Explore ability makes her worth it alone, however that two toughness worries me. Even after she uses her +1 she can still be killed by Lightning Strike.
redjujufish
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Probably best in a Bant deck with lots of ways to protect her from damage. Good control win-con.
Her starting loyalty may look low but she can get out of control really quickly, say you are running her on a Vorel of the Hull Clade deck-
Turn One- land Turn Two-Land Liquid Metal Coating Turn Three- Land Vorel Turn four- Land Kiora +1 Kiora at three Turn Five-Kiora +1 Vorel doubles her counters Kiora at eight Turn Six- Now Kiora can use either her +1 or -1 and if Vorel doubles that is an emblem per turn providing an opponent doesn't destroy or attack her.
MrMonday
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Her +1 seems to be only used to get her -1 to activate (which seems to be her only useful ability. I'd be very surprised to see her emblem go off if you weren't screwing around with proliferate).
Overall, a solid okay. She's definitely playable, but not super amazing. 3.8-4/5.
Hunter06
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Prob better than Jace Baleran in some EDH decks, I know I want to pick up a copy of her for ramping my Bant Control along with the G/W Goddess and KotR
4/5 Stars
IzzetRaikou
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(7 votes)
Its obvious that explore is her -1 ability because, you know. KIORA, THE EXPLORA!
If you want something outside of Standard use Gilder Bairn
Alluceanot
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Did yall not see him mention the liquid metal coating t2? That would let Vorel target Kiora since it can turn her into an artifact
Casimir_the_Great
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
4 turns (less for Proliferate and the like) from getting her out and you get an emblem like that?! In some ways, that's even better than Jace, The Mind Sculptor!
(Please don't kill me for saying that)
MTG_Jeremy
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(7 votes)
So with the introduction of Kiora the only color combination that doesn't have a planeswalker is Green/White.
SpaceMagic
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Yes...use the power of careful wording to stop Mutavault in its tracks. Unless it brought friends, or there's an active Pack Rat on the field. Then again, that's why we have Eye Gouge.
Gcrudaplaneswalker
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
See, this is what Planeswalkers should be. Powerful, but not game breaking, and interesting as well. I do, however, wish that Wizards exploit their creativity in Planeswalkers' ultimates instead of overdoing Emblems.
MasterOfTheVault
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
She's very awesome. Her +1 is able to neutralize an opponents threat. Her -1 is sweet. And her ultimate? SO MANY KRAKEN'S.
I also feel the need to point out that her boobs are huge.
Ferlord
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I've heard "Key-o-ra" and I've also heard "Koy-ra".
Can anyone specify?
hot4boys
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Meh. Its a thing.
Throttlesky
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
RELEASE THE KRAKEN
j_mindfingerpainter
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Seems like a shoe-in for the Architect of Thought's ultimate/Doubling Season/Wheel of Sun and Moon/Emrakul deck I probably won't ever make...
infernox10
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(7 votes)
I have heard too much hate for this girl. She's a card that, at the very least, replaces itself, may set you forward a turn, and wastes a removal spell/attack from your opponent. That's the WORST result.
James_Kernaghan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
We're gonna have to wait and see how this one turns out. 2 loyalty is glaring.
Zenzei
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Kiora defends, draws, ramps and can even be your wincon every now and then. This is certainly a very playable card, now it just needs some sort of turbolandish deck to arise (or maybe even maze's end) to find herself a proper home.
Still, the thing I really like about Kiora is the old school looking artwork. =)
Is it just me, or is that wave trying to grab Kiora's ass?
"GOTTA GRAB DAT BOOTY! GOTTA GRAB DAT MERFOLK BOOTY!"
Totema
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Remember when Jace, Architect of Thought got lots of flak when he was first previewed? And now he's pretty consistently in the Top 8. Give her some time, I think she'll surprise you.
at0micpickle
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
honestly, i only care about the first two abilities, the emblem is far too easily shut down
and also, the starting loyalty is far two slow, would play it if it started at 3 or 4
BagOfBags
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I want this card for my Intruder Alarm deck. It would make getting all my combo pieces together a lot easier with the second ability, and the ultimate would give me an extra trigger every turn.
@Gcrudaplaneswalker I think that emblems are fine, as their effects are all pretty different.
Freelancercris
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Fool_of_the_Parish but if you read the rest of his post you would realize that he is turning Kiora into an artifact with Liquimental Coating.
raptorman333
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
powerful, i just like tamiyo better
Salient
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Let's get Kracken.
TheWallinator74
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(6 votes)
+1: Johnny
-1: Spike
-5: TIMMY
Lazenca_Seifus
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
As of now, there are 10 planeswalkers that can make emblems. 10! Our little mechanic is all grown up.
If you had one of each emblem to date, the Krakens that Kiora summoned would be 12/11 flying, double strike, trample, hexproof, haste, indestructible. Also you would have won thanks to casting some spell or another over and over with the Venser + Tamiyo super team up. But still. Superkrakens.
fibonacci112358
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Is anybody here from New Zealand?
What are the odds that R&D just picked the greeting, "Kia Ora"?
MichaelJHuman
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I am not worthy to judge the playability except to say it looks like a fun card. I would like to say I love the artwork here. It seems like it will look good sized to a magic card ( a lot of artwork does not translate well when shrunk down.)
MiniWill
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@infernox10 The reason people hate her is because she is shockable the moment she is dropped, and when you get off her +1 she is still in lightning strike range, meaning that a red deck just used 1, and at worst 2 mana to counter your 4 drop.
MasterOfParadox
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
@MTG_Jeremy Rumors have it that that might not stay true for a while. We may get a Planeswalker!
Anyways, I just pulled this today. It is a perfect planeswalker. Suck it, JTM fans. (+1): Protection. Every PW should be able to protect itself, or others. This is very, very . (-1): Mana ramp, and card draw! Very ! Every PW should have something like this. And about the ultimate...
(-5): HULK SMASH!!!
tantallum99
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Starting out with only 2 loyalty counters makes me nervous, but it's still pretty awesome
Cyber_Squirrel
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
@MiniWill You can't shock her on entry, because the active player gets priority first. The stack will be empty, so you can always use her +1 (or -1) before she gets hit.
Alvorada
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I already had a really fun modern Simic Proliferate deck; then Kiora showed up O_o
LordOfTheFlies87
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Perfect.
gameguycm
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
She's good.. personally I kinda wanted her to be a little more Simic-y, you know, putting +1/+1 counters on stuff. I like her follower more, though.
hypa_dude
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I pulled this in a draft last night, and it plays even better than it looks, especially in limited.
The +1 essentially locks your opponent down. If you fog their best creature, it makes it very difficult for them to profitably attack, so getting her to 5 is actually quite easy.
The -1 is ok, but because it is a -1 there are very few game states where this ability is actually useful. By turn 4, you're only using this if you've been flooded for the rest of the game and need another card, or if you have another land (your fifth of the game) AND a 5 or 6 drop that is better than a 9/9 token every turn (Is there such a thing?). Remember, if you don't have enough lands in your hand to play the extra land, moving away from ultimate doesn't really make the extra card worthwhile. When I first saw this card spoiled, I thought the -1 was the best ability, but . .
The -5 is a game winner. Sweepers, spot removal, bouncing, etc really only stem the tide of your army of 9/9's.
I only drew it once in all of my games, but when I did, it easily won me the game. My only gripe is that she starts at 2, so she is pretty easy for burn to kill on her first two turns out. 4/5.
Mottonen
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@SirLibraryEater I personally wanted a plainswalker that could be playable in modern. valakut-scapeshift would have used one. But the loyalty is too low. Almost every match-up against kiora is pretty bad. I would give 3,5 because if standard used simic colours atm, kiora could be playable.
MrSunso
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Tiggurix I knew I wasn't the only one who saw that!
Powerage
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Type your comment here.
8Netherwind8
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Well now, THERE you are! And after all this time since that Planeswalker Pantheon (HA, Greek... I see what you did there Wizards!) - Is good for ETB decks yes? Phase one, protect combos and Grab Booty like bouncing your own Gilded Drake or Djinn of Infinite Deceits; Phase 2... Phase 3, trigger ETB every turn (Aura Shards and the like) = profi-"RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!" -damn, couldn't help myself.
Megadog
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Am from NZ, and considering her last name was Atua until recently (Literally God in Maori) she did appear to have strong Maori flavor. I was saddened when they said it was a coincidence and made her be from Zendikar. I know there wasn't really much chance of an NZ mythology style block/set anyway, but that crushed my dreams.
EDIT: I just pulled two of her. And her emblem. And her token. And all the cards that quote her. I have a knack for getting all the stuff for my favorite walkers (I also have Tamiyo, her emblem and the dude who quotes her.)
Will-C
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I meant that +1.
Steaditup
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One of my most hated cards to deal with in this block is Fabled Hero (only because I refuse to play black), but I was able to pull her out of the box I opened. Turning Fabled Hero to stone every turn and watching my opponent grind his teeth in frustration for a change is wonderful, and the fact that it builds towards her honestly ridiculous ultimate fills me with glee. She's also my favorite color combo. 5/5
You can use her +1 on planes walkers so you can stop Chandra's pinging and what not.
MattyWayne
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Can a creature that Kiora uses her 1st ability on, block an attacking creature?
Arachnos
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(3 votes)
RELEASE THE KRAKENS!
ALL OF THEM!!!
SirLibraryEater
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Can we all take a second to appreciate that R&D finally printed a {G}{U} planeswalker? And that she's super good? Any planeswalker with a way to protect itself, like her +1 ability kinda does, can be broken. And with an ultimate like that that leaves Timmies drooling, why not make it a thing in Standard? I mean, at the very least, she's two Explores on one card for {2}{G}{U}. That's like extra card advantage because you don't have to play 2 cards. My Vorel of the Hull Clade EDH deck will never be the same(and NOT because they can interact, I recognize they can't).
-ALSO- A little speculation here, but I think the next block after Theros might be another block set in Zendikar. Here's why: There was an article on DailyMTG this morning, a flavorful one(here it is:http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ur/286), about how Kiora got to Theros. It says: "Zendikar. Home. She longed to return to her own world, with its wild and cantankerous temperament. Most worlds were whales—elegant, peaceful, toothless. Zendikar was a shark, and it had been too long since she'd swum in the presence of its power. But she couldn't return to Zendikar. Not yet. Not without a weapon to fight the monstrosities called the Eldrazi. And so her search continued." Maybe the sea monsters Kiora finds on Theros will be the weapon she needs. Maybe she intends to go back to Zendikar, in all its broken glory. And maybe Xenagos, arguably the most powerful planeswalker as he is a God, will tag along and be the new Bolas-esque villain of Magic.
-LASTLY- To reference Duels of the Planeswalkers, maybe a Ral Zarek vs. Kiora Atua duel decks?
PopcornBunni
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
What turn is it?
"Two explores."
Kodanshi
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Obviously the name should give it away, but I’d just like to point out the background in the artwork is based on Hokusai’s famous Crashing Wave ukiyo-e print.
surewhynot
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Her ultimate sneaks up on people. It happens faster than you think, and no matter how you spin it, dealing with a 9/9 every turn is a PROBLEM. Great for evolve decks too...9/9 is big, and will trigger evolve for quite a while. I think she's great personally, and not just for that sexy ultimate.
CptStormCrow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@MattyWayne - It can, but it won't do damage to or take damage from the attacking creature.
@fibonacci - I'm not from NZ, I'm a skip, but that's the first thing I noticed too.
As for the card, I think it's an elegant design. Plenty of upside but not OP. I thought the "target permanent" was pretty cheeky, took me a sec to figure out just what other type of permanent is going to take damage :P
It is a shame that she's boltbait, but landing that emblem makes you dangerous for the rest of the game regardless of what happens.
And that middle ability is actually quite likely to see some usage unlike some of the other planeswalkers.
4.5/5
BibboTheFirst
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
Looks like Kiora predicted Twitch Plays Pokémon and is contemplating the Helix Fossil.
jlbyellin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Man, she's so good. I run her in my Bant Superfriends Control deck, and she's just so amazingly versatile. You can use her to ramp, you can use her to shut down an opponent's threat, and if you activate her ultimate, you have a 95% chance of winning the game (if the opponent actually sticks around and doesn't scoop).
Her low loyalty isn't as much of a problem as I would have thought when I first saw her. If you think you're opponent isn't going to let her survive until your next turn, just use her -1 and let him or her waste an attack/burn spell/Hero's Downfall on her. If she happens to survive until your next turn, you get a free Explore, and if you're running four of these in your deck, you'll hopefully draw another one soon after the first one departs.
What makes Planeswalkers good is their versatility, and with that, Kiora is one of the better walkers in Standard right now. Just wait until Kruphix hits the scene with Journey into Nyx.
FarisV
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I was really busy and trying to cut back on spending so much on cards when Born first came out, but last time I went to the card shop in my town my two friends and I split a booster box, and out of my share of 12 packs I got two of these ladies. She's (both are) in my BUG proliferate deck, and although I've only gotten to use her twice, I managed to build up both and use all their loyalty for the ultimate, thanks to some simple proliferate and overkill Magistrate's Scepter. Having two 9/9 kraken tokens appear before their turn, every turn, just felt awesome. Very, very happy to see a simic planeswalker, and even more in disbelief I got two . Lot's of fun, great great card to play and doesn't require much building around to be useful - any strong blue and green could probably benefit from at the very least her +1 -1 abilities, and the ultimate is always a nice threat to go for. 4/5 easily.
syntheticbiology232
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
i'm sure G/W will get one in journey to nyx HANG INT THERE SELESNYA
Layk
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Too much praise for this card. On paper it looks bad. She can nullify ONE attacker (enchantment, artifact, etc.) (while making an invincible blocker in the same turn) and she's very easy to kill. Let's say you drop her turn 3, you're probably waiting until turn 6 to use her ultimate, unless you have some sort of other shenanigans going on (inb4 "hurr durr proliferate", for those of you who say it whenever a card reads "counter"). If you want to keep her around, turn 7. Though this isn't one of those planeswalkers you really need to keep around, her ult is pretty powerful. I think her only redeeming quality is her -1 ability, though you can only use this ONCE before needing to recharge, and it's not worth charging JUST for this ability, so therefore it isn't worth dropping 4 on her for that. Altogether, 3.5/5
jonrds
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
People don't like her because she doesn't make a huge impact as soon as she hits the table, but what she excels at is forcing your opponent to make bad moves. Her +1 locks down your opponent's best (or most evasive) creature and makes them work to get her off the table. I've played plenty of games against her where I've had to swing with an elvish mystic or something just to have enough creatures to stop her from ulting. Her -1 is useful. Makes her not a dead draw even when you aren't controlling the board well enough or won't be able to protect her from a lightning strike. It especially goes well with Courser of Kruphix. Her ult is absolutely ridiculous. If you manage to get it off, you are pretty much guaranteed the game. And its an emblem, so it keeps being useful and there is nothing they can do about it.
I'd argue that what makes her cool is that her ult is the scariest part about her. Normally the ults are win-more, never going to happen, or underwhelming. Definitely not the case for her. You often hear about things attracting removal. She demands it.
mattbl
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@Layk -Use her +1 in the 2nd main phase to avoid giving out an invincible blocker...
Silence9
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Sexy. Pulled her at draft tonight. Not sure what the hate is all about? 4.5/5 and I don't even play these colors.
ChandraAblaze
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I managed to get her, and boy was my simic deck happy! Maybe not the best planeswalker out there but she is far better then people give her credit, even without the ult ever going off she can give you more land and card advantage. Like Vraska the ult is pretty sweet but it her minus ability is better.
OlvynChuru
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Kiora is a great card. Keep in mind that, although she starts out with low loyalty, she only starts three counters away from her ultimate, which is game-winning. This means that she works amazing with Clockspinning, which she actually curves perfectly into. Consider this example:
Turn 4 Land, Kiora, use the +1 on the opponent's most dangerous creature.
Turn 5 Land, Clockspinning on Kiora with buyback, Clockspinning on Kiora without buyback, use Kiora's -5 ability. GG.
In the right deck, Kiora is amazing.
4.5/5
mdakw576
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
She's very bad against decks with multiple small creatures and especially lightning strike. Boros burn is an example of a horrendous matchup for Kiora; tons of small creatures and a 3-point burn spell that can kill her even after a +1. Explore is also not a particularly useful effect against aggro, since your whole gameplan against aggro is to gain life and kill their stuff. She's also quite bad against mutavault, and while you can say that for a lot of planeswalkers, Kiora's issues are magnified because of the low starting loyalty (yes, she can bubble the mutavault, but often the opponent has other stuff on the board).
However she's great against everything else. Against midrange-decks like monoblack devotion, unless they stick a pack rat or hero's downfall the kiora, they often have trouble deploying multiple threats quickly, and the +1 is great at neutralizing a desecration demon or nightveil specter.
Against control she's just as good as any other walker, where grinding out control decks involves hitting your land drops and drawing cards. In addition, unless the opponent has mutavault out, they often won't have a creature out to swing at kiora, so they would need to spend a dsphere/pithing needle/etc. to stop her.
Kiora will never be broken in standard unless red decks are so bad they won't exist, because lightning strike is such a good answer to her. But once mutavault rotates out of standard, I expect Kiora to become better. Boros charm and skullcrack will also be going out too and we'll have to wait to see what other burn spells wizards will print.
In EDH, she's a decent political card. There are many cards that can deal a lot of damage (Nekusar, Purphoros, generals, etc) and you can stem the bleeding and maybe try to make a truce with the other players to let her keep bubbling the most damaging card. If your playgroup has no idea how to play politics though, she won't survive long.
TriadArbor
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I had been trying to figure out if there was any significance to why the tokens were specifically 9/9s. Then it hit me, Kiora's artwork is inspired by the famous painting of waves. The number 9 is shaped like a wave, and the constant flow of a 9/9 on each of your ends steps is like the tide itself.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Her +1 does not have any immediate board impact or card advantage generator. But it does fantastic job of protecting herself against creatures.
Her -1 is very weak when compared to other walkers bribe abilities. Lets compare it with a simple spell like consecrate. With consecrate you get an immediate bang of 3 cards. With kiora -1, you get only 1 card and then are sitting at a fragile 1 counter. Consecrate seems like the safer play here...
Her ultimate can be very powerful, a 9/9 every turn is more then enough for a win condition, and it fits her theme and flavor perfectly.
There are three ways to go about playing her. You can either +1 spam to build up for ultimate, go for double -1, or oscillate between -1 and +1.
If you are just spamming +1 you are vulnerable to many forms of planeswalker removal without generating any bang for your buck, a true 1 for 1 trade. Where as with another walker you would have gotten some mileage for your buildup ability.
If you go for double -1, I feel other walkers have much stronger bribe abilities. Like I said even if you get the double explore, a simple spell like consecrate is subjectively better.
If you try to oscillate, while she is an engine, I believe you are better off just going with Jace, Memory Adept and sticking with +1. You get a card every turn and build up towards an ultimate.
While I shelled out the tickets for three copies, mostly because its a simic walker, I feel the pricetag will indeed drop and that she is not that strong compared to other planeswalkers. Still I am having fun with her and have won a couple of games with Unleash the Krakens.
Drewskithelegend
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I didn't think I would ever say this, but I think she is in the running for one of the top 5 planeswalkers ever. If it weren't for that awkward second ability, it would be a definite yes. She is well costed, evasive, and she hits your opponent like a truck when she goes ultimate. Like I said though, her second ability is meh. I wouldn't want to use it immediately because it would leave her loyalty low enough to kill with pretty much anything and I wouldn't want to plus her a couple times and then use it because her -5 is so amazing. If it had allowed for draw 2 or something similar, it would have been ok.
DoorDie
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Other than her emblem being completely trumped by an active Elspeth, Sun's Champion, I really like her. She's Explore on a stick and combos on curve with Courser of Kruphix. Should be a big deal in Standard post-rotation since Courser is now proven pudding.
And yeah, I had a game where I ultimated -- and then my opponent cast an Elspeth. And I was sad because I should have just downticked to draw an extra card.
Comments (72)
Turn One- land
Turn Two-Land Liquid Metal Coating
Turn Three- Land Vorel
Turn four- Land Kiora +1 Kiora at three
Turn Five-Kiora +1 Vorel doubles her counters Kiora at eight
Turn Six- Now Kiora can use either her +1 or -1 and if Vorel doubles that is an emblem per turn providing an opponent doesn't destroy or attack her.
Her starting loyalty puts her in range of Lightning Strike/Incinerate/Lightning Bolt, which I'm not a fan of, either.
Overall, a solid okay. She's definitely playable, but not super amazing. 3.8-4/5.
4/5 Stars
If you want something outside of Standard use Gilder Bairn
(Please don't kill me for saying that)
Her +1 is able to neutralize an opponents threat.
Her -1 is sweet.
And her ultimate? SO MANY KRAKEN'S.
I also feel the need to point out that her boobs are huge.
Can anyone specify?
She's a card that, at the very least, replaces itself, may set you forward a turn, and wastes a removal spell/attack from your opponent.
That's the WORST result.
Still, the thing I really like about Kiora is the old school looking artwork. =)
PS: Sick synergy with the Courser of Kruphix.
"GOTTA GRAB DAT BOOTY! GOTTA GRAB DAT MERFOLK BOOTY!"
and also, the starting loyalty is far two slow, would play it if it started at 3 or 4
@Gcrudaplaneswalker
I think that emblems are fine, as their effects are all pretty different.
-1: Spike
-5: TIMMY
If you had one of each emblem to date, the Krakens that Kiora summoned would be 12/11 flying, double strike, trample, hexproof, haste, indestructible. Also you would have won thanks to casting some spell or another over and over with the Venser + Tamiyo super team up. But still. Superkrakens.
What are the odds that R&D just picked the greeting, "Kia Ora"?
Rumors have it that that might not stay true for a while. We may get a
Anyways, I just pulled this today.
It is a perfect planeswalker. Suck it, JTM fans.
(+1): Protection. Every PW should be able to protect itself, or others. This is very, very
(-1): Mana ramp, and card draw! Very
And about the ultimate...
(-5): HULK SMASH!!!
The +1 essentially locks your opponent down. If you fog their best creature, it makes it very difficult for them to profitably attack, so getting her to 5 is actually quite easy.
The -1 is ok, but because it is a -1 there are very few game states where this ability is actually useful. By turn 4, you're only using this if you've been flooded for the rest of the game and need another card, or if you have another land (your fifth of the game) AND a 5 or 6 drop that is better than a 9/9 token every turn (Is there such a thing?). Remember, if you don't have enough lands in your hand to play the extra land, moving away from ultimate doesn't really make the extra card worthwhile. When I first saw this card spoiled, I thought the -1 was the best ability, but . .
The -5 is a game winner. Sweepers, spot removal, bouncing, etc really only stem the tide of your army of 9/9's.
I only drew it once in all of my games, but when I did, it easily won me the game. My only gripe is that she starts at 2, so she is pretty easy for burn to kill on her first two turns out. 4/5.
EDIT: I just pulled two of her. And her emblem. And her token. And all the cards that quote her. I have a knack for getting all the stuff for my favorite walkers (I also have Tamiyo, her emblem and the dude who quotes her.)
-Swag_Crow
ALL OF THEM!!!
And that she's super good? Any planeswalker with a way to protect itself, like her +1 ability kinda does, can be broken. And with an ultimate like that that leaves Timmies drooling, why not make it a thing in Standard?
I mean, at the very least, she's two Explores on one card for {2}{G}{U}. That's like extra card advantage because you don't have to play 2 cards.
My Vorel of the Hull Clade EDH deck will never be the same(and NOT because they can interact, I recognize they can't).
-ALSO-
A little speculation here, but I think the next block after Theros might be another block set in Zendikar. Here's why:
There was an article on DailyMTG this morning, a flavorful one(here it is:http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ur/286), about how Kiora got to Theros. It says:
"Zendikar.
Home. She longed to return to her own world, with its wild and cantankerous temperament. Most worlds were whales—elegant, peaceful, toothless. Zendikar was a shark, and it had been too long since she'd swum in the presence of its power.
But she couldn't return to Zendikar. Not yet. Not without a weapon to fight the monstrosities called the Eldrazi. And so her search continued."
Maybe the sea monsters Kiora finds on Theros will be the weapon she needs. Maybe she intends to go back to Zendikar, in all its broken glory.
And maybe Xenagos, arguably the most powerful planeswalker as he is a God, will tag along and be the new Bolas-esque villain of Magic.
-LASTLY-
To reference Duels of the Planeswalkers, maybe a Ral Zarek vs. Kiora Atua duel decks?
"Two explores."
@fibonacci - I'm not from NZ, I'm a skip, but that's the first thing I noticed too.
As for the card, I think it's an elegant design. Plenty of upside but not OP. I thought the "target permanent" was pretty cheeky, took me a sec to figure out just what other type of permanent is going to take damage :P
It is a shame that she's boltbait, but landing that emblem makes you dangerous for the rest of the game regardless of what happens.
And that middle ability is actually quite likely to see some usage unlike some of the other planeswalkers.
4.5/5
Her low loyalty isn't as much of a problem as I would have thought when I first saw her. If you think you're opponent isn't going to let her survive until your next turn, just use her -1 and let him or her waste an attack/burn spell/Hero's Downfall on her. If she happens to survive until your next turn, you get a free Explore, and if you're running four of these in your deck, you'll hopefully draw another one soon after the first one departs.
What makes Planeswalkers good is their versatility, and with that, Kiora is one of the better walkers in Standard right now. Just wait until Kruphix hits the scene with Journey into Nyx.
Her +1 locks down your opponent's best (or most evasive) creature and makes them work to get her off the table. I've played plenty of games against her where I've had to swing with an elvish mystic or something just to have enough creatures to stop her from ulting.
Her -1 is useful. Makes her not a dead draw even when you aren't controlling the board well enough or won't be able to protect her from a lightning strike. It especially goes well with Courser of Kruphix.
Her ult is absolutely ridiculous. If you manage to get it off, you are pretty much guaranteed the game. And its an emblem, so it keeps being useful and there is nothing they can do about it.
I'd argue that what makes her cool is that her ult is the scariest part about her. Normally the ults are win-more, never going to happen, or underwhelming. Definitely not the case for her. You often hear about things attracting removal. She demands it.
Turn 4
Land, Kiora, use the +1 on the opponent's most dangerous creature.
Turn 5
Land, Clockspinning on Kiora with buyback, Clockspinning on Kiora without buyback, use Kiora's -5 ability. GG.
In the right deck, Kiora is amazing.
4.5/5
However she's great against everything else. Against midrange-decks like monoblack devotion, unless they stick a pack rat or hero's downfall the kiora, they often have trouble deploying multiple threats quickly, and the +1 is great at neutralizing a desecration demon or nightveil specter.
Against control she's just as good as any other walker, where grinding out control decks involves hitting your land drops and drawing cards. In addition, unless the opponent has mutavault out, they often won't have a creature out to swing at kiora, so they would need to spend a dsphere/pithing needle/etc. to stop her.
Kiora will never be broken in standard unless red decks are so bad they won't exist, because lightning strike is such a good answer to her. But once mutavault rotates out of standard, I expect Kiora to become better. Boros charm and skullcrack will also be going out too and we'll have to wait to see what other burn spells wizards will print.
In EDH, she's a decent political card. There are many cards that can deal a lot of damage (Nekusar, Purphoros, generals, etc) and you can stem the bleeding and maybe try to make a truce with the other players to let her keep bubbling the most damaging card. If your playgroup has no idea how to play politics though, she won't survive long.
Her -1 is very weak when compared to other walkers bribe abilities. Lets compare it with a simple spell like consecrate. With consecrate you get an immediate bang of 3 cards. With kiora -1, you get only 1 card and then are sitting at a fragile 1 counter. Consecrate seems like the safer play here...
Her ultimate can be very powerful, a 9/9 every turn is more then enough for a win condition, and it fits her theme and flavor perfectly.
There are three ways to go about playing her. You can either +1 spam to build up for ultimate, go for double -1, or oscillate between -1 and +1.
If you are just spamming +1 you are vulnerable to many forms of planeswalker removal without generating any bang for your buck, a true 1 for 1 trade. Where as with another walker you would have gotten some mileage for your buildup ability.
If you go for double -1, I feel other walkers have much stronger bribe abilities. Like I said even if you get the double explore, a simple spell like consecrate is subjectively better.
If you try to oscillate, while she is an engine, I believe you are better off just going with Jace, Memory Adept and sticking with +1. You get a card every turn and build up towards an ultimate.
While I shelled out the tickets for three copies, mostly because its a simic walker, I feel the pricetag will indeed drop and that she is not that strong compared to other planeswalkers. Still I am having fun with her and have won a couple of games with Unleash the Krakens.
And yeah, I had a game where I ultimated -- and then my opponent cast an Elspeth. And I was sad because I should have just downticked to draw an extra card.