His second ability has always been my favorite, and the reason to put him in the deck I put him in. Which is mah rebel deck. He looks kinda like Billy Idol too... if you erm... turn it sideways... and drink a few beers...
roqbthepirate
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(8 votes)
I pulled one of these at my prerelease! I confused its -1 ability with Elspeth's and it lost me a game. Go me.
Azazyel
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(7 votes)
A friend and I each pulled one of these at a prerelease. He kept going on about its ultimate, which struck me as odd.
Ajani's ultimate should be the last reason you use him. Instead, he should be used as a continuous Glorious Anthem that boosts your creatures when it comes into play. Spam his -1 ability three times, then gain life, then use the -1 ability again. Your creatures will become enormous and there will be little your opponent can do about it short of mass removal, which still leaves you with an advantage, as Ajani will still be around to pump himself (and your life total) before you cast a creature again, at which point you'll be able to -1 once more, repeating the cycle.
So yeah.
omggeesterliciousman
★☆☆☆☆ (1.3/5.0)(3 votes)
One of the best planeswalkers, required in a life gain deck
kilovortex
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I popped this guy in a booster draft. never reaaly got use him that much due to him being removed, but all and all a decent card that i plan on running in my standard deck.
JudoThai
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(5 votes)
Put a lifelink on the avatar token. I did this to a freind the other day. I put the avatar out as a 30/30 attached a lifelink to it. Every time he blocked it, my life and the avatar's P/T were unreal in no time. from a 30/30 to a 60/60 to a 120/120 to a 240/240 to a 480/480 with just as much life? Plus if you really wanted to you could use the token as a wall to put out another one for kicks. Nothing wrong with that.
I recently got my hands on one of these guys and I feel like out of all the planeswalkers this guy is one of the planeswalkers that gets ignored the most (not a bad thing).
For 4 mana you really are geting a pretty good deal, you can pump him to gain life and set your self up for his final, but this only works if you have a strong defence, and often the avatar won't be able to break through the lines.
I feel were the most power lies is with his seconed ability. You can use him to continusly boost all your creatures (great for white weenie decks) and make it so you can attack without worrying about leaving creatures as blockers. A very powerfull ability that is all to often overlooked.
Ajani Goldmane is an intresting planeswalker and one of my personal favorites. While many people consider him weak since he does not have an ability that ends the game when it goes off, what makes him great is that he has an ability that sets you up to win that can be used the moment he hits the field.
Cheza
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(8 votes)
The typical use of Ajani is to use his second ability 4 times in a row. When he dies, cast another on and use the second ability on the same turn. So Ajani has a bad concept. He is more powerful than most of the other planeswalker from the "early days", but his stats feel so random.
The first ability is comparable with a hasty Honden of Cleansing Fire or some other permanents with a "gain life" ability. He can be used with Zur's Weirding to ensure a win on the long run. But usually, you take the "plus" ability to get the ultimate power. In his case, the last ability is just a single token. The creature doesn't have haste or any evasion ability. So it's a Serra Avatar. But usually, you want to sneak such a creature into play early, when your life total is still high enough.
So if I would have designed the card, I would have increased the loyality bonus. This doesn't hurt in any case. In addition, I would have changed the life bonus to 3. Three is a special magic number. Whereas red could use the number 2 (coin flip, pro/con) to symbol the choices, white should use the next number to symbol majority of votes, community etc. An other option would have been lifelink for a specific target.
Ajani's second ability is by far too good. It"s a Titania's Boon with vigilance. This wouldn't be a problem for the casting cost of Ajani, but the loyality decrease is by far too low. In addition, the +1/+1 counters theme shouldn't be white. Instead, white should use boni, if/as long as a certain condition is met. So I would have preferred something like protection from a color until your next turn.
The ultimate ability is quite ok, especially if the second ability would interact in a better way with the token, but it's not really flavorful for Ajani... unless Serra has returned in form of a cat ... and as a man. *shiver*
samildanach32
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
To go against the crowd, i really like his first ability. I use this guy in edh and use the +1 ability to offset the life loss from cards like dark confidant and phyrexian arena. Hes actually one of the best life gain spells ever printed IMO, he gets you 7 life for four mana assuming he dies straight away- but hes ajani, so he goes unnoticed unless you use his second ability a lot!
Troutz
★★☆☆☆ (2.6/5.0)(4 votes)
Life gain decks are awesome fun, and post-Lorwyn no life gain deck is complete without this guy. His +1 is mediocre, but he makes up for it with a very fun ultimate and an extremely useful -1. One of my favorite planeswalkers.
ultratog1028
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Best of the original 5 planeswalkers. Run him in a token or flying deck and you'll never use his first and third abilities ever again.
ZombiePyro826
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I just recently noticed this card as a possibility for a saproling deck mainly for its 2nd ability. With a mass of saprolings in play, this card can keep boosting them with counters and also have vigilance that turn. If you really want massacre, use Overwhelm, followed by Overwhelming Stampede to increase the power of all saprolings and creatures ten-fold. And since the stampede gives all your creatures trample, its epic annihilation!
Selez
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(3 votes)
On constructed: This guy is absurd in white weenie and should always see play... Oh wait, we've still got friggin' Elspeth (even after the Scars rotation when we'll get her second Planeswalker card to replace the first. Though I guess we'll have to see). Seeing as Ajani's second ability is the only one that really gets used, Honor of the Pure is also a problematic competitor. So, despite this card's absurd power level, the days when it saw heavy play seem to be past. Unless, of course, people feel that more than four Crusades is a good thing.
On limited: First-pickable and anyone who doesn't pick this has some serious biases against White.
Sixty3Zero
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Pulled one of these in one of my first Lorwyn packs. Threw it in a Life Gain deck for lulz.
this card is kind of like that card from Lorwyn that does the same thing and i think might be the exact same card but i just can't remember if it is or not.
MrBarrelRoll
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(4 votes)
This guy is AWESOME with that new 'proliferate' ability -- lets you make a whole swarm of creatures GIANT.
samj3sus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Ajani was an essential card in any life deck but now with Inexorable Tide he becomes a beast. Throw a Castigation Clasp and your army becomes a huge problem to deal with.
His -1 ability will work excellent with the new proliferate mechanic.
AmericanVigor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
As proof of how awesome he is, he produces Serra Avatar as a token. Two Serra Avatars (on the first turn he's on the battlefield) if you've also got Doubling Season.
crystalisdraco
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(4 votes)
I was thinking of using his first and second ability with Elspeth Tirel and making an army of creatures.
Shinigami-2099
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
I actually got a celestial mantle onto this avatar... I won with a 150ish creature
made4ipod
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(2 votes)
Ajani's 2011 signature spells (Ajani's Mantra and Ajani's pridemate) is, in my opinion one of the better combos that comes with the signatures. The second best is:
thewrathofshane his last ability is fine white can easily word off kill spells and I mostly use it the avatar token for lifegain combos.
BlueInkAlchemist
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(5 votes)
Ajani's -1: Creatures get bigger and gain vigilance.
Venser's -1: Creatures are unblockable.
There's some fun to be had with these two working together, I think...
Ninjazilla
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(3 votes)
i used to think that overall, Ajani kinda' sucked, but then I actually read his -1, and realized wow, that looks pretty darn hot
.Blaze.
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Might work well in my Tempered Steel deck. His +1 makes up the the Pyrexian Mana payments and -1 acts as another buff for my guys. The vigilance is an amazing bonus.
Shadoflaam
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
So is he or his Vengeant form gonna pwn Nickle Balls (Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker) in the next Duel Deck?
Twestjefferson
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Gotta love this card, is he the strongest planeswalker of them all? Depends on how your using him, my deck is built around Ajani's Pridemate almost all my cards give me health this is why Ajani himself is a big card in my deck everytime he heals me he gives Ajani's Pridemate a +1/+1 counter. By the time i have had Ajani out those counters have been brewing from Suture Priest and Soul's Attendent, which also means my health is pretty high up at this time. So all this health is immediately building my Pridemate and is also setting up the insta kill when i unleash the Avatar it may not be an insta kill for most people but i also threw in some whispersilk cloaks to make sure the avatar or the pridemate get through to the oppenent. So in my opinion i think he is the one of the strongest planeswalkers but he relies heavily on other cards to acheive that kind of power (half of them share his name though so they arnt hard to find)
GhostXi
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(2 votes)
They better keep him in standard. I can't believe they didn't add him or Baneslayer Angel to the 2012 set. :(
jumpenrun
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
They didn't add him to M12, that's odd? I wonder why? Because maybe we will see him innistrad block. Ajani 3.0. Cool!
ChaosK
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I used to forget that his second also gives vigilance, a lot of time. In my aggressive W deck this always ended up that he would be defenseless after my attack and worked more like a 4 mana +1/+1 which would be pretty lame. After i realised it also gives vigilance, it changed a lot obviously because you can attack all the way without leaving him vulnerable. So yeah the vigilance is quite important in my opinion.
orisiti
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Cenn's Tactician
All of you creatures can block two creatures... Put this with cards that like taking damage or blocking (i.e. wall of hope, belltower sphinx, gorgon recluse, etc.) and it can quickly get very annoying.
In fact, these two and wall of hope leads is a nice set up for his -6.
wilsonbiggs
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This and Celestial Mantle equal a GIANT avatar creature in not too long! :D
combos great with Gideon Jura; use ajani to swing with a large vigilance attack, then keep your creatures around and force your opponent into attacking with gideon, blocking and killing everything. lather, rinse repeat
4/5 for great abilities, but his first is a tad weak
Robface
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I've always found his +1 ability to be... very underwhelming.
Sk8er_Boi_1999
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(2 votes)
He's so hot! I want his furry babies! My favourite art EVER
CthuvianAce
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(8 votes)
Ajani can equal an auto-win if you use Mayael's Aria. Activate Mayael's Aria, with your life at 20 or more. Summon Ajani. Use Ajani's -6. You now have a 20/20+ creature. Wait until your next turn, and due to Mayael's Aria, you have just won.
ZeroSheep
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(6 votes)
Poor Ajani...he's the only one of the first five planeswalkers who hasn't had his own duel deck yet :(
EDIT: He's got one now! :D
DacenOctavio
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Ridiculous Anti-Burn Catman, I miss you!
Midnight77
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This guy would be so fun in my white deck :)
one time i actually got so much life i lost count.
I think I got over 100 thousand life but like i said. I lost count
:P
:P
:P
I won that round
I also feel bad for my brother cause his units were past 10/10 and my guy was a 9/9 that he couldn't block cause he had flying and was industructable. And the card that he calls "The Beast" was only a 5/5
than i won cause he couldn't have done anything about my guy. I love the cards that i placed on him
His good buddy Mufasa taught him about the circle of life...
KokoshoForPresident
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love looking at the cat cards for all the Lion King jokes I find.
poprockmonster
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I pulled a foil one from the pack that came with one of the Duels of the Planeswalkers precon decks. Went straight into my Ghave, Guru of Spores EDH. His second and third ability both work well with Ghave, especially once I've gotten Parallel Lives down and get to have two Serra Avatar tokens :D
ryanp25
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(5 votes)
hi
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I still argue his +1 should have been increased to three life, and his ultimate should have given the creature shroud. It can still be chump blocked, but at least its harder to deal with.
boochaca
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Just use him with Trostani double your life every time you populate
Continue
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@CthuvianAce
Better than that — read both cards again. All you need is a life total of 9 before the Aria's effects kick in. This is how it works. (minimum p/t of avatar also shown)
1) Activate Ajani's -6 when you're at no less than 9 life with the Aria out. 9/9 2) Wait until your next turn as long as your life stays at 9 or above. 9/9 3) On your upkeep, the avatar token gets a +1/+1 counter. 10/10 4) Now you have a 10 power creature, so you gain 10 life. The avatar gains power accordingly due to how its ability is worded. 20/20 5) You win.
FaceClaimer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
would essence backlash work against Ajani's Ultimate? because that is an auto win...
FirstPrime
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@FaceClaimer - No, Essence Backlash only counters spells and the token that is created from this card is done so through an ability and not a spell. However, you might want to check out Essence Backlash's namesake, Backlash. (Also see: Delirium)
In my playgroup Backlash and Delerium are both very common spells, so when someone wants to play this or Serra Avatar or some other ridiculously large creature they always need to check which players are using black and red and think hard about that decision, otherwise they can end up dead very, very quickly.
As for Ajani, as others have said the middle ability is the main attraction here. I have always overlooked this guy in the past because the other two abilities are kind of underwhelming to me, but now that I'm sitting here giving him some real thought that low costed middle ability and 4 starting loyalty are starting to look pretty attractive. Too bad I never went out of my way to get some of these in the past.
I'm torn on this version of the Great Cat. His +1, while it can help doesn't really do anything to advance your position. On ther other hand, his -1 is prety solid in a creature heavy deck. Too me he's (at best) a Gavony Township that can activate up to 4 turns in a row after 1 investment.
Yodha
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
+2: Get two life... -1: Combo with Permanents... -6: Summon SERRA AVATAR for 2WW. It's still a planeswalker.
tastified
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Super solid planeswalker.
His plus one is what a plus one should be. Helps a tiny bit but nothing huge.
-1 Is great once you realise the counters are permanent, and in white weenie/token spammers, this effect is very real. It's this ability that lets the planeswalker defend himself, which is something any good (aggro/rush decks excluded) one will be able to do.
-6 is great too. It's a win condition that come come out with 3 turns, and for that reason is very simple/not op. For all those who find it "eh," the idea here is not to use it if you suspect they have a doom blade/many blockers without a trample strategy. Guess what? You don't have to activate this eff and shouldn't unless you are in a situation to do so. You want a "I win the game gg, no refunds" ultimate? Ok, go pay 6 mana or wait 5 turns.
Last of all, all the effects are inherently white. One thing that seems silly to see is a red planeswalker with a draw strategy, or a blue one which burns. Ral zerek excluded.
kiseki
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Ignore the first and third ability. minus him into the graveyard and you will be winning.
Comments (62)
Ajani's ultimate should be the last reason you use him. Instead, he should be used as a continuous Glorious Anthem that boosts your creatures when it comes into play. Spam his -1 ability three times, then gain life, then use the -1 ability again. Your creatures will become enormous and there will be little your opponent can do about it short of mass removal, which still leaves you with an advantage, as Ajani will still be around to pump himself (and your life total) before you cast a creature again, at which point you'll be able to -1 once more, repeating the cycle.
So yeah.
For 4 mana you really are geting a pretty good deal, you can pump him to gain life and set your self up for his final, but this only works if you have a strong defence, and often the avatar won't be able to break through the lines.
I feel were the most power lies is with his seconed ability. You can use him to continusly boost all your creatures (great for white weenie decks) and make it so you can attack without worrying about leaving creatures as blockers. A very powerfull ability that is all to often overlooked.
Ajani Goldmane is an intresting planeswalker and one of my personal favorites. While many people consider him weak since he does not have an ability that ends the game when it goes off, what makes him great is that he has an ability that sets you up to win that can be used the moment he hits the field.
The first ability is comparable with a hasty Honden of Cleansing Fire or some other permanents with a "gain life" ability. He can be used with Zur's Weirding to ensure a win on the long run. But usually, you take the "plus" ability to get the ultimate power. In his case, the last ability is just a single token. The creature doesn't have haste or any evasion ability. So it's a Serra Avatar. But usually, you want to sneak such a creature into play early, when your life total is still high enough.
So if I would have designed the card, I would have increased the loyality bonus. This doesn't hurt in any case. In addition, I would have changed the life bonus to 3. Three is a special magic number. Whereas red could use the number 2 (coin flip, pro/con) to symbol the choices, white should use the next number to symbol majority of votes, community etc. An other option would have been lifelink for a specific target.
Ajani's second ability is by far too good. It"s a Titania's Boon with vigilance. This wouldn't be a problem for the casting cost of Ajani, but the loyality decrease is by far too low. In addition, the +1/+1 counters theme shouldn't be white. Instead, white should use boni, if/as long as a certain condition is met. So I would have preferred something like protection from a color until your next turn.
The ultimate ability is quite ok, especially if the second ability would interact in a better way with the token, but it's not really flavorful for Ajani... unless Serra has returned in form of a cat ... and as a man. *shiver*
On limited: First-pickable and anyone who doesn't pick this has some serious biases against White.
That deck sucked. Had two Heroes Remembered and no win condition.
T1: forest, llanowar elves
T2: forest, leatherback baloth
T3: forest, garruk wildspeaker, untap 2 lands, garruk's companion
Venser's -1: Creatures are unblockable.
There's some fun to be had with these two working together, I think...
After i realised it also gives vigilance, it changed a lot obviously because you can attack all the way without leaving him vulnerable. So yeah the vigilance is quite important in my opinion.
All of you creatures can block two creatures... Put this with cards that like taking damage or blocking (i.e. wall of hope, belltower sphinx, gorgon recluse, etc.) and it can quickly get very annoying.
In fact, these two and wall of hope leads is a nice set up for his -6.
use ajani to swing with a large vigilance attack, then keep your creatures around and force your opponent into attacking with gideon, blocking and killing everything. lather, rinse repeat
4/5 for great abilities, but his first is a tad weak
Activate Mayael's Aria, with your life at 20 or more. Summon Ajani. Use Ajani's -6. You now have a 20/20+ creature. Wait until your next turn, and due to Mayael's Aria, you have just won.
EDIT: He's got one now! :D
one time i actually got so much life i lost count.
I think I got over 100 thousand life but like i said. I lost count
:P
:P
:P
I won that round
I also feel bad for my brother cause his units were past 10/10 and my guy was a 9/9 that he couldn't block cause he had flying and was industructable. And the card that he calls "The Beast" was only a 5/5
than i won cause he couldn't have done anything about my guy. I love the cards that i placed on him
Better than that — read both cards again. All you need is a life total of 9 before the Aria's effects kick in. This is how it works. (minimum p/t of avatar also shown)
1) Activate Ajani's -6 when you're at no less than 9 life with the Aria out. 9/9
2) Wait until your next turn as long as your life stays at 9 or above. 9/9
3) On your upkeep, the avatar token gets a +1/+1 counter. 10/10
4) Now you have a 10 power creature, so you gain 10 life. The avatar gains power accordingly due to how its ability is worded. 20/20
5) You win.
In my playgroup Backlash and Delerium are both very common spells, so when someone wants to play this or Serra Avatar or some other ridiculously large creature they always need to check which players are using black and red and think hard about that decision, otherwise they can end up dead very, very quickly.
As for Ajani, as others have said the middle ability is the main attraction here. I have always overlooked this guy in the past because the other two abilities are kind of underwhelming to me, but now that I'm sitting here giving him some real thought that low costed middle ability and 4 starting loyalty are starting to look pretty attractive. Too bad I never went out of my way to get some of these in the past.
That is all.
-1: Combo with Permanents...
-6: Summon SERRA AVATAR for 2WW. It's still a planeswalker.
His plus one is what a plus one should be. Helps a tiny bit but nothing huge.
-1 Is great once you realise the counters are permanent, and in white weenie/token spammers, this effect is very real. It's this ability that lets the planeswalker defend himself, which is something any good (aggro/rush decks excluded) one will be able to do.
-6 is great too. It's a win condition that come come out with 3 turns, and for that reason is very simple/not op. For all those who find it "eh," the idea here is not to use it if you suspect they have a doom blade/many blockers without a trample strategy. Guess what? You don't have to activate this eff and shouldn't unless you are in a situation to do so. You want a "I win the game gg, no refunds" ultimate? Ok, go pay 6 mana or wait 5 turns.
Last of all, all the effects are inherently white. One thing that seems silly to see is a red planeswalker with a draw strategy, or a blue one which burns. Ral zerek excluded.
minus him into the graveyard and you will be winning.