The best MV>4 green walker, without a doubt. That said, my high-end is already quite full in the color, and the cards I have there currently have the creature type line, which is quite important for the synergies I support. As I continue to try to lower the average MV of my cube to make for more interactive gameplay (and to prevent newer drafters from drafting oops all 4 drops decks that can't keep up) I'm more hesitant around cards like this, but we'll see how I feel after getting my hands on it.
I know this is a slightly older post at this point, but the more I think about this new Nissa the less I like her. I thought this might be an interesting discussion.
I think this Nissa is good when she's able to win the game with her faux-
craterhoof impression. While I think she's clearly worse as a big overrun than hoofdaddy (if you're ramping her out she might be giving as little as +3/+3, and she doesn't come with a free body– you need to have enough extra creatures lying around to kill the opponent after tapping your mana dorks), the fact that she's a pretty modal Planeswalker can make up for this weakness. She's definitely better than the other
7 Drop Green Walker (although maybe not better than
Karn?)
So what's the problem? I don't think she is better than the commonly used 5 mana options, even when considering her modality. Cards like
Nissa, Who Shakes the World,
Wrenn and Seven, and
Vivien, Monster's Advocate are all able to be used to their fullest extent when a player reaches turhn 5. While
Nissa, Ascended Animist can start making 4/4s or blowing up artifacts or enchantments on 5, I am not convinced that is better than the high synergy outcomes the other three common 5s can provide. You really need to be getting up to 7 for her to be fantastic in my view, and you need to have enough forests and spare creatures for that ability to pop off. Compare that to
Nissa, Who Shakes the World, who can immediately start ramping a player to the moon the turn she comes into play,
Vivien, who can be a combo and draw engine, or
Wrenn and Seven, who has interesting graveyard and land synergies and makes powerful scaling tokens .
Essentially, I think
Nissa, Ascended Animist is cool and unique, and when she works I think she's a bit beating. However, I think she is just one of several interesting options for Big Green Walker, and isn't necessarily the best. I think
Nissa, Who Shakes the World still probably holds that title.
What does everyone else think?
