Game Play:
Planeswalker Magic plays exactly like regular Magic with one exception. The real difference is in how the decks are built (see below).
During setup, before you hand is drawn, set your Planeswalker aside in a special Planeswalker zone. During the game, you may cast your Planeswalker from the Planeswalker zone using normal timing rules.
In other words, you are guaranteed to have access to your Planeswalker during the game. But, if you Planeswalker is destroyed or runs out of loyalty counters it is placed in your graveyard as normal. It does not return to the Planeswalker zone.
The idea is that your Planeswalker is the "heart" of the deck. You will only have one in the deck (see below), but you will be able to use it every game.
Deck Construction:
Your deck will be exactly 60 cards and include exactly 1 Planeswalker. The Planeswalker you choose will determine the colors allowed in your deck. Your deck must consist only of the color(s) of your Planeswalker but may include one additional color.
There are also limits to the number of cards in each rarity you may include. Your Planeswalker will be the only mythic rare in your deck. You may have up to 8 rares and 12 uncommons. The rest of your deck will be commons.
Finally, there are limits to the count of any one card. You may have up to 3 cards with 2 copies each. The rest of the deck is limited to a single copy of any card with the exception of basic lands. You may have any number of those.
An Example Deck:
Check out any of the official Planeswalker Duel Deck lists to get an idea of what this is all about, but here's an example list I made using Sorin Markov. Since there is no official Sorin Markov deck, let's take a look at how deck construction for this format works.
First, I choose a Planeswalker to represent my deck. In this case, I chose Sorin Markov.
Since Sorin Markov is a black card, I must include only black cards in my deck (or colorless cards), and up to one additional color. Since Sorin Markov has triple black (BBB) in his casting cost, I'm going to stick with only black cards to make it more likely that I can consistently cast him.
Most of the official duel decks include about three themes. For Sorin Markov, I want to include life gain, discard, and mill as my three themes. You don't have to follow this rule, but it helps to balance out the deck. The more you focus on one theme, the more consistent and powerful the deck gets.
Now, I choose up to 8 rares to include in the deck. Since I am trying to balance this deck against the other official duel decks that I have, I'm not looking for the most expensive and powerful cards I can cram in here. In fact, I'm only going to include 5 rares this time.
- Choice of Damnations
- Exquisite Blood
- Sangromancer
- Sanguine Bond
- Sepulchral Primordial
Next, I choose up to 12 uncommons. I chose 11 for this deck.
- Corrupt
- Elixir of Immortality
- Exsanguinate
- Gateway Shade
- Geistcatcher's Rig
- Reassembling Skeleton
- Spawning Pool
- Thrull Parasite
- Trepanation Blade
- Undercity Informer
- Wight of Precinct Six
The rest of the deck, I fill up with commons to support the themes and basic lands for a total of 43 more cards.
Think of your deck like a larger, more consistent limited deck and you'll be on the right track.
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