Legendary Flavor

Posted on October 4, 2017

The Legend Rule has changed throughout the history of Magic from something highly flavorful to something more practical. This article will give context for that evolution and better equip players to justify battling with two of the same Planeswalker at once.

With the release of Ixalan, Planeswalkers have become legends. Their rules now allow you to have two versions of the same character in play as long as they have distinct card names.

Depending on your point of view, two Liliana’s together may either be a triumph or a disaster of flavor. If this new Planeswalker duality offends your sensibilities, if it pulls you out of the Multiverse narrative, if you fear it will lessen your enjoyment of the game, then keep reading. We will explore how the Legend Rule changed over the years and how those alterations can still make sense in terms of story.

The Rule of Singularity

The past was never that great. The first Legend Rule had the purest flavor, at the cost of gameplay. Only one of any legend could be on the battlefield at once. Primacy ruled. Losing a die roll could lock you out of a game, if your opponent in the Rebels mirror cast Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero first.

A hero of Rath, Lin Sivvi traveled with Eladamri through Belbe's Portal to Dominaria to help lead the resistance against the Phyrexian Invasion. One tale, one battlefield, one legend. No extraneous Lin Sivvi’s cluttered up the story and, likewise, the original game rules stated that the rebel hero would only help the player who cast her first. Any subsequent copies summoned by any player would have to be sacrificed as flavor violations.

How frustrating was the rule for gameplay? So bad that for years R&D avoided printing legends with low casting costs. But that wasn’t enough. In 2003, Huey Jensen lost in the finals of the Pro Tour because he could not play any of the multiple copies of Akroma in his hand. Osyp Lebedowicz had gained her allegiance first, and the rules at the time had even less mercy than the Angel of Wrath. ¹

The Rule of Removal

Wizards of the Coast changed the rules for legends in 2004, just in time for Kamigawa. Now casting a second version of the same card nullified both. Subsequent copies of a legend turned into a removal spell for it.

This rule of removal was applied to the new card type of Planeswalkers. Under the dominance of Jace, the Mind Sculptor, the more humble Jace Beleren was used as a Hero's Downfall. The problem with the rule was that no one could keep their favorite legends and Planeswalkers in play. People cast clones to execute opposing legends, and while this still made sense in terms of flavor (think Evil Twin), after a short, short ten years, Wizards of the Coast decided to improve their gameplay again.

The Rule of Dual Allegiance

From 2013 onward, each player could control a copy of a unique legend or Planeswalker. ² Both players can work with their favorite character at once. This is the rule we’ve grown used to. At the time, the change befuddled Vorthos players who cared about flavor, but it isn’t too hard to imagine a certain Black ‘Walker playing both sides. It happened often enough in Pro Tour Eldritch Moon.

What are you going to do? Confront Liliana for colluding with the enemy? She might lean close to reply, her breath the scent of funeral myrrh. “Do you know what I love about the dead? They don’t question me.” You may stammer that you saw her across the battlefield. “I fight for the winning side,” she says, “whichever that may be.”

Characters with more conscience may still brawl on competing playmats. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar could be battling in both armies until he understands which is worthier. Or, he may have mistakenly sworn vows to two peoples, and now he suffers under the strain of his conflicting obligations. Yes, I prefer to think of Gideon in moral anguish.

I have had more difficulty envisioning two cards of the same character on the same side. Since the two Thalia’s have different names, the rules allow you to command both.

Enlisting both Thalia’s at once could jar me out of the Multiverse and remind me that I’m playing a game of cards filled with numbers, none of which have meaning except to distract me from my own mortality. These feel-bads could have been resolved by Wizards of the Coast changing the rules to make legends more like Planeswalkers, meaning only one on a side per unique character. But the company decided to do the opposite, which we will discuss shortly.

The trend has always been toward better gameplay. Rather than crying, “Flavor fail!” let’s use our Vorthos expertise to solve flavor paradoxes. Before us we have the mysterious case of two Thalia’s.

Doubling Down

There cannot be two Thalia’s. Neither is a Clone of the other; that’s a Blue effect. Then, when we cast a second Thalia, we must not be bringing another cathar into existence; we’re just asking her to work twice as hard. By spending more mana, by giving her more resources, we empower her to lead a dual life. By day she’s a mild mannered Guardian of Thraben, defending her land from necromancers (including one dashing and intelligent skabaren), and by night she’s a Heretic Cathar, investigating the suspicious doings of the Lunarch Council as her lands writhe with unnamable horror.

With this Vorthos construct, we maintain the story integrity. We still have one character, performing two jobs. Yes, you could argue we’re bending the timeline, as she performed these two roles in different Magic blocks, but perhaps she is merely falling back on techniques she mastered in the past.

Speaking of warped timelines, let’s venture into the realm of Planeswalkers. With the Ixalan rules update, Planeswalkers now share the Legend Rule, and you can have the same character in play twice, as long as they have different titles.

Time Travel

Fans of time travel may prefer to think of two Sarkhans standing side by side, working together to vanquish your foes while trading dragon quips. “Did you see Silumgar’s necklace?” “An ugly trophy on a magnificent being. The Dragonlord’s wings unfold like dusk after deepest sunset.”

A meeting of Sarkhans across the ages never happens in the official story, but when playing Magic you create a tale of your own. I believe Planeswalkers could bend reality enough to form a time-traveling super team. After all, the game is lousy with Time Warp effects. Before moving on, let us appreciate the image of one Sarkhan in dragon form with another Sarkhan riding on his back into battle.

Mirror Images

For one scarred illusionist, duplicates of himself on the battlefield are entirely appropriate. The only difficulty for a Vorthos player is having gone until now without a multitude of Jace’s. To think that his signature moves of creating illusions have never appeared on a card until Jace, Cunning Castaway. And speaking of Jace, “Shirt Unbound,” we have no proof that his muscles aren’t illusions. Not that I blame him.

I expect to see Jace, Telepath Unbound on the battlefield with Jace, the Mind Sculptor in Vintage. They would exchange awkward high-fives and pitying smiles as they outwit opponents with their multitudinous powers. One would be the true Jace, and the other an illusion too lifelike to tell apart.

The above pairing I predict will be the second most iconic in tournament Magic. The first will be the two Liliana’s in Modern.

Demons were a girl’s best friend, until they outlived their usefulness. Now the only ally she trusts is herself. Sometimes she will use The Chain Veil. Sometimes she’ll manipulate the Gatewatch to further her own designs. She’ll fight twice as hard as other Planeswalkers, burning midnight oil (perhaps siphoned from a sacrificed Fleshbag Marauder). Again, casting a second Liliana doesn’t mean you’ve created two. Think of it as impressing her enough that she deigns to do more for your cause. You’ve paid her price twice. She sees enough promise in you that she’ll allow you to keep living, for now.

A less common duplicity and one less easy to understand would be Ajani Vengeant and Ajani, Valiant Protector. Vronos pointed out that his swearing off killing would preclude Ajani from blasting things with Lightning Helix. In such cases you could believe that Ajani is having trouble keeping his vow, as anger over his long-lost brother flares within his leonine chest. Or you could let a few things go for the sake of entertaining gameplay.

Gameplay Rules

Whether or not the above explanations satisfy you on a flavor level, the changes made over the years were for the best. The new rule for Planeswalkers makes them consistent with the Legend Rule. The game is simplified. New doors for design are opened. More players will enjoy a game that’s more consistent and interesting. Because of this, more people will engage with Magic’s story and characters. Forcing a true singularity as was the case with Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero would only prod frustrated players away. Given our choices, I’m happy to stand with two Liliana’s at once.