MTG players rarely get to decide the future of Magic: The Gathering actively. As much as Wizards follows sales and interest trends, they’re the ones making all the important decisions. Occasionally, however, MTG players will be given the opportunity to manifest real change in the game they love.
Outside of the post-set feedback forms which have dubious power, it’s rare Wizards ask players exactly what they want. Recently, however, that’s exactly what MTG’s Head Designer, Mark Rosewater, has done. Setting up a poll on Blogatog, Rosewater has allowed players to choose exactly how many Planeswalkers players want in sets.
Picking Planeswalkers
Following the great desparking that occurred at the Phyrexian Arc’s end, Wizards dropped the number of Planeswalkers in premier sets. Since Wilds of Eldraine, each Standard-legal set has mostly had only one Planeswalker. The only exception to this rule was Outlaws of Thunder Junction, which arrived with The Big Score attached.
This trend is expected to continue for some time, at least until the end of the Metronome/REDACTED arc in 2026. Following this point, all bets are off about Magic’s future, which is a great opportunity for change. Speaking of change, Tumblr user azetsu222 recently took to Blogatog to ask about exactly that.
“Are there any plans to increase the count of Planeswalkers again in the main sets? I’m not a big fan of only one per set.”
azetsu222
For better or worse, this sentiment is nothing new following the change back in 2023. Planeswalkers have long been the focal point of MTG sets and the story, so the change has been rather divisive. While it has by no means been universally hated, it’s clear that a lot of MTG players would relish the opportunity for change.
Thankfully, Mark Rosewater has offered exactly that through the creation of a new poll. Said poll allowed players to pick between none and five or more Planeswalkers per set. Out of these options, the most popular by far was two Planeswalkers appearing per set on average. With this option claiming 40% of the vote, the consensus of what players want is pretty clear.
The second most popular option in the poll was for even more Planeswalkers. Roughly 20% of the 1970 players who voted wanted three Planeswalkers per set. Just behind this, the current standard of one Planeswalker per set picked up a decent 14% of the vote. Despite this slight spread, it’s very clear that MTG players want more Planeswalkers.
What Players Really Want
While it’s clear that MTG players want more Planeswalkers in premier sets, what gets made matters. Reddit user Sheentaku, for example, noted that it “depends if they can make them interesting.” We’ve seen no end of Jaces and Chandras throughout the years which can leave them feeling rather bland and uninteresting.
In theory, the one Planeswalker per set approach should have counteracted this somewhat, as each one is inherently more unique. That said, more of the planeswalkers since Wilds of Eldraine have been fairly lackluster. Outside of Quintorious Kand who fuelled a combo deck, none of the new Planeswalker sees any real competitive play.
As some MTG players were quick to point out, this is ultimately the defining factor in the success of new Planeswalkers. If the card nails the balance between unique and playable, it’ll be popular and regarded as a success. Since this hasn’t really been true for any of the new post-desparking Planeswalkers, it’s no wonder players want change.
Realistically, there’s no guarantee that Wizards will nail the balance if the number of Planeswalkers per set increases. What would change, however, is the chance of that happening since more cards are being made. Even if Wizards wasn’t trying to nail the balance more Planeswalkers means more variety, allowing for big splashy, albeit not entirely playable, effects.
Outside of their mechanical relevance, many MTG players noted how Planeswalkers have long been anchors for Magic’s story. Due to this, the number per set should be allowed to fluctuate depending on the number of fitting characters. As we saw with the Omenpath hopping Kellan during the Omenpath arc, this can be a great storytelling technique.
The Great Resparkening?
While increasing the number of Planeswalkers may have benefits, as pWasHere notes, it wouldn’t really make sense. The current story path for MTG deliberately has fewer Planeswalkers and that concept is being actively explored. In Duskmourn, for instance, there was a lot of resentment from former Planeswalkers who lost their spark.
This begs the question of when a major shift in the number of Planeswalkers may happen in MTG. Thankfully, there are two simple answers to this question. For starters, it has long been known that Magic tends to work on a roughly two-year development lead time. This means any poll-prompted change won’t arrive until 2026 at the earliest.
Notably, 2026 also happens to be the finishing date for the current three-year Metronome arc. While we don’t know what’s going to happen at the end of this arc, there’s the potential for major change. Should the arc conclude with Jace resetting the Magic multiverse, for example, many former Planeswalkers could regain their spark.
Currently, it’s entirely unclear what Wizards has planned for the end of the Metronome/REDACTED arc. Whatever will happen has surely been set in stone already since Magic’s story is decided long in advance. Despite this, Rosewater’s recent poll may still decide the fate and frequency of how Planeswalkers appear.
Given the fairly conclusive results of the poll, it seems more Planeswalkers getting printed may well be on the cards. That said, the 1970 players who voted in this poll hardly speak for the millions of MTG players worldwide. Despite this, it seems change is on the horizon as Rosewater followed up to say they’re “not at all” surprised by the poll’s results.
Read More: Hasbro CEO Promises “Significant And Liberal” Use Of AI In Games
