History, Restapled - Walkers This Way

Welcome back for another History, Restapled, a Commander-focused column which attempts to validate a newer card’s status as a staple by looking at how cards that are similar, synergistic, or competing have fared in the past financially.

It’s not quite time to enter Middle Earth, so let’s chill on Phyrexian time for a bit longer with a few planeswalkers worth your loyalty and your wallet.

The Eternal Wanderer

Planeswalkers are often the last cards I consider when deckbuilding. Players often freak out when I drop them in a game, making me the target. And though they contain lots of juicy lines of text, most of those lines are irrelevant if I get, at best, one activation out of them.

The calculus of planeswalkers in Commander doesn’t exactly equate to that of other constructed formats, as players have to protect them, or they must protect themselves, through three Time Walks. I certainly experience my fair share of PTSD when someone drops a Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Teferi, Time Raveler in Commander, but a single Fateseal activation or a lone bounce/draw against a single opponent isn’t quite enough to shore up defenses. Examples of anointed Commander walkers include Teferi, Master of Time, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, and Elspeth, Sun's Champion.

$17.95$20.99

$2.99$4.99

The Eternal Wanderer arrived in Phyrexia: All Will Be One and has been deemed “Commander Certified Fresh.” The card’s tagline might as well be, “All will be one.” For six mana you get most of a Tragic Arrogance, a Flickerwisp, its own half-sized Crawlspace and, let’s say, Sylvia Brightspear as a Changeling. Talk about card advantage! The card can slot into go-tall white strategies with the same ease that Elspeth, Sun’s Champion has become a staple of go-wide.

The Eternal Wanderer is only $1, whereas, for comparison’s sake, Elspeth, Sun’s Champion’s price has benefited from a Commander: March of the Machine reprint and remains just shy of $4. In fact, according to EDHREC, most of the popular white Planeswalkers are quite cheap, with only The Wandering Emperor above $20. So if you’re really jonesing for a Superfriends deck, now is a good time to pick up your favorites while the floor is low. Anyone snatching an Elspeth might as well add an Eternal Wanderer to their cart, if not to reach the free shipping threshold alone.

STATUS: Tragically stapled

The Eternal Wanderer	CardKingdom $2.29	TCGPlayer $1.70
The Eternal Wanderer (Borderless)	CardKingdom $1.99	TCGPlayer $1.66

Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler

Not all planeswalkers are meant to last forever. Some, like Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler, are easy to snuff out but perfectly happy burning brightly for one turn, particularly if they enable combo shenanigans. And Tyvar does just that. Any deck Golgari and above seeking a Thousand-Year Elixir gains full redundancy in Tyvar. Magewright's Stone, considered a close relative of Thousand-Year Elixir, can’t even offer haste for activated abilities, yet somehow it’s more expensive ($9.50) than Thousand-Year Elixir ($9). Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler beats them both at being budget, sitting at only $1.50.

When Tyvar sticks around, it offers an immediate Unearth-type effect that also mills a few cards looking for targets. Mana value two or less doesn’t sound like much, but in Commander, when threats take all shapes and sizes, the results of a three-mana Tyvar can be devastating. Grab that Sakura-Tribe Elder early game to earn a bonus land drop, or Viscera Seer to unstick a mid-game stall in Aristocrats strategies, or Devoted Druid for another chance at a game-winning combo.

$0.50$0.79

$0.98$0.79

However, the most compelling reason to pick up a Tyvar is that the sweet alternate art foil version is also only $1. What are our cards for if not to admire while they’re in our hands?

STATUS: A staple with big brawls

Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler	CardKingdom $1.29	TCGPlayer $1.25
Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler (Showcase)	CardKingdom $1.29	TCGPlayer $1.14

The Reason for the Doubling Season

Which Planeswalkers have found a home in your commander decks? Does your playgroup find them terrifying to face? And which have surprised you in their efficiency? Let me know, and together we can identify the staples amid all the lost loyalty.

Check out these other articles:

Dodgy Little Hobbitses: The Two Towers by Jason Alt

Over and Underhill - Tales of Middle-earth by Harvey McGuinness

Hidden Gems - Man! I Feel Like a Zombie! by Adam Berg