The gathering may be about to break a Planeswalker trend

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Summary

  • The limited number of Planeswalker cards is restrictive for deckbuilding in MTG if they are often multicolored.

  • Recent 2024 MTG sets primarily featured multicolored Planeswalkers, impacting deck diversity.

  • Wizards of the Coast is addressing the issue of multicolored Planeswalkers for future sets.

There are many house rules that need to be addressed when Wizards of the Coast designs new ones Magic: the gathering cards, how to respect the color structure and consider what the effects of a certain card bring to the table. For example, while all colors are present Magic: the gathering present some form of removal, differ in themes and average costs to represent the philosophy behind the color structure and various color combinations. The Planeswalkers shook Magic: the gatheringover the years, and while they were introduced as single-color cards, they eventually began to populate sets in multiple color combinations.

Color combinations inside Magic: the gathering it can be particularly interesting both for the design and philosophy of the cards and from a gameplay point of view. An example comes from the various Rakdos combos present in Magic: the gathering which should guarantee players a victory at a high cost or with high risk. Despite having multicolored cards inside MTG That's often a good thing, but it can lead to a fair amount of deckbuilding problems, especially for the types of cards printed in small quantities in each set, like Planeswalkers. In fact, many sets include only one or a handful of Planeswalkers, and if they are multicolored, it can be difficult to include them in some decks. However, WotC could change this trend.

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Why multicolored planeswalkers, one per set, are a big concern for MTG

The reason why there are multicolored Planeswalker cards Magic: the gathering can be problematic is that, starting with Wilds of Eldraine and thereafter, Wizards of the Coast has decided to include only one Planeswalker per set. Therefore, with a limited number of Planeswalkers each year, having them primarily as multicolored cards can place a major limitation on deckbuilding. The result is that some Planeswalkers, while playable, struggle to get their time in the spotlight within the meta because they require specific decks and colors to function.

Wilds of Eldraine released on September 8, 2023, and was the first MTG set to contain only one Planeswalker card outside of reprints and guest cards, starting a new trend.

The idea of ​​only one Planeswalker card per set isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it allows Wizards of the Coast to place more emphasis on each Planeswalker's goals and alignments and how they impact the set they star in. However, reducing the number of new Planeswalker cards per set to one means that it can be difficult to fit them into decks depending on the format, with most restrictions in Magic: the gatheringStandard and non-eternal formats.

MTG Planeswalker Sets in 2024 Explained

In 2024, more Planeswalker cards were printed, and only one of them was monocolor. It was Jace Awakened from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, a blue card, while the other Planeswalker cards from last year were all multicolored. This includes:

  • Kaya, Spirit Justice (Black and White) from Murders at Karlov Manor

  • Oko, the gang leader (green and blue) of Outlaws of Thunder Junction

  • Ral, Crackling Spirit (Blue and Red) from Bloomburrow

  • Kaito, Scourge of Nightmares (Blue and Black) from Duskmourn: House of Horror

Jace wasn't even the “face” Planeswalker in Outlaws of Thunder Junction last year, as Oko was. With four Planeswalkers in total coming from the 2024 core sets, not having a dedicated monocolor Planeswalker can be a bit annoying when it comes to deckbuilding.

Magic: The Gathering is trying to solve the problem of multicolored Planeswalkers

Beyond that, Magic: the gatheringUB sets will not have Planeswalkers even with the new 2025 release schedule, meaning there will only be three Planeswalker cards this year. However, WotC's Mark Rosewater recently confirmed that the company is working on the issue of multicolored planeswalkers and their limited deckbuilding potential.

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It's not yet clear what exactly Wizards of the Coast has in mind for future Planeswalkers to not make them too restrictive in terms of colors, but fans can wait and see. There will be the first Standard-legal expansion of the year MTGAetherdrift in February and will feature Chandra as a thematic Planeswalker, but not much else is known for now.

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