Wizards of the Coast has given CBR an exclusive first look at twenty cards from the upcoming Planeswalker Decks from Magic: The Gathering's Core Set 2021, in addition to comments on the cards.
"Planeswalker Decks are the best way to sample what M21 has to offer," Magic: The Gathering Senior Game Designer Max McCall told CBR about the set. "They’re 60 cards, including four rare cards and one mythic rare planeswalker card. Each Planeswalker Deck uses the theme of its planeswalker... Each Planeswalker Deck has three other new cards beyond the planeswalker. The rares always lets you find your planeswalker. The commons and uncommons vary based on what each deck needs."
"Planeswalker Decks are designed for players who are newer to Magic or looking to see some cool cards from the most recent set," he explained. "We don’t make them aiming to augment top-tier strategies -- we don’t want players to feel that they have to purchase Planeswalker Decks in order to be competitive."
The White Planeswalker Deck features a new mono-White planeswalker: Basri, Devoted Paladin (art by Jason Rainville). Basri is a battlefield commander, and his deck -- which features Basri's Aegis (art by Paul Scott Canavan), Sigiled Contender (art by Randy Vargas) and Adherent of Hope (art Hope by Dan Scott) -- emphasizes going wide while putting +1/+1 counters on soldiers. Of the new character, McCall said, "Basri is the White planeswalker, so the White Planeswalker Deck for M21 highlights the tricks Basri can do with +1/+1 counters." McCall also confirmed Basri will work well for "White weenie aggro" strategies, saying, "Basri’s style is much more about buffing up an army of creatures and much less about angels."
Rather than using Gideon, who is dead, or Ajani, Basri is being introduced. "Basri debuting in M21, so the Basri Planeswalker Deck is a great way to show Basri off and give players a chance to see the new planeswalker in action," McCall said. It’s true that with Gideon gone, we wanted a new White planeswalker to fit the martial trope, but it was important to us that Basri’s skill with arms is different from Gideon’s. Where Gideon’s powers all focused around powering up Gideon, Basri’s powers are about buffing your team. We’re excited to show Basri off!"
Teferi, Timeless Voyager (art by Jake Murray), is the Blue planeswalker in M21. He works with time, and his deck can use phasing, bounce effects, card draw, and more to gain incremental advantages and control the game's tempo. A rare card in this deck, a merfolk wizard titled Teferi's Wavecaster (art by Miranda Meeks), is a 3/3 with flash that can tutor for the new Teferi when it appears. In addition, Mystic Skyfish (art by Alayna Danner) and Historian of Zhalfir (art by Denman Rooke) work with extra card draw, where Blue sees ahead into the future. Plus, even though Wizards has retired the Phasing mechanic, Teferi brings it back with a planeswalker twist, which allows him to phase out all of the opponent's creatures at once.
One of the first five planeswalkers to ever appear, Liliana is a death mage from Dominaria who made a pact with four demons for eternal youth and beauty -- contracts from which she has now broken free.
Her mono-Black planeswalker deck is all about creature death and life loss. The new planeswalker in M21, Liliana, Death Mage (art by Kieran Yanner), can bring creatures back from the player's graveyard to their hand while gaining loyalty. Her middle ability can kill a creature and make its owner lose life, and her ultimate ability makes an opponent lose 2 life for each creature in their graveyard. To back this theme up, the deck contains cards like Liliana's Scrounger (art by Martina Fackova), which can put loyalty counters on any friendly Liliana planeswalker if a creature had died by the end of that turn. The other cards in the deck are Liliana's Scorn (art by Josh Hass) and Spirit of Malevolence (art by Josu Hernaiz).
Despite Liliana's close association with Dominaria (along with Regatha and Kaladesh), McCall says M21 won't be set in Dominaria or any other. Instead, "M21 isn’t set on a particular plane, and neither are the Planeswalker Decks."
M21's Red planeswalker, Chandra, Flame's Catalyst (art by Gzregorz Rutkowski) is also one of the original five planeswalkers. Her deck aims for a quick, all-or-nothing victory over the opponent and features such other cards as Storm Caller, Keral Keep Disciples and Chandra's Firemaw (art by Bryan Sola). Storm Caller (art by Manuel Castanon) is a 3/2 for 2R that can deal 2 damage to each opponent when it hits the battlefield, and Keral Keep Disciples (art by Leesha Hannigan) can ping each opponent whenever a friendly Chandra planeswalker activates a loyalty ability. Chandra, Flame's Catalyst can deal a whopping 3 damage to each opponent for +1 loyalty, and it can cast instants and sorceries from the graveyard. If Chandra gets enough loyalty, she can cast a one-time Omniscience effect and Wheel of Fate effect at the same time.
As to why Liliana and Chandra were included in M21 despite frequent appearances in recent years, McCall said, "Planeswalker Decks always feature planeswalkers from the set they release with. The process behind planeswalker selection for main sets is much too involved to get into here -- basically, we want Standard to feature a diverse selection of planeswalkers at all times, and Chandra and Liliana were chosen for M21 to further that goal."
The final planeswalker is the Green deck's beast-tamer Garruk, Savage Herald (art by Eric Deschamps). Another original, Garruk can claim creature cards off the top of the library with its +1 ability, and its -2 ability serves as removal by allowing a friendly creature to deal damage equal to its power to another creature. His ultimate, meanwhile, grants every friendly creature the super-trample effect that Thorn Elemental and Rhox made famous. One of Garruk's wild friends, Predatory Wurm (art by Jason A. Engle), is a beefy 4/4 with vigilance, but having Garruk around swells it up to a towering 6/6 instead. Garruk's Warsteed (art by Ilse Gort), similarly, is a 3/5 with vigilance that can tutor for a Garruk, Savage Herald card. The deck also features Wildwood Patrol (art by Dan Scott), which has trample.
As to just how Wizards of the Coast went about creating these different planeswalkers and deciding on their powerful effects, McCall said, "Planeswalker ultimates are supposed to be big and splashy. We don’t make planeswalkers to be safe, controlled versions of other cards – we make them to be cool and exciting. Don’t worry, M21 contains many other powerful, exciting cards."
The M21 Core Set releases July 3.