I've been thinking of the recent discussion between Luis Scott-Vargas and Mashi Scanlan about the possibility of common and uncommon Planeswalkers. I am firmly in the Mashi camp here, with the strong belief that Planeswalkers need not sit forever in the Mythic Rare slot.

So I set myself a small design challenge - come up with some uncommon slot planeswalkers.

Here's what I came up with, with some discussion for each.

Grace of the Llanowar



Grace is a Llanowar Druid starting on the Planeswalking journey. I feel represents exactly what Green is all about; mana ramping to summon big critters. Dropping her on Turn 2 also allows for dropping either a blocker or another Llanowar Elvers as well, allowing for a six mana boost on Turn 3. Maybe this is a little overpowered for an uncommmon card. But it certainly is very green.

Lelenia, Soul Warden



Lelenia [so called because it's the name from the artwork I stole of the net] would be an interesting two drop for White. Much like her Soul Warden bretheren, the first thing she's good at is giving life. But she also has great powers of protection, able to pump and grant vigilance for her own wards. Finally, her ability to produce a bunch of tokens also works nicely with both the White them in M10 and in syncronicity with other Soul Wardens.

Fleece, Saprazzan Rogue



Again, Fleece's first ability is very representative of your traditional merfolk looter. It takes him a while to warm up, but his ability to either card ramp, or tutor up what you need, can be very powerful. Being so weak, however, will he stick around long enough for you to do so?

Karnath the Lethemancer



Karnath, you horrible Lethemancer. Like every other Lethemancer, his first ability hits all players, includign yourself. However, you could leap straight to his second ability an unearth a creature, in which case Karnath is almost a Doomed Necromancer. His final ability is also pretty good, getting a creature straight out an into play.

Gideon, Pyromancer



Gideon does exactly what any Pyrmoancer does - burns face! That's all he really cares about. I made the +1 ability hit creatures only, so make him a little less useful than Chandra early on. I though that you should also be able to simply sac him straight out for some quick removal or hit. At RR that's not too much to ask. And his final ability is a Lava-Axe to the face.


Creating these Planeswalkers was a great little thought experiment. I wonder, if your opponent dropped one of these on Turn 2, would you try to remove it, or not worry about it? Would having one or two of these in a Limited pool be overpowered? Would you drop it early, or wait until it had protection, like your other Planeswalkers generally have?

Hit me up on Twitter or at wrongwaygoback@yahoo.com if you have any comments.