Planeswalker Cards

Planeswalkers are powerful allies you can call on to fight by your side. But how do they work?

Planeswalker cards are shuffled into your deck at the start of the game, just like any other card. You can cast a Planeswalker during either main phase of your turn (or any other time you could cast a sorcery spell). A Planeswalker is a permanent, so when a Planeswalker spell you control resolves, it enters the battlefield under your control. (Note that Planeswalkers are not creatures.)

Anatomy of a Planeswalker Card

Planeswalker cards differ from most other cards. Taking a look at a card, you'll see:

  1. As with other cards, the name appears at the top of the card, next to…
  2. The mana cost, what you pay to cast the spell from your hand.
  3. The type line. All planeswalkers are also legendary. This means you can’t have control of two planeswalkers with the same full name at the same time. On older planeswalkers, the word “legendary” may not be printed on the type line, but all planeswalkers fall under this rule.

    For example, if you control Jace, Ingenious Mind Mage and cast Jace, Cunning Castaway, nothing happens. You can keep both planeswalkers as they have different full names. But if you cast a second Jace, Ingenious Mind Mage, you’ll put one of them into your graveyard..

Each Planeswalker has a number of activated abilities on it. You can use one of these abilities whenever you could play a sorcery, and only if none of that Planeswalker's abilities have been played yet that turn.

On this card:

  1. +1 means “Add one loyalty counter to this Planeswalker.” If that’s the one ability you activate during your turn, you’ll draw a card.
  2. -9 means “Remove nine loyalty counters from this Planeswalker.” If that’s the one ability you activate during your turn, you’ll gain control of up three target creatures.

You can’t activate an ability with a negative loyalty cost unless that Planeswalker has at least that many loyalty counters on it.

  1. The starting "loyalty" of a Planeswalker (in this example, 5) appears in the lower right-hand corner of the card. It enters the battlefield with that many loyalty counters on it. If it's ever on the battlefield with no loyalty counters on it, it's put into its owner's graveyard.

FIGHTING A PLANESWALKER

Planeswalkers can be attacked. When you declare attacking creatures, you choose whether each is attacking your opponent or a Planeswalker that opponent controls. Your opponent can block as normal, regardless of whom each creature is attacking (you or one of your Planeswalkers). If a creature deals combat damage to a Planeswalker, that many loyalty counters are removed from it.

Other sources can deal damage directly to Planeswalkers, which also results in that many loyalty counters being removed from it. Many cards from before the Dominaria set that can deal damage to opponents have received errata to also be able to deal damage to a Planeswalker. You can find a card's official gameplay text, including any applicable errata, at Gatherer.Wizards.com.