The full spoiler is of course now available at MtgSalvation; I’ll talk about planeswalkers first. Each planeswalker is rare and has 3 abilities: a normal attack, a special move, and a finishing move.
Ajani Goldmane
2ww
Planeswalker – Ajani
+1: You gain 2 life
-1: Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. Those creatures gain vigilance until end of turn.
-6: Put a white Avatar creature token into play with “This creature’s power and toughness are each equal to your life total.
Loyalty: 4
My take:
Unlike every other planeswalker, resolving Ajani’s “finishing move” does not guarantee a win in a Limited game. More likely, it’s going to die to a common like Oblivion Ring. However, Ajani is still pretty good in limited, due to that very nice special move: you play her on turn 4 with 2-3 creatures on the board, pump them once, then swing. Next turn, play another creature or so, pump, swing. Sooner or later, all your guys are bigger than his guys. Also, if you’re dying to some stupid 1/1 evasion guy, just gain 2 life a turn. Constructed application: A finisher and support life gain in Martyr-based decks. If you use Sacred Mesa, her special ability even becomes useful!
Jace Beleren
1UU
Planeswalker – Jace
+2: Each player draws a card.
-1: Target player draws a card.
-10: Target player puts the top twenty cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Loyalty: 3
My take:
Costing 1UU is useless for Jace, as you will almost never play him on the third turn. More likely you would play him on a later turn, with counter back-up. A simple Constructed application would be to use his special move 3 times, but that’s just a bad Harmonize. The other two abilities require you to build your deck around them – you’re not going to use that finisher unless you’re actually a mill deck, and the normal ability smells of Owling Mine to me. In limited, just build a defensive deck around him and keep pumping up loyalty. Resolving the finishing move will surely win you the game.
Liliana Vess
3BB
Planeswalker – Liliana
+1: Target player discards a card.
-2: Search your library for a card, then shuffle your library and put that card on top of it.
-8: Put all creature cards in all graveyards into play under your control.
Loyalty: 5
My take:
Ah, Liliana, first among equals. Well, first to be previewed anyway. The finisher will win you games in Limited – but only after much blood has already been spilled. The special move on the other hand, pulls out all your other bombs from your deck (hope you had a few!) The normal move is meh in both Limited and Constructed – paying 5 for a repeating single discard effect isn’t really that good. For Constructed, her finisher has a strange synergy with Jace Beleren’s… populate the graveyards, then animate ‘em all under my control. Well, it’s pretty good with Damnation as well. A bit of a “win more” card, if you live long enough to get Liliana online, you’re probably a control deck and you’re already winning.
Chandra Nalaar
3RR
Planeswalker – Chandra
+1: Chandra Nalaar deals 1 damage to target player.
-X: Chandra Nalaar deals X damage to target creature.
-8: Chandra Nalaar deals 10 damage to target player and each creature he or she controls.
Loyalty: 6
My take:
Chandra’s card looks awesome, let me get that out of the way. People will collect her just for that. That 6 loyalty there is really good as well. Slam this down in limited and make sure you can defend her for two turns = you win the game. Or, in more dire times, just take down a 6/6 guy for five mana. In Constructed, I’m not sure what deck would take her, as burn doesn’t seem to be very strong in Lorwyn.
Garruk Wildspeaker
2GG
Planeswalker – Garruk
+1: Untap two target lands.
-1: Put a 3/3 green Beast creature token into play.
-4: Creatures you control get +3/+3 and trample until end of turn.
Loyalty: 3
My take:
My favorite is the green one of course. Garruk compares favorably with Call of the Herd. Play him, and immediately make a 3/3 to defend him. If he takes an Incinerate, that’s fine, you still have the token you made. If not… wow, more free Beasts! I’d use him this way in either Limited or Constructed. In fact, I can build a green deck just starting with 4 Call of the Herd 4 Garruk Wildspeaker… that’s at least 20 creatures right there. Another application would be to use the normal move to accelerate into early 6-7 casting cost threats, butI like 3/3s better. The finisher is decent, and pretty good in Limited. It has a disadvantage over an actual Overrun in that your opponent can see it coming, but if you’re planning to use it then you’re probably winning anyway; in a defensive board the 3/3 beast is a better idea.
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