Is Chandra a joke?

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  • blacklotus
    blacklotus Posts: 589 Critical Contributor
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    madwren wrote:
    I stopped using Saheeli after she was ruined, though I did finally find the stomach to play her again in the last week or so. She had some success in QB, and I used her in Holiday Showdown to test a red hulk build which performed admirably.

    I do not plan to play her in PVP, though, as planeswalkers with niche abilities or dependencies don't fare as well as those with generally applicable ones.
    Try use Molten Nursery or Nettle Drone (wait until they fixed Nettle Drone's ability) and you will rediscover your love of Saheeli

    i was using the molten nursery + saheeli 1st ability combo till d3 nerfed that by increasing the loyalty cost by 50%.

    now i use mainly her 2nd to buff cheap constructs like runaway carriage and metalworks colossus instead.
  • Mainloop25
    Mainloop25 Posts: 1,936 Chairperson of the Boards
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    wereotter wrote:
    Mainloop25 wrote:
    There are a couple of problems with energize. One is that it's a double edged sword. Your opponent can take advantage of energized gems just as easily as you can, provided that they are there at the end of your turn. If they happen to have a way to take advantage of Overload, then you're just helping them if you fill the board with energized gems before you get to use them. The other problem that I've run into, is that they work like support gems, in that they can't be converted like with mana conversion supports like Corrupted Grafstone, etc. So you can "choke out" yourself out of gem matches easily if you fill the entire board with energized gems. This is very easy to do with Empyreal Voyager or Era of Innovation/Tamiyo's Journal or other combos. With that said, there are some extremely powerful combos that you can pull off if you have the time and card to set them up .

    That's why if you're running an energy deck you should use Aether Hub instead of converting gems. It'll give +3 to any match once you got that level of saturation. Much better than converting and hoping they align so you can match your colors.

    I actually have been using Aether Hub, and yes it helps, but after a while, if you haven't matched enough energized gems, you run out of potential matches. And guess which matches are left? The normal gems with no energy left.

    My most successful energy deck has been a Garruk delirium deck with aether hub, decoction module, and his creature tokens. It creates enough energy to get good mana gains, but not too many that it chokes you out of potential matches.

    Clearing out too many energized gems is actually a good thing sometimes, for this reason.
  • span_argoman
    span_argoman Posts: 751 Critical Contributor
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    Mainloop25 wrote:
    wereotter wrote:
    That's why if you're running an energy deck you should use Aether Hub instead of converting gems. It'll give +3 to any match once you got that level of saturation. Much better than converting and hoping they align so you can match your colors.

    I actually have been using Aether Hub, and yes it helps, but after a while, if you haven't matched enough energized gems, you run out of potential matches. And guess which matches are left? The normal gems with no energy left.

    My most successful energy deck has been a Garruk delirium deck with aether hub, decoction module, and his creature tokens. It creates enough energy to get good mana gains, but not too many that it chokes you out of potential matches.

    Clearing out too many energized gems is actually a good thing sometimes, for this reason.
    I must be missing something but if you're only Energizing gems and not doing any gem conversion, there's no difference in the board state from a normal board. Which means Energizing gems does not 'choke you out of potential matches' like you're saying.

    So if you only rely on Aether Hub and say other non-gem converting ramp supports like Drownyard Temple or Shrine of the Forsaken Gods, Energizing gems shouldn't be a bad thing beyond the risk of the AI matching them first.
  • Mainloop25
    Mainloop25 Posts: 1,936 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Well yeah that's what I do to counteract what happens with energized gems. Energy works against gem converters because energized gems don't convert. Part of why gem converters work is because they make potential matches. Notice how much less match-4's and match-5's you will have when you have an energized board. That's what I mean by "choking yourself out." I realized that the way we are all used to getting mana has been by using gem converters to make more matches , for the most part. So you have to make it up by adding "auto-mana-givers" like shrine and drownyard if you rely too heavily on aether hub.
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,064 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Mainloop25 wrote:
    wereotter wrote:
    Mainloop25 wrote:
    There are a couple of problems with energize. One is that it's a double edged sword. Your opponent can take advantage of energized gems just as easily as you can, provided that they are there at the end of your turn. If they happen to have a way to take advantage of Overload, then you're just helping them if you fill the board with energized gems before you get to use them. The other problem that I've run into, is that they work like support gems, in that they can't be converted like with mana conversion supports like Corrupted Grafstone, etc. So you can "choke out" yourself out of gem matches easily if you fill the entire board with energized gems. This is very easy to do with Empyreal Voyager or Era of Innovation/Tamiyo's Journal or other combos. With that said, there are some extremely powerful combos that you can pull off if you have the time and card to set them up .

    That's why if you're running an energy deck you should use Aether Hub instead of converting gems. It'll give +3 to any match once you got that level of saturation. Much better than converting and hoping they align so you can match your colors.

    I actually have been using Aether Hub, and yes it helps, but after a while, if you haven't matched enough energized gems, you run out of potential matches. And guess which matches are left? The normal gems with no energy left.

    My most successful energy deck has been a Garruk delirium deck with aether hub, decoction module, and his creature tokens. It creates enough energy to get good mana gains, but not too many that it chokes you out of potential matches.

    Clearing out too many energized gems is actually a good thing sometimes, for this reason.

    Servant of the Conduit will help out too. I find I tend not to run out of energy in decks that I've built for it, a boosted up Empyreal Voyager does wonders too. I'll admit, though, that energy is something you pretty much have to all all-in with else it doesn't work.
  • 810Bourne
    810Bourne Posts: 53 Match Maker
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    So, I am a new guy, I might have paid her, but not at $29.99.

    Wny can't we buy her separately?
  • cogito
    cogito Posts: 25
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    Saw i right 2 BB for 29.99? Plus chandra?
  • 810Bourne
    810Bourne Posts: 53 Match Maker
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    Yeah, it's 29.99, but I don't want the big boxes, I just want her.
  • cogito
    cogito Posts: 25
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    She Comes, i assume in 2 or 3 weeks to the vault. Like jace2 and lilly2.for 295
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,064 Chairperson of the Boards
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    810Bourne wrote:
    So, I am a new guy, I might have paid her, but not at $29.99.

    Wny can't we buy her separately?

    Planeswalkers have always come with packs, runes, and crystals. Probably it's to help you build up the walker and have cards in case your collection isn't great.

    Though $30 for all except Chandra is still good even if you didn't want her before.
  • Azerack
    Azerack Posts: 501 Critical Contributor
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    Chiming in, here, I honestly want to compare Liliana, The Last Hope with this new Chandra and I really see the new Chandra as anti-climactic comparatively. icon_e_confused.gif

    Whereas Liliana "out of the box" seemed much more useful and entertaining, albeit with a focused type of creature, as already stated, above, the new Chandra seems very lack-luster and requiring some even more particular cards I already had enough trouble making the first Chandra work for me (and as a result, I don't use her except for special goal-oriented ribbon/points) without that sort of limitation.
    Dovin Baan even is more accessible with his energized abilities and I've had fun with him, off and on.

    So, I have a feeling there WILL be some changes, and I look forward to them, but for now that's why I don't see myself picking her up.

    That being said I have yet to see Saheeli offered to the general public - only the two challenges that you had to be top ten to win - so I'm saving up for her eventual (?) arrival, meanwhile.
  • morgue427
    morgue427 Posts: 783 Critical Contributor
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    trouble getting the first chandra working for you? get lightning axe and inner stuggle and half the game is won for you just use her abilities to keep the board clear, volcanic rambler is a huge plus and cheap. just remeber your not always trying to cast creatures first charge up spells to whack theirs then creatures