Best Monocolor Walkers:
- Gideon Blackblade (runner up: Elspeth - if we’re excluding the WAR walkers, it’s Elspeth, with Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants as runner-up)
- Jace, Unraveler (runner up: Tezzeret, Master of Artifice - almost as good, but not quite as versatile)
- Nissa, Worldwaker (runner up: Vivien Reid)
- Koth. (runner up: Jaya)
- Ob Nix (still really strong but man those mana gains of his are really showing their age… Runner Up: Liliana, Death’s Majesty)
Best Multicolor Walkers:
- Karn
- Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh (note to newbies: you can save quite a few runes by not taking him above level 52)
- Tamiyo
- Kiora (if you’re starved for runes, swap her position on this list with Tamiyo)
- Vraska, Relic Seeker
- Ral
- Teferi
- Ugin (again: if you’re rune-starved, swap Ugin’s position with Karn.)
- Nicol Bolas the Ravager
- Huatli, Master of Radiance
Sorin, Angrath and Ajani Vengeant almost make the list. Saheeli would make the list if it were “Legacy Only”. I think Nahiri is overrated - she’s good, but she’s not Top 10 good. I also think Ajani Unyielding is underrated, but he, too, is not Top 10 good.
Three special mentions for walkers I use a lot but don’t necessarily recommend: I use Samut a lot, but oddly, do not really consider her a great walker (she’s basically just double-strike on a stick); she is, however, great for some “win in X turns or less” objectives and just generally saving a lot of real-life time in PvP matches. So…not a great walker, but kind of a great time-saving device, I guess? I also don’t think it’s worth the runes to level her past 50, for whatever that’s worth. I use Garruk a lot, currently, but I have a strong suspicion that when Ghalta rotates out of Standard I will go back to using him almost never. And I also use Tezzeret 1 on occasion (for Legacy), but just like my usage of Garruk is basically entirely based around Ghalta, my usage of Tezz 1 is entirely based around Omniscience. Without those specific cards I wouldn’t really recommend either.
I own all the walkers that have ever been made available for crystals, but some I have not yet leveled up: Domri, Dovin 2, any of the Lilianas except the 1st one and Death’s Majesty, Gideons 2 and 3, Chandra 2, Huatli 1, Kaya, TED, Jace 1, Jace 3, Nissa 1, Sarkhan 1. A few of them I specifically haven’t leveled because I think they’re bad (lookin’ at you, Chandra 2), a couple I think are probably good but I just haven’t gotten to yet, but for the most part, no strong opinions about any of those.
I just finished leveling up Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge and honestly can’t decide whether I like him yet or where/how I’d rank him. He’s been underwhelming me but I sorta feel like maybe I just haven’t gotten him a deck that quite clicks yet.