Is Nissa, Vital Force good in Commander?

Nissa, Vital Force

Legendary Planeswalker — Nissa

+1: Untap target land you control. Until your next turn, it becomes a 5/5 Elemental creature with haste. It's still a land.
−3: Return target permanent card from your graveyard to your hand.
−6: You get an emblem with "Whenever a land you control enters, you may draw a card."

CMC: 5
Mana cost
Color identity: G
Rarity: mythic
Set: Kaladesh
Price: $3.54
EDHREC rank: #4493

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Nissa, Vital Force enters, immediately animates a land into a 5/5 haste creature, and threatens an emblem on the very next turn — five loyalty on a five-mana planeswalker is sturdy enough to survive most board states long enough to get there. The emblem turns every land drop into a free card, which is why shells built around Carth the Lion or Springheart Nantuko treat her as a value engine rather than a finisher.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

Carth the Lion

69.8% of decks · synergy 0.69

Carth the Lion's static ability means Nissa, Vital Force enters with six loyalty instead of five, making the one-turn emblem path trivially easy — plus Carth tutors her up and every other planeswalker in the deck, so she's a reliable piece of a loyalty-stacking engine rather than a one-off.

Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider

26.5% of decks · synergy 0.23

Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider doubles Nissa, Vital Force's loyalty counters on entry to ten, meaning she ultimates the same turn she resolves and is nearly impossible to answer before the emblem locks in the card-draw engine.

Lord Windgrace

22.0% of decks · synergy 0.21

Lord Windgrace already wants to play and recur lands every turn, and Nissa, Vital Force's emblem converts that land-heavy game plan into raw card advantage — every land drop Lord Windgrace makes draws a card, turning a recursive engine into a draw engine.

Jyoti, Moag Ancient

20.8% of decks · synergy 0.20

Jyoti, Moag Ancient produces Forest land tokens, and Nissa, Vital Force's +1 turns any of them into a threatening 5/5 attacker with haste while the emblem rewards the deck's high land count with immediate card draw.

Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir

21.3% of decks · synergy 0.20

Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir triggers off drawing cards, so Nissa, Vital Force's emblem — drawing a card each time you play a land — creates a self-reinforcing loop where every land drop draws a card and every drawn card can pressure Jolrael's token generation.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

Format	Verdict
commander	legal
legacy	legal
modern	legal
pioneer	legal
standard	not legal
vintage	legal
pauper	not legal
oathbreaker	legal

Commander is where Nissa, Vital Force does her best work — the five-turn clock to an emblem is too slow for most competitive formats, but in a multiplayer game where a single land-animating threat can redirect attacks and the emblem generates card advantage every turn, she earns her slot. In Modern and Pioneer she sees essentially no play; five mana for a planeswalker without immediate protection or a game-ending effect doesn't compete at those power levels. Legacy and Vintage have access to her but have no reason to run her over faster, more impactful options. Oathbreaker is a reasonable home if your signature spell supports a land-based plan, but she's not a defining piece of the format.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

455 decks