8 Planeswalkers That Are Completely Broken
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By: Oliver Copeland
- Published:
- Last Updated: February 6, 2024
Planeswalkers are, by all means, the most fundamental and versatile characters in Magic: The Gathering. They have access to all parts of the multiverse and add to the central narrative of the game. Generally, Planeswalker cards are very well-designed and the flashiest of the bunch.
First introduced in the War of the Spark set, Planeswalkers will make even the strongest of your cards look like weaklings. All planeswalkers are strong, but today we’re going to list out the strongest of the strongest.
And remember to have the correct kind of sleeves ready if you pull one!
We will talk about 8 Planeswalkers that are Completely Broken because of the level of power they possess. Let’s get straight into it!
Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
Released in Theros Beyond Death, Elspeth has ruled several formats with her game-changing abilities. She proved to be format-defining in Standard and could neutralize entire decks through her ability to lock down the ground.
For quite an extended period of time, Elspeth remained a staple in the standard format. She was an extremely powerful planeswalker that was busted in the true sense of the word. Moreover, some of her specific deck builds such as Abzan, made her even more formidable.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar was a proper bully everywhere he went. The base Gideon had always been a great card but Ally of Zendikar was definitely a bit over the top.
He could buff up every creature present on the player’s side of the field, giving them an added point of power and toughness. You could use this ability any time as soon as you loaded Gideon to the field.
Released in the Battle for Zendikar set, which was already loaded with exceptional planeswalkers, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar set an almost unachievable standard for cards to come. Genuinely, one of the most broken cards ever to be released in the TCG.
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Teferi was always great in the Commander format, but with the release of Dominaria, he cemented himself as one of the most absurdly powerful planeswalkers ever. Teferi was a true blessing for control decks, being a card that appears to be engineered specifically for them.
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria aids the player greatly in drawing cards, threat removal, and fulfilling the mana requirement for counterspells. In addition to all of this, Teferi will lend the ability to exile everything under the control of your opponent.
At one point, it was believed that if by some stroke of bad luck, you were to face the card in battle, you were almost always destined to lose.
Karn Liberated
If you have even remotely been involved with the Modern format, chances are you’re acquainted with the Tron deck. Well, what the deck can do is on its own a great thing, but the reason for its fame is Karn. See, it’s fairly easy to use Karn when you’re using the Tron deck because of its good mana generation.
Once Karn is on the Battlefield, however, things do not seem fair at all. He can exile cards from the opponent’s hands, and can also exile permanents. If that wasn’t enough, he can restart the game with all of the exiled cards under the player’s control. So, It’s quite easy to assume why people hate playing against this card, it’s too broken.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Jace is extremely popular, in fact, he’s so popular that he got banned twice in both the Standard and Modern formats. An extremely tyrannical planeswalker with four abilities, Jace didn’t even let the opponent decide their next moves.
He could put the top card of the opponent at the bottom of the library, and allow the player to choose between their top three cards at any time.
Moreover, Jace could return any target creature back to the hands of its owner. It doesn’t stop here though, the Mind Sculptor can straight-up exile every card from the opponent’s library. The only option left after this is to shuffle their hand into the library, not knowing what they’re about to draw. Honestly, the name ‘Mind Sculptor’ suits Jace, because he limits the opposition’s moves to an extent that it reflects absolute control.
Sorin Markov
Unlike many of the other well-rounded Planeswalkers, Sorin Markov has excelled exclusively in the Commander format. His abilities make it really easy for him to get ahead in the format, one of which deals 2 points of damage and gives 2 life in return.
Moving onto the more powerful abilities, he can make your life total equal to 10, a quarter of what you start with in Commander. The great thing about it is that there’s almost nothing that you can do to prevent this.
If you’re facing Sorin, it will happen. And wait till you hear the Ultimate, you can basically take full control over the player’s next turn, essentially controlling the player. Good luck facing that!
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Another extremely overpowered colorless planeswalker, Ugin, The Spirit Dragon leaves no stone unturned in expressing how weak you are in front of it. Its 8 mana cost is entirely justified when we have a look at the abilities, by virtue of which the card has been wreaking havoc in the Commander format.
Ugin can deal 3 damage to any target on the field. Moreover, it can exile all permanent cards of more than one color, with a mana cost less than what the player chooses. This ability is nothing less than infuriating, but it is what it is. As a final blow, Ugin will allow the player to gain 7 life points, all the while drawing seven cards and putting seven permanents into the field with no cost. How’s that even allowed?
Liliana of the Veil
Probably the meanest card you can ever encounter in the game, Liliana of the Veil is a central part of many prominent decks in a variety of formats. She has been wreaking havoc on unassuming Legacy and Modern players for ages. She will literally eat away your deck and kill all your resources.
She can sacrifice a target creature at will. Moreover, Liliana’s Ultimate makes the opponent divide their active permanents into two separate piles, making them decide which one to discard. And if all that isn’t crazy enough for you, Liliana requires only 3 mana to be played. Hands down, one of the strongest, most broken planeswalkers to have ever existed.
Conclusion
And with this, we end our list of the 8 Planeswalkers that are Completely Broken. As can be judged from the list, these cards are utterly unbelievable. Have you ever had the chance to win a match against any of these?
