Magic The Gathering: What Are Planeswalkers?

Walking across the entire multiverse is something that takes it out of you, but Planeswalkers do that all the time. In Magic The Gathering, Planeswalkers are a type of card that have multiple different effects and are all legendary cards, but how do they work? We've got the answer, and we're here to explain it to you.

What are Planeswalker cards?

Planeswalker cards are just different types of legendary creatures that have to obey the exact same rules as every other card. You still need to pay a mana cost to actually cast them, they still wait in your deck to be played, but the big difference is that you can't attack with a Planeswalker and you also can't defend with a Planeswalker, but you can activate their effects on the turn that they're summoned.

Planewalker Loyalty Abilities

Loyalty Counters are placed on a Planeswalker when it enters the field equal to the amount displayed in the bottom right corner of the card. On your turn, you can choose to use one of the multiple different Loyalty effects that the card has, and each has different loyalty costs. Some effects add loyalty tokens, some effects take them away. 

Planeswalker Interactions

As we've already pointed out, you can't attack or defend with a Planeswalker. You also can't use artifacts or enchantments on them. However, your opponent CAN attack the Planeswalker, and it's the only creature it can attack head-on. When attacked, the Planeswalker loses Loyalty counters equal to the damage that you would have taken, which can affect how you actually play the cards.