Ajani Unyielding: Official Thread

135

Comments

  • julianus
    julianus Posts: 188 Tile Toppler
    I doubt I'd get him, but Green + White definitely has some interesting combinations, especially defensively. For example, Serene Steward, Campaign of Vengeance, Undergrowth Champion and Mantle of Webs. That'd be fun. :)
  • shteev
    shteev Posts: 2,031 Chairperson of the Boards
    AJ2 just feels a bit... balanced to me. I feel like the dev team have possibly fallen into the same trap that they did when designing Kaladesh generally, of trying to make fairer, more balanced, less powerful content, but not balancing older content at the same time.

    At the time, that was the only reason I could see for making cards like Unlicensed Disintegration and Tidy Conclusion when better alternatives like DGrip, To The Slaughter, and Inner Struggle exist.

    I'm sure people with have some fun with him Deploying Gaea's Revenge.
  • Matthew
    Matthew Posts: 605 Critical Contributor
    shteev said:
    AJ2 just feels a bit... balanced to me. I feel like the dev team have possibly fallen into the same trap that they did when designing Kaladesh generally, of trying to make fairer, more balanced, less powerful content, but not balancing older content at the same time.

    At the time, that was the only reason I could see for making cards like Unlicensed Disintegration and Tidy Conclusion when better alternatives like DGrip, To The Slaughter, and Inner Struggle exist.

    I'm sure people with have some fun with him Deploying Gaea's Revenge.
    I can't tell if you're being snarky here, so I'll act as if you aren't. I agree, he absolutely feels balanced.

    And yes, I am one of the lucky ones who have been waiting for W/G so that I can drop a three-stack of GRs onto the board. That will be lots of fun :D
  • Mainloop25
    Mainloop25 Posts: 1,959 Chairperson of the Boards
    @matthew jerkface ;P I'm jealous. You gonna add mirrorpool trample and evolutionary leap in there too?? 
  • madwren
    madwren Posts: 2,259 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited April 2017
    Matthew said:
    shteev said:
    AJ2 just feels a bit... balanced to me. I feel like the dev team have possibly fallen into the same trap that they did when designing Kaladesh generally, of trying to make fairer, more balanced, less powerful content, but not balancing older content at the same time.

    At the time, that was the only reason I could see for making cards like Unlicensed Disintegration and Tidy Conclusion when better alternatives like DGrip, To The Slaughter, and Inner Struggle exist.

    I'm sure people with have some fun with him Deploying Gaea's Revenge.
    I can't tell if you're being snarky here, so I'll act as if you aren't. I agree, he absolutely feels balanced.

    And yes, I am one of the lucky ones who have been waiting for W/G so that I can drop a three-stack of GRs onto the board. That will be lots of fun :D

    Since Shteev's in jail, I suspect he won't mind if I mention he's being serious. Snarky too, of course, but at the time of Kaladesh, some of us theorized that they were actively trying to combat power creep by creating less powerful/more reasonable cards. We all thought that cards were going to get worse; instead, they plateaued, or were strictly worse.  In other words, perhaps the devs learned from their mistakes after the question of extreme power creep was repeatedly raised.

    However, by allowing SOI/EMN cards to continue unchecked, the environment remains dominated by the power cards from that set--and as noted elsewhere, while keeping power creep in check is a good thing, it did have the unfortunate side effect of making Kaladesh seem very boring and unengaging.

  • morgue427
    morgue427 Posts: 783 Critical Contributor
    i think after the new release energize will be forgotten but devoid didnt die so it wont , yes it will be harder to fill up a board if only one person is putting it out but means somebody wont be taking off either and the ai doesnt care one way or the other. so begone energize let the lucky ones beat us down with energy decks. It is too bad they picked enegize i think the vehicles could have done tons better with some help and small tweaks.
    like combining crew in the vehicle cast a pilot and the vehicle gets its plusses but none other. with pilot you use a creature slot for a vehicle so it is dead, but that is neither hear nor there.
    i will get ajani just not sure if i will get kiora and then him or the other way around, do have betttey cards to work with in white and sort of green but blue isnt good no mana dorks lol
  • Laeuftbeidir
    Laeuftbeidir Posts: 1,841 Chairperson of the Boards
    If I'd be you : get what appears first in the vault.. After it's gone it takes months to return!
  • morgue427
    morgue427 Posts: 783 Critical Contributor
    the update i thought was going to make them all available all the time. did i misunderstand it?
  • Laeuftbeidir
    Laeuftbeidir Posts: 1,841 Chairperson of the Boards
    Yep, I think you did :
    Release thread, somewhere in the third to fourth quarter - .. purchase planeswalkers directly from the grid when they are available in the vault etc.
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    shteev said:
    AJ2 just feels a bit... balanced to me. I feel like the dev team have possibly fallen into the same trap that they did when designing Kaladesh generally, of trying to make fairer, more balanced, less powerful content, but not balancing older content at the same time.

    At the time, that was the only reason I could see for making cards like Unlicensed Disintegration and Tidy Conclusion when better alternatives like DGrip, To The Slaughter, and Inner Struggle exist.

    I'm sure people with have some fun with him Deploying Gaea's Revenge.
    He definitely feels balanced to me too though it's unfortunate he's coming out as energize is nearing its end. His final ability will be harder to use to good effect of both players aren't using energize. 

    Also while its it's a definite balance, it's disappointing that his main colors are +4 on white and +2 on green when Kiora is an even +3 on both. It seems small, but in the bigger picture it means you'll get less use out of traditional green ramping, and over the course of a normal match, literally every other planeswalker with green will get to cast bigger spells faster, even Origins Nissa. 
  • morgue427
    morgue427 Posts: 783 Critical Contributor
    oh well with buying what ever is avaiable first, when i have the crystals and runes i will get who is around got a few weeks at least
  • khurram
    khurram Posts: 1,090 Chairperson of the Boards
    morgue427 said:
    ...... but devoid didnt die 
    Err..... I dont think devoid ever "lived". They should seriously revisit those cards sometime.
  • THEMAGICkMAN
    THEMAGICkMAN Posts: 697 Critical Contributor
    khurram said:
    morgue427 said:
    ...... but devoid didnt die 
    Err..... I dont think devoid ever "lived". They should seriously revisit those cards sometime.
    Yes we're overdue for a major card balancing patch - like 1.5.
  • shteev
    shteev Posts: 2,031 Chairperson of the Boards
    THEMAGICkMAN said:
    khurram said:
    morgue427 said:
    ...... but devoid didnt die 
    Err..... I dont think devoid ever "lived". They should seriously revisit those cards sometime.
    Yes we're overdue for a major card balancing patch - like 1.5.
    Expanding the number of cards in previously released sets would give us a chance to re-experience old mechanics by printing some more cards with them that aren't terrible.
  • morgue427
    morgue427 Posts: 783 Critical Contributor
    well i wasnt playing when devoid was the new mechanic. but i do see it being played time to time.. if you have a great card that makes it worth it then use it especially if most dont. after the next block i may even like enegize more when i dont have to worry that it will be used agaisnt me in goni's aether heart or mechanized production or dnyavolt tower evereytime i use that deck
  • shteev
    shteev Posts: 2,031 Chairperson of the Boards
    Can someone fix the spelling on this thread title? It's driving me nuts.

    Where's @Alve when you need her?
  • morgue427
    morgue427 Posts: 783 Critical Contributor
    thanks now you got my ocd kicked in and it will drive me nuts too lol
  • Matthew
    Matthew Posts: 605 Critical Contributor
    edited April 2017
    Mainloop25 said:
    @matthew jerkface ;P I'm jealous. You gonna add mirrorpool trample and evolutionary leap in there too?? 
    Mirrorpool and EL are two cards I have given up on ever getting. If the dupe conversion system isn't total garbage, Mirrorpool will be on the top of the list of "cards to get that I still don't have".

    @madwren

    Snarkiness aside, I think it's a good thing that Aj2 is as balanced as he appears to be. He is all around better than either C2 or N2, and I think we can say that unequivocally. I also think that like T2, he will remain relevant at least for the next block, if not longer. He has an unprecedented life total, as well as some very unique abilities. Even if you don't have the perfect library of Energize cards, you can still set him up to be a real powerhouse. And beyond that, some of the cards from the older blocks (GR & Deploy, for one example) will make up for his less-than-generic abilities.

    As for T2, I think the U/B color combo would have made him a better PW no matter what, even not counting for the fact that he's built around KLD/AER mechanics. It would be hard to make a U/B PW that didn't suck.

    @wereotter

    I actually agree with how they have set up his mana gains. Green has ridiculous ramp; we know this already. It would make sense for them to slow that down a bit on Aj2 in the name of balance. It also makes sense when you look at his ridiculous max health, and his max deck contents. Four supports seems quite limiting, but it does two important things.

    1) It forces you to consider your overall strategy for your deck, which leads me to -
    2) It decreases the potential for ridiculous ramping comboing off of other things. Sure, you will still be able to build a solid ramp deck with him. But to do so, you will have to shy away from things like Hixus, Bonds, etc., or you will just end up trying to do too much.
  • Theros
    Theros Posts: 490 Mover and Shaker
    edited April 2017
    @Matthew can you clarify why you think aj2 is better than N2?
  • madwren
    madwren Posts: 2,259 Chairperson of the Boards
    Matthew said:
    Mainloop25 said:
    @matthew jerkface ;P I'm jealous. You gonna add mirrorpool trample and evolutionary leap in there too?? 
    Mirrorpool and EL are two cards I have given up on ever getting. If the dupe conversion system isn't total garbage, Mirrorpool will be on the top of the list of "cards to get that I still don't have".

    @madwren

    Snarkiness aside, I think it's a good thing that Aj2 is as balanced as he appears to be. He is all around better than either C2 or N2, and I think we can say that unequivocally. I also think that like T2, he will remain relevant at least for the next block, if not longer. He has an unprecedented life total, as well as some very unique abilities. Even if you don't have the perfect library of Energize cards, you can still set him up to be a real powerhouse. And beyond that, some of the cards from the older blocks (GR & Deploy, for one example) will make up for his less-than-generic abilities.


    A2 is fine, but mana gains that low generally put planeswalkers in the "too inconsistent to play competitively" category for me. I'll still pick him up when he's available for crystals and see if I like him.

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