Loyal readers of GatheringMagic.com already know about my healthy, if often creepy obsession with Planeswalkers.  If I were going to choose one move that Wizards of the Coast has made in the past five years to better the game of Magic I would surely point to the recent focus on our favorite heroes.  These popular fantasy figures have not only enhanced the flavor and depth of a universe already brimming with life, they've fundamentally altered the game as no other card type ever has.  Change can be exciting but it can also have unintended consequences- both good and bad.  But to really assess the impact of modern planeswalkers on modern Magic the Gathering, let's take a look at the three bastions of awesomeness you'll encounter on your trip to Mirrodin this fall (as if you haven't been drooling over them all week!).

A lot to talk about, I know.  I don't want to get into the nitty-gritty of each of these walker's abilities but needless to say, these walkers more than make up for the ones we'll be losing when Alara rotates out next month.  Both the flavor and game of Magic the Gathering are now dominated by planeswalkers.  Compare these walkers to the ones we saw in Lorwyn and Alara.  I don't suppose I'd get any argument from you if I said that these are roughly twice as good as the original five?  Add to those ranks the two most recent additions to the Planeswalker club out of the Zendikar block - Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Gideon Jura.  Are they not better cards than their predecessors?   It is obvious to even the most casual of players that Magic the Gathering now revolves around it's heroes for better or for worse.  And if you thought planeswalkers were a large part of Magic before, get ready for walker-mania for the foreseeable future now that the baddies featured above are in play.  Planeswalkers are the most beloved cards in the game for several reasons.  They're effective on the battlefield, they are the apex of Magic the Gathering flavor and did I mention they kick ass on the battlefield?  So this utter domination should come as no surprise to most of us.

There are several issues a prudent Magic player needs to take into account in this brave, new,  Planeswalker dominated world.  I'll start with the most important:

Gameplay Impacts

We've already seen superfriends (or variations thereof) make a strong appearance in every format and these new walkers will only exasserbate that trend.  The powerlevel of a planeswalker card such as Elspeth Tirel is as "top-tier" as they come and you can't blame players for rolling playsets of every planeswalker they can conceivably cram into their decks.  One of the consequenses of this flood of planeswalkers is that the planeswalker "legendary" rule will come into play more often than it ever has.  It isn't uncommon for competitive players to run up against a few "mirror matches" at any given event.  Recently, you've seen a ton of Jund vs Jund matches and before that you'd have seen a number of Fae vs Fae mirror matches as well.  But neither of those builds typically rolled any planeswalker cards.  Today, with the new Superfriends builds, you're going to see the "unique planeswalker" rule affect the game like never before.  Just about ready to pop Koth's final ability?  Not so fast!  Your opponent probably has a Koth of their own.  You'll have to decide whether to try and kill the planeswalker and deploy your own, or to simply cancel them both out.

Flavor Considerations

Planeswalkers did for Magic the Gathering what Micheal Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson did for basketball.  The "Superstars" of Magic the Gathering take everything that is cool about this magical universe and package it into a tangible, relate-able and ultimately irresistible package.  Planeswalkers add depth, emotion and feeling to a universe that at times can seem more like a math puzzle than anything else.  If Magic is going to survive it is going to need a bit of flavorful spice every now and again.  Strong, central characters are just what the game needs.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Superstars bring gravitas, conflict and ultimately interest to any game."][/caption]

The Continuing Plight of the Non-Permanent Spell

I've written about this before and it's even more true now than it ever was at that time.  Most planeswalker abilities are direct copies of instants or sorceries that already exist.  If not, they're usually abilities that are similar to, or probably would have been instants or sorceries before planeswalkers were a card type.  So why then would one play Brainstorm in a deck where you could play the infinitely more versatile Jace, the Mind Sculptor?  Likewise, why would you play Seething Song when Koth of the Hammer is so similar, yet so much better?  Granted, I'm sure some of you could find a reason or two to play a sorcery over a walker with a similar ability but more often than not, you're just going to play the walker to constitutes a much larger threat than the disposable instant or sorcery card probably does.

Is this good or is it bad?  That is up to the individual players to decide.  You know where I stand on the issue and I think others will also start to long for the days where the non-permanent spell had a more respectable position at the MTG table.

Monetary Constraints

It has been said that this site complains too much about the rising cost of playing Magic.  We toss out phrases like "barriers to entry" and "bankslayer angel" like they were candy at a parade.  But while Planeswalkers are supposed to be "special" Wizards has to be careful not to make them too special.  It only makes good business sense for Wizards to let each and every player experience the joy I had when I pulled a foil Jace, the Mind Sculptor out of a pack one Sunday afternoon.  Right then, if I wasn't already hooked at that time, I most certainly would have been.  Magic has been described as "cardboard crack"... but it isn't the cardboard you're addicted to when you can't stop buying packs.  It's that euphoria you feel when you pull a card you'd had in your head months before it was even available in stores.  If Wizards wants to get us hooked and keep us hooked they're going to have to make sure everyone gets to experience that special feeling every now and again throughout their pack-buying career.  With mythics at 1:8 packs, and only 3/15 mythics per set able to provide that feeling, wizards is asking for a lot of allowance money in order to assure that feeling.  Tread lightly on this issue, Wizards and don't ignore the millions of players telling you they simply can't afford your product.

It's almost impossible to imagine a gamescape for Magic the Gathering that does not include Planeswalkers anymore.  We've all come to covet these "Superstars of Magic" more so than any other card type.  And these aren' t just a gimmicky all-foil booster pack or an limited-edition-hard-to-find-boxed-set; these cards are flavor-packed, legal and supremely powerful cards that everyone wants to play.   I started this article by saying that the inclusion of planeswalkers into Magic was the best move Wizards has ever made and I stand by that statement.  Just be coefficient of just how important that paradigm shift was and be sure to adjust your game accordingly.