All 11 Nissa Planeswalkers in Magic Ranked

Nissa, Sage Animist | Illustration by Wesley Burt

Nissa Revane is one of Magic’s longest running planeswalkers. Her first card was the namesake Nissa Revane in Zendikar (Oct. 2009), just two years after planeswalkers were introduced in Lorwyn (Oct. 2007). Nissa planeswalkers have a very cohesive mechanical identity built around lands, which you’d expect from an elf with green magic.

Let’s take a look at all the Nissa planeswalkers!

What Are Nissa Planeswalkers in MTG?

Nissa's Renewal | Illustration by Lius Lasahido

Nissa planeswalker cards have Nissa as their planeswalker type. They’re primarily mono-green, but they dip into other colors, too. Nissa planeswalkers often have abilities that animate lands, increase the amount of mana they generate, or reanimate or recur permanents.

#11. Nissa, Nature’s Artisan

Yeah, no thanks. Nissa, Nature's Artisan isn’t particularly well-costed. You need to uptick it three times before you can get the ultimate. That’s just really slow, especially when the uptick is the same as cracking a Food token.

#10. Nissa, Genesis Mage

Man, Planeswalker Deck cards really want you to put the work in to unlock their ultimate abilities, huh? A whopping 7 mana and 3 upticks later, and you too can filter the top 10 (!) cards of your library for creatures and lands. The risk/reward proposition is just a bit off with Nissa, Genesis Mage.

#9. Nissa Revane

My issue with Nissa Revane is that the first ability is almost useless in a singleton format. But hey, at least it has another uptick ability. This Nissa planeswalker could be a consideration in elf decks, but players tend to opt for the modality of Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury instead.

#8. Nissa, Worldwaker

Nissa, Worldwaker does standard Nissa things between land animation and untapping forests, but I wish that the ultimate ability also provided haste. You pull all your basic lands out and immediately animate them, but without haste, you can’t do much with them.

#7. Nissa, Vastwood Seer / Nissa, Sage Animist

Now that Nissa no longer has her spark, this isn’t the only Nissa you can run in the command zone anymore. Nissa, Vastwood Seer / Nissa, Sage Animist is part of the cycle of flipwalkers from Magic Origins that demonstrate the moment that some of our favorite planeswalkers’ sparks ignited. The transform condition isn’t too hard to hit in a good lands deck; play Nissa with 6 lands before you play that turn’s land drop and you’re all set. On the planeswalker side, the uptick gives you card advantage, the downtick gives you a token, though it’s a legendary token, and the ultimate animates six lands into 6/6s.

#6. Nissa, Steward of Elements

The Simic () Nissa is also an X-spell, which is perfect as a mana sink. The uptick scry ability gives Nissa, Steward of Elements a home in the Galadriel of Lothlórien elf/scry deck, but the 0-loyalty ability has the potential for extra land drops and free spells. The -6 ability is standard land animation, though I appreciate that this Nissa grants both flying and haste.

#5. Nissa of Shadowed Boughs

The Golgari () Nissa is quite at home in reanimator builds, whether those are creature reanimator decks or land-based reanimator, like land sacrifice strategies. Nissa of Shadowed Boughs also gains loyalty as part of a landfall trigger, so it’s easy to cast it and get that downtick ability the same turn.

#4. Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

The advantage with Nissa, Voice of Zendikar is that it’s a 3-mana planeswalker with a decent slate of abilities. The plant tokens are wimps, but they grow with the +1/+1 counters from the downtick. The ultimate refills your life total and your hand, which are two key resources in Magic. Overall, a decent little card. I could see it as a budget planeswalker in superfriends builds, especially since the downtick helps to pump up tokens that Ajani or Elspeth planeswalkers might generate.

#3. Nissa, Vital Force

A good planeswalker either has abilities that allow you not to care about hitting the ultimate ability, or they give you a quick path to reach it. Nissa, Vital Force untaps a land and animates it temporarily, and you only have to do that once to get the emblem, one that’s good in almost any land deck you could conceive.

#2. Nissa, Ascended Animist

Nissa, Ascended Animist has so much finishing potential. If you can cast it for 7 mana, you can use the ultimate immediately for a massive overrun ability. But even if you use the compleated ability to cast it for 5 or 6 mana, you get a downtick that’s a Naturalize and an uptick that gives you Phyrexian Horror tokens. But it’s that overrun that really puts in a lot of work, because it’s game over if your board is ready for it.

#1. Nissa, Who Shakes the World

Nissa, Who Shakes the World is tailormade for mono-green land decks. Every forest taps for twice as much mana. The uptick basically says “earthbend 3”. The ultimate pulls every remaining forest out of your deck. That’s the perfect ability to mass-trigger your landfall cards, which can mean tons of Scute Swarm tokens, lots of energy from Nissa, Worldsoul Speaker, and so much more.

Nissa Payoffs

A lot of payoffs for Nissa planeswalkers are your standard planeswalker payoffs: proliferate, historic, those kinds of things.

A few cards care specifically about whether you control a Nissa planeswalker, primarily cards from Planeswalker decks. Avid Reclaimer is a mana dork that adds some lifegain, while Guardian of the Great Conduit gains vigilance when you have a Nissa on the field. Nissa’s Triumph becomes a better ramp spell. Nissa's Encouragement tutors for one of the worst Nissa cards, plus a specific creature and a basic Forest, while Verdant Crescendo tutors for another bad Nissa.

But based on their abilities, Nissa planeswalkers benefit when you surround them with landfall cards and other land payoffs. You can find secondary synergies with earthbend and other abilities that also animate lands.

Who Is Nissa Revane?

Nissa Revane is an elf and former planeswalker from Zendikar. As an animist, she has a connection to nature, and she sometimes receives visions from the land. Before her spark ignited, she received a vision of something wrong in Akoum, one of the continents of Zendikar. There she found the Eldrazi, and though she tried to destroy them, she could not. Her spark ignited, and she planeswalked to Lorwyn.

Nissa has been somewhat of a mainstay in the story since her introduction, to different degrees. She has been a member of the Gatewatch, fought in the War of the Spark, and fought against the New Phyrexian Invasion until she was compleated. Elesh Norn used Nissa to control Realmbreaker and open Omenpaths. Nissa is defeated by Elspeth, and Chandra takes her to Zhalfir where she is healed from phyresis.

Is Nissa Alive?

Yes. Though Nissa was compleated during March of the Machine, she was cured of phyresis by Karn, Teferi, and Melira.

Does Nissa Still Have Her Spark?

No. Nissa lost her spark at the end of March of the Machine. Chandra’s participation in the Second Ghirapur Grand Prix during Aetherdrift was because she wanted to win The Aetherspark to give it to her partner, Nissa.

Because Nissa no longer has her spark, her most recent cards, Nissa, Resurgent Animist and Nissa, Worldsoul Speaker, have been legendary creatures with the cracked planeswalker symbol watermark.

What Other Nissa Cards Are There?

There are two non-planeswalker cards that represent Nissa as of Lorwyn Eclipsed. Nissa, Resurgent Animist is a really good elf that filters the top of your library as part of a landfall trigger. Nissa, Worldsoul Speaker’s landfall trigger gives you energy, and it lets you trade in 8 energy to play your permanent spells.

These cards also mention Nissa in their name:

• Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus
• Nissa's Chosen
• Nissa's Defeat
• Nissa's Encouragement
• Nissa's Expedition
• Nissa's Judgment
• Nissa's Pilgrimage
• Nissa's Renewal
• Nissa's Revelation
• Nissa's Triumph
• Nissa's Zendikon
• Oath of Nissa

Oath of Nissa gives planeswalker decks cheap color fixing, and Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus is a powerful piece of equipment that ramps you every time the equipped creature attacks. Nissa's Expedition, Nissa's Pilgrimage, and Nissa's Renewal are decent ramp spells.

Wrap Up

Nissa, Voice of Zendikar | Illustration by Raymond Swanland

And that’s all the Nissa planeswalker cards in Magic! There’s a lot of consistency across the board here, especially between the themes of ramp and land animation. We’ll see if Nissa ever gets her spark back or if these are all we have.

Which Nissa planeswalkers are your favorite? Do you want her to get her spark back, or would you like to explore more legendary Nissa creature cards? Let me know in the comments below or over on the Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, stay safe!