Kiora, Master of the Depths :Official Thread

Magic: The Gathering - Puzzle Quest MtGPQ Deck Strategy & Planeswalker Discussion Planeswalker Details
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Cost to Max Level: 160,730 runes

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Kiora
1: Crashing Waves - cost: 9
1 - drain 3 mana from opponent; gain 3 mana
2 - drain 4 mana from opponent; gain 4 mana
3 - drain 5 mana from opponent; gain 5 mana
4 - drain 6 mana from opponent; gain 6 mana

2: Swirling Waters - cost: 12
1 - fetch next creature from library; it gains 3 mana
2 - fetch next creature from library; it gains 6 mana
3 - fetch next creature from library; it gains 12 mana
4 - fetch next creature from library; it gains 16 mana

3: From the Depths - cost: 24
1 - summon 1 8/8 token with reach and trample
2 - summon 2 8/8 tokens with reach and trample
3 - summon 3 8/8 tokens with reach and trample
4 - summon 4 8/8 tokens with reach and trample

Level 60 mana bonuses: manawhite.png
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| manared.png
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Level 60 HP: 105
Level 60 max Creatures: 5 Spells: 8 Supports: 6

Post your decks and tips for Kiora below!

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Old Kiora deck thread: https://forums.505go.com/discussion/44908

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Here’s the deck i used to beat both Tyrant and Kozilek at level 32.

Undergrowth Champion
Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper

Coastal Discovery
Stratus Walk
Seek The Wilds
Talent of the Telepath
Mantle of Webs
Exert Influence
Crush of Tentacles

Mirrorpool

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Here’s my only deck that could go toe to toe with Kozy

Creatures:
-Honored Hierarch
-Herald of the Pantheon

Spells:
-Anchor to the Aether
-Mantle of Webs
-Displacement Wave

Supports:
-Nissa’s Pilgrimage
-Fertile Thicket
-Zendikar’s Roil
-Prism Array
-Lumbering Falls

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Initially I didn’t want to post the deck, but since I posted a screenshot of it in action, I decided that I might as well give some explanation.
I made this deck inspired by a thread about UC + Sphynx.

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I’ve also had Part the Waterveil and Exert Influence in there at some points. Part the waterveil was removed because its effect was too rarely achieved and Exert Influence was removed, because the deck needs all 3 creatures to be on the field to work at its best, but it helped me defeat Kozilek when he used Crush of Tentacles and I took his Octopi.

Kiora is an amazing planeswalker because she allows for quite different play styles and deck building. While this deck has an amazing combo (UC with reach, Greenwarden to make sure that if UC dies, he will be back on the field and Sphinx to protect Greenwarden from removing and UC from bouncing) that’s almost unbeatable, it has some huge weaknesses.

First of all, the combo requires 4 cards - UC, Sphinx, Greenwarden, Mantle. All of them have high cost, so the deck is quite slow. It struggles a lot versus fast decks, specifically Koth. By the time you can play your combo, Koth can kill you and even if you do play your combo, the deck has some other weaknesses.
While cards like Crush of Tentacles can bounce all creatures ignoring immunities and destroy the combo, there are other ways to deal with it. Menace will ignore UC and Trample will still damage the player if UC doesn’t have a lot of stacks. Koth has access to both, so by the time you’ve played your combo you’ll be low on HP and even when you finally set up your combo, there’s a high chance he’ll still kill you.

Overall, the deck is strong and you can expect to rarely lose, but your wins will be slow and if you play against Koth there is a great chance to be too slow. On the other hand it’s a deck that doesn’t require a lot of thinking and maybe even the AI can play it. And maybe even the AI can be really annoying if he plays it, or so I hope icon_e_biggrin.gif
But I think that a lot more creative decks can be made with Kiora, that will not only be faster, but more reliable.

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I’ve been mucking around with an Eldrazi deck for Kiora, and it seems to function ok. Not spectacular, but fun for most games.

Creatures:
Catacomb Sifter
Birthing Hulk

Spells:
Reclaim
Talent of the Telepath
Adverse Conditions
Reclaiming Vines
Spatial Contortion
Call the Scions
Scour from Existence

Supports:
From Beyond

Tactics are to bring as many Scions into play as possible, then Reclaim them for massive mana gains! Kiora’s second ability will guarantee you a creature if you don’t have one. Spatial Distortion will turn a 3/3 Scion into 18 mana, a net +10 gain! Reclaim turns any that are bigger than that into ludicrous amounts of mana, so make sure you tutor for a creature or two first. For example, Reclaiming a 3/3 Scion will proc 21 mana, enough to bring in a Birthing Hulk and two more Scions! Essentially the scion gets -1/-1 and gives you a 5/4 creature with Reach for only 3 mana. Just hope you don’t get stalled for too long at the start; quicker decks will shred or burn you, bounce decks will negate your mans gains, and unless you can get From Beyond out, you’ll end up taking too much damage from Gideon and Nissa to revover. Apart from that though, big Scions are fun!

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This is a “Lockdown Kiora” combo deck idea, based on constant mana drain. It makes very hard for the oponent to cast anything unless it’s cheap (so it “usually” won’t be a big threat) or is played on a single turn (cascade chain or something similar). Classic MtG Blue deck

MAIN DECK

– CREATURES –
Mizzium Meddler. 9 Cost. Powerful 4/7 that drains 1+ mana almost every turn.

– SUPPORT –
Sphinx’s Tutelage. 6 Cost . Every time you draw you add 2 mana to your oponent’s first card cost.
Jace’s Sanctum. 9 Cost . Passively drains 3 mana/turn

– SPELLS –

Card Draw:
Artificer’s Epiphany. 2 Cost . Draw 1-2 cards, moves your library around till you get your comboo cards or whatever you need.
Coastal Discovery 3-11 Cost (awaken). Mainly for the card draw (2 cards for 3-10), fully awaken to add 4 1/1’s w. haste.
Anticipate 4 Cost. Draw 3, pick 1, move the other two to the bottom of your library.

Board control:
Scatter to the Winds. 3-12 Cost (awaken). Basic mana drain for 3-11, adds 6 1/1’s for 12.
Alchemist’s Vial. 6 Cost . Slows down something your oponent has been able to put down. Cantrip.
Bone to Ash. 7 Cost. Drains oponent’s fatties. Targeted. Cantrip.

– KILLER CARD (pick one) –

SUPPORT: Thopter Spy Network. 13 Cost . 4 1/1 thopters every turn if you have another support down. Also draws cards.
CREATURE: Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper. 18 Cost. Becomes a beast exceptionally fast. Spam spells to buff it, even if your hand is full.

SIDEBOARD

You can trade in some of these cards for the main ones to fit your playstyle or your card’s availability.

CREATURE Sigiled Starfish/Jori En, Ruin Diver. 8/10 Cost. A basic card drawer to couple with Sphinx.
CREATURE: Jhessian Thief 9 Cost. Also works as a card drawer, plus buffs himself.

SUPPORT: Oath of Jace 8 Cost. Drains 1 mana per support/spell you cast. On the sideboard since it’s not normally obtainable.
SUPPORT: Claustrophobia. 9 Cost. A “permanent” creature disabler, Only 1 shield, so a single match will destroy it.

vs Weenie decks: SPELL: Roilmage’s Trick. Cost 2. Slows the oponent’s board. Cantrip
vs Spell-heavy decks: SPELL: Dispel. 6 Cost. Locks heavy spells. Targeted
vs fast mana creature decks: SPELL: Scour from Existence. 12 Cost. Creature destroyer

SPELL: Rush of Ice. 1-10 Cost (awaken). Cheaper version of the vial; for 1-9 you disable, for 10 you add 3 1/1 elems.
SPELL: Anchor to the Aether. 7 Cost . Basic bouncer. Won’t work if your oponent has a full hand. Cantrip.
SPELL: Day’s Undoing. 10 Cost . Card-draw beast. Comboes with Aether.
SPELL Nissa’s Renewal. 20 Cost . Massive mana drain w. meddler, possibly fills all your cards. massive heal

How to play:

1-. Draw heavily early on to find your lockdown cards. Use Kiora’s 1st for extra mana, 2nd to find buried Meddlers.
2-. Play your lockdown cards. EXILE excess cards for Sphinx draws.
3-. Play your killer.
4-. Play control cards until your killer does it’s job. Control your card draw by keeping an (almost) full hand, so you don’t run out of cards by drawing too much. Use Kiora’s 1st for extra drainage. You can also awaken some elementals if the oponent is locked down enough.

Take note that you should always be able to cast something on your turn, unless the board has bad gems (only four cards of your “basic” lockdown deck have a mana cost higher that 6); also if you have a rank4 Kiora’s 1st skill “saved” you can play any 9-12 cost cards in a single turn with a basic 3-match, that usually allows you to cast anything you want but your “killer” card.

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You never run out of cards as the deck is regenerated if you reach the end of the deck.

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To add on to what majincob said, not only does the deck regenerate when you reach the end of it, it will also regenerate when it needs to draw a card which has run out.

So Seek the Wilds will always show you four creatures even if your original deck only had say three left. That’s cause when it ‘sought’ the fourth creature and found none, the game adds another 40 cards to the bottom of your deck. And if you play a card like Day’s Undoing after you will then shuffle the new plus-sized deck.

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I made this deck for the challenges for 8 or more supports in the event and I actually really liked it.
It is focused on draining your opponents mana and spamming Island Elementals. It can easily work on Jayce too, since UC is there just for defence, but anything can be put there and Nissa’s Pilgrimage is also not core and can be switched with something else. Part the Waterveil is the only Mythic that I consider core for this deck. It is definitely slow for QB, but works great for Story and Events.

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Thanks!!, though it was a completely fixed limit. This would allow you to constantly unleash draw spells for massive sphinx mana cost ramp, and make cards like Days Undoing, or even Nissa’s Revelation much more useful. Min issue w. Revelation is thay you must clear your hand before casting, but with a 13 cost is a decent option (although uncastable in a single turn, unles landfalled/cascaded along w. a 6 Crashing Wave drain), and also grants sustainability.

About your deck, seems something similar to mine but with some more mana gains and less card draw.

Just a couple ideas.

1-. If running pilgrimage you could think of switching Yavimaya Coast for Fertile Thicket instead. I also ran Yavimaya for some time and ended up dumping it because that blue was more of a problem than a blessing. Kiora gets +3 managreen.png
and +3 manablue.png
so you can focus just as well on managreen.png
alone for mana generation (wich green has lots), and leave blue for screwing your oponent. From the board, the manablue.png
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“seems” nice, but that blue actually ends up breaking some green combos when it pops that blue where it shoudn’t. Also, the Thicket’s 2 cost (you pop in in a single turn no matter what you match) and the fact that you also get 3 green gems per cast should make you much more prone on triggering landfalls that some cards of your deck seem too rely on.

In fact I also use Animist’s Awakening (I always disable till 8+ grens onboard). Unless the special gem pops in a bad location (happens), it can lead to some extremely crazy cascades.

2-. Do you get many 5’s with Waterveil?. I agree that at a 12 cost you can pop it in a single turn, and it’ll probably stay there forever unless your opponent has some sort of support destruction, but I’ve fough many battles (Pilgrimage+Thickett) with many 4 landfalls, but no 5’s. I’m not fond on spending mana on something that depends on a - sometimes - hard to get objective to be of any use. If you don’t pop a 5, it’s a 12 mana cost dead weight in the board.

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I just saw your deck. Yes, they are very similar and mine doesn’t actually have less card draw thanks to Prism Array. With the gem conversion you get landfalls very often and that draws 3 cards. My hand is almost always full and I destroy the cards I don’t need at the beginning of each turn.
I will definitely try switching Yavimaya Coast for Fertile Thicket, sounds reasonable.
About Part the Waterveil, I too didn’t like it much at first, because I thought it’s rare, but with enough gem conversion, it’s actually not that rare, the deck is built pretty much around it and the last games I played it happened 2-3 times. I know 2 times are not that much, considering that’s really 8 mana gain, but you also get 6 Elementals each time it happens, and with the other 2 cards that spawn Elementals, I had 20+ Elemantals on the board. And it also combos well with Prism Array, because you draw 3 cards and immediately fill them with 3 mana.
It’s not the best, there are far more reliable decks out there, but I find it fun for now.

EDIT: I switched Yavimaya for Fertile Thicket and I remembered why I removed it from ny Nissa deck. It seems that card always converts gems in a way that creates a 5 match for my opponent upon entering, or is it just me? I got only one 5 match in the test game, but I created 3 for my opponent icon_e_biggrin.gif

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The problem with fertile thicket compared to other color gem supports is that the main reason to run it over others is the initial conversion(and to a less extent the lower mana cost).
The issue lies in the fact that gem conversions happen at the beginning of your turn so you are the first player to get benefit from it.
Fertile on cast happen after you make your moves, so unless it auto matches, your opponent is the first one able to get the benefit.

Because of that, the best way to use it is to ignore green matches.
This can somehow work for kiora, not for Garruck or Nissa.
I removed it long ago… From time to time I try it back but in the end I found out why it “worked” before and does not now.
Nissa first skill cost increase lead to less green gem in the field overall, so less chances for fertile to actually benefit you instead of opponent.

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That’s exactly how I’ve been using it and also Animist Awakening. I also leave as much green gems as possible before I cast them, but both cards usually just create a great match for my opponent and they start to feel like not only I’m wasting mana on them, but even helping my opponent.
The problem is exactly what you said and why I stopped using both of them.

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I’m having a very hard time with the Oblivion Sower fight in story mode. How do you beat it with Kiora? icon_cry.gif
thanks for your decks and strategy suggestions!

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Use Hexproof creatures only (Gaea’s Revenge, Plated Crusher, Sphinx of the Final Word). Use Reclaiming Vines. Throw in a bounce spell or two. Be patient cause the match will take a while.

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Oath of Jace is fantastic with Sphinx’s Tutelage. Cue Kiora mana denial deck!

Creatures (2):
Jori En, Ruin Diver
Soulblade Djinn

Spells (5):
Artificer’s Epiphany
Stratus Walk
Scatter to the Winds
Talent of the Telepath
Anchor to the Æther

Supports (3):
Prism Array
Sphinx’s Tutelage
Oath of Jace

Priority of cards: Sphinx’s Tutelage → Oath of Jace → Soulblade Djinn → Jori En.

With all four cards in play, you draw two cards, Sphinx’s Tutelage makes their top spell cost two more per draw. When you cast a spell or support, Oath will drain 1 mana for each spell you cast. 4 of your 5 spells draw a card and the 5th just drains their top card directly, repeating this process of draining and making their top card more expensive. And each of those spells is pumping up Jori En or your Islands by +2/+2 each.

Your spells are cheap enough to cast on one match or from tutoring them with Talent, if you haven’t already hit them with Kiora’s drain ability to fill your mana. If you need an emergency body, Scatter to the Winds can be disabled for a turn or two to pump out some Islands. Otherwise, all your spells will be pumping Jori En from the Soulblade Djinn’s ability triggering. These two are your kill path. Noyan Dar is a possible alternative to Soulblade Djinn, but I found him to be too expensive to be sitting there waiting to be cast and slows down your tempo. You are better off cycling though your spells and cards quickly. In the event that you don’t get them early, Kiora will give you a guaranteed creature with her second ability and pump it for you too. Sometimes it’s better to do this anyway even if you do have a creature in hand as unwanted cards can be discarded to a triggered Sphinx’s Tutelage gem.

Prism Array has bonus card draws, so always discard down to 4 cards or so at the end of your turn if you can. You’ll get two draws anyway if you have Jori En out. My Kiora is at level 40, and she’s managed to get a perfect game (no spells cast by opponent for entire game) against a Liliana QB deck, pricing whatever spells they had out of cascade range, and keeping them fully drained.

Alternatives cards for this deck include:

  • Stormchaser Mage, Sigiled Starfish and Jhessian Thief as your creatures;
  • Bone to Ash, Calculated Dismissal, Dispel, Horribly Awry, Spell Shrivel, and Clash of Wills as your drain cards;
  • Brilliant Spectrum or Coastal Discovery to draw more cards, with a bonus of more Islands if you use the latter;
  • use Anticipate if you don’t have Talent of the Telepath;
  • any other cheap support to replace Prism array: Prism Ring (life gain), Jayemdae Tome (card draw), any of the mana fixing supports. Ideally, you should be able to cast these off of one Blue or Green match.
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this seems like to much card draw if that makes sense lol. i already get a ridiculous amount of card draw with prism/sphinx/thopter network/scatter combo. my jace is so dirty with this combo, especially when i use his 2nd ability to bring back scatter after theyve filled up their first card a bit. i think the most i got one guy was when he landfalled and cascaded into about 20 mana total and it only filled it up a little over half xD

ah nvm, seems u dont have thopter network,

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I wish I had Thopter Spy Network! If you get an extra one please send it my way.

I get what you mean about too much draw, but if you are doing draw-denial, you should be tossing cards 4-5-6 out if you are not going to play cards to make space this turn. The card I toss the most is Anchor to the AEther, because once I’ve got the combo rolling, there ARE no creatures to bounce. I still need to have a creature counter for the early game, and if they get too much of a head start or blow up my key supports too quickly, then i’ll be dead before I can recover from 3 Eldrazi to my face.

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yeah i feel you, i do the same. i usually will toss out 3 or 4 cards every turn, most of the time it being my bounce/remove cards. im running turn to frog, roil spout and anchor atm, will prob end up swapping frog for another card though. like you said you want to have at least one of those in your hand early just in case.