Planeswalker

Game terms · beginner

A planeswalker is a permanent with loyalty: it enters with loyalty counters, spends and gains them through its abilities, and dies when they run out.

How it works

• A planeswalker card is cast from your hand during a main phase of your turn with an empty stack, and uses the stack. [306.1] On resolution its controller puts it onto the battlefield. [306.2]
• Loyalty is a characteristic only planeswalkers have, [306.5] tracked by loyalty counters. [122.1e]
• Planeswalkers can be attacked. [306.6]
• Damage dealt to a planeswalker removes that many loyalty counters from it. [306.8]
• A planeswalker with 0 loyalty is put into its owner's graveyard as a state-based action. [306.9]

Rules notes

• Planeswalker subtypes are single words after a long dash, such as "Planeswalker — Jace." [306.3]
• The old planeswalker uniqueness rule is gone. Those cards were given the legendary supertype instead, so two planeswalkers of the same type now meet the legend rule. [306.4]
• The old damage-redirection rule is also gone: noncombat damage only reaches a planeswalker if the card says so. [306.7]
• A loyalty ability is an activated ability, so it can be responded to; the loyalty cost is paid on activation, not on resolution.

Rule reference

[306.1] [306.2] [306.3] [306.4] [306.5] [306.6] [306.7] [306.8] [306.9] [122.1e]