Warning: this is going to be a long read. 
I’m trying to start something a little different than the normal power rankings. Card games have much more dynamic metagames than board games, so I’m recording current perceptions of the colors and their cards. The colors* will be ranked on their power level vs. the other four Planeswalker in a 1 vs. 1 Kill the Planeswalker game. This post will be updated an interval of time after each expansion releases with updated reviews of the colors and their standing in the metagame, as new cards become introduced and old cards become outclassed or find a new home. For this first review, I’m trying to give an example of what I will be doing in the future (and create something fun to read in a couple years). Since there will likely not be any competitive tournaments before the first expansion is released, this review is purely from my own gameplay. I would be happy to discuss my evaluation with anyone who wants to, since I may be missing something about how to play with and against certain colors.
*I reserve the right to change the rankings to Planeswalkers instead of colors
#1: Blue- In a kill the Planeswalker match, 1 vs. 1 (which I anticipate will be the standard tournament format), Blue is extremely tough to beat, mostly due to Unsummon and the consistency with which Blue can draw that effect. Blue felt like a clear top pick to me.
Why is Unsummon so good? The games are very short, so the Unsummon effect is extremely potent for destroying the offense of your opponent. It also destroys all enchantments on the Unsummoned card, which further slows and limits the opponent’s ability to kill Jace. And Jace is able to make use of this time to draw into cards like Twisted Image or Mind Control that give him or his squads extra damage to put the hurt on the enemy Planeswalker, all the while dropping attacks of 5 (or 3 attacks of 3, with Illusionary Projections) on them. Especially powerful are the two Hidden Enchant Unsummon effects, since they do not only Unsummon the enemy squad, but they also deny all attacks for this turn. There are ways to slightly limit the effects of this, by only attacking the figure with an Unsummon Hidden Enchant with your last attack to get two extra attacks off, but it’s still devastating and hard to counter for most decks and draws.
The other reason why Blue is so strong at the moment is his ability to filter out the bad cards in his deck and draw into the good ones. Selective Memory and Focused Thoughts (and even Collective Knowledge) give the deck unrivaled consistency. Repetition in effects of cards, like the three Unsummon effects, also add consistency. Other decks will eventually reach that level of consistency when more cards are added to the pool, but Blue is the most coherent deck at this point.
I don’t think Blue in its current form will continue to dominate once expansions come out. Common squads are unaffected by Blue’s Unsummon effects, which renders most of the way he works useless if they are usable (and they probably will be). Blue will get new cards in the expansion that will likely be good as well, but I don’t think that ridiculous tempo-gaining Blue will exist forever.
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#2: Green- I think here is where the order of the heroes gets a little subjective. Green, Red, and Black are all actually fairly evenly balanced and I think that personal preferences and experiences are going to influence which you think are better. For my own part, if Blue were banned and I had to win a single game, Green would be my pick, and that’s why I put them second.
Green simply has the most varied win conditions of any deck. Its fantastic range can make opponents play differently in the early game, slowing down their own win condition, which gives Green time to draw into the super combo - Paths Revealed + Overrun on the Pummelroots. Against 3 defense, 3 attacks of 6 averages 6.16 wounds. Against 4 defense, the combo averages 5.31 wounds. If you have a Titanic Growth to add into the combo, it’s more likely than not that you one shot their Planeswalker. It’s within the realm of possibility that you win on the combo turn, and pretty likely that you can finish them off with your archers the turn after. Remember, they still have to deal with the three Pummelroots sitting on top of their Planeswalker. Beyond that win condition, cards like Snare the Skies, Groundswell, and Leaf Arrow can be great ways to push damage on to their Planeswalker and the long range of Green allows for any damage pushing to have solid followup.
Nissa is also the most survivable Planeswalker, with great range to keep her safe, and great life and defense in case someone does get to her. Bountiful Harvest is a great healing spell to extend her life. Nissa’s Expedition gives Nissa an effective 11 move and disengage for that turn; plenty to escape any army. Primeval Light is incredible at destroying the buffs that Black/White puts out or the hidden enchantments that Blue relies on.
I do think Green is one of the harder decks to play, since you have to change styles based off what cards you’ve drawn. That will probably change once expansions come, as more cards will mean more repetition of effects. I think that expansions in general will benefit Green since some fantastic cards such as Overrun and Snare the Skies work on common squads. Commons will be able to take further advantage of these already strong attack boosts, since they will almost always be able to get three (or maybe more, if four man squads happen) boosted attacks from them.
Army Cards:
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#3: Red- This is a lot lower than most people have Red. Before I had the game, I was also a believer that Red was the strongest color. It seemed to have a variety of ways to instantly kill an opponent and it definitely does. 7 cards in the deck (Chandra’s Fury, Dual Casting, Firebreathing, Power of Fire, Seize the Day, Stoke the Flames, and Twinflame) are all great cards and can lead to lots of damage on the enemy Planeswalker very quickly. But there are a few reasons why Red struggles:
7 cards are good, but the other 5 are bad- Most of the rest of the deck is removal spells that require Chandra to get in close, which she doesn't want to do. She also doesn’t really need to do one damage to squad figures, since Super Heated already does that.
Double-space denial- A careful opponent knows the Firecats are going to come and that they are double-spaced, and that they can only be summoned 5 spaces from Chandra, and they can use that knowledge to place their squad figures in a way that limits the Firecats from getting adjacent to their Planeswalker.
Relatively fragile- Chandra and her whole army in general is the shortest range besides White, and it’s also extremely fragile. It’s possible that your opponent is able to limit your offense before you draw enough combo pieces and you are forced to use the Firecats just to keep up with their offense, which makes it nearly impossible to actually win.
Power of Hidden Enchantments- Strangling Soot, Aetherspouts, Scatter Arc, Psychic Rebuttal and Naturalize are all really good at stopping combo turns. Healing spells like Bountiful Harvest and Altar’s Reap are also a problem if you can’t finish the Planewswalker.
Now that that is out of the way, let’s get to the good things about Red. The Firecats are amazing with any sort of attack boost and Seize the Day is borderline broken. Red also has a very proactive game plan, and it can win against any deck in any game with above average rolls and draws. Double Attack is also fantastic and makes taking turns with the Planeswalker not feel like a waste.
I think expansions will help Red. The more cards released that have attack boosting effects will make a Red deck built on the Firecat combo much more consistently drawn into. Also, Super Heated will gain a lot of utility if common squads only have 1 life (which seems likely).
Army Cards:
Spells:
#4- Black- The only true control deck in the game. Snuff Out and Darkness Arises, along with a plethora of fantastic removal spells (Bone Splinters, Killing Wave, Corrupt) make Black the undisputed king of the late game. The amount of discard in the deck also can also destroy the opponent’s win condition cards, which helps Black reach the lategame state.
Black’s problem is that the three decks above it are able to consistently take down Liliana before she reaches the attrition phase. Outside of Dark Harvest, Liliana lacks tools to put the same amount of pressure on enemy Planeswalker. Liliana will have some dominant wins, but more games where she comes short.
Another problem that the deck can have is that the self-destruct spells are only good if you are destroying Restless Zombies. Using things like Altar’s Reap and Bone Splinters to destroy a Blighted Reaver can be necessary, but it can really hurt your win condition since it’s much harder to bring a Reaver back.
It's hard to evaluate how expansions will change Black at the moment. If common squads have 1 life, Snuff out is useless and Black will lose its best power. If common squads have more than 1 life, Black will have great power in thinning the opponents hordes faster, and Black will have more bodies to protect its fragile Planeswalker.
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#5- White- After Green, Red, and Black, there is a pretty large dropoff before White. White has struggled to win any games at all in our tests. Its main problem is that a lot of the cards in the deck are based on the theme of buffing on the squads' defense. In this game, buffing your defense does absolutely nothing your own turn. In fact, in terms of survivability, you are actually more likely to survive through the next turn by buffing your attack, since you can kill the things that were going to attack you. Buffing your defense just doesn't do enough on your own turn to create a path to victory.
The other problem is that it’s really easy to fight through the buffed up defense. Red and Black have auto-wounding cards that don’t care how much defense you have. Blue and Green have cards that completely destroy the buffs that you put on the squads. And since the buffs didn’t do anything on White’s turn, the cards end up doing nothing at all.
White will need to get very good common squads to become a viable choice, but I do see that as a possibility. If expansions give White a strong common squad and cards to boost it, White could be a good choice.
Army Cards:
Spells:
I’m trying to start something a little different than the normal power rankings. Card games have much more dynamic metagames than board games, so I’m recording current perceptions of the colors and their cards. The colors* will be ranked on their power level vs. the other four Planeswalker in a 1 vs. 1 Kill the Planeswalker game. This post will be updated an interval of time after each expansion releases with updated reviews of the colors and their standing in the metagame, as new cards become introduced and old cards become outclassed or find a new home. For this first review, I’m trying to give an example of what I will be doing in the future (and create something fun to read in a couple years). Since there will likely not be any competitive tournaments before the first expansion is released, this review is purely from my own gameplay. I would be happy to discuss my evaluation with anyone who wants to, since I may be missing something about how to play with and against certain colors.
*I reserve the right to change the rankings to Planeswalkers instead of colors
#1: Blue- In a kill the Planeswalker match, 1 vs. 1 (which I anticipate will be the standard tournament format), Blue is extremely tough to beat, mostly due to Unsummon and the consistency with which Blue can draw that effect. Blue felt like a clear top pick to me.
Why is Unsummon so good? The games are very short, so the Unsummon effect is extremely potent for destroying the offense of your opponent. It also destroys all enchantments on the Unsummoned card, which further slows and limits the opponent’s ability to kill Jace. And Jace is able to make use of this time to draw into cards like Twisted Image or Mind Control that give him or his squads extra damage to put the hurt on the enemy Planeswalker, all the while dropping attacks of 5 (or 3 attacks of 3, with Illusionary Projections) on them. Especially powerful are the two Hidden Enchant Unsummon effects, since they do not only Unsummon the enemy squad, but they also deny all attacks for this turn. There are ways to slightly limit the effects of this, by only attacking the figure with an Unsummon Hidden Enchant with your last attack to get two extra attacks off, but it’s still devastating and hard to counter for most decks and draws.
The other reason why Blue is so strong at the moment is his ability to filter out the bad cards in his deck and draw into the good ones. Selective Memory and Focused Thoughts (and even Collective Knowledge) give the deck unrivaled consistency. Repetition in effects of cards, like the three Unsummon effects, also add consistency. Other decks will eventually reach that level of consistency when more cards are added to the pool, but Blue is the most coherent deck at this point.
I don’t think Blue in its current form will continue to dominate once expansions come out. Common squads are unaffected by Blue’s Unsummon effects, which renders most of the way he works useless if they are usable (and they probably will be). Blue will get new cards in the expansion that will likely be good as well, but I don’t think that ridiculous tempo-gaining Blue will exist forever.
Army Cards:
Spoiler Alert!
Spells:
Spoiler Alert!
#2: Green- I think here is where the order of the heroes gets a little subjective. Green, Red, and Black are all actually fairly evenly balanced and I think that personal preferences and experiences are going to influence which you think are better. For my own part, if Blue were banned and I had to win a single game, Green would be my pick, and that’s why I put them second.
Green simply has the most varied win conditions of any deck. Its fantastic range can make opponents play differently in the early game, slowing down their own win condition, which gives Green time to draw into the super combo - Paths Revealed + Overrun on the Pummelroots. Against 3 defense, 3 attacks of 6 averages 6.16 wounds. Against 4 defense, the combo averages 5.31 wounds. If you have a Titanic Growth to add into the combo, it’s more likely than not that you one shot their Planeswalker. It’s within the realm of possibility that you win on the combo turn, and pretty likely that you can finish them off with your archers the turn after. Remember, they still have to deal with the three Pummelroots sitting on top of their Planeswalker. Beyond that win condition, cards like Snare the Skies, Groundswell, and Leaf Arrow can be great ways to push damage on to their Planeswalker and the long range of Green allows for any damage pushing to have solid followup.
Nissa is also the most survivable Planeswalker, with great range to keep her safe, and great life and defense in case someone does get to her. Bountiful Harvest is a great healing spell to extend her life. Nissa’s Expedition gives Nissa an effective 11 move and disengage for that turn; plenty to escape any army. Primeval Light is incredible at destroying the buffs that Black/White puts out or the hidden enchantments that Blue relies on.
I do think Green is one of the harder decks to play, since you have to change styles based off what cards you’ve drawn. That will probably change once expansions come, as more cards will mean more repetition of effects. I think that expansions in general will benefit Green since some fantastic cards such as Overrun and Snare the Skies work on common squads. Commons will be able to take further advantage of these already strong attack boosts, since they will almost always be able to get three (or maybe more, if four man squads happen) boosted attacks from them.
Army Cards:
Spoiler Alert!
Spells:
Spoiler Alert!
#3: Red- This is a lot lower than most people have Red. Before I had the game, I was also a believer that Red was the strongest color. It seemed to have a variety of ways to instantly kill an opponent and it definitely does. 7 cards in the deck (Chandra’s Fury, Dual Casting, Firebreathing, Power of Fire, Seize the Day, Stoke the Flames, and Twinflame) are all great cards and can lead to lots of damage on the enemy Planeswalker very quickly. But there are a few reasons why Red struggles:
7 cards are good, but the other 5 are bad- Most of the rest of the deck is removal spells that require Chandra to get in close, which she doesn't want to do. She also doesn’t really need to do one damage to squad figures, since Super Heated already does that.
Double-space denial- A careful opponent knows the Firecats are going to come and that they are double-spaced, and that they can only be summoned 5 spaces from Chandra, and they can use that knowledge to place their squad figures in a way that limits the Firecats from getting adjacent to their Planeswalker.
Relatively fragile- Chandra and her whole army in general is the shortest range besides White, and it’s also extremely fragile. It’s possible that your opponent is able to limit your offense before you draw enough combo pieces and you are forced to use the Firecats just to keep up with their offense, which makes it nearly impossible to actually win.
Power of Hidden Enchantments- Strangling Soot, Aetherspouts, Scatter Arc, Psychic Rebuttal and Naturalize are all really good at stopping combo turns. Healing spells like Bountiful Harvest and Altar’s Reap are also a problem if you can’t finish the Planewswalker.
Now that that is out of the way, let’s get to the good things about Red. The Firecats are amazing with any sort of attack boost and Seize the Day is borderline broken. Red also has a very proactive game plan, and it can win against any deck in any game with above average rolls and draws. Double Attack is also fantastic and makes taking turns with the Planeswalker not feel like a waste.
I think expansions will help Red. The more cards released that have attack boosting effects will make a Red deck built on the Firecat combo much more consistently drawn into. Also, Super Heated will gain a lot of utility if common squads only have 1 life (which seems likely).
Army Cards:
Spoiler Alert!
Spells:
Spoiler Alert!
#4- Black- The only true control deck in the game. Snuff Out and Darkness Arises, along with a plethora of fantastic removal spells (Bone Splinters, Killing Wave, Corrupt) make Black the undisputed king of the late game. The amount of discard in the deck also can also destroy the opponent’s win condition cards, which helps Black reach the lategame state.
Black’s problem is that the three decks above it are able to consistently take down Liliana before she reaches the attrition phase. Outside of Dark Harvest, Liliana lacks tools to put the same amount of pressure on enemy Planeswalker. Liliana will have some dominant wins, but more games where she comes short.
Another problem that the deck can have is that the self-destruct spells are only good if you are destroying Restless Zombies. Using things like Altar’s Reap and Bone Splinters to destroy a Blighted Reaver can be necessary, but it can really hurt your win condition since it’s much harder to bring a Reaver back.
It's hard to evaluate how expansions will change Black at the moment. If common squads have 1 life, Snuff out is useless and Black will lose its best power. If common squads have more than 1 life, Black will have great power in thinning the opponents hordes faster, and Black will have more bodies to protect its fragile Planeswalker.
Army Cards:
Spoiler Alert!
Spells:
Spoiler Alert!
#5- White- After Green, Red, and Black, there is a pretty large dropoff before White. White has struggled to win any games at all in our tests. Its main problem is that a lot of the cards in the deck are based on the theme of buffing on the squads' defense. In this game, buffing your defense does absolutely nothing your own turn. In fact, in terms of survivability, you are actually more likely to survive through the next turn by buffing your attack, since you can kill the things that were going to attack you. Buffing your defense just doesn't do enough on your own turn to create a path to victory.
The other problem is that it’s really easy to fight through the buffed up defense. Red and Black have auto-wounding cards that don’t care how much defense you have. Blue and Green have cards that completely destroy the buffs that you put on the squads. And since the buffs didn’t do anything on White’s turn, the cards end up doing nothing at all.
White will need to get very good common squads to become a viable choice, but I do see that as a possibility. If expansions give White a strong common squad and cards to boost it, White could be a good choice.
Army Cards:
Spoiler Alert!
Spells:
Spoiler Alert!
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