Kiora, the Crashing Wave

Planeswalker — Kiora

+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."

Discussion (51)

Boza on Is there an Exact Formula ...

1 week ago

There is no exact formula - and as of recent sets, this formula has been changing with the first statick ability planeswalkers and the first (excluding the Lorwyn 5) non-mythic planeswalkers. So, there is some wiggle room but the basic formula is:

The more a planeswalker can defend itself, the lower its starting loyalty. eg. Kiora, the Crashing Wave and viceversa The Royal Scions .

Four abilities are very rarely used, due to developmental issues the last time ( Jace, the Mind Sculptor really changed the game on how PWs are designed)

Have at one plus, one minus and one "big minus" or "ult" ability - the new Garruk, Cursed Huntsman is one of the very that breaks that mold.

In short, there is no clear formula, and I would say planeswalkers are designed both top-down and bottom-up - what their abilities do is top-down, dictated by the story, while their manacost and loyalty ability costs are bottom-up - whatever the current standard can use best.

For example, if Garruk, Cursed Huntsman made one token instead of two, it would cost two mana less probably. But play design wanted a 6 mana walker, so his abilities started doing bit more.

Rhadamanthus on If Nicol bolas can't deal ...

1 week ago

Kogarashi has the right answer. The zone change makes Nicol Bolas, the Arisen a different object from the Nicol Bolas, the Ravager  ^Flip that was targeted by Kiora, the Crashing Wave 's ability.

Kogarashi on If Nicol bolas can't deal ...

1 week ago

The damage will not be prevented.

• 400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence.

The transform ability of Nicol Bolas, the Ravager  ^Flip exiles the card before transforming it, in order to facilitate the planeswalker side actually receiving loyalty counters so that it isn't immediately sent to the graveyard. Exiling is a zone change, and because of this, Nicol Bolas, the Arisen has no memory of its previous existence, including being the permanent that Kiora, the Crashing Wave prevented the damage of.

While there are nine exceptions to the rule I quoted, none of them cover a DFC that transforms into a planeswalker.

dingusdingo's quoted rule applies to DFCs that transform without being exiled (because they do not leave the battlefield in order to transform). Bolas and the five DFC planeswalkers from Magic Origins are exiled as part of the transformation ability.

doodkyle on If Nicol bolas can't deal ...

1 week ago

My opponent controls Nicol Bolas, the Ravager  ^Flip in play. I use Kiora, the Crashing Wave +1 ability to prevent all damage that would be dealt to and by Nicol bolas. On the next turn my opponent paid to transform him into Nicol Bolas, the Arisen if my opponent uses his -3 ability is the 10 damage prevented?

blyatifull on [Commander/EDH] ATRAXA, Praetors' Voice

1 month ago

i think you have a nice counters theme going on but id get rid of cards like Forgotten Ancient , Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker for cards like Mikaeus, the Lunarch . and then maybe Fathom Mage for Kiora, the Crashing Wave . its more efficient and since you have a lot of strong creatures on the board, running a few utility planewalkers wouldnt hurt since its very easy for you to protect them. pws like Tamiyo, Field Researcher (instead of lets say, as foretold) or Ugin, the Spirit Dragon are a must in any atraxa deck regardless of their core strategy. its just too easy to ultimate with them in multiple ways.

you also need Astral Cornucopia . atraxa proliferate is amazing with it and its a great anti stax piece. id exchange that for Commander's Sphere .

other then that id say this deck is great and it has a nice theme going on. you could just make a few more efficient tweaks imo.

blyatifull on Atraxa, Goodstuff (OPTIMISED)

1 month ago

Vimozahr

baleful strix : perfect chump blocker that has deathtouch, lifelink and draw a card (really important) that can become a huge threat quite easily with the amount of ways i can put a counter on it. also cards like Odric, Lunarch Marshal come in handy real quick.

combos: rings + monolith+ walking ballista is the most generic one and just the final sure deal to close out the game and walking ballista can be good on itself alone and so can be rings with planewalkers (use their ability twice for 2 mana)... the real sauce is in other combos like for example: lets say you draw in and over the course of first 4 turns have Crystalline Crawler , Hardened Scales and Spike Weaver or Spike Feeder on the table. at this point all you need is either Pir, Imaginative Rascal , or Doubling Season and boom you have infinite counters and mana. now all you need to do is draw into or tutor for the either Walking Ballista or just full combo. and that can be really easy once you have infinite mana and cards like Braingeyser , Hydroid Krasis , Consecrated Sphinx , etc.. you also have combos with walkers , just simple ramp into 9 mana and you go Doubling Season into Tamiyo, Field Researcher , which gives you ultimate(omniescence) and draw 3 cards, that alone can storm you off into more card draw and free cards to play.you can draw into things like Ugin, the Spirit Dragon , Teferi, Hero of Dominaria or basically any other planewalker .and you can ramp into 9 mana really fast with this deck. like Kiora, the Crashing Wave would seem like a weak planewalker but her -1 draws you a card and ramps you with a land. and you can do that every turn for free since you proliferate her back to 2 and you can abuse that with things like Vampiric Tutor or Enlightened Tutor , Liliana Vess , etc.

it really boils down to the way i (try) to build this deck and that is , that whatever/most of the cards you draw into at the start , can be in some way or another built into insane value engine or straight up combo win. by my experience it can close the game out by turn 8 , 90% of the time if left unchecked, if you get insane hand you can do it by turn 5 to 6 but that rarely happens. In my opinion this deck is 7.5/10 or high powered-casual deck that can hold its own even in more "competitive" pods.

th3d1v1n35h4d0w on Bant EDH Alt Win Cons

1 month ago

Planeswalkers + synergy

• Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
• Garruk, Primal Hunter
• Evolution Sage
• Flux Channeler
• Ajani, the Greathearted
• Oath of Teferi
• Narset Transcendent
• Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• Oath of Gideon
• Oath of Nissa
• Ajani Unyielding
• Kiora, the Crashing Wave
• Ajani Steadfast
• Teferi, Temporal Archmage
• Inexorable Tide
• Deepglow Skate
• Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
• Shalai, Voice of Plenty
• Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
• Eternal Witness
• Arena Rector
• Thrummingbird
• Oath of Ajani
• Oath of Jace
• Rhystic Study
• Dovin Baan
• Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• Gideon of the Trials
• Nissa, Steward of Elements
• Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
• Karn's Bastion
• Reliquary Tower
• -

LGMR on Maze's End Turbo Fog

1 month ago

Thanks. I thought it was a cool wincon back when it was first printed in Dragon's Maze. At the time, it was barely possible to play the deck in standard, until Theros dropped, then it was slightly playable. But I was taking a break from magic at that time.

I removed the Chromatic Lantern s to add another Riot Control , a Primeval Titan , and a Kiora, the Crashing Wave . Primeval Titan gets out so many lands and is a good blocker with Trample. Kiora, the Crashing Wave can block damage from permanents, draw you a card while letting you plan another land, or gets you 9/9 tokens every turn! I think she'll help a lot.

I removed one Azusa, Lost but Seeking to add Crucible of Worlds . You're right about it helping with land destruction. I'm going to work on the sideboard next.

I added Wear / Tear for some artifact/enchantment answers. Maybe Pull from Eternity would be good in case my opponent is exiling my stuff? The sideboard has a few alternent wincons: Crackling Perimeter , Liliana's Caress , and Underworld Dreams provide ways of dealing damage to my opponents. Melira, Sylvok Outcast protects against infect decks, and combos with Phyrexian Unlife to help me stall out longer in case they're killing me too quickly. I even thought about Platinum Angel but 7 is a high cmc. Maybe it would be worth it anyway?