Nissa, Sage Animist: Official Thread

Malcrof

Cost to Max Level: 79,920 runes


Nissa
1: Nature's Bounty - cost: 9
1 - draw 1
2 - draw 1, +3 mana
3 - draw 1, +3 mana & convert 3 gems to Green
4 - draw 1, +3 mana, +3 life, & convert 3 gems to Green

2: Nature's Gift - cost: 15
1 - +3/+3 to all your creatures until end of your turn
2 - +4/+4 to all your creatures until end of your turn
3 - +5/+5 to all your creatures until end of your turn
4 - +7/+7 to all your creatures until end of your turn

3: Nature's Regrowth - cost: 24
1 - convert 10 gems to green
2 - convert 15 gems to green
3 - convert 20 gems to green
4 - convert 25 gems to green

Level 60 mana bonuses: +1 | +3 | +1 | |
Level 60 HP: 98
Level 60 max: Creatures:10 Spells:6 Supports: 3

2 - 1st power
8 - 1st power level 2
14 - 2nd power
20 - 2nd power level 2
26 - 3rd power
32 - 3rd power level 2
38 - 1st power level 3
44 - 2nd power level 3
50 - 3rd power level 3
51 - 1st power level 4
54 - 2nd power level 4
60 - 3rd power level 4

Post your decks and tips for Nissa below!

szelabration

My quick battle deck that has major success. Ramp, fatties and life gain.

Creatures:
Desolation Twin (R)
Woodland Bellower (M)

Spells:
Animist's Awakening (R)
Natural Connection (C)
Nissa's Renewal (M)
Nissa's Revelation (M)
Scour From Existence (C)


Supports:
Fertile Thicket (C)
Mirrorpool (M)
Nissa's Pilgrimage (C)

fox1342

My UC deck, pretty quick, very reliable. I'm still undecided on the 2nd creature, I might replace it with vines if I every manage to draw it - which would also allow me to sub out Awakening, maybe for Herald

Undergrowth Champion (M)
Sylvan Advocate (R) (Warden (don't have) or Ranger work well too)

Revelation (M)
Earthen Arms (C)
Mantle webs (C)
Animist Awakening (R)

Alhammarret's Archive (M)
From Beyond (R)
Retreat to Kazandu (U)
Fertile thicket

famousfoxking

Suggestions for this Nissa Deck?

Gladehart Cavalry
Oran-Rief Hydra
Managorger Hydra

Seek the Wilds
Animist's Awakening
Earthen Arms
Mantle of Webs
Reclaiming Vines

Nissa's Pilgrimage
Retreat to Kazandu

I have 0 Green Mythics, but Nissa is the first Planeswalker I've gotten to 60. Gladehart is expensive, I've used Outland Colossus in it's place before. I've considered Mina and Denn, but that isn't as consistent a source of Berserker as I'd like.

Gun Bunny

Landfall deck that once it gets rolling, is frightening, tbh

Elven visionary
Murasa Ranger
Herald of the Pantheon
Oran-rief Hydra

Animist's awakening

Zendikar Resurgent
Oath of Nissa
Nissa's pilgrimage
Elemental Bond
Retreat to Kazandu

Chavez303

I'm still working out the kinks but i've had great success with this. I call it the Punching Clown because once the primary mechanic is in place, the computer $h*ts itself and can't figure out how to get around it.

Conclave Naturalists
Birthing Hulk
Greenwardern of Murasa
Catacomb Sifter
Rhox Maulers

Natural Connection
Nissa's Renewal

Nissa's Pilgrimage
Fertile Thicket
Oath of Nissa

The primary win mechanic isn't fast but its consistent. I queue up a Greenwarden before I get a Birthing Hulk or Sifter out and then drop them all at once. The sifter or hulk is constantly being brought back and bringing scions with it (mana gen!). i use the renewal to heal up in case i take too much damage on the way to getting it setup and if i set it off with Natures regrowth, i can usually get everything in my hand out.

I'm struggling with creature removal. Any suggestions?

JJMeadows3

A lot of the decks I see for Green have "animist's awakening" in them. However, for the life of me, I have been completely unable to get that card in any packs I open. Is there a replacement card that anyone would recommend for those who don't have it?

HomeRn

JJMeadows3 wrote:

A lot of the decks I see for Green have "animist's awakening" in them. However, for the life of me, I have been completely unable to get that card in any packs I open. Is there a replacement card that anyone would recommend for those who don't have it?

In my view, that card isn't really a requirement - especially after it got debuffed awhile ago from 8 gems converted to only 5 (but the cost was reduced to 5 mana to compensate). It's a nice card to have once you have a lot of the other gem converting supports in the deck - otherwise it's not that useful most of the time as you'll likely "whiff" with the 5 bonus gems converted and result in the activated gem being countered easily more than half of the time.

Also, what's your deck like currently? That could help us out with potential options.

famousfoxking

Pulled Seasons Past from a Big Box, trying to build something to use it as well as possible:

Oran-Rief Hydra
Undergrowth Champion
Outland Colossus (want to replace with Murassa Ranger)

Seasons Past

Oath of Nissa
Nissa's Pilgrimage
Weirding Wood
Fertile Thicket
Retreat to Kazandu
Fortified Village

The idea is to make sure Seasons Past always has a Seasons Past to return to hand. I've never managed to get the loop going, but I have managed to cast a full hand and get a pretty impressive UC and/or Hydra out. It might be worth replacing Fortified Village with something like Magnifying Glass to have more card draw: I've cast through my whole hand more than a few times with Seasons Past.

octal9

I've never managed to get the loop going

If you have Bring to Light or Pyromancer's Goggles give them a go with it. Mirrorpool also sometimes gets the loop going.

Shadow-Mage

Hello,

My Nissa is currently only level 31 so there are limited choices on how to use her. I decided to take the route of a landfall deck since I have the cards for it, or at least some cards for it. I am always looking for advice though and appreciate all of it. Below is what I have with an explanation.

Creatures
Oran-Rief Hydra: He is a landfall powerhouse. regardless of the color he will gain power and he keeps that power unlike others
Murasa Ranger: A bit cheaper landfall creature who keeps her gains past the turn she gets them
Obsessive Skinner: a quick summon who can give a boost when summoned
Sylvan Advocate: with the mana production the rest of the deck has he will remain at his full power
Dwyen, Gilt-Leaf Daen: Strong defender with reach who has the ability to pump up your creatures

Spells
Swell of Growth: pump your creature and convert some gems
Animist's Awakening: transfor more gems for possible landfall

Supports
Zendikar Roil: Elementals from landfalling
Fertile Thicket: more gem transformations
Corrupted Graftsone for more mana transformation

This deck is limited by her level currently but should be decent. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them. My card pool for this deck is limited at the moment but I am always wanting to hear ideas.

Maveric78f

I see Nissa having very little love, but to me it's the best planeswalker. I beat consistently Avacyn in 12 turns with the following deck:

Creatures:
Kozilek, the Great Distorsion (M) <-- kill + card advantage
Conclave Naturalists (U) <-- not necessary, we regenerate the board so fast that annoying supports get killed very fast
Lashweed Lurker (U) <-- necessary to win the race

Supports:
Mirror Pool (M) <-- the main goal is to accelerate Seasons Past, not to make Kozilek 24/24
Evolutionary Leap (M) <-- overkill but helps to win faster
Fertile Thicket (C) <-- mana boost

Spells:
Seasons Past (M) <-- card advantage and mana boost: main card in the deck, even now that it draws after generating mana and that it cannot cycle itself
Seek the Wilds (C) <-- the goal is both to get the creature we need and then avoid drawing other creatures
Natural Connection (C) <-- mana boost
Nissa's Pilgrimage <-- mana boost

Comments:
- The big absent is Animist Awakening (R).
- I'd love to include Emrakul, the Promised End (M) too, should be better than Lurker (but Lurker is really good).
- We only play the first ability of Nissa that does everything we need : mana generation, creation of green gems and card draw. Gaining life is accessory.
- naturalists and leap can be replaced by cheap (were)wolves and Emrakul event (were)wolves bonus is yours.
- Since it can target itself, Lurker is good at getting the Eldrazi bonus too.

MisterPete

Shadow-Mage, why are you using Corrupted Grafstone over Nissa's Pilgrimage? Corrupted Grafstone makes sense for other color planeswalkers or if you want to have both. But for green it's just a more expensive Nissa's Pilgrimage (7 mana vs 3). Both have three shields.

Maveric78f

You should play both actually.

SeditiousCanary

I'm playing this:

Sword of the Animist
Nissa's Pilgrimage
Conclave Naturalists
Dwynen's Elite
Elvish Visionary
Herald of the Pantheon
Joraga Invocation
Rhox Maulers
Lumbering Falls
Somberwald Alpha

This is new, and mostly a copy of a list I saw on the boards here, but it seems to work pretty well. I am thinking about swapping Undercity Troll into replace Rhox Maulers.

Norksman

I don't tend to see much discussion about decks on the boards here. Is there some secret club we don't know about?

Anyway, I was looking for some feedback on my Nissa deck to see if there's anything obvious I'm missing to improve it. Once I got my first Mythic (Grafwidow) I wanted to design a deck around it. Unfortunately I don't have a big collection as I'm still pretty new.

Creatures
Ishkanah, Grafwidow (M)
Conclave Naturalists (U)
Foul Emmisary (U)
Lanowar Empath (C)
Lashweed Lurker (U)
Drownyard Behemoth (U)

Spells
Reclaim (U)
Scour from Existence (C)
Gather the Pack (U)

Supports
Drownyard Temple (R)

I was consciously avoiding Nissa's Pilgrimage and the like to try and trigger the delirium on the Grafwidow. I have been having mostly success with the deck, though I am only in silver. Would love to hear ideas and feedback. Mostly I'm thinking around dropping Lanowar Empath, though he is a good target for Reclaim.

Norksman

With Kaladesh, came an awesome rare for Nissa - Cultivator of Blades.

This card is awesome. Just get any 3 creatures out (including the CoB), combine with Nissa's 2nd ability can result in 60pt + damage swings.

Still having some trouble where I get too many spells, but with her card draw have rarely lost:

Creatures
Cultivator of Blades (R)
Sylvan Messenger (U)
Servant of the Conduit (R)

Spells
Swell of Growth (C)
Mantle of Webs (C)
Scour from Existence (C)

Supports
Oath of Nissa (R)
Equestrian Skill (C)
Nissa's Pilgrimage (C)
Corrupted Grafstone (R)

Sylvan Messenger can help you find the CoB, Oath of Nissa for more mana, plus to help you find that right card when you need it. The Servant of the Conduit is there because I don't have any better elves. I was running Drownyard Temple instead of Equestrian Skill, but I find this rolls a bit better.

Ajani

I have tried this composition that is giving me a 90% win approx.

Creatures :
Decimator of provinces (gives great power to your team)
Rashmi, Eternities Crafter (Free draw when casting cards)
Undergrowth champion (perfect blocker with mantle of webs)

Spells
Animist's awakening (mana boost)
Mantle of webs (helps blocking flyers)
Scour from existence (spot removal)
Root out (thinning your opponent's supports)

Supports : (All mana boost)
nissa's pilgrimage
Canopy vista
Fortified village

you can create a dubious challenge deck by switching :
-Rashmi, Eternities Crafter with Skysovereign, consul flagship
-Mantle of webs with seek the wilds
-scour from existence with dubious challenge

This alternative is funny and destroys decks with no big critters.

Snappyturtle

Had to use the search bar to find this thread! I've been tinkering non-stop with origin PW to make them a bit more appealing given the roster of strong PW that have been coming out consistently. Her first is to be spammed and 3rd to activate adapted gems if a Kraj just got on the board.

Creatures:

Experiment Kraj(M)

Biomancer's Familiar(R)

Incubation Druid(R)

Spells:

Applied Biomancy(C)

Thrash/Threat(R)

Assassin's Trophy(R)

Nissa's Revelation(M)

Supports:

Nissa's Pilgrimage(C)

Guildmages' Forum(M)

Dragon's Hoard(M)

With this deck I have found little problems so far. Even managed to hold of an AI Brokhan with a dinosaur deck while losing only 12hp. It cascades very good. And at times too good that makes me question Incubation Druid and it's gem conversion. So an excellent alternative is Growth-Chamber Guardian(UC). The adapted gems of it will most likely trigger with the cascades and give a creature copy to be fed the excess of mana from cascades that get too big.

This green deck was made with only Nissa, Sage Animist in mind. Should also work as a mirror for Vivien.