Monocolor planeswalkers just a novelty?

Rhasget

With so little content to play I spend alot of time just fiddling with decks and PW combos. And play story/TG to test them. 

I like to try cards and ideas that are seemingly useless (and many times they are) and mono pws are in that category for me.

I never play them in PvP since all colors have their restrictions in what cards are available. And in PvE I use some just as alternate deckslots for some objectives.

It seems many think the same since you rarely play against one. Ob Nix and Koth are the ones I see in PvP regularly.

I would like to see more creative events/nodes/objectives making these PWs more attractive.
Why not have a short event  (2-3 charges total with five color nodes) where you can use any PW that has one of the colors but limited to cards only from that one.

Example to clarify:
Bolas is chosen in the red node and can therefore only use red/colorless cards. 

Or do I undervalue the monos too much? 
How do you use them?

Mburn7

Personally, I love Elspeth.  I think her abilities are insanely good.  I am in the minority, though.

I know a lot of people really love Liliana 3 and Gideon 3, but I don't have either so I can't really say.

Koth and Ob (and Jace 2) are just insanely good.

I do wish there was more incentive for using the mono-colors, though, since their color restriction is really what makes them so hard to use competitively.  Every color has its weaknesses, and not having another color to help offset that really hurts.  With the cool new objectives lately, maybe they could run an event with "use a mono-colored planeswalker" as one of the objectives?  That would be fun.

bk1234

Ob is my answer to anything I don’t have another answer to,

Elspeth is a beast — she gets a ton of play. 

I recommend these 2 to newer players as part of the initial staples they should have. 

In RtO, I use G3 on the white node. It is my most consistent deck. 

I switch between Jaya and Angrath for the red node on that event. They are equally consistent so it just depends on my mood. 

Tezz1 is still the best for low spell objectives in PvE. 

Garruk is still the best for low creature objectives in PVE unless it’s a third tier opponent — in that case I use G3. 

Jaya and Elspeth are my overall most used PW in PvE. 

I’ve played AWR to progression with the original 5. I didn’t have a single loss or missed objective. 

In short, plenty of monos have their place. 

James13

I think stylistically, Mono-colored walkers should have superior abilities to multicolored.  Ideally these abilities will also define a niche for them.  Something they excel at that other walkers do not.

This is why Ob is still relevant, for example.

Ideally, a mono-colored walker will have superior on-color matches to a multi-colored one.  (Koth, Elspeth, etc)

However, that does not seem to be the case across the board, currently.  And it's a little too hard to rein it in now.

Generally, dual colors will be superior simply due to card access and more expensive as a result.  The challenge is in making mono-colors attractive with specific use cases, like Ob.

FindingHeart8

bken1234 said:

Ob is my answer to anything I don’t have another answer to,

Elspeth is a beast — she gets a ton of play. 

I recommend these 2 to newer players as part of the initial staples they should have. 

In RtO, I use G3 on the white node. It is my most consistent deck. 

I switch between Jaya and Angrath for the red node on that event. They are equally consistent so it just depends on my mood. 

Tezz1 is still the best for low spell objectives in PvE. 

Garruk is still the best for low creature objectives in PVE unless it’s a third tier opponent — in that case I use G3. 

Jaya and Elspeth are my overall most used PW in PvE. 

I’ve played AWR to progression with the original 5. I didn’t have a single loss or missed objective. 

In short, plenty of monos have their place. 

wait Ob, really?

I left that demon back on the shelf back in Kaladesh lol.

and Tezz1??  Interesting...our play styles must be very different

FindingHeart8

Before m19, Kaladesh's Nissa was my go-to for green, her mana gains and abilities are quite formidable.

Like everyone else said, Espeth is the most formidable monowhite walker to date

Jaya for red spells/Koth for red creatures

I know it's a dual-colored, but Sorin doesn't get the credit he deserves.  He's a really good PW!

DumasAG

I pretty heavily play Jace2, Lili3, Ob, and Koth. Don't have the runes to start working on Jaya yet, but I'm excited to play her in the new year. I would likely play Elspeth and Garruk, but I don't have either of them. Some of the mono walkers have abilities that just work really, really well. I worry less about the card pool available, because every color has enough really good cards at this point to make a strong deck.

And Jace2 was made to storm vaults (just sayin...)

NinjaE

FindingHeart8 said:

wait Ob, really?

I left that demon back on the shelf back in Kaladesh lol.

and Tezz1??  Interesting...our play styles must be very different

I use Ob regularly. He gets free wins on things I might have trouble with otherwise.

madwren

Koth and Elspeth are worth using because of mana gains, though I feel Elspeth is stronger because she has good blue/green gains to go along with her white, along with greater versatility in deck design.

Ob still has the best creatureless win condition in the game and almost never loses.

The rest, however, I prefer other options, particularly for low spell or creature objectives. If you want to have some fun, though, run Garruk with Path of Discovery. 

Urzashead

FindingHeart8 said:

bken1234 said:

Ob is my answer to anything I don’t have another answer to,

Elspeth is a beast — she gets a ton of play. 

I recommend these 2 to newer players as part of the initial staples they should have. 

In RtO, I use G3 on the white node. It is my most consistent deck. 

I switch between Jaya and Angrath for the red node on that event. They are equally consistent so it just depends on my mood. 

Tezz1 is still the best for low spell objectives in PvE. 

Garruk is still the best for low creature objectives in PVE unless it’s a third tier opponent — in that case I use G3. 

Jaya and Elspeth are my overall most used PW in PvE. 

I’ve played AWR to progression with the original 5. I didn’t have a single loss or missed objective. 

In short, plenty of monos have their place. 

wait Ob, really?

I left that demon back on the shelf back in Kaladesh lol.

and Tezz1??  Interesting...our play styles must be very different

Obs ultimate can win the game in a turn or two depending on how u build the deck. There are a few events where you basically have to be cretureless and he is that beast.

FindingHeart8

Urzashead said:

FindingHeart8 said:

bken1234 said:

Ob is my answer to anything I don’t have another answer to,

Elspeth is a beast — she gets a ton of play. 

I recommend these 2 to newer players as part of the initial staples they should have. 

In RtO, I use G3 on the white node. It is my most consistent deck. 

I switch between Jaya and Angrath for the red node on that event. They are equally consistent so it just depends on my mood. 

Tezz1 is still the best for low spell objectives in PvE. 

Garruk is still the best for low creature objectives in PVE unless it’s a third tier opponent — in that case I use G3. 

Jaya and Elspeth are my overall most used PW in PvE. 

I’ve played AWR to progression with the original 5. I didn’t have a single loss or missed objective. 

In short, plenty of monos have their place. 

wait Ob, really?

I left that demon back on the shelf back in Kaladesh lol.

and Tezz1??  Interesting...our play styles must be very different

Obs ultimate can win the game in a turn or two depending on how u build the deck. There are a few events where you basically have to be cretureless and he is that beast.

oh yeah he has some snazzy abilities for sure, but the mana gains are so Origins PW horrible that I get impatient pretty quickly.  He got a bit better with Gilded Lotus though

HarryMason

Mono colored pws are fine , they're just more limited for obvious reasons.

Red is is a rough spot in standard atm, so I tend to shy away from mono r . I'm in the elspeth is overrated camp , but I will use her occasionally in events. Her main weakness right now is card draw. But with the free dragons hoard we all got,  problem solved . White has always had strange removal options, but it has a lot of them and it can deal with supports.

I run garruk a fair amount. People talk about green being weak right now, but I disagree . it has big scary monsters that are quite a beating and a good amount of ways to cheat them into play . Also , lots of recursion. Any deck that can flop a 12/12 every turn , indefinitely, is a solid choice .

I run tezz1 a fair amount, too . He's possibly the most fun pw I have, and he can draw a new grip and dump it every turn . My most unpopular opinion , however, is L3. I thoroughly enjoy her . Especially now that we have a colorless support removal. 

Essentially, I think that if you think that mono pws are bad, you might need to lighten up a little. There's nothing wrong with wanting to do the strongest things you can do, but mono pws are mostly quite fun and really challenge your deck building. Except koth. JamabunchobigthingsJamabunchobigthings.Dec is sort of a no brainer .

tfg76

In general, I think planeswalkers should be balanced overall, not by their cost.

For instance, I think mono-planeswalkers should have the best mana gains in their color. If Nissa1 had +6 in green, I think she'd see some more play, for instance.

Wolfteeth

Jaya, Jace 2 and Elspeth all have been good to me, I play these PWs all the time

ArielSira

Putting the manabonus of the basic walkers to +4 +2 +2 would increase their usabilty a lot already. Still hoping for an event with restrictions to the 5 basic walkers or just monowalkers.

Mburn7

ArielSira said:

Putting the manabonus of the basic walkers to +4 +2 +2 would increase their usabilty a lot already. Still hoping for an event with restrictions to the 5 basic walkers or just monowalkers.

We've been asking for something like that for ages.  I get that the Origins walkers are supposed to be just a basic learning point for new players, but they should be at least somewhat competitive (especially since the cost increase).

I'd say do the same thing to the Zendikar walkers as well too (Ob, Ally Gideon, Tezzeret 1, Garruk, Redjani, and Sarkhan 1).  Just +1 to all of their current bonuses.  It won't make them overpowered in the slightest, but would definitely make them more usable in events.

Froggy

And it’s only a matter of time before people realize how awesome the new Sarkhan is...

At 60, his mana gains are +5R and +4G.

He is FAR more superior than his predecessor. His abilities are actually very well thought through and with the new leader dragon (rare), his 3rd ability is a force to recon with...

Enygma6

There are many PWs who would benefit from a rebalancing of mana gains to what seems to be the current standard for the past year: total of 10 - # of colors they can access.  
Monos are +9, duals are +8, triples are +7, and Karn is +5.
The only ones who lose out are Saheeli (+11 now) and Tezzeret2 (+9).  
If they were all standardized to this formula it would make some of the older ones that much more attractive.  Though I would like to see some compensation if Saheeli gets hit, maybe make her 3rd ability not be tied to Vehicles.  Either fetch the next 4 creatures in library to the field, or pick one of the next 4 creatures in library to field and reinforce it 3 times.  
  
The other scary thing about this idea, Koth is currently only a +7 total, so he would get another +2 mana gains somewhere

Bil

Froggy said:

And it’s only a matter of time before people realize how awesome the new Sarkhan is...

At 60, his mana gains are +5R and +4G.

He is FAR more superior than his predecessor. His abilities are actually very well thought through and with the new leader dragon (rare), his 3rd ability is a force to recon with...

   I must say he looks interesting to play with, first and third abilities are good enough, but his 2nd really looks full of promises if you have the cards to build around it.

wereotter

The argument of card selection has been brought up over and over as the reason multicolored planeswalkers are superior to mono colored planeswalkers. This is why I'm still of the opinion that multicolor cards should only be able to be used by mono colored planeswalkers, or planeswalkers who share all of the colors of that card. For example Saheeli, Koth, and Jace could all run Storm the Vault, but Sammut, Kiora, and Nahiri can not. It wouldn't make a huge difference as multicolor cards only account for a small number of cards in a set, but it would allow the developers to push the power of those cards a little harder since their use will be restricted. This would be especially true of cards that don't have a multicolored planeswalker to use them, like Muldrotha or any of the upcoming elder dragons.

But as far as how things are now, using mono-colored planeswalkers.... I use them if it makes sense. Back in the day there was an event (I forget which one) where you were supposed to energize 10 or more gems and win in 6 turns, which made the Kaladesh Chandra a good pick. Additionally the second node of Across Ixalan I will often use a mono-colored planeswalker so that (when it's working correctly) explore triggers always convert to the same color. People mentioned a few that are good, and my personal opinion to add to it, Jace Cunning Castaway doesn't really get the attention he deserves. He's a pretty solid choice who gets mana bonuses on all 5 colors. If I'm not mistaken, I think he's the only mono colored planeswalker to do that.