Planeswalker/Trivia

Planeswalker/Trivia

 

Lore

 

List of planeswalkers

 

Igniting

 

Colorshifts

 

By format

 

Trivia

 

Trivia

• As of The Brothers' War, there are 275 planeswalker cards total (including two acorn cards and 12 digital-only cards), depicting 77 different planeswalker characters.
• There are 74 different legal planeswalker subtypes, plus an additional subtype (B.O.B. ) that only appeared on an acorn card. The Wanderer, while a distinct character, does not have her own subtype. Because the name of the Emperor is not allowed to be known by anyone, she will never have a subtype. Urza began as an Unstable planeswalker before being brought to Eternal in The Brother's War.
• There is one planeswalker card (The Royal Scions) that has two subtypes, as it depicts two different planeswalker characters (the twins Will and Rowan Kenrith).
• There are six planeswalkers whose name does not include their planeswalker type; The Wanderer, The Wandering Emperor, The Royal Scions (reasons above), Professor Onyx, Grand Master of Flowers (Liliana and Bahamut, respectively, both operating incognito), and Space Beleren (typeline of Jace is displaced by a pun on his first name).
• There are 112 multicolored planeswalker cards.
• There are six colorless planeswalker cards.
• There have been at least five printed planeswalker cards for each of the two colored pairs.
• Ten planeswalkers have been printed with a color identity of three colors: Nicol Bolas, Tamiyo, Sarkhan, Dakkon, Dihada, Windgrace, Narset, Aminatou, and Estrid. No Naya, Sultai or Abzan planeswalkers have been printed.
  • Ajani, Huatli (W with G or R), Samut (RG with W), and Nissa (G with U or B) have been associated with the three color combinations missing a planeswalker, but not all at the same time, while Sarkhan (missing W) and Dihada (missing G) have an association with four colors across their cards. Additionally, Urza's silver-bordered card and Jared Carthelion are all five colors.
• Gideon, Jace, Liliana, Chandra, Nissa, and Nicol Bolas have all been printed as double-faced cards that are legendary creatures on one side and planeswalkers on the other, depicting them in the moments when their sparks first ignited. Urza also has a double-faced card, but requires a second card to meld with in order to reflect his power
• Dakkon Blackblade, Sivitri Scarzam, Jared Carthalion, Jaya Ballard, Jeska, Karn, Minsc & Boo, Narset, Nicol Bolas, Ob Nixilis, Samut, Teferi, Urza, Venser, and Xenagos have all been printed as both planeswalker cards and legendary creature cards, either because their creature cards were printed before the planeswalker card type was introduced (Dakkon, Jaya, Sivitri, Karn, Bolas, Teferi, Venser, and Urza's first creature card), or because their creature cards depicted them at a time when their spark wasn't currently active (Jared, Narset, Ob Nixilis, Samut, Xenagos, Jeska and Urza's second creature card). Also, Minsc and Boo are non-canon characters, appearing in D&D crossover sets.
• Azor, Garth One-Eye, Ravi, and Slobad are all planeswalkers who've been printed as legendary creature cards, but not as planeswalker cards. Ravi and Slobad were printed before the planeswalker card type was introduced, while Azor was printed as a legendary creature because his card depicted him after losing his spark, and Garth depicts the character before receiving his spark.
• Planeswalker was featured as rules cards 1-3 of 5 in the Lorwyn set and 1 of 9 in the Magic 2011 set.

Highest number of individual planeswalker cards per character

Some characters are favored more than others, usually resulting in a higher amount of unique cards representing them.

Planeswalkers that have more than three planeswalker cards as of Modern Horizons 3:

• Eighteen cards: Chandra
• Sixteen cards: Liliana
• Thirteen cards: Ajani, Jace
• Ten cards: Nissa, Garruk (Garruk Relentless notably is a double-faced card, with both sides being planeswalkers; in this case, it is still considered one card.)
• Eight cards: Gideon, Sarkhan, Sorin, Tezzeret, Teferi
• Seven cards: Vivien
• Six cards: Elspeth, Kaya, Vraska
• Five cards: Nicol Bolas, Tibalt
• Four cards: Ral, Domri, Dovin, Huatli, Ashiok, Nahiri, Kiora, Ob Nixilis, Tamiyo, Jaya, Karn

Abilities

• The largest number of abilities one face of a planeswalker card has had so far is six:
  • Urza, Planeswalker has five loyalty abilities and one static ability. In order to properly depict the power differential between pre-Mending planeswalkers, it has high loyalty, multiple activations for the static ability, and four powerful abilities that can be used immediately. In exchange, it is a meld card and requires permanents to become a planeswalker.
  • The Wandering Emperor has three loyalty abilities and two static abilities and the only one with five. Interestingly enough, the static abilities (one of which is Flash, a planeswalker first) have no impact after the first turn of permanence, and neither really function without the other, making it effectively a single linked ability.
  • Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Garruk, Apex Predator, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Nicol Bolas, the Arisen, Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh, Wrenn and Seven, and Jaya, Fiery Negotiator have four loyalty abilities.
  • Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge Chandra, Awakened Inferno, Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis, Niko Aris, Tyvar Kell, Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor, Professor Onyx, Will, Scholar of Frost, Kasmina, Enigma Sage, Dakkon, Shadow Slayer, Geyadrone Dihada, Grist, the Hunger Tide, Lolth, Spider Queen, Kaito Shizuki, Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh, Tamiyo, Compleated Sage, Ob Nixilis, the Adversary, Ajani, Sleeper Agent, Space Beleren, and Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim have four abilities total, with three loyalty abilities and one static or triggered ability.
  • Gideon Blackblade, Vivien, Monsters' Advocate, and Jace, Mirror Mage have four abilities, with two static or triggered abilities and two loyalty abilities. Much like The Wandering Emperor, Vivien and Jace have linked non-loyalty abilities that are close to useless if either is missing.
  • Nahiri, the Lithomancer, Teferi, Temporal Archmage, Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, Daretti, Scrap Savant, Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury, Aminatou, the Fateshifter, Estrid, the Masked, Saheeli, the Gifted, Lord Windgrace, Tasha, the Witch Queen, Elminster, Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes, Dihada, Binder of Wills, Jared Carthalion, and Sivitri, Dragon Master technically have four abilities as well, as they all have a static ability which allows them to be a commander. Similarly, Will Kenrith, Rowan Kenrith, Jeska, Thrice Reborn, and Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools technically have five abilities: they also have a static ability which allows them to be a Commander, in addition to another static ability that gives them Partner.
• Double-faced planeswalkers often have more than three abilities as well, but not ever at the same time:
  • Garruk Relentless has a total of five loyalty abilities or six abilities of any kind: two loyalty abilities and a triggered ability on the front, and three loyalty abilities on the back.
  • Arlinn Kord has a total of five: two on her human side and three on her transformed side.
  • Arlinn, the Pack's Hope has six: both sides have a keyword ability and two loyalty abilities. The keyword ability is multiple abilities baked into the rules.
  • Rowan, Scholar of Sparks and Will, Scholar of Frost have three and four respectively, summing to seven, but cannot transform sides.
• Until War of the Spark, all planeswalker cards had at least three loyalty abilities. However, War of the Spark introduced rare planeswalkers that have only two loyalty abilities in addition to a static or triggered ability, as well as uncommon planeswalkers that only have one loyalty ability in addition to a static or triggered ability. Since then, there have been six mythic rare planeswalkers with only two loyalty abilities:
  • Vivien, Monsters' Advocate and Jace, Mirror Mage have two loyalty abilities and two static or triggered abilities.
  • Jeska, Thrice Reborn has two loyalty abilities, a static ability, a Commander ability, and a Partner ability.
  • Nissa of Shadowed Boughs, Rowan, Scholar of Sparks and Grand Master of Flowers have two loyalty abilities and one triggered ability.
• Until War of the Spark, all but three planeswalker cards had positive loyalty abilities (i.e. loyalty abilities that gave them loyalty counters as a cost). With War of the Spark however, 20 uncommon planeswalkers were printed who only have negative loyalty abilities. Discounting those uncommons, the total is now eight.
  • The exceptions pre-War were Sarkhan the Mad, Kaya, Ghost Assassin, and the front side of Garruk Relentless, which only had neutral or negative loyalty abilities. However, Kaya's card had an ability that allowed players to exile it and returns it to the battlefield (thus restoring its starting counters), and Garruk's card had positive loyalty abilities on the backside, making Sarkhan's card the only planeswalker that couldn't gain or restore counters on its own.
  • After War were a new series of no-positive Planeswalkers were printed, though all had other ways to restore their loyalty. Chandra, Acolyte of Flame's 0 ability adds loyalty on resolution. The Wolves that Garruk, Cursed Huntsman creates add loyalty to him when they die. Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis uses Escape to "restore" loyalty through recasting. Jeska, Thrice Reborn does the same by being a potential Commander. Lolth, Spider Queen and Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim have passive abilities that add loyalty. Of these, Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis is unique as being the only planeswalker to have three negative abilities, as opposed to no positive ability.
• Comet, Stellar Pup is the only Planeswalker to have exactly one ability, alongside having the loyalty costs appear in the text box. While other planeswalkers that add or remove loyalty on resolution have been printed prior, the word length of Comet's abilities is likely the reason it needed symbols.

Loyalty counters

• Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh, Nicol Bolas, the Arisen and Urza, Planeswalker have the most loyalty counters (seven) when they enter the battlefield, not counting 'diminishing' planeswalkers (those who can't gain or restore counters) or the event exclusive Garruk the Slayer (who was meant to be played by itself, without a deck). This was likely done to highlight the fact that Ugin and Nicol Bolas are exceptionally powerful, even by planeswalker standards, and Urza is a pre-Mending planeswalker at the height of his power.
• Sarkhan the Mad, Arlinn, Voice of the Pack, Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner, Kaya, Bane of the Dead, and Huatli, the Sun's Heart also start with seven loyalty, but they have no way to regain loyalty counters. All of these have different design impetuses for having high loyalty:
  • Sarkhan is primarily a draw engine, with situational negative activated abilities. As designed, Sarkhan plays as an aggro curve-topper: the second ability turns up to three obsolete creatures into Dragons, and the third represents 5 damage of reach over two turns if forced to use the second to power it.
  • Kaya has the most powerful activated ability with the worst passive, so to balance proliferate in the format she requires two proliferates for another activation.
  • Kiora and Huatli are designed in reverse, with draft-around passives, so their high loyalty is to give them longevity, with activated abilities as minor upsides.
  • Arlinn sits in the middle, with the activated ability, passive ability, and high mana value going towards a strong uncommon proliferate payoff, balanced by the fact that she requires three turns to maximize loyalty value, with the first activation giving a 3/3 on turn 6. In exchange, proliferating after the third activation gives three 4/4s and one 2/2 for six mana.
• Nissa Revane, Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded, Kiora, the Crashing Wave, Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer, Kasmina, Enigma Sage and Rowan, Scholar of Sparks have the fewest loyalty counters (two) when they come onto the battlefield.
• Nissa, Steward of Elements has a variable loyalty X from its mana cost. Jeska, Thrice Reborn enters with a number of loyalty counters equal to the number of times you've cast your commander from the command zone. Dakkon, Shadow Slayer enters with loyalty equal to the number of lands. Ob Nixilis, the Adversary can create a planeswalker copy with X loyalty by sacrificing a creature with power X. All can enter with loyalty from zero to over seven.
• Karn Liberated has the highest loyalty addition of abilities at +4. Gideon, Champion of Justice has the largest loyalty cost at -15, barring the unbound -X cost that multiple planeswalkers have.