While Wizards of the Coast has been leaning into Universes Beyond recently, MTG still has plenty of iconic characters. For many MTG players, king amongst these characters are the game’s earliest Planeswalkers. As the focal point for many sets’ stories, and phenomenally powerful to boot, it’s no wonder these characters are beloved.
Throughout the years, Wizards has made no end of new Planeswalkers, some of which we’ve seen time and time again. Kaito Shizuki is the most recent familiar face to be popping up all over the place. This new blue Planeswalker even replaced Jace in MTG Foundations, showing just how far they’ve come.
Thankfully, while Kato is in vogue, Jace has hardly been replaced in MTG. We can’t say the same for poor old Garruk, however, who has been missing from MTG for literal years. At long last, however, they have been spotted once again! Judging by newly released art, it seems Garruk might finally be back in Aetherdrift!
Garruk’s in Aetherdrift?!
While we might not have seen new spoilers, as hoped, Wizards has revealed a lot of information about Aetherdrift recently. Diving deep into the set’s trio of worlds and the lore surrounding them, there’s been a lot of information to digest. As if this information wasn’t interesting enough, Wizards has also revealed a slew of new art to admire.
While this art doesn’t necessarily outright confirm new cards, it does appear to showcase returning characters. Vin, for instance, appears to be returning to Magic after their brief stint as the announcer of Magic Spellslingers. Alongside Vin, it now seems that Garruk might finally be coming back to a premier MTG set too!
In the Planeswalker’s Guide to Aetherdrift, Part 2, Wizards gave MTG players their first proper look at Muraganda. Only seen in passing previously, Aetherdrift will be the first time that this plane gets to be the star of the show. Given that Muraganda is Magic’s somewhat vanilla-focused “primordial plane,” this is an incredibly exciting opportunity.
Beyond just caring about vanilla creatures, it now seems that Muraganda may have been where Garruk has been hiding out. That appears to be the case when looking at the art above, at least. Within, or more likely behind, one of the many Ooze creatures on Muraganda there’s a very Garruk-looking silhouette.
Taking this theory to Reddit, many MTG players seemed to agree with TheUnEase’s hypothesis. Void_Warden, for instance, noted that the helmet is certainly reminiscent of Garruk’s classic look. With these similarities in mind, it’s no wonder that players like Burger090 were so excited, commenting “YES THE GOAT IS BACK RAHHHH.”
A Long Time Coming
As mentioned earlier, we haven’t technically seen Garruk in over five years at this point. The last time they appeared was in 2019’s Throne of Eldraine, and they disappeared off the face of the multiverse after that. Technically, they have reappeared in Core sets and Alchemy: Innistrad since then, but those don’t really count for story purposes.
Even if we do include their core set appearances, Garruk has still been missing in MTG for quite some time. In their stead, we’ve been seeing more of Nissa, Vivien, and Tyvar who’ve taken up the mono-green mantle. At least two of these three characters have been desparked, with the fate of Vivien currently being unconfirmed.
If we are indeed seeing Garruk in this piece of artwork, there’s a high chance that they’ve been desparked too. While the card hasn’t fully been revealed, we’ve already seen that Chandra, Spark Hunter is the main Planeswalker in Aetherdrift. Unless Wizards has changed their tune and upped the count, she will be the only one in the set.
While being desparked isn’t the end of the world thanks to Omenpaths, this change may nonetheless be disappointing to Garruk-loving MTG players. Over the years, Garruk has not had a great number of cards, and our first look at him could be really underwhelming. Provided they’ve not been eaten by an Ooze, this may only be the start of their problems.
Sadly, while the silhouette might look a lot like them, there’s no guarantee this is actually Garruk. There’s a non-zero chance this is just the style of Muraganda’s people since we’ve not been to the plane before. It won’t be until the Aetherdrift story starts or spoilers are revealed that we’ll know for sure…
Too Much Too Fast
To put it lightly, an awful lot is going on in Aetherdrift. This should be expected, given that it is Magic’s first set taking place across three planes. Already, this has some players concerned that the story will be rushed, with not enough time devoted to each character. Somewhat unsurprisingly, this has some MTG players calling for blocks to return.
In theory, an entire block being devoted to the Ghirapur Grand Prix seems like a slam dunk. Each plane could get plenty of well-deserved time in the spotlight, with characters given enough room to breathe. Wizards could even tell a three-act story that slow-rolls the highs and lows of the tumultuous race.
Even if it makes sense in our heads, blocks don’t work in reality. We’ve been told repeatedly that they’re not what the majority of MTG players want. If 2025 was nothing but Aetherdrift and Universes Beyond, it wouldn’t be surprising if some players tuned out. That said, there are still valid concerns about how much Wizards is doing in Aetherdrift since it’s three sets in one.
Hopefully, this potential concern won’t actually be a problem once the set’s story starts. Similarly, we can only hope that the spoiler season for Aetherdrift won’t be overloaded with Legendary creatures. With Garruk, Vin, and ten teams with two drivers each, it seems there might be a lot…
Ultimately, we just have to wait and see what happens once the Aetherdrift story starts. Should Garruk appear there, we can rest assured that they’ll get a new card. If they continue to be mysteriously absent, however, there’s no telling when we’ll see them again.
At least MTG’s Head Designer, Mark Rosewater, says we haven’t seen the last of them.
