Tarkir: Dragonstorm already looks like it’s going to be one hell of an MTG set. We’ve just had the official debut event, and Wizards of the Coast revealed some monstrously powerful cards. With new mechanics, Commanders, and art treatments, there’s tons to enjoy and get excited about. Despite all this, one of MTG’s most iconic planeswalkers is mysteriously missing from the set.
Having played a decent role within the set’s story, you might expect Ajani to appear as a planeswalker in Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Sadly fans of Magic’s resident cat man will be disappointed, as this isn’t happening. Even before we saw the two planeswalkers in Tarkir: Dragonstorm yesterday, this was confirmed by MTG’s Head Designer, Mark Rosewater.
An Absent Ajani
As we covered when they first appeared, Ajani is a surprisingly prominent planeswalker in the Tarkir: Dragonstorm story. While he’s not as impactful as Elspeth or Sarkhan in moving the plot forward, he’s nonetheless there. Dealing with post-compleation trauma and a whole bunch of dragons, Ajani appears in more main story chapters than not.
Despite this, Ajani isn’t getting their own planeswalker card in Tarkir: Dragonstorm. There’s a chance he might appear in some art here and there, but he’s not getting his own planeswalker card. Instead, Elspeth and Ugin are the planeswalkers for this set, and both of them do look admittedly amazing.
Unsurprisingly, some MTG players weren’t best pleased about this omission. Taking to Blogatog, Tumblr user Quincognito took their complaints directly to Mark Rosewater while noting that Ajani deserve a card. Unlike Eslpeth, Ajani hasn’t been given a card recently, and they’ve changed dramatically since their last appearance.
Unfortunately, while these seem like more than valid reasons to get a card, it wasn’t enough for Ajani. According to Mark Rosewater, this was simply due to the number of planeswalkers Wizards was willing to create for the set. “We only had slots for two planeswalkers, so someone wasn’t getting a card. Ajani had one recently.”
Technically, Rosewater is correct here, but only technically. In MTG Foundations, Ajani, Caller of the Pride was reprinted, but that’s not really the same as Ajani getting a new card. Nevertheless, it seems that reprint was enough in the eyes of Wizards, as we otherwise haven’t seen Ajani since 2022’s Dominaria United.
All According to Plan
While Rosewater’s response did reveal some insight into Wizards’ decision-making, it wasn’t a complete explanation. This prompted Stormtide-leviathan to probe a little deeper, asking specifically why there were only two slots. After all, if the one planeswalker per set rule is no longer being followed, surely Wizards could make cards for each deserving character.
For better or worse, this isn’t the case. Responding to this question, Rosewater stated “There are limits to how many planeswalkers we want in Standard at any one time.” Sadly, Rosewater didn’t quantify exactly where this limit sits and it’s difficult to judge where it might be. Right now, Standard contains 35 planeswalkers, which seems obscene given recent trends.
While it has been a big talking point, the move to roughly one planeswalker per set has only happened fairly recently. Thanks to the length of Standard’s rotation, this means there are still tons of planeswalkers in the format from before this change. On its own, Phyrexia: All Will Be One brings ten to the party, while two other sets provide four.
Looking ahead, it’s likely that Wizards will reduce the number of planeswalkers in Standard quite dramatically. Not only are fewer planeswalkers being printed, but there are fewer in-universe Standard sets now too. Once a few rotations happen, this could bring the count down to between 14 and 23.
Thankfully, even if Wizards is bringing the number of planeswalkers down, Ajani will hopefully still get a card eventually. Thanks to the sheer volume of planeswalkers that got desparked, there simply aren’t many to go around anymore. As such, Ajani is one of the few remaining options left, and they’re bound to appear again before too long.
More More More
Clearly, while the one planeswalker per set rule was interesting for a time, its limits are growing frustrating. That being said, Wizards can’t, and shouldn’t, give a Planeswalker a card every time they appear. Doing this would leave us with more Jace cards than we know what to do with, due to their current role in the story.
Unfortunately, not knowing what to do with Planeswalkers is likely part of the major problem with them. While they’re one of the few things that’s distinctly Magic anymore, these cards are hardly always slam dunks. The new Elspeth and Ugin look great, sure, but most Standard planeswalkers are largely unplayable.
While the format’s casual nature helps, these cards aren’t even slam dunks for Commander, partially because they can’t helm decks. Maybe this is something that Wizards should change, now that they’re officially in charge of Commander. That way, Magic’s most iconic characters could be elevated a little bit more than they are already. Technically, this is already possible in the Oathbreaker format, but that’s nowhere near as popular as Commander.
Beyond just letting players play with most Planeswalkers, keeping Magic’s characters in the spotlight feels more important than ever before. With Universes Beyond on the rise, soon Standard will become incredibly diluted by different franchises. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’ll undoubtedly make MTG feel a lot less like itself.
For now, Wizards is planning to keep planeswalkers out of Universes Beyond sets. For as long as this remains the case, we’d argue that Wizards should celebrate this point of difference. Ideally, this means that planeswalkers shouldn’t be skipped over due to essentially arbitrary rules.
