Vraska, Jaya, or save for Karn?

ifsandbuts

I am a (mostly) Legacy player. I have enough crystals saved to buy Vraska or Jaya. I could also just save the crystals for when Karn becomes available. Who should I get?

Vraska's abilities suck, but she is the only g/b planeswalker currently.

Jaya's ult is crazy, but she is mono r and I already have strong Koth and Nahiri decka.

Karn is Karn.

Please help me decide!

Brigby

*Moved to MtGPQ sub-forum from the MPQ sub-forum

Elektrophorus

I think it more depends on your collection and what you want to play. They all have drastically different playstyles. Also, you should be able to save up enough gems for Karn in the time he appears in the “arriving soon” section.

Mburn7

Sarkhan the mad, every time

Vraska's abilities are awesome (well 2 out of 3 are).  I don't know why you would think they are bad.

I think your decision should come down to this:

Do I need a better black/green walker for PvP events

Do I need easy wins in PvE

If you want better PvP, go with Vraska

If you want better PvE go with Karn (since he functions as a so-so mono-color in PvP events).

If you want fun with dragons and/or sacrificing stuff (always a good idea) get Sarkhan

Unknown

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G_pretender

Vraska

Vraska is insanely good. She may not look it at first, but when you start playing her you will change your mind, I guarantee it. Her first and third abilities are great, her third is nuts in enraged matches (even if we aren't seeing those recently). And her first is great against PvE matches that rely heavily on supports. Not to mention black green is a killer combo, you get to combine green ramp and fatties with black discard and creature kill. 

ard021

Vraska

G_pretender said:

Vraska is insanely good. She may not look it at first, but when you start playing her you will change your mind, I guarantee it. Her first and third abilities are great, her third is nuts in enraged matches (even if we aren't seeing those recently). And her first is great against PvE matches that rely heavily on supports. Not to mention black green is a killer combo, you get to combine green ramp and fatties with black discard and creature kill. 

Also, green/black has amazing graveyard synergy, with Gather the Pack enabling black resurrection cards, letting you cheat things into play (which lets you work around creature summoning limits in NoP and EC.)

Firinmahlazer

Sarkhan the mad, every time

Hard to say. Vraska falls a little short in the mana gains department but her all abilities are rock solid. Karn obviously unlocks a world of color combo possibilities but the cost of him is yet to be seen and you're going to need a ton of runes to boot. Jaya I don't have so I can't really comment. On the face a mono red, spell focused PW she's kinda pigeonholed. Coalition mates seem to think she's pretty decent. 

bk1234

Save for Karn

Vraska’s abilities are amazing. Support removal in Black!!

However it you’re a legacy player, Karn is super fun, so do that. 

Brakkis

Vraska

Without a solid date on when Karn will be available for Crystal's, its hard to vote for that option.

Jaya seems like a decent mono-red PW but generally, dual colors are the better choice. She does have a (possibly... more than likely) bugged ultimate right now that results in infinite loops.

Vraska's first and third abilities are really powerful. A PW with built in support destruction is nasty and her color combination allows for either graveyard shenanigans or ramping into big creatures and hard removal with ease. Shes lacking a spikey color gain but she can overcome that being green.

Theros

Save for Karn

Go Karn cause he is more future proof and best PW for legacy. Green will lose that momentum when HOU rotates; no more green ramp except the severely nerfed animist awakening. Green in general will not afford highly costed creatures.

babar3355

Save for Karn

I would encourage you to try and pick up both Vraska and Karn.  But if forced to decide, I would probably pick Karn as a legacy player.  He is also really good in rainbow nodes for stuff like HoD coming up this weekend.

Vraska, as players have already noted is very strong.  Her first might be the best in the game.  Also, green is a really strong color, so having a B/G walker is important.

Jaya is more of a luxury item.  I wouldn't bother buying her if you are still trying to scramble for resources.

wereotter

Vraska

 Vraska is actually pretty good. Her first ability let’s you save card slots from needing as much support removal and gives you access to black’s creature removal.

I’d vote Karn potentially too, but without knowing if you have the half a million runes to level him up for legacy play, it’s impissoble to know if he’s a good buy for you right now or not. 

DumasAG

Save for Karn

All are good, but Saving for Karn and trying to level him means that Jaya/Vraska will be available again by the time you actually get to level 60. I bought Karn in the pre-DOM vault sale, and I'm still only at 58.

ifsandbuts

How many mana runes does Karn need for a full levelling? I have been working on Bolas for almost two months and still need to upgrade Angrath, Samut, Teferi, and the gw Huatl...

Mburn7

Sarkhan the mad, every time

ifsandbuts said:

How many mana runes does Karn need for a full levelling? I have been working on Bolas for almost two months and still need to upgrade Angrath, Samut, Teferi, and the gw Huatl...

Karn is the same as Bolas.  So yeah, he takes ages.  Mine is only at 58 and I bought him the first time around (just like @DumasAG, it seems)

bk1234

Save for Karn

ifsandbuts said:

How many mana runes does Karn need for a full levelling? I have been working on Bolas for almost two months and still need to upgrade Angrath, Samut, Teferi, and the gw Huatl...

323K 

You can find abilities and rune cost for any PW at any level on @octal9 ‘s site http://www.mtgpq.info. 

Dodecapod

Vraska

It’s a difficult choice overall, and I tend to agree with most of the comments above about valuing Vraska highest for some purposes (mostly PvP), Karn highest for others (especially PvE, although he’s stellar in some PvP events too), and Jaya as a less urgent luxury option once your core lineup is solidified.

The total cost to max out Karn is about 324k runes (full details available at @octal9’s invaluable site https://mtgpq.info/planeswalker?id=37&level=60), so if you found Bolas tedious to level and you’ve already got a queue to grind through first, it might make sense go for Vraska for now and defer Karn until later, regardless of when he becomes available for crystals.

Even though it goes a bit beyond the scope of the initial poll, out of the PWs listed, I’d probably prioritize leveling them (and obtaining them where applicable) in approximately this order, in case it helps to have some opinions on that (though naturally the best order will vary a bit with individual playstyle and collection):

1.  Teferi - His colors are strong, he does everything a PW needs to except innately generate mana, and his level 60 bonuses are enough to cover the lack of a mana-generating ability.

2.  Vraska - Her first ability can be invaluable in certain matchups, and she’s unique in her colors; she’s not the most powerful PW around, but she enables decks no other PW can reasonably attempt in a competitive setting, and her ultimate is better than it looks at first glance.

3.  Samut or G/W Huatli (not both though, as they fill similar roles) - These are both excellent PWs for aggressive decks, especially where speed objectives are concerned; in events, they can be a bit inconsistent because they both require creatures on the board to be effective, but their ceilings are on par with Kiora or Bolas if they have the opportunity to build up momentum during the first 3-5 turns.

4.  Angrath - Much like Saheeli or T2, he’s always a good choice, yet somehow rarely seems to be the best, in large part because Bolas tends to overshadow any dual PWs in U/B/R.

5.  Karn - His power at level 60 is just absurd in any events that allow him to run 2 or more colors, but getting him there is hardly a trivial exercise, and with limited runes, he can safely take a backseat to duals and strong mono-color PWs until you’re ready to focus on him and him alone; his biggest “weakness” in my view is that he’s actually the most difficult PW to use optimally, because both his card selection in 5-color events (where he’s presumably most often used) and his first ability create so many choices for the player that subtle mistakes become virtually inevitable (theoretically, having more choices would actually be a strength if decision fatigue and inattentional blindness hypothetically didn’t exist, but in practice, he tends to eventually induce misplays that simply wouldn’t be possible with weaker yet more straightforward PWs).

6.  Samut or G/W Huatli - This is roughly the point at which any remaining PWs can be skipped entirely unless you’re swimming in runes when you get here; having one of Samut or G/W Huatli helps a lot for some objectives, but having both is usually unnecessary.

7.  Jaya - This is the only PW I don’t have, so take this assessment in particular with a grain of salt; she seems very strong for a mono-color PW, but whether or not her strengths coincide with any red node objectives remains to be seen, and most of the time, having access to a 2nd color (if not more) is more valuable than any other aspect of a PW, so it’s hard to justify going out of the way to level her for competitive purposes.

Regardless of what you decide, best of luck both with grinding resources and with finding fun, effective decks to use with whichever PWs you end up prioritizing.