Planeswalker types
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on March 8, 2021, 10:09 p.m. by IKILLEVERYONE
Just keeping it short. Should planewalkers have a race. Like jace being a human planeswalker. Or nissa an elf planeswalker???
IKILLEVERYONE says... #3
I get that its not a creature anymore but they still have a race. I think its kinda messed up that the elves dont consider nissa an elf anymore. Or jace a human.
March 8, 2021 10:35 p.m.
Evry1sfavteddy says... #4
I think Nissa is a prime reason Planeswalkers SHOULDN'T have a creature subtype. She would be so much stronger in Elf decks than what she already is. Besides that not being a certain type on a card doesn't change what race they are in story.
March 8, 2021 10:44 p.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #6
The reason for Nissa not being a "Legendary Planeswalker - Elf Nissa" isn't that other elves don't consider her an elf. Even the Lorwyn elves consider her an elf. The reason is a gameplay reason, so I totally agree with Evry1sfavteddy. Besides that, it doesn't work rules-wise. Planeswalkers aren't creatures, their rules are totally different, so it's perfectly fine they don't have creature types. If anything, they are additional players you can call to help.
March 9, 2021 12:20 a.m.
A card’s subtypes can only be subtypes related to one of the types on the card.
A planeswalker cannot have a creature subtype type because it does not have the creature type. Same reason it cannot be have the Food, Rune, or Gate subtypes; they’re not artifacts, enchantments, or lands respectively.
For a planeswalker to have a creature subtype, it would need to have the Tribal type. I would not hold my breath for “Legendary Tribal Planeswalker - Nissa Elf” anytime soon.
March 9, 2021 2:10 a.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #8
Caerwyn: Just imagine that type line on a Bolas:
Legendary Tribal Planeswalker - Elder Dragon Bolas
Or even better Tezzeret:
Legendary Tribal Artifact Planeswalker - Artificer Tezzeret
Enter picture of that actor squinting at the tiny piece of paper
@topic: WotC keeps on saying it: Game mechanic beats flavour. The game is complicated enough, you don't need to make it more confusing by adding redundant info for flavour reasons. Coming from a part Vorthos btw.
March 9, 2021 3:05 a.m.
FormOverFunction says... #9
[caveman voice] new things dangerous, planeswalker bad, should have stayed in cave with goblin of flarg
(joking/not-joking)
March 9, 2021 8:55 a.m.
Is "Dumbass" an acceptable sup type?
because if so i think Nissa earned that title
"But Nissa had other ideas. She believed that, given their freedom, the Eldrazi would leave Zendikar and wreak their destruction on other planes, thus making her home safe again. Instead of sealing the three titans tightly into their prison once more, she broke the last bonds holding them in, and the titans emerged into the world."
March 9, 2021 12:51 p.m.
i bet she lost the elf sub type because after that stupid move all the other elf's disowned her
March 9, 2021 12:57 p.m.
They would have to do a rules update to make it so elf human ect can be planeswalker types. Itd make them much more powerful and possibly give humans a ton of new toys. Might also be little boring as 99% of them would be human
March 9, 2021 3:20 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #13
“Itd make them much more powerful...” (SHUDDER) yuck... gross but totally true. THE one upside would be that Extinction would finally hit them. Of course, that also might mean that we would all have to pick a type as well... you know, since we’re planeswalkers too... ;p
March 9, 2021 4:07 p.m.
ShaDoWz_6677 says... #14
I see where he's getting Bound in Silence is like this as well for reference.
March 9, 2021 4:09 p.m.
@Mcat1999
Its my understanding that we (the players) are the planeswalkers
Planeswalker cards are ment to represent other travelers equal to ourselfs. This is why we need thier loyalty before they are willing to aid us and we loose their loyalty when we allow them to get hit or ask for favors
This number has no value for power and toughness and what your suggesting wouldn't make sense
But i do admit it would be really cool.
March 9, 2021 4:14 p.m.
They won't add creature types to planeswalkers. It is a little contrary to the original if not the current description of them and their powers. Pre-nerf, planeswalkers could freely shapechange into whatever suited them at any given time. Which would mean they were changelings with every creature type.
Also, if they did gain creature types then a whole lot more cards could interact with them in unexpected ways which would probably make them less worthwhile given their mana and time investment to gain loyalty.
March 9, 2021 4:40 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #17
Starting today: Bedevil destroys your opponent and I’m not bending on this until they revamp or remove planeswalker cards altogether. I will die on this hill.
March 9, 2021 6:41 p.m.
VampDemigod says... #18
IKILLEVERYONE I understand that you're calling them races because that's a term used in D&D, but I would suggest in the future calling them something like "subtypes". Race makes people think Teferi would have a subtype like "african", and Liliana would have a subtype like "caucasian". I understand that this is not what you meant, but it's easy to misinterpret.
I do think you bring up an interesting point, and I think it would be quite interesting. For example, Ashiok might see play in a janky Nightmares deck, and Freyalise might see play in some Elf tribal decks. I'm not sure how I'd feel about that. I think that, at this point, it's unrealistic to expect such a massive errata, but it's definitely the kind of thing that would change how the game is played.
March 9, 2021 9:06 p.m.
VampDemigod - Wizards itself uses the word "Race" when describing creature subtypes. Subtypes are vaguely broken down into two separate categories: Race, which encapsulates things like Human, Elf, Bird, etc. and Class, which contains Soldier, Barbarian, Wizard, etc.
Wizards tries to give most sapient creatures both a race and a class; for non-sapient creatures, they at least are provided a race.
March 9, 2021 9:21 p.m. Edited.
IKILLEVERYONE says... #20
Played my bro tonight in cmdr elves battle. He played Elvish Promenade on me and i freaked out!!! A sorcery with a creature type. So now it really make sense planeswalkers should have a tribe type.
March 10, 2021 10:51 p.m.
Difference is, Elvish Promenade has the Tribal supertype. Every card with a creature subtype has either the Creature type or the Tribal supertype. Arcane is for instants and sorceries, Shrine and Aura are enchantment subtypes, Locuses (Loci?) and Lairs are lands, and so on. It's just one of the definitions in the game--subtypes can only go on a card of the appropriate type or supertype. There's no mechanical reason they can't change that definiton later, but there's lots of balance and comprehension reasons to keep it the way it is.
March 10, 2021 11:49 p.m.
legendofa - One slight correction to your above, Supertypes do not have subtypes - only regular Types do.
Tribal is a regular Type, not a Supertype - it would not function otherwise. That’s also why Tribal boosts Tarmogoyf .
Balaam__ says... #2
By race, do you mean creature type? Because I don’t think that would apply.
March 8, 2021 10:13 p.m.