Pointed Discussion

Fly my kitties, fly!

-8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwaD9tb1P50

Not many planeswalkers start with more loyalty than their cmc. That alone makes him pretty efficient.

Should be Gideon

As long as Domri Rade exists, I doubt any creature heavy deck would ever play this guy over Domri.

I actually expected Ajani to have more impact on Standard when he was first previewed around M13. Having had positive experiences with him in cube and fringe weenie decks however, I'm still hopeful for his being a true player in Theros' environment.

I still have a lot of hopes for this guy. Maybe he'll be a much stronger player in this environment than the last.

glad he got reprinted. He's spikey enough that his price still has room to grow. Maybe not too much, but it could have been a lot without a reprint. I think most Planeswalkers ought to get either actual expert-set reprints, or promos at the very least. :) (Duel Decks has been doing very well so far: And let's be honest about Tibalt people-- either he was going to suck very badly, OR he was gonna get played, in like, Vintage doing something unconscionably STUPID, so I'm glad RnD covered their butts with a 'just in case...' Duel Decks appearance. :) It would have been quite embarrassing for him to be worth some absurd amount because he was super broken in Commander, Legacy, and Vintage and just kinda not played in Standard and Modern because they weren't broken enough. XD)


Also interesting note: Nowhere on this card does it help you gain life. :P That's kind of weird and slightly out of theme. Most Planeswalkers 'enable themselves' into an Ultimate-- this one just wants to pump it's Ultimate out to hell with 'synergy' because the Ultimate appears to be naturally GOOD. It's quite like ol' Jace Beleren, actually :)

T3 - Ajani, +1 something
T4 - Spark Trooper, -3 the trooper, attack for 12 (flying, trample, 6 first strike, haste)

Not a bad way to close the game out if you've done a bit of damage beforehand with, say, a War Falcon and an Accorder Paladin.

That game could look like this:
T1 - Falcon
T2 - Paladin, attack for 2
T3 - Ajani, +1 the pally, attack for 7
T4 - trooper, attack for 21

Being able to give a creature evasion and double strike at sorcery speed for three mana is pretty good by itself, and considering that he sticks around to provide +1/+1 counters is even better. Still, unlike many other good Planeswalkers he does not provide as much raw card advantage and he doesn't give himself much in the way of protection, which is a bummer. Nonetheless, I could see him doing quite well in a white weenie shell, especially considering how many good white creatures came out of M14.

4.5/5

I was wondering what planeswalkers would show up in M14. Glad to see lifegain is still the preferred white deck strategy.

Wow, only $5.00. I'm buying four for my white weenie deck. -3 my Precinct Captain and attack for 4 in the air, now I get a token too!!! 4/5

I realized today that casting Ajani with Doubling Season on the board will let him cast his ultimate right away, putting twice your life in 2/2 cat tokens onto the field.

Inquisitor's Flail on a Fiendslayer Paladin, minus 3 Ajani, and enjoy your life swing.

3 cost for a 5 life total planeswalker? Oh my, extremely hard to kill and pretty damn good abilities. His -3 can decide games

Protecting himself?
He has the potential for 5 loyalty counters on your turn 2.

Threat?
He has the potential to enable a creature to deal massive amounts of damage.

That alone gives him a 4.5/5 from me. But he can also build up your birds of paradise while building up for his ultimate.

This guy ends games out of nowhere. The new planeswalker rules make him even better. You don't have to wait to get that double strike again, just drop another Ajani. Bffs with Loxodon Smiter and Advent of the Wurm.

3 color standard deck

9x swamp
9x plains
8x mountain
4x temple of silence

2x Purphoros, god of the forge
4x angelic skirmisher
4xfiendslayer paladin
2x anax and cymede
4x aurelia, the warleader
2x whip of erebos
2x Cutthroat Maneuver
2x mark of the vampire
2x arrows of justice
4x awaken the ancients

2x ajani, caller of the pride

what do you think?

This is exactly how you make an aggro planeswalker.

"Now much of the speech of cats was known to Ajani, and in this far terrible place he uttered the cry that was suitable. But that he need not have done, for even as his lips opened he heard the chorus wax and draw nearer, and saw swift shadows against the stars as small graceful shapes leaped from hill to hill in gathering legions. The call of the clan had been given, and before the foul procession had time even to be frightened a cloud of smothering fur and a phalanx of murderous claws were tidally and tempestuously upon it. The flutes stopped, and there were shrieks in the night. Dying almost-humans screamed, and cats spit and yowled and roared, but the toad-things made never a sound as their stinking green ichor oozed fatally upon that porous earth with the obscene fungi.

It was a stupendous sight while the torches lasted, and Ajani had never before seen so many cats. Black, grey, and white; yellow, tiger, and mixed; common, Persian, and Marix; Thibetan, Angora, and Egyptian; all were there in the fury of battle, and there hovered over them some trace of that profound and inviolate sanctity which made their goddess great in the temples of Bubastis. They would leap seven strong at the throat of an almost-human or the pink tentacled snout of a toad-thing and drag it down savagely to the fungous plain, where myriads of their fellows would surge over it and into it with the frenzied claws and teeth of a divine battle-fury. Ajani had seized a torch from a stricken slave, but was soon overborne by the surging waves of his loyal defenders. Then he lay in the utter blackness hearing the clangour of war and the shouts of the victors, and feeling the soft paws of his friends as they rushed to and fro over him in the fray."

In any deck that has even the smallest amount of life gains, his -8 is a win condition, especially in commander, two-headed giant, or other formats that make you start out with a higher life total than usual.

In , cast Ajani, use his -3 ability on your biggest creature, then use Ghostly Flicker to blink him as he comes back as a brand new planeswalker as far as the game is concerned. Then you can give a +1/+1 counter to the creature you gave flying and double strike for the turn, and build up for his ultimate. The +1 ability can be used on other people's creatures, too. Why would you do that, you ask? When you have Cytoplast Manipulator, you'll know why.

In , pulling off his ultimate can make Mob Justice the deadliest spell two mana can cast.

In , a good old-fashioned Overrun and Ajani's ultimate should be enough to take out one, if not two or three opponents.

I'm just using him in a mono-white Cat tribal build for the time being. Don't underestimate lifegain, and don't underestimate the power of having White Sun's Zenith drop an army of kitties on the field to be declared as last-minute blockers. Lifegain and lots of defense can keep me hanging on for long enough to have Raksha, Golden Cub giving everything a boost and double strike, including Ajani's tokens.

@jfre81
I immediately see a problem. Your reference to Ghostly Flicker (a card I love and use quite often for my control deck) would not work, because planeswalkers do not count as creatures.
https://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=magic/rules/planeswalkers --- first two paragraphs
There may be a few exceptions, such as Gideon Jura using his 0 ability to become a 6/6 human. Not sure how that works, honestly... but back to the point. If planeswalkers counted as creatures and suitable targets for things like phasing/exiling and returning to the battlefield, they would nearly all be broken or banned. A planeswalker able to refresh itself with Conjuror's Closet is just ridiculous to even begin to think about.
If you want your planeswalkers back, use Obzedat's Aid. Return target permanent to the battlefield?? Yes, please!

Also, I just have to say that Elesh Norn absolutely *** on Ajani's -8. She is awesome.

It's a good card and all, but I have to say, there's nothing like letting your opponent using his ultimate, then casting Rakdos Charm after it resolves. It's cruel, but great.

-3: Target creature becomes a Skyhunter Skirmisher until end of turn.

@jfre81 -- that doesn't work at all. Ghostly Flicker cannot target a planeswalker...

this card has won me so many games its not even funny usually has a big presence on the field and can severely change the tides of battle my favorite play is t4 advent of the wurm on my opponents turn t5 drop a land -3 the worm and blood rush it

Given he's cheap, he's meant to be used usually early. Taking that into account, doing his minus 3 will leave your creature tapped, and him open to be killed. 3 mana still isn't bad for a until end of turn instant that isn't a spell, and a blocker, but...planeswalkers should be planeswalkers, not utility tools to use like sorceries then a cheap shield.

Yes, you can +1 a creature and he's on 5 but I'd rather lay down a brimaz. Though I guess playing his -3 late game could do massive damage.

So yeah, he's a utility planeswalker that shouldn't be there for long. And...in my personal opinion of what a planeswalker should be, gonna give him a 2.7/5 Yeah he's good but he's a planeswalker acting like a buffed instant. Not my thing.

This guy, after wandering a lot in many types of decks, has found a true homeland in hexproof decks. I really like him one of the most substancial planeswalkers ever

His -8 is almost always a game winner so long as you have at least 10 life. Or you know, you could always -3 him on the Colossus of Akros