiiiiiieeeeeeeessssss and it's a great card, go elves
Narim
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Nissa can prove really dangerous, but there are some facts about her I don't like. Pulling free 2/3 every turn is nice, but what's not so nice is fact that you have to include Nissa's Chosen into your deck. Chosens themselves are solid two-drops. As I started running Nissa, I put 4 of them to my deck. With time, I decreased the number to 3. Now I plan to change my deck a little bit again, trying the deck with just 2 copies. There are many two drop elves that you may want more to your deck than chosens, and there is definitely much more elves you want to pull into play instead. I would like to see her tutor-like ability more general, letting you chose what creature to put into game.... sure, such ability would not be +1, but rather -2 or something like that, but it brings us to second problem... Nissa starts with ridiculous 2 loyality counters and having two +1 abilities. She would be much more playable with having at least +2 ability. I believe that making her lifegain ability +2 instead of +1 would not broke her. Finally, her ultimate ability is game ending. It wins you game, or it wins game for your opponent... not to mention that it's almost impossible to activate with her starting loyality counters. Planeswalkers ultimate ability should not threaten you, and you should be able to activate it. You can say that you don't have to pull all your elves from your deck, just the best ones... but even if you pull just some elves, you will lose exactly the elves you need most, which is really bad. I would like to see her doing something like that: -5: For each elf card on the battlefield under your control, put token that's copy of that pernament. (Well, just in case you're running Prowess of the Fair)
Soo, to sum up: Nissa is not bad planeswalker, in fact, she can be really deadly, but it's certainly not really easy to play with her, what makes her unpopular. Maybe we will see new version of Nissa... she is chasing Sorin through Multiverse, and we will probably see new Sorin in Dark Ascension. So who knows... we can hope :) but I guess there would be too many green planeswalkers trying to catch a black planeswalker in this block then...
People hate on her loyalty, but I dislike her for other reasons. If your opponent lightning bolts her after you get an elf, you're still up a card. No, I just think she should have had better abilities. +1; untap up to two (three?) target elves? -1; put a 1/1 elf druid token into play, with {T};{G}? -2; Glimpse of Nature? Stuff elf decks are better known for. Wellwisher is nice, but underwhelming to just have a double wellwisher planeswalker. Nissa's Chosen is, essentially, an Elvish Warrior token. Boring? A bit, yes. On top of all that, her -7 is underwhelming. Sure, its powerful, but elf decks don't have trouble doing that on their own, far faster than she can after five or six turns of being defended. It is weak to Wrath of God variants, just like any other elf deck.
Superllama12
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
You know, I really hate elves, but I like Nissa. Sure, they could have made her have more starting loyalty to survive a bolt, and the first ability is kinda strange, but it's nice to go back and look at the Zendikar 'walkers when all the new, OP crapp like Baneslayer Angels get to you. Though there could be some changes, this is how I think 'walkers should be--good in a deck suited for them, but not necessary to have in any deck playing green to be competitive. So though she has some flaws, I think that she is a great example of where to start designing 'walkers
4/5
Melanchior
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(4 votes)
I can't give more than 2/5 for a planeswalker that has zero versatility.
That and 4 CMC for 2 loyalty, which is just.. so wrong..
Part of me hopes they will remake her, but then again I think it's pretty cool to have some Planeswalkers who aren't ubiquitous or versatile. Nissa is very special, though I wouldn't play her. Never liked elves.
Yozuk
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(3 votes)
I like Nissa. Not for her card(God no!), but rather her in the story line. Usually I hate elves. A bunch of tree hugging leetists. But Nissa is a tree hugging leetist that unwittingly helped doom her homeland because of her racism. This makes me smile. I hope to see a more enlightened Nissa in the future.
Over all, Nissa as a card is, in my opinion, the worst planeswalker printed. She costs 4 to cast when her narrow abilities should have said made her a 3 mana walker. Her first ability requires you to have a Nissa's Chosen in your deck. Which means if you don't already have a few in play you will only get 4 uses out of that ability. Her second ability is good but doesn't compare to wellwisher(Who you can trigger on your opponent's turn and you can have 4 of them on the field.). It is a nice ability and makes sense for the card, but doesn't make it worth a space in your deck. Then you have her last ability. 5 turns after you cast her, if you don't have the game wrapped up by then there is a problem. And even if you get every elf out if they cast some kind of Wrath effect you just lost. I personally would rather use Skyshroud Poacher with those infinite mana and untap engines elves are so well known for then shoehorn this into a elf deck. The Biggest problem with her is the fact that she is just horrible in anything other then a Elf deck. The lack of over all versatility just kills this card. You may argue that Tezzeret is just as limited because of artifacts. Now I would disagree with you on this. Artifacts have a few tribes in them that Tezzy can help out. Plus artifacts that benefit artifacts. You have Myr, Golems, and Scarecrows to name a few. Then non tribal artifact creatures that act like tribal. The possibilities are not limited as bad with Tezzy. And he makes up for it by having very cost effective skills. Another argument you might have is with Sarkhan the Mad. You might argue that Sarkhan is limited to only being used with dragons. Well, although his last ability is mainly for the use of dragons his other 2 abilities are very worth using on their own with out the need to be placed in a dragon deck. I've used him as a way to kill off my own creatures to spark other effects that care if a creature of yours is sacced or dies. Then when he has served his purpose you can draw a card. But if You are playing dragons he can be a turn 5 win condition. He is limited, but not to the point of Nissa.
But maybe I'm being too cynical. Although I have never lost to this card while playing against elves before. Its always some coat of arms overrun combo that seems to get me.
shotoku64
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Just make sure you check the board before you activate that ultimate, else you could be slaughtered by Blood Seeker
SkaerKrow
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
As much as I like the idea of a Tribal Planeswalker, she should have been a 3 drop or started with 3 Loyalty.
zakando
★★★☆☆ (3.3/5.0)(3 votes)
In a ramp elf swarm deck this works wonders. ramp mana, genesis wave, pull out bunch of elves, gain 10 life every turn... as for lightning bolt, well... what did you expect from a red deck... even if you play a karn, the liberated they'll find a way to bolt it down. learn to appreciate
DarthParallax
★★☆☆☆ (2.9/5.0)(9 votes)
Of course she's great in Elves- the question is, can she do ANYTHING else right? Answer: no.
Although I think it was inevitable that such a card would get made, this card is SO unmemorable that I keep forgetting that Garruk is not the only mono Green Planeswalker.
Common complaints that are dumb: Her starting loyalty: for what she does, 2 has proven to be enough. Even without proliferate. Her 'build around me' nature: It's true that a planeswalker that goes into literally any same-color deck is not optimal for the game's diversity.
Uncommon complaints that are smart: Her color is lacking in diversity: Sarkhan Vol is Red-Green, not mono-Green; Garruk has had 3 versions of himself, all of them Beast Token themed; then there's Nissa. Green needs a new Planeswalker character, just for the sake of diversity. If Nissa had been a more impressive card, then Green mages would not now feel starved for good Walkers.
Koth of the Hammer is how you design a proper 'build around me' Walker. Strictly limited to heavy-mountain decks, not even all Red Decks pick him over Chandra or Sarkhan. Nissa requires ELVES, specifically. Not just 'creatures', not just 'green creatures'- it HAS to be elves or she is FLAT OUT USELESS. Of course she's good in Elf decks. We've seen cards like this before. Every card has its home. But Nissa has fewer homes than any other Walker. A 'lands matter' Walker, or 'enchantments matter' Walker would still be narrow, but not as narrow as 'Elves or she's crap. PS one-third of her abilities require this specific other card'.
No color is supposed to actually be 'the color of being dumb' but if you read, 'In the Teeth of Akoum'......facepalm. Nissa Revane actually deliberately opened the Eye of Ugin, and we are even told what is going on in her head when she does it. She essentially did not pay any attention whatsoever to the possibility that if FOUR planeswalkers (Sorin Markov, Chandra Ablaze, Sarkhan the Mad, and Jace, the Mind Sculptor) are all fighting over this thing, that in fact it MAY just be DANGEROUS. Numerous signs are given in the book that don't exactly tell you right out what the Eye of Ugin does, but which DO give you enough to go by to not think 'ooooh, what does THIS button do?!'
Nissa Revane is the worst planeswalker in the game because: a) she is functional only in the most narrow stream of decks. Since every card is 'broken' if you put it 'where it belongs', the 'play elves' argument to me is not impressive. Planeswalkers are supposed to be better than being limited to one tribe of one card type within one color.
b) she is actually a retard who gives Blue mages an easy target to mock Green for. c) it is her fault that Zendikar Elves are probably extinct by now, along with non-Eldrazi Zendikar life in general. She utterly failed at being a guardian of her homeland. While Koth failed as well, at least he fought, rather than going to the Praetor's Counsel and telling them exactly where to find the Mirran Resistance, in an attempt to ask that that area be left alone. Nissa handed Zendikar over to the Eldrazi on a silver platter, and just sucks as a heroine in general. Not the best champion for elves to be rallying behind IMO.
d) she is the only option for mono Green Planeswalker that is not Garruk, which leaves Green lacking in the Planeswalker Creativity dept. Even blue can turn to Venser when they get bored of Jace, and Jace 1 and 2 play very differently. All the Garruks play kind of similarly 'make tokens, attack'. Black has Liliana the Death Sorceress, Liliana the Necromancer, Sorin the Redeemed Dark Hero, Sorin the Noble Vampire Lord, and Nicol Bolas the Ultimate evil. Very different, unique, fun takes on Black. Red has....well, lots of Fire, but Red mages LIKE Fire, and they can choose to have it in Dragon or non-Dragon form. White has Gideon the solo Super Hero, Elspeth the Army Leader, Ajani, the Spiritualist and Venser the idealistic Fool's Crusader.
Green definitely needs someone new to freshen up things in the Blind Eternities.
swords_to_exile
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Anyone commenting how this card is buil around only obviously missed Eldrazi Green (before Rise) destroying several tournaments when it was standard (and until cawblade showed up). Nissa could repeatedly tutor for Nissa's Chosen to sacrifice to Eldrazi Monument, essentially making it drawback free.
PinkleDadandy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.6/5.0)(5 votes)
Worst planeswalker EVER so frikkn narrow and stupid and her back story is lame to top it off
but it's easy to guess what the next duel deck is Nissa vs Sorin! Everyone's going to buy the deck then throw away nissa cause she sucks too much to use
Quentil
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(9 votes)
How does this have such a low rating? I mean sure, outside of an elf deck, Nissa isn't as good as some planswalkers...But in an elf deck she is so sexy.
Dragasm
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(7 votes)
I think calling this gal "too narrow" is like calling sliver legion too narrow because it applies only to slivers. Yes, she needs elves, but that is what's cool about her. You won't see her in every green deck just because she's a green planeswalker. Not every rare card should be able to be crammed into every single deck just because you splash its colors. If you don't want an elf deck then don't get Nissa! Simple as that. This is an awesome card for the creature type that she applies to.
MindAblaze
★★☆☆☆ (2.4/5.0)(5 votes)
Screw all you haters! I love Nissa! Yes, she screams "play elves!" but you know what? Who cares! Elves are a good tribe. A tad overpowered at times but it's never unfun to spit out dozens of elves. Unless you're on the other side... I play a green black elf deck and she is the shining star. My Sanguine Bond most often is an instant win. But yes, just because she is the least adaptable planeswalker doesn't mean she's a bad card. She does what she is intended to do incredibly well. The card should be rated a 4.25 at least.
EDIT: Well, I think we should see a new Nissa, what with the flavor text on Boundless Realms and all. I think she should look like this:
Nissa of the Golgari/////////////////////////
Planeswalker-Nissa
+1: Put a 2/2 green & black Zombie Elf token called Joraga Remnant onto the battlefield under your control. -3: Sacrifice a creature, if that creature was green gain 2 life, if that creature was black target player sacrifices a creature. -7: Search your library for any number of creature cards that are both Green and black and put them onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
Loyalty:2
gman92
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Nissa Revane. Because Elf decks weren't good enough without a planeswalker specific to them. -_-
NoobOfLore
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Because god knows, elves were the tribe in the most need of overpowered support.
raptorman333
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
ok, so elf tribal has been probably one of the strongest tribals, if not the strongest, since Urza's Block. With that being said, Nissa allows you to pull out an elvish Warrior equivalent each turn as a +1 effect. Then after you've gotten all 4 of the out of your deck you can continue to get +1 by gaining 4+ life each turn. That alone is fantastic. Sure it requires you to play elves and sure she's less good without her Chosen, but 2/3 for 2 mana is decent to begin with and you turn one card into five cards removed from the deck over the course of 4 turns. After you've pulled the Chosen out and gained life for them and whatever, you can pull all the elves out of your deck the next turn or just wait and extra turn to keep Nissa alive and constantly life gain turn after turn for, again ALL THE ELVES IN YOUR DECK! How is this rated so low? You guys have clearly never played against an elf deck running Wellwisher. The only complaint I have about this card is that I think it should start with 3 loyalty counters instead of 2 or, even rather, {1}{G}{G} instead of {1} more. But if that's the only complaint, then WotC finally did something right. I'd rate her 4.5/5, but to compensate for you retards and your retarded grading, I'm going to offset it with 5/5
wholelottalove
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I remember when this card was selling for over $100 on MTGO and then it dipped to like ten dollars. Still more than I'm willing to pay for such a narrow card but hey.
And MindAblaze, that's insane! A 3-cost planeswalker that constantly puts a 2/2 token out? Her -3 gains 2 life and Cruel Edict's? Her Ultimate can get you Gleancrawler, Doomgape, Glissa, Lord of Extinction, not including any multi-coloured cards (like Kresh, Ghave... even multicoloured ones like Sliver Queen!)?
Yeah, right. I guess Jace Beleren was equal to that power level. You know, +2 is broken, bro!
Kura-san
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hottest Planeswalker. Not rating by Chandra flames or smexy Jace ultimates, but yes. I have a thing for pointy ears, the color green, and ponytails.
Hunted0Lesser
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Don't know why people think you need an elf deck to run Nissa, just Artificial Evolution Elf into whatever you want. I personally like Dragon so that I can Research four Bogardan Hellkite into my deck, only to search for all of them with Nissa's -7. This also works well with Felidar Sovereign.
nelsonngyn0
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I know I'm not exactly the most knowledgeable player,
But, I love Nissa! I just bought her just yesterday and put her into my Elf deck. I was playing with my friends in a game of "Predator" (I hope that's what it's called), and one them used Terminus two turns after I played Genesis Wave and just after I played her. Luckily I used her +1 ability to shuffle my deck, even though I didn't have Nissa's Chosen.
Nissa Definitely helped me because, in the turn I took afterwards, I drew aSoul of The Harvest, in the subsequent turn I drew my one drop elves (i.e. Llanowar Elves, Arbor Elf or Joraga Treespeaker), until I drew a land, but used her other +1 for life (this continued for 2 other turns) and gained 65 life total (the most I've ever gained, because I've never played any super life gain decks).
To say the least, I was overjoyed to have lasted very long in that game and that she was $8 well spent.
psychichobo
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@Raptorman: People aren't rating her on usefulness. I fight against an Elf deck with her, Nissa's Chosen, Wellwisher, Asceticism and a lot of other nasty ass elf-boosters. Oh, and a couple of the legendary Eldrazi, cos you gotta do something with all that mana.
It's a brutal deck, no-one's denying she's good. It's just that she's irritatingly narrow when you compare her with other planeswalkers who tend to fit into nearly any deck that can use their colours - the only other planeswalker to have a tribal ability, Sarkhan the Mad, is designed to be used in any deck that can splash him, with an insane ability for the dragon decks that do.
There is also the Tezzerets with their artifacts I suppose, but they're much broader in terms of use (equipment, specific role artifacts, etc), though I will admit Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas is getting close to awkward.
It's just that people liked not having to build decks around planeswalkers prior to Nissa. When you pull a Mythic Planeswalker, you like to be able to use them straightaway. Nissa's the worst offender in that she really messes up that theme.
Nowadays though, they are getting more limited in use, looking at Tibalt. Nissa's just unlucky to be the forerunner of such a trend, with every ability demanding elves.
Promethial
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I love her, yeah she is specialized, but that's okay, because Elves are fun to begin with. I run her in an Elf EDH. So with 99 other cards, and the vast majority of non-lands being creatures, her ult is pretty damn sweet. And before you even have to worry about using it, you are going to be sitting on a massive amount of life, between her, Wellwisher, and Seeker of Skybreak (4 life per elf per turn)
Salient
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
-7: Elf yourself.
Axelle
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
I see nothing wrong with a 4-drop planeswalker that produces 2/3s.
Arachnos
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
I really don't see why she's rated low. She has a Wellwisher ability on crack, guys. And it GIVES her loyalty. Have you ever played against a Wellwisher?
Nagoragama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My problem with her isn't that he's narrow, it's that she's fragile. Four mana for 2 loyalty counters is just too weak in my opinion. If she had had 3 starting counters she'd have been out of Lightning Bolt range (just use one of her +1 abilities while you still have priority after she resolves).
That said if you can get her to stick and have built your deck properly, she can be quite powerful. Just don't overextend too much with her last ability. It would be a shame to play out all your elves only to get them hit with a Day of Judgment.
rino99
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Guys, Its Pretty Obvious that if you don't have a good elf deck its useless, but I have an awesome elf deck therefore This card would probably give me the winning edge in every game
Bobth
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I think no one plays her because all elf users are uninteractive combo jerks.
In a real elf deck that wants to attack with a reasonable number of good elves and isn't reaching for any near-infinite combos, this is a very good planeswalker.
AlexeiTSE
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I use Nissa in a deck built around the Nissa Revane Ears of the elves deck from Duels of the Planeswalkers, I unfortunately only have one Nissas chosen, but in a deck built around getting out a lot of tokens very quickly and making those tokens grow very quickly(through Immaculate Magistrate or Coat of Arms) she keeps your life total nice and high and then her Ultimate pops off and brings out the rest of the elves in your deck. yes she is limited but in the right deck she is Super Effective
Pendulous
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
-7: Put your library into play
Community: wow, that card sucks!....
Ianplaysmagic
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My favorite planeswalker 10/5
Lifegainwithbite
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Pendulous: Perhaps you're missing the fact that the -7 takes six turns at least to activate and Nissa will never survive that long. Plus the other two abilities are weak.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You dont need to run her in an elf deck, just run x3 with x4 chosen.
Lol at the low rating. But whens the last time you included a planeswalker because of the ultimate? This generates creatures and keeps your health points up.
Mirrordin_Pure
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So a guy hits her ultimate in EDH...
ThisisSakon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Lifegainwithabite: Please, this is elves we're talking about here. In a proper deck, you've got maaaaybe half a turn to interact with her before the board is so clogged up with chump blockers* that you can't do anything. Then you get her ult off, and.... Game over man, GAME OVER!
*Joraga Warcaller says they're only chump blockers if you want them to be
benlivinmusic
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I am also a huge fan of Elves. I am almost done collecting every English printing. When Nissa dropped, so did my jaw. I have built many decks around her. I don't like that she isn't as versatile as other walkers. It's quite annoying in fact. Hopefully she will get a new card, or at least a new printing. The whole controversy about her having cleavage was a bit dramatic. Especially with cards out there like the original Serra Angel, Disciple of Grace, or the Hero of Bladehold promo. Even Tibalt got a V.S. deck. Come on Magic. Something?
NissasChosen
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love this card. It's the only Planeswalker with such a narrow use, except Tibalt, who has none, but the strongest win-con in my casual elf deck. Her first ability is a recurring blocker, if her second ability resolves even once, I become nigh unkillable, and her final flat out wins, though for Vorthosian reasons, (mainly that I love the character, and can't bear to see her in my Yard,) I will never use it unless she's at 8 counters. Seriously, if she was real, I would marry this woman. If we don't get a new version of her in the next few years, I will be extraordinarily disappointed. My two best friends feel the same way about Chandra and Elspeth, and both of them got reprints recently. I mean, this is a large part of our meta. They have Chandra and Elspeth decks. I have a Nissa deck. They can build more decks around their new versions. I can sit here dreaming of more Nissa.
On paper, +1: Make a 2/3 looks pretty decent - after all...
4 mana garruk makes a 2/2 for +0
4 Mana garruk makes 3/3 for -1, and
5 mana garruk makes 3/3 for +1
The problem here is not that she starts at 2 loyalty (and immediately goes up to 3, then gains +1 in all subsequent turns).
The problem is that to use her only real card advantage ability (at -7, the ulti has no bearing on the playability of the card) requires you to have a 2 mana 2/3 french-vanilla in your library. And in a competitive deck, this is simply unacceptable.
I bet if the +1 had said "put a 2/3 token named Nissa's Chosen onto the battlefield", this card would easily have overtaken the "4 mana Garruk that makes a 3/3 for -1". The comparison wouldn't even be close.
mr8658
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
My Battle of Wits elf deck runs 4 of her, yes 96 elf comeing into play make players scoop every time. and if I droped a Conspiracy naming elf 168 come into play but I am evil like that.
EDHDeckbuilder
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm sure she's not a really competitive Planeswalker. But I like her for EDH, I guess partially because of that reason(I'm not really competitive when it comes to playing anyway, and it's a nice social format). I always have a few Elves in my Green decks anyway, so her second ability rewards me with some life for that, and her final(the few times I've managed to use it) puts some more bodies on the board. Nissa's Chosen doesn't make any of my EDH decks anyway, but I don't mind getting her out with a couple Elves on the board for a little bit of life-gain, and then have the possibility of using her to bring out some of my other Elves. And, flavour-wise, I like her quite a bit.
If you're building for Tribal or EDH(or EDH Tribal, for that matter), give her a chance. I wouldn't necessarily call her a staple or an auto-include, but something to throw in that you won't always see.
I'll call her a 3/5 for some easy lifegain, battlefield-bolstering potential, flavour, and cool art.
docjarvisd09
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This is a planeswalker that was clearly printed just because the ultimate is so awesome. I'm glad new planeswalkers understand that to be good you need other good abilities too (not Jace Mind Sculptor good, but you know), because getting her to survive 5 turns is not pleasant...
Enelysios
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Her art here was too risque to be printed on a video game box according to the ESRB. If you look at her art for Duels of the Planeswalkers, the cleavage has been covered up.
I think people are misinterpreting her as bad. She is narrow, not bad. She can function very nicely in her element. No, she isn't going to see competitive play, planeswalkers are too slow for a top-tier elf deck anyway, but she is really fun to play with.
Comments (142)
Her ultimate is an even bigger let-down. You'd need the luck of the gods just to get her to 7, and what happens if your opponent plays wrath of god, day of judgement, infest, pyroclasm or anything like that if you ever do manage to get it off? I hope you enjoy drawing lands for the rest of the game...
Unless you only grab a couple of elves, but is that worth waiting 5 turns for?
Weak planeswalker.
more elves means more mana means big beasties and twisters
and as far as the last ability being suicidal
you don't have to put out ALL your elves, you CAN
and again feldon's cane will help if theres a wrath of god or something
She should have cost 1GG and ultimate only -5
either that or start at 4 loyalty
fun in a causal elf tribal deck
3.5/5
N/B the Zendikar storyline suggest a green-black version of Nissa may be printed in the future.
how is it both? well because her usefulness varries in insane amounts depending on the format you are playing
Standard = Sucks, just not enough elves with lorwyn gone to make her good now, but we will see what worldwake offers us
Extended = Pretty Good, all those lorwyn elves hit the board and hit it hard, watch out for a WoG and you win the game
Legacy = Not Bad, there are better, but this can be pretty good, I dont play legacy so I am not sure
Tribal = Awesome, this card in any tribal elf deck is instant win, G/R and you can sharkon vol's first, or call to action to haste your army, there are not many board wipes at instant speed, and pulling enough elf lords, 4 perfects, 4 champions, now they are 9/9 elves, hard to infest/fallout
EDH = if your EDH deck is elf, see the above part, not as many lords, but still out of range of one or 2 infests/fallouts
that is my 2 cents on this one, time will tell how good she is in the end, and dont forget, worldwake is coming, merfolk and elves may make a come back then, cross your fins lullmage mentor
her abilities are not too great, and the Nissa's Chosen Elf... they are not the half of what are some other elfs like Treetop Scout
Concluding: Fun to play, Not a winner card
Changelings and chameleon colossus just became important again.
For all the people saying she's a sleeper hit, consider chandra's +1 knocks off her counter once per turn, and sorin markov can bring her to 0 just using his own +1 ability. Lavalanche is just brutal.. you kill all her elves and her in one go, and in extended final judgement kills even with eldrazi monument. Actually child of alara would be especially brutal too, taking out everything except itself including whatever elves are in play and nissa at the same time. Profane command would also kill her, plus an indestructible creature on the same turn.
@eldrazi monument, yes I also saw that someone put together an eldrazi monument elf deck using nissa.. and nissa still isn't a good planeswalker. Consider that anything that exiles still kills an indestructible, and you can always just destroy the monument instead. It's great when people don't have any of those things and aren't expecting it, but it's not a competitive strategy realistically speaking. It might be fun for kicks though.
Her last is damn good. Everyone keeps talking about how her ultimate is bad for you if they pull of a wipe. but as long as you have a Elvish Soultiller your pretty safe from any board wipes. and also in standard her last is great, pull out some elvish archdruid's and bloodbraid elf's to get some hasty lethal damage. as it doesn't cost manna you can probably get an overrun off too (which is also in standard) insuring death despite any amount of blockers. and if you'r worried about fog there's plenty of red antifog cards in standard and you're already splashing red for bloodbraid. who said elves weren't good in standard? RG elvish domination is more like it.
Also, if you'r playing something other than standard (not to savvy on other formats than standard and casual) you could drop some Wirewood Hivemaster's with her final and get an shitload of insects. what 4 times however many elves you pull?
I agree with others, she's a sleeper. Just go test with her and stop complaining.
about nissa, i wouldn't even consider putting her in an elf deck because she only serves as a quck life boost or to get out 1/2 nissa's chosen most of the time and will probably be kiled before she reaches 5 loyalty, let alone 7. if u get hit by her ulti, you totally deserve it.
Maybe getting creatures out isn't your deal, so it's not good for you but it still DOESN'T SUCK.
But still, if you manage to use the ultimate and already have the Worldwake elf lord in play you have an army strong enough to face the forces of Mordor.
1. If you run "X' of her, she takes up X+4 Deck slots
2, The oft mentioned 2 loyalty. Bolt, Burst...it pretty much takes her out right off the bat.
Aside of my qualms, she's still pretty good. She's a good tribal Planeswalker with a giant target on her chest.
4.5/5
"Search your deck of an elf creature card, pay it's manna cost, and put it into play"
Something like that might also make her more flexible and make your opponent much less afraid of her because you could keep her counters low. As she is, your opponent will take one look at that ability and think: "She dies now!" This combined with her low loyalty will likely take her out of the game quickly.
Her biggest downside is her rigidity; you can only use her to do one thing, and only in an elf deck. that and if she activates her ultimate ability and your opponent has any sort of clear the stage tricks your game is over; a little paranoid, but still.
My personal thing I want to see is this plainswalker against Lilliana after relatively late in the game so that there are a few things in Lilliana's graveyard. Nissa activates her ability, summoning all the elves in her deck. It looks like there is going to be an epic battle of an army of undead vs an army of elves, but that never happens. Lilliana plays Damnation and then activates her ability leaving Nissa alone against both an army of undead, and her own army, now also undead. *Evil smile*
Base rating: ***
Always building (Two plus abilities): +*
Game ending move: +*
Ridged: -*
Delicate: -*/4
Potentially game ending move in the wrong direction: -*/4
Final: *** */2
It's my favourite planeswalker right next to the absolutely fabulous Elspeth, Knight-Errant.
Fun to play but extremely hard to keep alive if not focused on that task. Try using "That Wich Was Taken" , or messing around with "Gilder Bairn", don't be so freakin' pessimistic :D
Let's face it people, every planeswalker has a huge bullseye on it. My friends go like "Oh my gawd, it's Elspeth !!! Everybody, nuke it !!!
I make it a challenge of making my planeswalker survive nowadays, keeps it fun in a sense :)
Besides, she doesn't even stand out of the frame like other planeswalkers.
Way too situational to score high.
Tribal planeswalkers are a disgrace imo.
Actually, you can look for a Gilt-Leaf Archdruid and six other elf druids (what a rare combination right?) and inmediately prevent any sorcery-speed comeback from your opponent.
If you can manage gaining 20 life for 4 mana, it's usually a good deal.
Along with my two Koths she is my 3rd Planeswalker.
But, she is really only good in elf decks which I do not have.
~TheChosenOne97
With her alone, you could start gaining 2 life a turn for each Elf you control. And if you're running full Elves, that can add up quickly.
The Nissa's Chosen ability sucks, in my opinion. There are WAY more Elves out there with FAR better abilities than Nissa's Chosen has.
The mass Elf drop is nice, VERY nice, but unnecessary if you can play your cards right. It's more of a last resort, in my opinion. I like Nissa strictly for the life gain. HOWEVER, the Elf drop can in fact win the game for you. (or lose it) I will agree with most though, the final ability costs way too much. Seven is rather high to me, but I won't argue with it. Keep reading to find out why.
The card Doubling Season is perfect for most any planeswalker. It can help save them from certain death, as well as ramp the heck out of your tokens (a classic Elf tactic) and counters (great for Joraga Warcaller and others).
Rings of Brighthearth is another card practically made for planeswalker aid. Pay (2) and double any ability off of planeswalker you wish. Very nice in deed. Then you could gain 4 life a turn for each Elf on your field. I personally have ended games with over 40,000 Elf tokens on turn 6. Just imagine how much life that amounts to.
All in all, Nissa has great potential. But true to any Elf, she likes to be used in combo for the greatest effect. For instance, what good would a Joraga Treespeaker do you if you didn't run Elves? For Elves, it's all about the combos.
I'd much prefer to see more planeswalkers like this that are good cards and fit amazingly into an existing strategy, but you can't just pick them up and put them into any deck with the same colors.
For example gaining 1 life per elf should still be a hell of a lot in most situations or giving ajani 3,4 or even 5 wouldn´t overpower him in my opinion.
All in all this makes me sad :D
But both still great Planeswalkers nonetheless.
Also I want a zombie planeswalker now, Innistrad perhaps?
sorry but i had to say
4x Nissa's Chosen, which is already good
4x Heedless One
4x Joraga Warcaller, to blow the elves up a ton
maybe some Silhana Ledgewalkers for some powered up evasion
not perfect, but just a few elves, built around each other is already great
throw Nissa in, and you have a a massive life gainer, and a way to summon an army in an instant
in terms of pulling out creatures Nissa and Liliana Vess are great, but Liliana requires your opponent to play creatures and you to kill them, or your's to die
Nissa only requires that you have them.
imo, despite being one of the more niche planeswalkers, one of the best. if you can build around her, and pull off her ultimate, it's an absolute game ender, considering it drastically changes the field
nevertheless, when shes out i almost always have 5+ elves out, so that leads to me being able to take some heat and then pound them with the creatures i didnt have to block with. shes prolly won me almost half of my elf deck victories in fnm, or at least led to them.
Pulling free 2/3 every turn is nice, but what's not so nice is fact that you have to include Nissa's Chosen into your deck. Chosens themselves are solid two-drops. As I started running Nissa, I put 4 of them to my deck. With time, I decreased the number to 3. Now I plan to change my deck a little bit again, trying the deck with just 2 copies. There are many two drop elves that you may want more to your deck than chosens, and there is definitely much more elves you want to pull into play instead. I would like to see her tutor-like ability more general, letting you chose what creature to put into game.... sure, such ability would not be +1, but rather -2 or something like that, but it brings us to second problem...
Nissa starts with ridiculous 2 loyality counters and having two +1 abilities. She would be much more playable with having at least +2 ability. I believe that making her lifegain ability +2 instead of +1 would not broke her.
Finally, her ultimate ability is game ending. It wins you game, or it wins game for your opponent... not to mention that it's almost impossible to activate with her starting loyality counters. Planeswalkers ultimate ability should not threaten you, and you should be able to activate it. You can say that you don't have to pull all your elves from your deck, just the best ones... but even if you pull just some elves, you will lose exactly the elves you need most, which is really bad. I would like to see her doing something like that: -5: For each elf card on the battlefield under your control, put token that's copy of that pernament. (Well, just in case you're running Prowess of the Fair)
Soo, to sum up: Nissa is not bad planeswalker, in fact, she can be really deadly, but it's certainly not really easy to play with her, what makes her unpopular.
Maybe we will see new version of Nissa... she is chasing Sorin through Multiverse, and we will probably see new Sorin in Dark Ascension. So who knows... we can hope :) but I guess there would be too many green planeswalkers trying to catch a black planeswalker in this block then...
No, I just think she should have had better abilities.
+1; untap up to two (three?) target elves?
-1; put a 1/1 elf druid token into play, with {T};{G}?
-2; Glimpse of Nature?
Stuff elf decks are better known for.
Wellwisher is nice, but underwhelming to just have a double wellwisher planeswalker.
Nissa's Chosen is, essentially, an Elvish Warrior token. Boring? A bit, yes.
On top of all that, her -7 is underwhelming. Sure, its powerful, but elf decks don't have trouble doing that on their own, far faster than she can after five or six turns of being defended. It is weak to Wrath of God variants, just like any other elf deck.
4/5
That and 4 CMC for 2 loyalty, which is just.. so wrong..
Part of me hopes they will remake her, but then again I think it's pretty cool to have some Planeswalkers who aren't ubiquitous or versatile. Nissa is very special, though I wouldn't play her. Never liked elves.
Over all, Nissa as a card is, in my opinion, the worst planeswalker printed. She costs 4 to cast when her narrow abilities should have said made her a 3 mana walker. Her first ability requires you to have a Nissa's Chosen in your deck. Which means if you don't already have a few in play you will only get 4 uses out of that ability. Her second ability is good but doesn't compare to wellwisher(Who you can trigger on your opponent's turn and you can have 4 of them on the field.). It is a nice ability and makes sense for the card, but doesn't make it worth a space in your deck. Then you have her last ability. 5 turns after you cast her, if you don't have the game wrapped up by then there is a problem. And even if you get every elf out if they cast some kind of Wrath effect you just lost. I personally would rather use Skyshroud Poacher with those infinite mana and untap engines elves are so well known for then shoehorn this into a elf deck.
The Biggest problem with her is the fact that she is just horrible in anything other then a Elf deck. The lack of over all versatility just kills this card. You may argue that Tezzeret is just as limited because of artifacts. Now I would disagree with you on this. Artifacts have a few tribes in them that Tezzy can help out. Plus artifacts that benefit artifacts. You have Myr, Golems, and Scarecrows to name a few. Then non tribal artifact creatures that act like tribal. The possibilities are not limited as bad with Tezzy. And he makes up for it by having very cost effective skills.
Another argument you might have is with Sarkhan the Mad. You might argue that Sarkhan is limited to only being used with dragons. Well, although his last ability is mainly for the use of dragons his other 2 abilities are very worth using on their own with out the need to be placed in a dragon deck. I've used him as a way to kill off my own creatures to spark other effects that care if a creature of yours is sacced or dies. Then when he has served his purpose you can draw a card. But if You are playing dragons he can be a turn 5 win condition. He is limited, but not to the point of Nissa.
But maybe I'm being too cynical. Although I have never lost to this card while playing against elves before. Its always some coat of arms overrun combo that seems to get me.
Although I think it was inevitable that such a card would get made, this card is SO unmemorable that I keep forgetting that Garruk is not the only mono Green Planeswalker.
Common complaints that are dumb:
Her starting loyalty: for what she does, 2 has proven to be enough. Even without proliferate.
Her 'build around me' nature: It's true that a planeswalker that goes into literally any same-color deck is not optimal for the game's diversity.
Uncommon complaints that are smart:
Her color is lacking in diversity: Sarkhan Vol is Red-Green, not mono-Green; Garruk has had 3 versions of himself, all of them Beast Token themed; then there's Nissa. Green needs a new Planeswalker character, just for the sake of diversity. If Nissa had been a more impressive card, then Green mages would not now feel starved for good Walkers.
Koth of the Hammer is how you design a proper 'build around me' Walker. Strictly limited to heavy-mountain decks, not even all Red Decks pick him over Chandra or Sarkhan.
Nissa requires ELVES, specifically. Not just 'creatures', not just 'green creatures'- it HAS to be elves or she is FLAT OUT USELESS. Of course she's good in Elf decks. We've seen cards like this before. Every card has its home. But Nissa has fewer homes than any other Walker. A 'lands matter' Walker, or 'enchantments matter' Walker would still be narrow, but not as narrow as 'Elves or she's crap. PS one-third of her abilities require this specific other card'.
No color is supposed to actually be 'the color of being dumb' but if you read, 'In the Teeth of Akoum'......facepalm. Nissa Revane actually deliberately opened the Eye of Ugin, and we are even told what is going on in her head when she does it. She essentially did not pay any attention whatsoever to the possibility that if FOUR planeswalkers (Sorin Markov, Chandra Ablaze, Sarkhan the Mad, and Jace, the Mind Sculptor) are all fighting over this thing, that in fact it MAY just be DANGEROUS. Numerous signs are given in the book that don't exactly tell you right out what the Eye of Ugin does, but which DO give you enough to go by to not think 'ooooh, what does THIS button do?!'
Nissa Revane is the worst planeswalker in the game because:
a) she is functional only in the most narrow stream of decks. Since every card is 'broken' if you put it 'where it belongs', the 'play elves' argument to me is not impressive. Planeswalkers are supposed to be better than being limited to one tribe of one card type within one color.
b) she is actually a retard who gives Blue mages an easy target to mock Green for.
c) it is her fault that Zendikar Elves are probably extinct by now, along with non-Eldrazi Zendikar life in general. She utterly failed at being a guardian of her homeland. While Koth failed as well, at least he fought, rather than going to the Praetor's Counsel and telling them exactly where to find the Mirran Resistance, in an attempt to ask that that area be left alone. Nissa handed Zendikar over to the Eldrazi on a silver platter, and just sucks as a heroine in general. Not the best champion for elves to be rallying behind IMO.
d) she is the only option for mono Green Planeswalker that is not Garruk, which leaves Green lacking in the Planeswalker Creativity dept. Even blue can turn to Venser when they get bored of Jace, and Jace 1 and 2 play very differently. All the Garruks play kind of similarly 'make tokens, attack'.
Black has Liliana the Death Sorceress, Liliana the Necromancer, Sorin the Redeemed Dark Hero, Sorin the Noble Vampire Lord, and Nicol Bolas the Ultimate evil. Very different, unique, fun takes on Black.
Red has....well, lots of Fire, but Red mages LIKE Fire, and they can choose to have it in Dragon or non-Dragon form. White has Gideon the solo Super Hero, Elspeth the Army Leader, Ajani, the Spiritualist and Venser the idealistic Fool's Crusader.
Green definitely needs someone new to freshen up things in the Blind Eternities.
so frikkn narrow and stupid
and her back story is lame to top it off
but it's easy to guess what the next duel deck is
Nissa vs Sorin!
Everyone's going to buy the deck then throw away nissa cause she sucks too much to use
If you don't want an elf deck then don't get Nissa! Simple as that. This is an awesome card for the creature type that she applies to.
I love Nissa!
Yes, she screams "play elves!" but you know what? Who cares! Elves are a good tribe. A tad overpowered at times but it's never unfun to spit out dozens of elves. Unless you're on the other side...
I play a green black elf deck and she is the shining star. My Sanguine Bond most often is an instant win.
But yes, just because she is the least adaptable planeswalker doesn't mean she's a bad card. She does what she is intended to do incredibly well. The card should be rated a 4.25 at least.
EDIT: Well, I think we should see a new Nissa, what with the flavor text on Boundless Realms and all.
I think she should look like this:
Nissa of the Golgari/////////////////////////
Planeswalker-Nissa
+1: Put a 2/2 green & black Zombie Elf token called Joraga Remnant onto the battlefield under your control.
-3: Sacrifice a creature, if that creature was green gain 2 life, if that creature was black target player sacrifices a creature.
-7: Search your library for any number of creature cards that are both Green and black and put them onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
Loyalty:2
I'd rate her 4.5/5, but to compensate for you retards and your retarded grading, I'm going to offset it with 5/5
And MindAblaze, that's insane! A 3-cost planeswalker that constantly puts a 2/2 token out? Her -3 gains 2 life and Cruel Edict's? Her Ultimate can get you Gleancrawler, Doomgape, Glissa, Lord of Extinction, not including any multi-coloured cards (like Kresh, Ghave... even multicoloured ones like Sliver Queen!)?
Yeah, right. I guess Jace Beleren was equal to that power level. You know, +2 is broken, bro!
But, I love Nissa!
I just bought her just yesterday and put her into my Elf deck. I was playing with my friends in a game of "Predator" (I hope that's what it's called), and one them used Terminus two turns after I played Genesis Wave and just after I played her. Luckily I used her +1 ability to shuffle my deck, even though I didn't have Nissa's Chosen.
Nissa Definitely helped me because, in the turn I took afterwards, I drew a Soul of The Harvest, in the subsequent turn I drew my one drop elves (i.e. Llanowar Elves, Arbor Elf or Joraga Treespeaker), until I drew a land, but used her other +1 for life (this continued for 2 other turns) and gained 65 life total (the most I've ever gained, because I've never played any super life gain decks).
To say the least, I was overjoyed to have lasted very long in that game and that she was $8 well spent.
It's a brutal deck, no-one's denying she's good. It's just that she's irritatingly narrow when you compare her with other planeswalkers who tend to fit into nearly any deck that can use their colours - the only other planeswalker to have a tribal ability, Sarkhan the Mad, is designed to be used in any deck that can splash him, with an insane ability for the dragon decks that do.
There is also the Tezzerets with their artifacts I suppose, but they're much broader in terms of use (equipment, specific role artifacts, etc), though I will admit Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas is getting close to awkward.
It's just that people liked not having to build decks around planeswalkers prior to Nissa. When you pull a Mythic Planeswalker, you like to be able to use them straightaway. Nissa's the worst offender in that she really messes up that theme.
Nowadays though, they are getting more limited in use, looking at Tibalt. Nissa's just unlucky to be the forerunner of such a trend, with every ability demanding elves.
That said if you can get her to stick and have built your deck properly, she can be quite powerful. Just don't overextend too much with her last ability. It would be a shame to play out all your elves only to get them hit with a Day of Judgment.
In a real elf deck that wants to attack with a reasonable number of good elves and isn't reaching for any near-infinite combos, this is a very good planeswalker.
yes she is limited but in the right deck she is Super Effective
Community: wow, that card sucks!....
10/5
Lol at the low rating. But whens the last time you included a planeswalker because of the ultimate? This generates creatures and keeps your health points up.
*Joraga Warcaller says they're only chump blockers if you want them to be
4 Wirewood Guardians
4 mana garruk makes a 2/2 for +0
4 Mana garruk makes 3/3 for -1, and
5 mana garruk makes 3/3 for +1
The problem here is not that she starts at 2 loyalty (and immediately goes up to 3, then gains +1 in all subsequent turns).
The problem is that to use her only real card advantage ability (at -7, the ulti has no bearing on the playability of the card) requires you to have a 2 mana 2/3 french-vanilla in your library. And in a competitive deck, this is simply unacceptable.
I bet if the +1 had said "put a 2/3 token named Nissa's Chosen onto the battlefield", this card would easily have overtaken the "4 mana Garruk that makes a 3/3 for -1". The comparison wouldn't even be close.
If you're building for Tribal or EDH(or EDH Tribal, for that matter), give her a chance. I wouldn't necessarily call her a staple or an auto-include, but something to throw in that you won't always see.
I'll call her a 3/5 for some easy lifegain, battlefield-bolstering potential, flavour, and cool art.
I think people are misinterpreting her as bad. She is narrow, not bad. She can function very nicely in her element. No, she isn't going to see competitive play, planeswalkers are too slow for a top-tier elf deck anyway, but she is really fun to play with.