Planeswalkers are the new heart of Magic the Gathering. Though a relatively new addition, mythic characters with “the spark” are at once universally loved and universally powerful. From Star Wars to Pokemon, other customizable card games have always thrived on their “main characters.” 
The thrill of seeing their familiar faces in a pack of cards and the attachment to said characters through lore and literature is irreplaceable. With the most recent “planeswalker” novels, players are understandably excited to find out what is to become of their now beloved heroes. Whether that information be in card, comic or novel form- the lines between the various forms of MTG flavor are beginning to blur. Specifically I’d like to focus on the cards. How will these characters manifest themselves in cardboard? When story arcs change, how so should the cards move with that arc? With Zendikar just around the corner, we will explore the nature of what I will call “planeswalker evolution.”
An important aspect of any fantasy universe is the clarity of its boundries and limitations. Magic the Gathering has very few of either.
Magic the Gathering flavor fans are at once blessed and cursed at the same time. Their blessing is that they get to play in a universe where anything is possible. Their curse? They play in a universe where anything is possible. Unlike a more ridged universe with hard set rules and laws, MTG is made up of an infinite amount of planes where any of those so-called “laws” can be broken, bent or simply thrown out the window. I’m reminded of a quote from JK Rowling (creator of the Harry Potter series) “The most important thing to decide when you’re creating a fantasy world is what the characters CAN’T do.“ That’s a tall order in a world that touts itself as a world with “infinite possibilities.” A universe without limits is great for the design aspect of the game. On the other hand, it makes things tough for fantasy loving flavor aficionados like myself to really make sense of or relate to that universe. Thats where planeswalkers come in. They bridge that gap and give us a consistency that Magic was starkly lacking before now. For those who want it, there are compelling characters, story arcs and persistent personalities that will always be there for you. But how to carry those on from set to set without reprinting the same cards over and over? The answer is simple – let the planeswalker cards evolve with their characters.
Other card games have been doing this for years. In the original Star Wars CCG, a new “Luke Skywalker” was printed in almost every expansion with a bit more power, a bit more “casting cost” as he got a little bit more badass. And do you think Pokemon would ever print a set without a new “evolved” version of Pikachu? This isn’t anything new and I think we’re going to start seeing this with Magic the Gathering. Wizard’s seem to be pushing the planeswalker constancy campaign particularly hard. Its not a stretch to imagine a world with multiple planeswalkers of the same name.
Most card games have a system in place for dealing with their main character's evolution.
As this article was being written, wizards revealed on their facebook page the casting cost and color of the new evolution of Chandra to be released in Zendikar. Not surprisingly (to me anyway) the new “Chandra Ablaze” will cost six mana. Her abilities are not yet known but there is enough information here to help me make my point. Many expected the new Chandra to cost less than the Lorwyn version. But how, flavor-wise, does that make sense? Of course she was already close to unplayable at five mana and the tournament junkie in me expected to see a “better” card printed. But after the events in Chandra’s latest book, you could hardly argue that her character got less powerful and therefore couldn’t feasibly cost any less than she did originally.
A tournament player's worst nightmare realized.
What really turns people off about Chandra’s new casting cost isn’t the fact that it’s more than it originally was. We don’t even know what her abilities are yet, so it would be tough to completely dismiss this card just yet. Its the fact that she’s crossed that invisible “anything that costs more than five mana and doesn’t win you the game outright is unplayable in a tournament setting” line. But I think wizard’s is taking a step back from walker abilities like Ajani Goldmane who is essentially used as a sorcery spell you play for four mana. You put him out, pump up some tokens and win on that turn. If somehow your opponent survives, you probably don’t expect the planeswalker to stick around until next turn. He’s not a loyal companion or main character in that sense. He’s a “Put a +1/+1 token on all of your creatures and they gain vigilance until end of turn” spell. With the original Chandra Nalaar (or Liliana Vess for that matter), she’s probably going to stick around for a few turns at six or seven loyalty right when she comes out. Wizard’s liked that set up. High loyalty, high casting cost, and weak(er) abilities. Throw in a devastating final ability that will only get played if they stay in play for four unfettered turns and you’ve got yourself a modern planeswalker! In a way, planeswalkers have become far too powerful in the sense that you’re getting free, extremely powerful spells each and every turn they’re on the table. Some of those free abilities even add loyalty counters to the walker. Imagine an enchantment or artifact that did what Elspeth or Jace did every turn. It would surely be some of the most powerful magic ever printed. I’m not sure planeswalkers were meant to be so powerful on the turn they came in to play, for so little mana. Many of us are going to have to put aside our hardcore tournament player hats and put on our fantasy flavor helmets if we’re going to try and predict the future evolutions of planeswalkers.
Planeswalker evolution should be a bit deeper than this. (Major props to Xplicit on the naughty, naughty art!)
Planeswalkers of the future will be a mix of new heroes, and old ones who have “advanced” in some way. Ajani Vengeant comes to mind. I can certainly see something like him happening again but can wizards really play that game many more times? Do we really want them to add black to a character’s casting cost when he does something naughty and white when he helps an old lady cross the street? While Ajani’s evolution was perfectly acceptable; to do it too unsparingly would be horribly shallow and dreadfully predictable. Look for new versions of classic planeswalkers to be released with higher casting costs and better abilities to signify their “leveling up”.
Having various versions of planeswalkers available is also a great way to tame some of that extreme power walkers have been enjoying as of late. If there are two or three different versions of Jace floating around, all of which being used in different types of decks and maybe even one using different colored mana. You’re going to see the subtype/legendary rule come in to play a lot more often. Planeswalkers are difficult to get rid of, particularly those that start at 5+ loyalty. But if you can destroy a higher casting cost Chandra by playing the lower casting cost Chandra (not that you would..) then you’ve just found yourself a new way to deal with planeswalkers and take a bit of the edge of their current dominance of the game.
MTG fans might be taken aback at first when they start seeing new “versions” cards they already own and love being reprinted. The idea of chasing the same mythic character over and over is a foreign concept to Magic the Gathering. But in the end, it is something that happens in most other games needs to happen in this one. The original Jace Beleren was released in 2007, I think we can afford to reprint another “evolution” of such a main character at *gasp* four mana cost, 2 or 3 years later. Reprints aren’t a big deal. They happen in core sets and in expansions. I still go nuts every time I pull a Lorwyn walker out of a pack of M10. Alara was a great model for the release schedule of planeswalkers. A couple of newcomers, an “evolution” of one or two favorites and spread those out over the year’s releases. No more than four or five new walkers a year but no less than four or five either. Match those up with the walkers already available in the core sets every year and you’ve got a good number of choices available without flooding the market. Keeping them special at the same time. You can then rotate out the old walkers in the new core set in favor of the newer ones (or a mixture of both). Heck, now that core sets contain new cards you could even throw a new evolution of the original planeswalkers into the M11 core.
Planeswalkers are special. There’s no doubt about it. Wizards has stated this explicitly several times over and there is no reason to doubt it now. I feel for the designers who are forced to Tinker with characters that are so universally cherished by so many. If anything ever happened to my beloved Jace, I really couldn’t say how I’d feel. Planeswalkers are the “hook” for Magic the Gathering and I’ll be damned if I’m not hooked. Decks are built and broken around them. Sleepless nights are lost and found through their stories. The hopes of an entire community rest in developer’s hands. The evolution of these planeswalkers as characters and as gamepieces is going to be at the heart of each new expansion henceforth.
I leave you with this chillingly relevant quote from the “Exiled” version of Tinker: “What separates us from mere beasts is the capacity for self-improvement“. I couldn’t have said it better myself Tezzy.
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Zendikar spoilers continue to trickle in and the latest one’s a doozy!
Did someone order a broom?
This card is the “booster box promotional card” just as Honor of the Pure was for M10. I’m a big fan of getting free stuff for buying things I was going to buy anyway. 
The quote from Sorin does it for me and seems to suggest a bleak outlook for a Damnation reprint any time soon (as though you were expecting one ) Overall, I think this is a great step forward for the game. We needed a sweep. I think you’re going to hear some cawing from the peanut gallery about not being able to use their Wrath of God playset they’ve collected over the years but I think that will quickly pass. Though you are getting at least one for free when you buy a booster box. Lack of negation of regeneration is interesting but we haven’t had any great regenerating creatures in a while. That ability’s stock just went up a good 25% today. Its a shame Wiz didn’t consider making a wipe in another color. Though there’s still time, I doubt any will compare to this card. I think white was doing just fine post M10 and having sole dominance over tokens and the sweep is just ludicrous. But in the end, if I had to choose between having no sweep in the game or having white get yet another premium chase card, Id choose the latter any day.
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I don’t mind the evolving walkers, I think it’s good when a powerful character makes more than one appearance.
I’m glad to see Day of Judgement, but if we’re going to get a sweep, I would rather have it be some other color, I think that would make things a bit fairer. Still, I’m thankful we at least got this.
I don’t think an “evolved” ‘Walker has to cost more than an earlier version. I mean, for Chandra in particular, I can’t say because I haven’t read the novels. But in general, I see no reason why a new version of a ‘Walker needs a higher converted mana cost (Ajani was only a color shift, after all). For instance, perhaps a character learns that to survive (at least on a given plane or against a given enemy), he or she must be quicker. This would give them smaller, more focused/precise abilities that could justify a lower cost. Similarly, if a character gets betrayed or otherwise burned, then he or she might become less trusting, and therefore they have less loyalty when you call them and offer smaller spells to aid you, which would drive the mana cost down.
Overall, though, I liked your post. Keep it up!
There can always be an exception to every rule. I doubt we’ll see many planeswalkers “de-evolve” to lower casting costs. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen (as in your example). Or heres another possible example- Perhaps Tezzeret could come back post encounter with Jace a bit weaker. It’s totally possible but on the whole.. I think they’ll either stay the same or go up in CMC. I’ll talk about this in a future article but briefly – I think Wiz is going to try to slow the game down. The game wasn’t meant to end on turn four while leaving anything that costs over 5 unplayable. Look for an article from me soon on this subject and I think it these new high cost planeswalkers will make more sense in that context.
They should have had Chandra get her ass kicked in the novel and then nerf her abilities a bit and call her Wore Torn Chandra or something. Red is supposed to be fast and function off of 3-4 mana. Anything more that has to sit for 3 turns before winning the game is pretty unplayable.
Great post, I somewhat agree with jiggy in saying that they shouldnt really have to have a higher cost, yet ajani kinda does going into red considering you are forced to play something other than mono or build your deck around producing that extra color to cast him. Mark Rosewater said that one of the new walkers was going to have the original ability that Nicol Bolas was supposed to have but it was considered too powerful and it fit on one line, but they decided to use it in zendikar…I’m wondering if Sorin will have this ability since he is the second highest casting cost walker since nicol and he is 3 black to cast which suggest almost a mono black deck to run him, maybe he will get the Damnation as his final ability since they did put in a WOG. And yeah unless they really start pushing regerate who really cares about it? there really are not a lot of decent regen creatures out in t2 at lest not yet.
Perhaps WOTC realizes how powerful most of the Planeswalkers were and found them far too cheap for their mana cost. It is so very hard to deal with an Elspeth once she gets on the board, and we know how many competitive decks use(d) Garruk, Jace, Ajani (both), and Elspeth. The one aspect of the planeswalkers is that they are simply harder to get rid of than any other permanents.
Planeswalkers should be BIG, and they should cost a lot to bring out. IF they are powerful beings and demands a price for helping you out, why should they be cheap?
This seems like WOTC trying to make Planeswalkers a bit less ‘broken’ in competitive play, more flavourful, and more tailored to casual players. (yay me!)
I can’t really say weather I think Chandra should cost more or less until I see her abilities, the price is a bit steep, yes, but she might do something that is worth the 6 mana, who knows.
Off topic: love the site, please publish as often as possible!
So We have a pretty good look at Sorin. Lines 1 & 3 have been reveled… Any predictions about what line 2 will be?
I think it will be:
-3: Gain control of target creature permanently.
What do you guys think?
That ability was just used on Bolas, but at a gentler loyalty cost (2 from a starting 5). I don’t think they’d do that (mostly due to the redundancy, rather than the math, but also because it’s a blue thing). I’m kind of hoping for something like:
-1: Destroy target nonblack creature.
The problem with his first ability is that by the time you can cast a 3BBB spell, 2 damage won’t likely kill a creature, meaning he can’t defend himself (unlike Garruk [token], Elspeth [token], Ajani Vengeant [Helix], Chandra Nalaar [burn], Ajani Goldmane [vigilance], etc). Jace is played in spite of his lack of self-defense due to the card advantage he provides and because his 1UU cost means you either cast him before he’s in much danger or after you have the mana to defend him yourself. But at 3BBB, Sorin will need self-defense (more than just 2 damage) in order to be playable. Either that, or have an ability that lets him be played more like a sorcery than a Planeswalker, much like Ajani Goldmane.
On the topic of “leveling up” and casting cost, Wouldn’t it make sense that the CC could go down and still be a powerful card. It could just mean the character is a bit faster. ESPECIALLY in red. I mean look at a vanilla 2/1 creature like Savannah Lions. Its rare as a one drop, but Coral Merfolk is a common at a two drop.
I would also like to add that Wiz doesn’t design a set around the meta game, casual, or two-headed giant for that matter. They have design elements for almost all the formats that can be played. As for meta games ending in round 4 and making 5cc spells almost not worth playing, that why I play a lot more casual, but have a great respect for the meta game and what it takes to keep up with its format.
Woohoo. I’m just glad regeneration is cool again. Even with a sweeper like this they are leaving a window for creature decks. When I saw the card regeneration in the M10 set I though, wow, lame a card that will never see play. And it’s still not a super great card, but if the only sweeper other than planar cleansing doesn’t destroy things you can regenerate and you have a card that can target to regen then you are going somewhere man… you gots things you can do you know? Creature decks are so bad either, sure they are generally easier to understand, but timing is still very important. I am glad they are giving creature decks a chance.
And yes planeswalkers are awesome, I just finished the purifying fire. It was pretty good. Eager to see what the super chandra will be like and I hope Gideon is in the set as well. I do like the idea of characters that come back and show up at different times and even change over time. Maybe Elspeth will start dating a biker and one day be the first White/Black Planeswalker, All they’d have to do is give her a tramp stamp and a trailer home.
“Maybe Elspeth will start dating a biker and one day be the first White/Black Planeswalker, All they’d have to do is give her a tramp stamp and a trailer home.”
Wow. Can you imagine the artist’s face when he/she is commissioned to illustrate Elspeth in such a way as to make a tramp stamp noticeable? Yikes.
My prediction for sorin’s final ability: -X: Up to X target creatures gain fear until end of turn.
-X: return x cards from any graveyard to your hand. Why only take the next players turn when you can have their old cards too? Who knows? I’m probably way off.
@ cDub: I’ve never seen a card that puts opponents’ cards into your hand. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen here, but I think it’s unlikely.
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Cheers! Sandra. R.