No matter what kind of IP they're about, Magic: The Gathering's Universes Beyond sets almost always have one thing in common: they're absolutely riddled with legendary creatures. It only makes sense; each franchise, from Fallout to The Lord of the Rings, has dozens of memorable characters to showcase, and giving them each a legendary creature is the most obvious way to do so. The Spider-Man set for Magic: The Gathering is particularly dense with legendary creatures, depicting as many Spider-People and members of their rogues' gallery as possible. I've liked a lot of these cards, but every time I see one, a part of me wonders if it could've been a planeswalker instead.
Magic: The Gathering fans currently live in a slight era of scarcity for planeswalker cards. It used to be common for Magic sets to feature three or more planeswalker cards, but today, sets generally only feature one or two. What's more, Universes Beyond refrains from touching the planeswalker card type, even though it'd be totally justifiable to turn some of the most powerful pop-culture characters into planeswalkers. As someone who adores planeswalkers, both in the lore and on the battlefield, sets like Spider-Man make me long for the halcyon days of these cards.
Magic: The Gathering Doesn't Star Planeswalkers The Way It Used To
War of the Spark Was a Highlight of MtG for Me
There's a very clear before-and-after cutoff for planeswalkers' prevalence. In July 2023, MtG devs announced they intended to aim for one planeswalker per set moving forward, starting with Wilds of Eldraine. This announcement made me think back to War of the Spark, the famously planeswalker jam-packed finale of Nicol Bolas' major story arc.
War of the Spark was a dream come true for me, littered with uncommon and rare planeswalkers alongside the regular mythic rare ones. Planeswalkers always capture attention when they're played, and their loyalty system makes them arguably the most dynamic card type in the game. Not only did I relish the chance to get some lower-rarity planeswalker cards that I could still slot into certain decks, but it gave me reason to anticipate many new planeswalker characters in the future. For that reason, War of the Spark remains a top contender for my favorite set, and in a time when WotC is printing far fewer planeswalkers, I cling to its memory.
Universes Beyond Has Kept Planeswalkers at Arm's Length
Universes Beyond strikes me as a great opportunity to print some unique planeswalkers, and it did start that way. The first Dungeons and Dragons set for MtG turned a couple D&D characters into planeswalkers (in order to emphasize those characters, rather than indicate they had the same powers as MtG lore's planeswalkers). Since then, however, Universes Beyond has intentionally omitted planeswalkers; MtG head designer Mark Rosewater has confirmed as much, and says the D&D set shouldn't have featured them either.
Although I think characters like Sauron, Aang, or The Doctor could've made brilliant planeswalkers, reflecting their range of skills and impact on their respective worlds, I begrudgingly admit that it would also muddle the card type's identity a little. It's meant to set actual Magic planeswalkers apart from other named characters in the franchise and note who has the actual ability to planeswalk. Still, it would be a consolation prize for the mainline Magic: The Gathering sets that have largely set planeswalkers aside.
Even Magic: The Gathering lore has knocked planeswalkers down a peg, due to the Omenpaths that allow normal people to move between planes.
I Still Have Hope for MtG Planeswalkers' Future
In the meantime, I at least take some comfort in the fact that WotC hasn't stopped pushing the boundaries of the planeswalker card. The Aetherspark from Aetherdrift is one of the biggest experiments the game has seen in recent years, melding two card archetypes that would seem totally incongruous, and Tezzeret's return in Edge of Eternities throws another hat in the ring of colorless planeswalkers. MtG may not print a ton of planeswalkers anymore, but I'm still going to keep my eyes on the horizon, and hope for the best; maybe their time will come again.
- Franchise
- Magic: The Gathering
- Original Release Date
- 1993
- Publisher
- Wizards of the Coast
- Age Recommendation
- 13+