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First introduced in Lorwyn, planeswalkers command great power in Magic: The Gathering. They act as secondary players, with their own special abilities that either increase or reduce their loyalty counters. In Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, three new planeswalkers have been confirmed, each with their own color identity and playstyle.
On top of that, they can also all be used as deck commanders, and they will no doubt make things very interesting in the future.
Who are the new planeswalkers added to Magic: The Gathering in Battle for Baldur’s Gate?
Planeswalkers in Magic: The Gathering vary wildly in power, but these are all pretty decent and create solid value for any deck they are a part of. Since all three can be deck commanders, players will not have to dig and pray for them to come to hand.
In Commander, the deck commander is set aside and can be cast without waiting for the card to come into hand.
New planeswalkers and color identity
- Elminster (White/Blue)
- Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes (Green/Red)
- Tasha, the Witch Queen (Blue/Black)
Each one brings something useful and interesting to a commander game, from sudden, terrifying amounts of small monsters, to a way to just defeat an opponent in one shot, if the conditions are right.
So, what can these new planeswalkers do?
Elminster (White/Blue planeswalker)
Elminster Aumar, the Sage of Shadowdale has come to Magic: The Gathering, and boy does he live up to his name. One of the greatest sages in Dungeons & Dragons, he’s a high-level wizard and one of the most well-known casters in Forgotten Realms.
For Magic: The Gathering Commander players who want to play a spell-themed deck with tons of instants and sorceries, this is going to be a must-use. As long as this commander is in play, whenever you scry through your deck, the next Instant or Sorcery you cast this turn costs X less, where X is the number of cards looked at while scrying.
It is incredible all on its own. His +2 has you draw a card and then Scry 2, which immediately triggers his passive. Elminster’s -3 can also create a frightening amount of 1/1 blue Faerie Dragons with flying. It exiles the top card of your library, and creates X 1/1 Faeries, based on the Mana Value of the card exiled.
This will reward Magic: The Gathering players that run incredibly high-value, high-cost cards, and then swarm other players under with a constant host of flying Faerie Dragons.
Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes (Green/Red planeswalker)
Minsc & Boo, are friends forever and great heroes. Minsc is a mighty warrior, and Boo is his adorable hamster friend. He is believed (by Minsc) to be a miniature giant space hamster, but there is no real proof of this other than Minsc’s word.
When this card enters play, and at the beginning of your upkeep, you can choose to create a legendary token of Boo - a 1/1 red Hamster with Trample and Haste. This plays well into the rest of his powers. His +1 puts three +1/=1 counters on up to one target creature that has trample or haste already.
Red and Green have tons of huge creatures that already have those powers, so it’s easy to build for. Their -2 has you sacrificing a creature. When this happens, the card deals X damage to any target, where X is that creature’s power. If it was a Hamster you also draw X cards.
The idea is to put this in a Magic: The Gathering deck with big creatures, then make them bigger through various means, and then one-shot a player. It’s an amazing card, and for four mana, it has serious value.
Tasha, the Witch Queen (Blue/Black planeswalker)
The Witch Queen's passive in Magic: The Gathering is powerful: Whenever you cast a spell that you don’t own, create a 3/3 black Demon creature token. She has a +1 that draws a card, and for each opponent, exile up to one target Instant or Sorcery from that player’s graveyard, and add a page counter to it. So far, so good.
Her -3 lets you cast a spell from among the cards you exiled and put a page counter on. The best part, is you don’t have to pay the mana cost, so go big, and pick the most powerful and most useful spells your opponents have put into the graveyard. She’s incredibly high value, and the only thing better than casting a powerful spell, is casting one that was not yours for free.
More planeswalkers could be revealed as spoilers go on, but as of the time of writing, these are the only new Magic: The Gathering planeswalkers that have come to the game as a part of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate. Each one is powerful in its own way, without feeling wildly overtuned. That could change as more cards and deck builds come to light, though.
