Need some tips!

Malcrof

So, which is more important to get out first? offensive cards or defensive?

Unknown

I would imagine it depends on the deck construction and the Planeswalker.

Someone like Nissa or Gideon would likely be offensive, maybe some support depending on the support. Someone like Jace has his Claustrophobia support which I think is the first thing I get out.

Natsufan01

I've been going off the assumption that faster is better, but you need strong offense before too long. Get out anything that will increase mana production for your planeswalker, to get out offensive creatures first. I like creatures like Elvish Visionary or Llanowar Empath that help get bigger creatures out. With the potential for massive cascades from the opponent, defense seems to only carry you so far. I'd rather get out to a quick start, and take down some health, so if I start to fall behind and need to limp to the finish line, I have that option.

spudzo0

I think the above is accurate. Based on my play time with the actual card game, I've always enjoyed, and have had the most success, by playing faster. So far from what I've seen of this game is that it plays very much like the card game so your play speed is very dependent on your deck type. As was stated, jace plays blue with a lot of countering spells which means he plays slower then Chandra for example who would be arguably the fastest play style. In the card game, the only reason to slow play was to try and pull your biggest monstrosity of a card or to drain their library. Seeing as you can't do that in this puzzle game, faster is better.

Unknown

Elvish visionary and empath are pretty meh.

Elvish visionary's turn green more often helps the enemy than it does you, setting up combos even if green is not their primary color.

Empath is -okay-, but you realize he is essentially a 2/2 for 4 mana -at best- (sometimes you don't have a creature to use him), which puts him on par with "decent" mana efficiency but a waste of a card. You could've just saved that 7 mana and cast something bigger.

BlackSheep101

Of course, most people are dealing with the starting card set at the moment, so "something bigger" isn't readily available.

Malcrof

Ok, i got the hang of this, i now have each plainswalker and some nice cards. Only 1 of them is using my defense card

carlito666

Slowly victory: defensive deck
Fast victory: offensive deck

DrLemniscate

Mainly playing Jace at the moment. Prefer to get the board locked down before I try to get a wincon out. Good thing is that my wincon creatures also have good control effects, so it is flexible.

More aggroup based decks want to overwhelm their opponent before they get a chance to recover. Each planeswalker can be built different ways, so experiment!

Unknown

One thing I have found that I like quite a bit is that Chandra's direct damage allows her to be defensive while getting mana for some heavy hitters. Then quickly flip the switch and turn into an offensive juggernaut.

void

One thing I have found that I like quite a bit is that Chandra's direct damage allows her to be defensive while getting mana for some heavy hitters. Then quickly flip the switch and turn into an offensive juggernaut.

I play Liliana in a similiar fashion spending early game controlling the board with cheap removal like Soul Reave and Unholy Hunger and my opponents options with my Planeswalker ability to force them discard.

Blahahah

Depends on your deck construction and draws.
Then again, I play Lilianna and the existance of Blightcaster, Grave Mist, and Blazing Hellhound kinda set things up well.
Since Lilianna has an absurdly high support count (I think I read somewhere that some plainswalkers only have 3, Lilianna has somewhere in the field of 6 or 7), Blightcaster lets her just strip down the board naturally while buffing her own. Mix with Deadbridge and Hellhound pushing damage though beserker, hellohound and Grave mist pinging off damage onto everything, and the ability for Lilianna to use Raise dead and Possessed Skaab to recycle those creatures...

Well, plain to say, I can't say if offense is better, since rushing down opponents only works so long as you can actually maintain initiative.
Likewise, I can't say defense works as the longer you hold out, the more likely your opponent is to get a large push going (thanks to being able to delay putting cards out), and the fewer cards you have to work with in that case.

A combination is obviously ideal, so really the question comes down to speed. Is it better to play a faster offensive/defensive deck, or invest into the long game?
I say faster is always better, for most of the characters at least.

Longer is better: Gideon, Nissa
Shorter is better: Jace, Chandra, Lilianna

Thats just my outlook, though.

Gigas Breaker

With Nissa I get a lot of victories from getting three creatures out and then using her second overrun ability over and over. At level 2 with three creatures it adds 12 damage. Her first ability is also good for getting the better creatures out quickly like rhox maulers and Outland colossus. I say Nissa is one of the faster planeswalkers.

My Nissa deck only has creatures and elemental bond.

Unknown

It depends on the planeswalker

EDHdad

I think you want to pay a lot of attention to the game "clock". If they have 100 life and you're hitting them for 10 life per turn, they're on a 10 turn clock. If you have 20 life and they're hitting you for 1 life per turn, you're on a 20 turn clock.

The answer to your question is that you want to have a faster clock on your opponent than they have on you. In some cases, it makes sense to kill all of their creatures before you attempt to put out any of yours. In other cases, it makes more sense to power your way through.

The best Planeswalkers for managing the clock in this game are Gideon and Chandra. Chandra can deal damage directly to your opponent, destroy supports, kill their creatures, and has plenty of beefy creatures of her own.

Gideon can pump creatures and has ready access to first strike and lifelink. First strike is extremely useful for clock management. If you have a 4/4 first strike and they have a 4/4 non-first-strike, you can give your guy vigilance, hit your opponent, then your opponent's creature attacks your guy and gets punched in the face.

Lifelink can also do great things for your clock. If they're hitting you for 5 life per turn and you're hitting them for 5 life per turn and gaining 5 life per turn, you're going to win that game unless something changes.

Gideon is getting Nerfed with the next update, but at present a mid-30 level Gideon can give a creature first strike and vigilance and lifelink and berserker. If played carefully, you can set up a board state which your opponent literally cannot recover from, other than by wiping out the entire board or returning every creature to your hand.

alextfish

It's funny to read people saying Chandra is the fastest / most aggressive. I play Chandra exceedingly slow and controlly. I'll often not cast any creatures at all until I've got at least 2 burn spells charged-but-disabled at the top of my hand (mainly Ravaging Blaze and Lightning Javelin, sometimes Fiery Conclusion if I'm playing a token-heavy build with Thopters, sometimes even Chandra's Ignition. I would dearly love Exquisite Firecraft, but haven't opened it.) I just recently acquired Ghirapur Aether Grid and I love it - it makes Chandra's middle ability take out 4/4s with no trouble at all, and x/2s just die on their own without spending any mana at all.

When I do start attacking, it's generally with berserkers: Blazing Hellhound, Iroas's Champion and Mage-Ring Bully are all good at picking off the opponents' creatures.

And if you're up against an opponent with really good removal, like the Fleshbag Marauder or Unholy Hunger story mode missions, you can just play creatureless control: burn all their creatures, don't bother playing any yourself, and just win with Flameshot and Lightning Javelin to the face.

BlackSheep101

I prefer to start the clock before setting up my removal, but then, I do have Exquisite Firecraft. Once I drop a creature, I do charge some sort of removal. It's rare to see something come out so early that I can't put out enough direct damage to deal with it.

Unknown

Just drop a second turn rambler and spend the rest of the game burning everything in its way.