Planeswalkers

For a register of planeswalkers see List of planeswalkers.

Planeswalkers were among the most powerful beings in the multiverse, and are the thematic identities of the players of the game. Planeswalkers can be born at random in any sentient race, with no outward signs of their latent power. However, there is an incredibly remote chance that any given sentient, natural being will be born with a planeswalker's spark. When that being is put through a period of extreme stress — in many cases, death — the spark can trigger, causing the individual to ascend and become a planeswalker. In certain extremely rare cases it is possible to transfer a spark from one being to another, but no one is sure of the precise means. The transfer is highly risky, and it is nigh-impossible to convince a planeswalker to give up his or her power.

Traditional planeswalkers

Planeswalkers have incredible magical capabilities, surpassing all but the most powerful mortal wizards. Planeswalkers' lives can last indefinitely, and their physical forms are matters of will. Through intense effort, planeswalkers can create their own artificial planes. Finally, planeswalkers can travel between separate universes with ease, while the vast majority of people throughout the multiverse are not even aware that other universes exist. Because of planeswalkers' prolonged life spans and immense power, some are worshipped as gods; many end up insane, or, at the very least, they come to regard the lives of mortals in low-esteem, if even at all..

A planeswalker is specifically a being who possesses a planeswalker's spark. There are other beings who, through various means, are able to travel between planes, but those are not technically considered planeswalkers. Many pre-revisionist characters were referred to as planeswalkers but may not technically have been; without any further information, they shall remain subject to debate.

The new breed of planeswalkers

The new breed of planeswalkers no longer displays the omnipotence of their predecessors. The new planeswalkers are physical beings, not energy projections of a center of consciousness. While they are usually powerful mages, in general they age normally, can be harmed, and need the same sustenance as other mortals. This is in stark contrast to the earlier planeswalkers. Some of them have managed to suppress or avoid some of these limitation by magical means; however, these are specific to each planeswalker. Their only common ability - and, in fact, that what makes them planeswalkers - is their ability to planeswalk.

The new breed of planeswalker manifested itself for the first time in Venser of Urborg, a Dominarian artificer who participated at the solution of the Dominarian temporal crisis. Teferi's first theory was that the rifts mutated Venser's spark, which affected his ascension.

This new breed of planeswalkers was born during the Mending, when Jeska sacrificed her life and her spark to mend all temporal rifts in the Multiverse (doing so in such a great scale was probably enabled by her former existence as Karona, the embodiment of Dominarian magic, and the fact that Dominaria is the Nexus of the Multiverse.) The Mending caused a change in the very rules of Multiverse and a change in the nature of the planeswalker sparks.

Controversy over the Mending

The change in the nature of planeswalkers has caused a lot of controversy and debates among storyline fans. The necessity of this change was called into question. Some people pointed out manipulations of the storyline in the Time Spiral Cycle, which made planeswalkers appear omnipotent and omniscient, which was supposed to be the reason of the Mending and getting rid of them. This argument proposed that the planeswalkers were not omnipotent until the Time Spiral Cycle made them so. Another alleged reason was in order to create the Planeswalker card type, something supports of the old planeswalkers felt could've been done easily with the existing planeswalkers. Discussions on differences between the old and new planeswalkers spawned many (often malicious) names for the latter type, generally to make them easier for referencing, but also to show how much they differ from the original ones. Among the most popular, there are: "neowalkers", "bradywalkers", and "planescrawlers", and various backronyms and acronyms like CRAP or MWSNBNP.