Disclaimer on Kiora Planeswalker!

Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum

Posted on Dec. 25, 2013, 10:19 a.m. by Avernar

I nearly pooped myself at the new planeswalker in BotG. Here it is.

Kiora, the Crashing Wave

2 G U

Planeswalker- Kiora
Mythic Rare

+1: Until your next turn, prevent all damage that would be dealt to and dealt by target permanent an opponent controls.

-1: Draw a card. You may play an additional land this turn.

-5: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your end step, put a 9/9 blue Kraken creature token onto the battlefield."

So, what do you guys think? It's on the spoilers on the MTGSalvation site.

Epochalyptik says... #2

Moved to Spoilers and Rumors.

Please check the forums before you post a spoiler thread. We already have three different threads about Kiora.

December 25, 2013 10:23 a.m.

Putrefy says... #3

I hope it's fake. This card is pretty terri-bad. The artwork is nice however. There is only a handful of scenarios where I see the card achieve much. Maybe against U/W control. Getting 9/9s frequently can be troublesome. Also her -1 might be nice for some dual Nykthos-shenanigans - if you find a hole for the mana. Her +1 feels pretty weak, if it was worded "Until your next turn, prevent all damage that would be dealt to and by target permanent other than "Kiora, the Crashing Wave" it could have some uses. What bugs me the most about her however is that she is a 4CMC 2-loyalty PW. Even if you +1 her immediately, she still dies to Lightning Strike or a Lifebane Zombie . Maybe her -1 will make more sense once there are more cards revealed from BotG. Maybe we have a land-heavy set like Zendikar was.

December 25, 2013 10:30 a.m.

JWiley129 says... #4

It's not fake Putrefy , Kiora was spoiled on Daily MTG.

December 25, 2013 10:33 a.m.

To avoid being lightning striked or whatever just +1 her. Unless dreadbore or hero's downfall is cast she wont die. get her ult every turn your making 9/9's

December 25, 2013 10:38 a.m.

Epochalyptik says... #6

@spacecoyote1313: I don't see how that would help. Lightning Strike isn't a permanent, and it hits for exactly enough to kill Kiora on her first turn.

December 25, 2013 10:45 a.m.

i love simic, it was my first deck that i ever played competitively, so kiora is definitly awesome, considering that i still have my simic deck, and most of it is still standard

December 25, 2013 10:45 a.m.

She does her +1 on herself therefor she cannot receive any damage. Therefor that Lightning Strike is rendered useless. Unless they play it at like your untap step which in that case you are Sol

December 25, 2013 11:08 a.m.

2austin5 says... #9

She can't +1 herself, it says that an opponent controls

December 25, 2013 11:11 a.m.

pookypuppy6 says... #10

So to summarize, Kiora can stop an opponent's creature from dealing damage for a round which is cool, but more often than not will likely get burnt out by Lightning Strike or other burn spells. Stays above water of Magma Jet at least, but she is rather vulnerable.

The -1 is okay, she replaces herself once she uses that ability.

December 25, 2013 11:26 a.m.

2austin5 says... #11

you could be fortunate enough to try and build a bant control shell with Riot Control as an option to save kiora if the don't hit it the turn it comes out

December 25, 2013 11:30 a.m.

pookypuppy6 says... #12

@2austin5: Riot Control doesn't say "prevent all damage dealt t you or planeswalkers you control", so I would have assumed it wouldn't save Kiora. In fact, I can't think of much protection for Kiora bar something like Palisade Giant or Simic Charm .

December 25, 2013 11:35 a.m.

PartyGoat says... #13

She is meant for midrange controll. Bant most likely but black could replace white. play counters and ramp and play her turn 6 or 7.

December 25, 2013 11:43 a.m.

maxon says... #14

a simic planeswalker thats meant for control? honestly, simic is not supposed to be that boring. this is a bit disappointing at first sight. i'll keep looking at it though.

December 25, 2013 11:48 a.m.

PartyGoat says... #15

her ultimate will most likely trigger all your evolve effects.

December 25, 2013 12:10 p.m.

IAmKingTony says... #16

more often than not she's just a double Explore , which is pretty good

December 25, 2013 12:17 p.m.

acky12489 says... #17

Im not terribly impressed with her so far. I could potentially see her seeing some use in some kind of Midrangey Ramp deck, but thats about it really

December 25, 2013 12:35 p.m.

maxon says... #18

does kiora work with Dismiss into Dream ? to kill off your opps creatures

December 25, 2013 12:56 p.m.

gufymike says... #19

maxon it does.

December 25, 2013 1:27 p.m.

kriskurse says... #20

pookypuppy6 Riot Control will save the planeswalker if they are trying to Magma Jet or Lightning Strike , but won't stop damage done through attacking the planesewalker.

December 25, 2013 1:28 p.m.

notamardybum says... #21

It's a nice answer to blood baron

December 25, 2013 2:21 p.m.

MindAblaze says... #22

I could see her in some kind of Bant Superfriends TurboFog dealio

December 25, 2013 2:22 p.m.

you know where she would do well? a Maze's End deck that utilizes cards like her and Urban Evolution to speed up the process. I think she could be amazing.

December 25, 2013 3:09 p.m.

The_Darkhorse says... #24

Maze's End deck definitely doesn't want her

December 25, 2013 7:34 p.m.

2austin5 says... #25

pookypuppy6- Riot Control , like kriskurse said, would stop things like burn. To target a planes walker, you technically target the player then redirect the damage to the planes walker. Most players just "ignore" that though and accept the damage since the prevention of targeting the player isn't seen too often

December 25, 2013 8:31 p.m.

Would I be crazy if I said I could see Modern benefiting more from this? Maybe. But my first thought was: Proliferate would be cool to use on her. I definitely see her in a control build though. Bant is questionable. I was thinking BUG.

December 26, 2013 12:04 a.m.

Free_Iona says... #27

Who the fuck uses Lightning Strike anyway?

December 26, 2013 3:09 a.m.

kriskurse says... #28

Degonvey do you live under a rock? Lol

December 26, 2013 8:14 a.m.

tehnewnew says... #29

Crosspost from the economics forum since I see some people discussing the artwork of Kiora in here.

As an artist I think it's weird that the one card WotC decided to tease us with uses one of the most famous japanese wood-cuts ever by the artist Hokusai as it's background.

It looks like the artist flipped the image of "the Wave" and then distorted in in Photoshop before painting over it some more. The large wave behind Kiora and the small wave in front of her are both transformed versions of "the Wave".

At first glance you might think that it was simply inspired by Hokusai's original, but as you can see below, there are several areas that make it clear that the wood-cut was simply copy/pasted in. The illustration style of the background and Kiora don't even match, which makes the whole thing more obvious:

Kiora

For the record, I only mention this because it's pretty lame of the artist and I'm amazed that he would use such an iconic image as a rush-job background.

The wood-cut is from the 1800's, so I'm not trying to imply that Wizards owes anyone money or anything like that, but I think it's normal to assume that the illustrations on these cards will be originals, and this was disappointing.

December 26, 2013 9 a.m.

harrydemon117 says... #30

She's going to have a home in "turbo Fog " decks...great that's all I need to see in Standard again.

Although, she COULD be a good fit for a Maze's End deck... ;)

December 26, 2013 9:16 a.m.

Behgz says... #31

@tehnewnew I too recognized that kiora's background looks fairly similar to that Original Japanese wood carving you expertly googled all the info about.

However by placing copies of each side-by-side you actually have shown that it's not a direct copy but an artist's interpretation of it, an original piece inspired by a more famous original piece, it's not a direct copy/paste job and if anything, it's allowing a new generation of people to see an updated version of a classic piece, there has to be some number of magic players out there who will be seeing kiora's artwork without ever having seen that original wood carving and they may like it, not knowing that it is inspired by that wood carving from the 1800's. which if you feel like taking personal offense for this guy Hokusai or whatever, fine. But considering you probably have zero personal ties to that guy, I feel as though your making a stand for the sake of making a stand.

I think the artist for this kiora, the crashing waves card, Scott M. Fischer, would have similar things to say in his own defense.

December 26, 2013 4:54 p.m.

Thebigshaggy says... #32

All we need is a decent counterspell in BotG and she'll be protected for that one turn when Lightning Strike tries to fly.

Turn 1, Forest Elvish Mystic . Turn 2, Island, Sylvan Caryatid and Judge's Familiar /Cloudfin Raptor /Experiment One . Turn 3, Kiora (+1 a threat), Swan Song /Negate /Judge's Familiar /Dispel instant/sorcery threat to Kiora. Turn 4, +1 another threat, hopefully protect. Turn 5, Ride home on a butt-ton of 9/9 krakens.

Assuming your meta isn't full of hardcore netdecks, it could work. If they don't answer her, you've got indefinite Explore s, which is insanity.

December 28, 2013 5:56 a.m.

kriskurse says... #33

Technically turn 6. it takes 4 turns to get to a place you can use her Ulti without proliferate.

December 28, 2013 8:51 a.m.

PartyGoat says... #34

Riot Control does NOT protect planedwalkers

December 28, 2013 11:41 a.m.

Thebigshaggy says... #35

Not if you drop her turn three with ramp.

December 28, 2013 2:09 p.m.

kriskurse says... #36

PartyGoat riot control protects agains burn spells such as Lightning Strike or Magma Jet because your targeting the player not the planeswalker. Attacking the planeswalker however is direct, so isn't prevented

December 28, 2013 8:49 p.m.

PartyGoat says... #37

Riot Control only prevents damage done to you, not planeswalkers.

December 29, 2013 12:23 p.m.

http404error says... #38

Cards that prevent damage to you will protect her from spell damage, due to the way damage redirection works as a replacement effect.

That is to say, the spell has to target you first, and its caster announces that they're redirecting it to your planeswalker. If you respond with a damage prevention spell, there are then two competing replacement effects, the redirection and the prevention. Since you're the affected player, you choose the order of resolution. Thus, you pick the prevention first.

December 29, 2013 2:22 p.m.

kriskurse says... #39

Very well said http404error.

December 29, 2013 3:19 p.m.

PartyGoat says... #40

Riot Control does not protect planeswalkers.

December 29, 2013 7:03 p.m.

kriskurse says... #41

Lol. He's just butt hurt that he's wrong. PartyGoat check this thread and it's accepted answer. It's already been asked and decided it protects planeswalkers. http://tappedout.net/mtg-questions/riot-control-and-planeswalkers/

December 29, 2013 7:44 p.m.

kriskurse says... #42

4/15/2013 If a source an opponent controls would deal noncombat damage to you, you may choose to have Riot Control prevent that damage before that opponent may choose to redirect that damage to a planeswalker you control.From Card set FAQs of Riot Control on the WIZARDS website

December 29, 2013 7:46 p.m.

PartyGoat says... #43

Actualy my phone sux and doesnt show there were multiple pages. switched to the kindle sorry guys.

December 29, 2013 7:51 p.m.

kriskurse says... #44

Depending on what type of phone you have it's probably right above the comments. lol or at least thats how it is for me.

December 29, 2013 7:53 p.m.

This discussion has been closed