In a first step, we’ll check on the first two Planeswalker seriesthat saw the light of day. For this study, I use price graphs provided by Black Lotus Project, who compile price evolution based on eBay sales and thus have a handy tool for a long term analysis. Let’s go:
The originals
They were there first Planeswalkers to set foot on Dominia (well at least when speaking of the card game). First introduced in Lorwyn back in 2007, they have heavily influenced and partly dominated Standard for over a year. But they all share the same fate: They’re victims of their own success. Reprinted several times (M10, M11, Duel Decks), they’ve lost a lot of their value, although they are the only ones that have been legal in Standard since 2007 up to now:
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Ajani Goldmane: Had his best time in end of 2008, when he was featuring in the deck to beat, B/W Tokens (and to a lesser extent: G/W Tokens). Will raise to old power if White Weenie becomes a viable strategy in Standard again.
Current price: 5 â¬.
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Liliana Vess: Has seen some niche play in Cruel Control decks. Is black and has a nice ultimate ability for casual players, but has nonetheless fallen to a “bulk” mythic price.
Current price: 4 â¬
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Chandraa Nalaar: Is only good in Mono Red decks, and these should have won by the time she would hit the board. Definitely the weakest of the original planeswalkers. Has been at 3 euros ever since she was spoiled.
Current price: 3 â¬
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Garruk Wildspeaker: When Lorwyn was spoiled, he was the hype card and promptly won Worlds 2007. Is still a powerhouse in Ramp decks or Overrun decks, but due to him being massively reprinted, has lost a lot in value.
Current price: 6 â¬
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Jace Beleren: Right from the start, he used to be a Sideboard card, but as such made it right to the top. Is considered a complete underdog to his alter ego, but interestingly this makes him see play again, as evil Sideboard tech.
Current price: 5 â¬
So far for the “old ones” (kind of worn out it seems). Let’s check on their successors:
The interim walkers
With the release of Shard of Alara, Wizards printed 3 new Planeswalkers: Ajani Vengeant, Sarkhan Vol and Tezzeret, the Seaker, thus introducing multicolor Planeswalkers, as well as alternate versions of the same Planeswalker.
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Ajani Vengeant: A key card in the famous Boat Brew deck and an important Sideboard card in Cruel Control, he pulled hi’s best results in the US Nationals 2009. Recently he’s been a hot card in the new Planeswalker Control deck. But his time will be over soon, lest he’s reprinted.
Current price: 7 â¬
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Sarkhan Vol: What a hype, when this card was first spoiled. He hit over 30 euros during Presale, only to fall continuously since then, as he couldn’t find a home in the then current Standard. He’s still not worthless, because casual players love him. After all, he makes dragons!
Current price: 10 â¬
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Tezzeret, the Seaker: A monster in a deck with plenty of cheap artifacts, Tezzeret never saw a ton of play, because most formats are lacking those cheap artifacts. He had a brief appearance at the top of Pro Tour Berlin 2009 , but has since seen play only in Vintage (a.k.a the home of free artifacts), where he has defined a tier 1 archetype, winning the 2009 Vintage World Championships. Thus his price had stabilized until now, but he will be reprinted in the next Duel Deck …
Current price: 11 â¬
So what?
So far for the Planeswalkers of the early days. These are indeed powerful cards, some of which had a huge impact on their respective format, but none was so powerful that it did really warp a format, except for Tezzeret in Vintage, but he’s also only “another” win-condition besides the way more powerful Key-Vault combo.
Maybe we’re just spoiled, as Wizards gave us a bunch of newer Planeswalkers, who compete on another power level, but those will be covered in the second part of this article.
This week-end, Columbus will host this year’s only American Legacy Grand Prix. And this right after the DCI hit the format with banning Mystical Tutor and the Release of Magic 2011, which featured a number of Legacy playables.
Make sure to join me on Monday for a special issue of MKM.insiDe, where I will discuss GP Columbus impact on the Legacy market.
Thanks for readig.
Matthias
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