Planeswalkers in EDH
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Nov. 1, 2017, 3:43 a.m. by UpperDeckerTaco
Not sure if there is a thread on this already, but I was wanting to get people's opinions on which planeswalkers are best in a multiplayer format across all colors. So let's get the discussion started as to which planeswalkers are best suited for multiplayer games. Keep in mind while all planeswalkers offer a powerful presence to the board within a multiplayer game, I at least, do not feel every planeswalker is at its best in a multiplayer format.
PhotogenicParasympathetic says... #3
In general, I'd argue these are the top five general-use planeswalkers in EDH:
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is quite powerful for his ability to sweep the board. Plus... that ult ain't messing around.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion is one of the more difficult walkers to attack, since she's constantly spitting out blockers, and she also comes equipped with sweeper in her minus ability.
Liliana of the Dark Realms is the best mono-black planeswalkers in EDH, no contest. A constant source of mana, deck thinning, spot removal, pumping up for a big swing, or granting you all the mana you'll ever need.
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury is spot removal and ramp (and blockers!) and card draw. What more could you want?
Spot five is a difficult call, but I think I'm leaning towards Vraska, Relic Seeker at the moment. Her near-conditionless removal that also ramps you means even if you only get one shot, it'll count. She can make blockers for herself, and those blockers also have evasion to finish a player if you do get her ult off.
Honorable mentions:
Garruk Wildspeaker. If Vraska doesn't get spot five, he does. He most frequently just untaps lands (not just basics!), but he's capable of adding to your board too, and of course he's got Overrun for his ult.
Koth of the Hammer is great for his ramping abilities. Probably one of the best mono-red planeswalkers in EDH.
A handful of the Chandra's (most notably Chandra, Flamecaller and Chandra Ablaze, but to a lesser extent Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Chandra, Pyromaster) are playable in mono-red as card advantage, although if your deck has access to green black or blue there will be better options.
Jace Beleren doesn't typically draw hate, since he can help opponents too, but of course the drawback is... he's helping your opponents too.
Other than those... planeswalkers become VERY situational, and really depend on the deck. Those 11 are the only ones I'd consider staples. Other can be very powerful in EDH (I'm looking at you, Tamiyo, the Moon Sage), but I wouldn't just windmill slam them into a deck without being sure they were adding to my gameplan.
November 1, 2017 4:57 a.m.
ForsakenxEDHx says... #4
Teferi, Tezzeret the Seeker, Bant Tamiyo, Nicol Bolas God Pharaoh,Ugin, Chandra Torch of Defiance, Dovin Baan, Elspeth that Wrath of God's.
These are the most common I see, of them Ugin is seemingly the strongest.
I don't run Planeswalkers in every EDH deck but I definitely try to work them in where appropriate.
As far as protecting them goes, I run an Atraxa Superfriends that wins a lot of muliplayer matches. Either Stax or Board Wipe Tribal is the easiest way to ult. them.
November 1, 2017 4:58 a.m.
It depends on the deck, 100%. Some walkers, like Dovin Baan have ults that do well in multiplayer settings, but getting him to ult with 3 people trying to kill him is a challenge, on the other hand Elspeth, Sun's Champion has all of her abilities really well tuned for a multiplayer setting, but if your deck runs alot of big creatures her - ability becomes almost unusable. I think overall any walker CAN be good in EDH... with the possible exception of Jace, the Mind Sculptor because while he's the best walker 1v1, hes super squishy and none of his abilities scale for multiple opponents making him little more than a brainstorm on a stick.
November 1, 2017 5:42 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #6
Because of the way that planeswalkers tend to die pretty quickly in a multiplayer game unless you are playing a superfriends strategy, where the fact that you have a lot of planeswalkers out helps them protect each other, I only play planeswalkers if I am happy with only activating one of their abilities that they can activate when they enter the battlefield.
In my 6 irl decks, the only one I play is Dack Fayden, who can Steal Artifact for 1 less mana and without an enchantment that can be gotten rid of to undo the steal.
Besides him, I am now looking at maybe adding Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip to my Medomai the Ageless control deck, probably adding Tezzeret the Seeker to my Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge aikido deck, and possibly adding Liliana, Death's Majesty to my Teneb, the Harvester necromancer deck.
November 1, 2017 9:32 a.m.
Ugin would top the list as it can go into any deck as a wipe.
Most are deck dependant.
Venser is good in the correct deck, as bouncing your stolen permanents is good depending on meta.
Jace tms, is usually good only as a Brainstorm on a stick, or bouncing your stolen permanents. But I use mine to bounce my Gilded Drake from time to time.
Teferi is good as a commander (along with the others that can be a commander except ob nix - didnt care for him as commander but he is in my soul sisters deck.)
Liliana Vess is good as a tutor, with other abilities. Like some times you need that creature in your hand to be in your grave.
November 1, 2017 10:23 a.m.
MindAblaze says... #8
Sorin, Grim Nemesis has a pretty powerful plus ability, but might just make people mad at you.
Garruk Wildspeaker has been really useful for me, I often find a place for him and Freyalise.
In the right deck Xenagos, the Reveler is preposterous. His mana production beside somebody like Prossh cant be understated. Again, it might only happen once, but if youre playing a reasonable number of tokens it can be hard to get at him.
Other than that, I would expect some of the ones already named to top the list; Tezzeret the Seeker , Dack Fayden, Liliana Vess and Liliana of the Dark Realms. Mono-Red Daretti is great, either leading the deck or in the right 99.
November 1, 2017 11:26 a.m.
Im surprised Sorin Markov hasn't been mentioned yet. Making someone drop to 10 is usually a death sentence.
November 1, 2017 11:47 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #10
Oh are we including ones we play as commander? Cause I love playing Nahiri, the Harbinger!
November 1, 2017 12:18 p.m.
Sometimes for me a divergent favorite is Garruk, Caller of Beasts in a creature filled deck.
November 1, 2017 12:28 p.m.
SteelSentry says... #12
Daretti, Scrap Savant is very powerful if you're in an artifact themed deck. Even if he only stays around to use his minus ability, Goblin Welder is a pretty good effect even as a one shot.
November 1, 2017 1:09 p.m.
I think everyone pretty much got it, I'd probably include Elspeth, Knight-Errant since her emblem is probably one of the better available and she fits in a variety of builds that like to swing in. Personally though I really think Teferi, Temporal Archmage, Daretti, Scrap Savant and Tezzeret the Seeker are the best overall.
November 2, 2017 12:17 a.m.
Nissa, Vastwood Seer Flip has to be one of my favourites. She flips to give you a repeatable source of card advantage in green.
November 2, 2017 4:58 a.m.
Karns_Pyromancer says... #15
Jace, Architect of Thought is one of my favorite planeswalkers for EDH. He's an absolute powerhouse which gets even better the longer he'd out.
November 3, 2017 10:47 p.m.
Captain_Howel says... #16
The planeswalkers that can be commanders themselves probably go without saying, but Nahiri, the Lithomancer is a pretty functional commander if you have a solid set of equipment to work with, can generate one equipped protector per turn without spending any mana on it, bring back an important bit of equipment from the graveyard, and if your opponents are really asleep out there, wake them up with that lovely blade ult. That and I think the equipment deck theme is just an absolute blast to play.
December 16, 2017 5:22 a.m.
For me it's more dependent on what the deck does, and do the walkers help that strategy or supplement it in any way? I also rate walkers on their second ability only, if applicable, which I mean 'can I use it as soon as it comes down?'. For instance, either vraska is a removal spell. Chandra Pyromaster is 'card draw', and Daretti is recursion.
I tend to have a tradition of two walkers in each EDH of mine, though I'm waiting for another in Kozilek because Karn doesn't help it as much, and I'm not shelling out that much dough for it.
To more directly answer your question, I'm not sure any are completely viable in multiplayer as much as spells designed for it are, but some are better than others in a vacuum. Angrath, the Flame-Chained, Saheeli Rai, and the much mentioned Elspeth, Sun's Champion are all good because they hit multiple targets or affect the entire board in one ability. While two of them kinda whiff on my 'second ability matters' policy, they can still be useful.
MollyMab says... #2
It really depends on the deck. Planeswalkers are often one use things, because of the nature of EDH. 3 other players or so to protect it from. And attacking planeswalker is something people will do, just because it advances the game state without punishing your life total or something.
November 1, 2017 4:16 a.m.