I have barely touched upon the very core of Magic Origins, the Planeswalkers. In this post, I will rectify my mistake by ranking them from worst-to-best in EDH, and I’ll reason a bit about them in other constructed formats as well.

5: Chandra

Arguably, the hardest of them all to flip in non-EDH formats is Chandra. Lots of dumb people on the internet seem to think you need to cast two spells in a single turn to ping thrice in order to flip her, but she counts combat damage too, so swinging at someone who’s open (likely there is at least one of those at the table on turn 4), casting a single red spell to untap her and the pinging once will do the trick. That said, she is still very underwhelming when flipped. Since she can’t kill creatures without minusing herself, she will likely die quite quickly. Maybe in the 99 of some theme deck, but I don’t see this outclassing any of the red commanders available.

4: Jace

Jace is very easy to flip, and he has that going for him. He is also a looter, which is always nice, especially when available so readily on a commander. Since he doesn’t create card disadvantage when cast from the command zone, he will at least be on card parity in sheer numbers, and up on quality (most times). That said, when flipped, he has one useful ability, his -3, which synergises well with his ability as a creature, but his other two are rubbish. Getting one creature -2/-0 in a multiplayer format will amount to something of a nuisance only. Simply put, not worth it as your commander, maybe as one in the 99.

3. Gideon

While I think this will be amazing in Modern and especially Standard, I don’t see him make a big splash in EDH. Kytheon is quite difficult to flip, going wide in EDH is possible, but token decks are generally not mono white, and for a reason. His activated ability as a creature is pretty damn solid, though, and will be useful at all stages of the game, not only to make sure he doesn’t get himself killed trying to activate. When flipped, Gideon is pretty damn sweet, his +2 ability is nice, his +1 means one of the creatures who attacked with him will be able to protect him the following turn, and his 0 is a pretty standard Gideon ability. I imagine flipping Kytheon on turn 3 via a turn 2 Raise the Alarm, but even so, he won’t overwhelm anyone soon. I think I’d rather have Jazal Goldmane as commander of a mono-white tokens deck, but Kytheon will certainly fit into the deck as one of the 99.

2. Liliana

Choosing which one would take this spot, and thus which one was left to take the the runner-up was not easy. I think both of these planeswalkers are awesome, and I would gladly play either. However, Liliana just misses out because she is a bit too hard to flip and is difficult to flip early game. Her +2 ability is well known from Liliana of the Veil and it at least scales well to EDH since it’s “each player” and not “target player”. It will draw some hate, but any deck with Liliana in it will probably be well-suited to abuse that +2 enough to warrant the hate. The -X is pretty sweet, especially since she starts at 3 and will be at 5 after a single activation. The emblem is also pretty scary. Overall, I think I’d much rather have her in my 99 in my Gisa deck for example than as a commander, but I think she’d be fair as that as well.

1. Nissa

Nissa is the real deal. Unflipped, she is basically a Borderland Ranger in her own deck, and a bit worse in other decks, but in her own she generates card advantage when she enters the battlefield from the command zone! She is terribly easy to flip, even though it will probably not happen until turn four or five, and when she’s flipped she’ll give you a Coiling Oracle activation each turn. Her -2 is pretty boss, netting her a 4/4 for protection but leaving her vulnerable to any attack, and her ultimate will clean up tables pretty quickly as well. Overall, I’d gladly play her in my 99 in most green decks, and she will make a fine commander on her own, in my opinion.

What do you think of the list? Am I “out riding a bike” (as we say in Sweden to describe someone who’s terribly wrong)? Leave a comment!