My first Magic the Gathering post!
I have seen this planeswalker getting a lot of hate since it got announced for the upcoming Ravnica Allegiances set, which is out for pre-release this coming weekend. I have looked at the arguments, and whilst not all inaccurate, I wanted to share some of my own thoughts on why this planeswalker is not as bad as everyone is saying.
Her biggest strength: Disruption.
For 3 mana, and a card slot in your deck, what would you normally put? A small to medium sized creature? A combat trick? Damage spell? There are a lot of good options for a 3-drop, many I would myself argue, that in the moment, are much better.
But, with Kaya here is what you get:
Firstly, you get a face that hits the battlefield that is a target the opponent may opt to attack instead of yourself. That buys you some time. Especially once people realise the threat she DOES pose.
Let's look to her abilities. Bare in mind, you can chose when Kaya initially hits the field to make best use of her opening move, but once on, if she is not dealt with, you have options.
+1: Exiles cards from a graveyard, and gives 2 life if one is a creature card.
This ability can be used to limit recursion effects, for example, undergrowth, resurrection, jump-start cards and Phoenix builds to name a few. Want to stop that Eldest Reborn Stage 3 from stealing something big? Exile it. When you exile a creature, it gives a small lifegain, which from what I have seen, can be substantial in this set and in a pinch you can exile a creature you dont need from your own graveyard for the life-gain. Against an opponent, this also charges up the ultimate ability. Bare in mind any card exiled counts, even land.
Note: Beware the opponent using the same card as you will be powering up their ultimate.
Additional Note: The text says exile up to two - you can +1 and do nothing if you were daft enough to play this card with no targets...
-1: Exiles a nonland permanent with mana cost 1 or less.
Effective removal of some of the small number of 1 drops, mana ramp like Lanowar Elves and other early drops that may pose a threat when they power up, Healers Hawk, Thoughtbound Phantasm, etc... This could be extra juicy in commander with some of the common artifacts. Tata Sol Ring.
This ability of course which powers up the -5 ability, but more importantly, allows you to remove tokens. There are some hard to remove tokens (evasion, or high x/x). How annoyed would you be if your 5/5 biogenic ooze token was removed with a simple -1 down tick, or worse, your Quasiduplicated or Helm of the Host token of that big creature that was going to win you the game. Dead to the -1 of an unthreatening looking planeswalker. Even just the threat of this happening is going to have your opponent hold back on using those spells if they have them until this Planeswalker is dealt with. Often fringe cases I admit, but between all the options, this covers most decks, and at the very least, whilst it will not often win you the game, the lifegain buys you time. I would consider maindecking this card, and definitely having one side decked if I own it.
-5: Deal X damage to opponent equal to the number of exiled cards they have, and gain X life.
This includes exiled cards from other abilities, so synergises well. The opponent could exile thier own cards (e.g. using a jump-start ability), and there are a number of other cards that exile creatures. Rakdos have the -2/-2 board clear that exiles creatures that die this round, though I cannot remember it's name, I will edit it in later if I have time. That gives great potential to power up this ability.
Useable within 2 turns of Kaya hitting the battlefield, often for a minimum of 4, especially later in the game. If Kaya stays on the field after being activated, the exiled cards remain so next time she uses this ability it is going to be even more powerful. It is unlikely Kaya will remain on the battlefield for this long because obviously, this ultimate becomes a bigger and bigger threat, but that means the opponent is spending more resources in removing that threat, that would have been used on other creatures or your face.
Another benefit of this ultimate going off is triggering Spectacle if you splashed into Mardu for
some Rakdos Spectacle cards.
In summary (TLDR):
- Game Disruption!
- Lifegain to stall aggressive decks. (This is not even considering lifegain synergies from the likes of Ajani's Pridemate or Dawn Of Hope)
- Good for controlling graveyard abilities. (jump-start, undergrowth, phoenexis, resurrection)
- Face damage and synergy triggers.(Spectacle)
- An alternative face for the opponent to hit, prolonging your own life-pool.
3 mana for 1 card, for access to these ongoing benefits and potential game disruption, and at the very least, netting you 2 health or removing an evasive / threatening token (or cheap 1-drop creature / artifac / enchant) that is causing grief before attracting your opponents attention for removal
All in all, 3 mana to put a target down that draws some fire and your not too bothered if its killed, but if ignored, can mess about with opponents grave yards, generate small increments of healing, remove tokens or 1 mana permanentsnd if left ignored can generate her ultimate and hit face for some damage and healing, that in certain builds, could be quite hard. For 3 mana, whilst it isn't going to blow up and do lots of damage, (cmon, its 3 mana!) I think the level of disruption this brings is pretty sweet. Some decks just cannot ignore her, and those that do, may just regret it when your life keeps creeping back up and the ultimate is set up.
I forsee this card getting more and more play as people figure out what decks and synergies this works with, I am already excited to experiment, if nothing else, to try to prove the naysayers wrong ;)
-V
