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Hello folks! I hope you are having a wonderfully delightful day today!
I want to look at the best planeswalkers in multiplayer and Commander and kitchen fun times since 2014. Back in June 2014, I published my Top Ten Commanders for Multiplayer:
It includes cards like Sarkhan Vol and Elspeth, Sun's Champion. That was FOUR YEARS AGO! Since that time, what has sprung up? We've had oodles of 'walkers printed. From multiple planeswalkers in the Commander sets, the planeswalker series of decks, normal sets and others, we've had planeswalkers coming out of our ears!
To create today's list, I reviewed them all on Gatherer, and I grabbed 21 that I thought were good enough, on first notice, to make my list. Then I grabbed the few that I knew would make it, and put them on my list. I let my list wait for a bit, and then came back to it with fresh eyes, which is important. I need to let it sit with me. Then, I finished by reviewing my list and then writing it up for you!
What are the best ten 'walkers printed since my last Top Ten?
Great question!
Let's look and see!
Honorable Mention #1 - Sarkhan Unbroken
Hitting at essentially #12 is Sarkhan Unbroken. His +1 is awesome, as you are drawing cards and making mana. Note that you draw the card and then make the mana, so you can see what mana you need to create for what you just drew! That's pretty nifty-keen-cool. His -2 can churn out serious 4/4 flying threats that you need to take seriously, and his -8 is fine if you have him in a deck with Dragons. But frankly, his +1 is really good, and I often never stop until either he dies, or I win. What forces him off my list is the heavy tri-color commitment which prevents his use in a lot of decks, like Commander builds. But he's worth it!
Honorable Mention #2 - Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Speaking of hard-to-cast planeswalkers, 8 mana is just so much mana! Like Sarkhan, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon can be worth it, but it keeps him from overshadowing the folks that actually made my list below. However, if you manage to drop Ugin, then you benefit from a Lightning Bolt +2 or a massive exiling effect for all of those dorky cards with annoying colors that your foes play. The sweeper puts him in a strong position at the kitchen table, and thus he almost made the cut at #11.
What did make the cut?
#10. Vivien Reid AND Ob Nixilis Reignited
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Have you ever sat back and noticed that these two are virtual twins of each other? Each cost 3 colorless and two in the color. Each has 5 loyalty. Each has +1, -3, and -8 abilities. The +1 is a variant of card drawing in their color; the -3 is a form of permanent removal in their color. And their ultimate abilities use the number 2 in a way that plays into the theme of that color.
Ob Nixilis Reignited is almost perfectly flexible for any Black deck. What do you need? Want to draw cards or kill a dork? Either way, this Demon has you covered! Meanwhile Vivien Reid is great, as she is the first Mono-Green planeswalker with a Wing Snare effect built right in for handling flying critters. At the kitchen table, battlefields are rife with flyers. You know that when you need a flying answer, Vivien has you covered! She can also blast an artifact or enchantment if you prefer.
Both are great tools for your decks!
#9. Huatli, Warrior Poet
Huatli is fun! Planeswalkers are all about options, recursive abilities and the long game. Unlike a lot of other planeswalkers, Huatli can use all three of her abilities right up front, and they are all good. Do you see how she's better than the two above for the same mana? She can immediately toss out 3/3 trampling Dinos without fussing with her loyalty. Dinos for the win! She can also grab you some life from your dork to keep you in the game, such as 3 life from the Dino she just made last turn. But that ultimate? That's where it's at! She can either split damage and kill multiple targets or shoot things for a damage each and then swing through them. That's a lot of options, and they are always ready to be used.
#8. Sorin, Grim Nemesis
While Sorin, Grim Nemesis costs 6 mana, and that's a lot of mana, he always has the single best card-drawing +1 out there. No one can match his card-drawing life-killing clock combination. Not even my #1 choice below for card drawing is better than his (although he costs 50% more mana and his follow up isn't as powerful, so he's here). Sorin can also drain a creature or planeswalker for damage. Taking out annoying stuff is important to not dying! You want to not die so Sorin can kill people while you draw cards! He's one of the few clocks out there that can win without even bothering to put tokens or something out there for the game, although that ultimate is available if you want to blaze that trail.
Oh, and Sorin, Grim Nemesis was the highest charting planeswalker that cost more than 5 mana. Next we have five four-drop 'walkers and a pair of fives.
#7. Saheeli, the Gifted
Compare her to Elspeth, Knight-Errant. Both cost 4 mana, 2 generic and 2 colored. They have the same loyalty and make a 1/1 with their +1. Where Elspeth's other +1 will push that creature and enable a big aggro punch in the face, Saheeli's latter +1 lets you drop stuff for little, or no, mana. And we all know what the value is in netting something for no mana (or very little). From Phyrexian mana to affinity for artifacts, history is laden with issues with this mechanic. So, her +1 "Your next spell gets affinity for artifacts" is nasty. When it's combined with the artifact aspect of her 1/1 token? Then it's very synergetic as well.
Saheeli, the Gifted belongs here.
#6. Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria is powerful. One of the ways he has shown himself to be pretty strong is that he can restock himself into the library. You can toss your Teferi third down from your library, which, by the way, is the same distance as Long-Term Plans.
Coincidence?
Probably!
But Teferi never reads, "other" in his own self-made Long-Term Plans-ing so you can toss him there when he's about to die or you are about to cast a mass removal effect that destroys planeswalkers. He can also tuck any opposing issue away for a few turns, which is often long enough to win the game. Or you can shuffle their card away with some cool effects too!
But what really makes Teferi, Teferi is his predilection towards controlling and responding builds. You can cast him and tap out. Draw a card, and then untap two lands for answering and reacting to things later. This is a powerful twinning of card drawing and reactionary power that plays hard into control. Then, add in Teferi's Super Time Ebb with his -3 and you have a powerful control threat. His ultimate ain't bad either, right?
Right!
But Teferi isn't one of the top five walkers over the last few years for the kitchen table, nor is he even the best planeswalker in his set!
Speaking of which...
TOP FIVE TIME!
#5. Karn, Scion of Urza
This is NewKarn, as opposed to OldKarn, aka Karn Liberated. NewKarn is an amazing 4 mana that any deck can abuse. OldKarn could dominate a table when timed right, but at least he cost a ton of mana to cast. But NewKarn? He's just 4 mana!
And what a strong 4 mana he is. Some powerful four-mana 'walkers are weakened with low loyalty numbers, like Kiora, the Crashing Wave and her sucky two loyalty. Come on! I loved her from the game! Make her better! Anyways, I digress, NewKarn has a strong 5 loyalty for 4 mana. That grants him a level of stick-to-it-ness that is hard to handle traditionally with burn or attacking.
The next is that +1 for a reverse card draw. Letting your opponent choose the worst of the two cards on the top of my library plays out fine in real life. It usually just reads, "put a land into my hand." Which is fine. The other one heads out of the game for a bit. Put a counter on it. Now any time in the future you can -1 him to draw that card. That means you are always drawing a card from somewhere.
Unless you just want to start making Constructs that get bigger for each Construct you have (or other artifacts as well). That means Karn fits into most decks. Need card drawing in White? NewKarn has got you covered! His ability feels more Red than colorless, and plays well into Red space. Red card drawing! Need to make artifacts for your pro-artifact decks? NewKarn! Need an ally for a control deck looking to push into card drawing and can protect Karn easily? Great!
NewKarn is just strong. And he's not really much like OldKarn, which is weird I suppose.
#4. Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Prior to the printing of Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Chandra fans were basically locked into an argument about whether Chandra, Pyromaster or Chandra, Flamecaller was the most powerful version of Chandra.
Which one do you think was better? I prefer Pyromaster.
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But the Torch of Defiance (ToD) Chandra just devastates these two and wins the argument by default. For example, compare the Pyromaster's ability to exile and cast it this turn with ToD's +1 to exile, cast, and if you don't, you burn each foe for two damage. One is a 0 ability, the other a +1, and the +1 even has a damage-based winning condition layered in! Then you can get two RR for +1 as well, so she refunds 2 mana on the turn you cast her if you have something else to do, and she's ramp later if you need it. She can shoot a critter for four damage. And she has four loyalty, too. She even has the same level of loyalty required for her ultimate. We all know how pushed she was to be mega-powerful, and the results are that she pushes a table around all day long.
Chandra's +1 that can shoot everyone if you don't use the card you can play for free is arguably the strongest ability in multiplayer, where she either gives you card advantage or a hard-to-answer clock. This Chandra has earned this spot. Period.
But she didn't even crack my top 3.
Who did?
#3. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is the highest charting planeswalker who has made a big impression in a Constructed format. He was arguably the single most powerful card legal during his run in Standard. He is very strong indeed, and let's take a look at why.
But before I do, I want to start with his -4. Note that Gids begins with four loyalty for an investment of 4 mana. And his ultimate its -4. You can cast Gids, and then immediately -4 him to give your creatures a permanently unanswerable Glorious Anthem.
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Your typical Anthem effect is going to run you 3 mana. And it can be destroyed, exiled, or bounced. It's answerable. But Gideon's anthem is an unanswerable Anthem for just one more mana. And here is how powerful Gideon is.
That's almost never how you play Gideon!
You drop him and then make a 2/2 Knight for 0 loyalty. He makes bigger token creatures for no loyalty loss better than other powerful options like Elspeth, Knight-Errant. And then you can start swinging for +1 and punching someone in the face with Gids. And then you can Anthem and increases your Knights, other cheap creatures you played, and Gids himself for future face-punches. When this guy is on Zendikar, Gideon is Aggro Incarnate. And that plays well at kitchen tables where aggro decks have a big footprint. Don't sleep on powerhouse like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.
And now my choice for #2.
And frankly, I don't really think Gids gett that close to him
#2. Angrath, the Flame-Chained
It's very important that when you look at this list, you understand that this is not a list of planeswalkers that dominated Standard or that made the cut in Modern. Nope! Instead, this list is about the best cards for multiplayer, Commander, and other casual formats at the kitchen table. While somethings like the above Gideon (or the Chandra before him) are good enough to make the cut everywhere, some cards are just better for multiplayer, and the Murder Minotaur is one of the best of them. (Similarly, some cards may have dominated Standard, like Saheeli Rai, but not be anywhere near good enough for this list).
Angrath plays incredibly well against multiple foes. He just wants to get back to his kids whom he was forced to abandon by being on Ixalan. So cute! Minotaur's Best Dad!
Anyways, the angry flame-chain wielding Murder Minotaur has a few tools to push him, strongly, at the kitchen table. The first is very, very strong.
Notice something important about most of the 'walkers here on this list? Most of them provide some form of raw card advantage by drawing cards or exiling a card so you can cast it that turn, or drawing an exiled card with a silver counter, and such. Card advantage is huge. Putting cards into your hand is huge.
Angrath's +1 is the opposite. Everybody else? Discard a card right now. Oh, and lose two life from my Flame Chain while you do so! That's is an incredible push at the table. It forces people to empty their hands; to play differently. Angrath easily nets the card advantage while you force your foes to discard which can be three or four cards of card advantage each iteration of the Murder Minotaur.
Then, did someone dare to play a creature with Angrath out? Are they threatening your precious Dad? No worries! You can -3, steal the creature, and punch someone in the face with it for dare thinking they were coming after you! And if it's puny little dork then you won't even bother to return it. We'll just kill it instead for thinking such a feeble creature could bother us.
Once you have established dominance, and board control with Angrath, his ultimate can win the game in a single activation. Anyone want to shuffle and play again?
But Angrath, strong as he is, and that discard is, isn't the best card.
Because there's someone who is cheaper, and forces discards while also drawing one too!
#1. Kaya, Ghost Assassin
The only person who should be surprised upon reading this entry in my list is someone who had never read one of my Top Ten lists before. This is the fourth time Kaya has been the top scoring card in one of my lists.
Top Ten Current Favorite Cards, 2017
My Top Ravnica Recast of All Time - Where she displays a perfect Orzhov flavor and set of mechanics.
And she made others lists, like my Top Ten Multiplayer Cards from 2016
So great, I like Kaya. Sure. But why is she tops?
Great question, mon ami!
She can use all three abilities right up front. She can do a little Syphon Soul magic and then your foes are losing life and you are gaining two. That's very strong at times, when you need to drop folks' lives. I prefer the Syphon Mind-ish ability though, and stripping folks of one card each while also drawing a card is much, much better than the other planeswalkers with their various takes on "Draw a card" or even Angrath's Discarding Fun Times above. On a four-mana walker? It's incredible. She warps and changes games quickly. People have to take her out!
And as they do, you can just use her first ability to flicker herself out and then pop on back over! She's stronger than Teferi at self-protection (and you don't have to worry about drawing her, you can just slow-flicker her)! She reloads with more counters for doing fun stuff. Because her flicker is a slow one, I love to flicker her out, and then sweep the board. She's also immune to being attacked by others or their mass removal as she won't return until your next upkeep. She can also flicker dorks too, so you can send them out in order to save them from your Wrath of God or just to get another Ravenous Chupacabra trigger, whatever you want. She is worth the price of admission, and hard to deal with!
She would actually be my #3 planeswalker of all time if you combined my lists, by the way.
And there we go!
I hope you enjoyed reading my article today! Anything in here you like? Where did I go wrong? Anything I missed or had too high? Just let me know!
