Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset: Unraveling the Time Mage
The answer to “Who slows the sunset?” is Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset, a powerful planeswalker featured in the Innistrad: Midnight Hunt expansion of the Magic: The Gathering trading card game. This iteration of Teferi showcases his ability to manipulate time, specifically focusing on the untapping and tapping of permanents to control the battlefield. This isn’t just a clever card name; it’s a literal representation of his temporal magic impacting the flow of combat and the game itself.
The Mechanics of Teferi’s Time-Warping Abilities
How Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset Works
Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset’s card text reads: “+1: Choose up to one target artifact, up to one target creature, and up to one target land. Untap the chosen permanents you control. Tap the chosen permanents you don’t control.” This ability gives players significant control over the board. He can untap crucial resources and blockers while simultaneously tapping down threats and blockers on the opponent’s side. This combination of offense and defense makes him a versatile and powerful planeswalker.
He’s not about big flashy attacks. Rather, he excels at controlling the pace of the game and setting up opportune moments to strike. He can untap lands to cast more spells or untap creatures to create extra blockers. The ability to tap opposing creatures and lands disrupts your opponent’s plans, potentially delaying their assault or limiting their resource availability. This is a form of time manipulation where instead of moving through it, Teferi accelerates certain things while slowing others.
Teferi’s Presence on Innistrad
Teferi’s journey to the gothic horror plane of Innistrad is driven by the investigation of the Moonsilver Key. The plane’s unique situation had drawn Arlinn Kord to seek help from the Gatewatch on Ravnica. She explained the urgency of Innistrad’s situation to Teferi, along with Kaya and Chandra, prompting them to join her and look for the cause of all the problems. This shows that Teferi isn’t just about combat power, but also about helping to protect the stability of the multiverse. His decision to investigate the mysteries on Innistrad highlights his willingness to engage with complex magical issues.
Teferi’s Journey Through the Multiverse
Teferi’s Multiple Planeswalker Cards
Since the introduction of planeswalkers in 2007, Teferi has been featured on seven different planeswalker cards. Each iteration showcases his evolution, abilities, and the nuances of his time-bending magic. Some of these versions are more potent than others, demonstrating the variety of his power at different points in his narrative. His impact on the game is significant, with different versions appearing across various Magic formats.
Why Teferi Lost His Spark
An important point of his narrative is Teferi’s loss of his spark, the source of a planeswalker’s ability to travel between worlds. This dramatic event occurred after a battle against the powerful Nicol Bolas. To seal a time rift over the continent of Shiv, Teferi made the ultimate sacrifice, giving up his spark and restoring Shiv to its proper place in time. This moment is a critical reminder that even the most powerful characters have significant limitations and sacrifices to make. While he later regains his spark, this event showcases his willingness to make choices, even at the cost of his own abilities.
FAQs about Teferi and His World
1. How many Teferi Planeswalkers are there?
Teferi has been featured on seven different planeswalker cards in Magic: The Gathering. These cards showcase different periods of his life and different expressions of his time magic.
2. Why did Teferi lose his planeswalker spark?
Teferi gave up his planeswalker spark to seal a time rift over the continent of Shiv, restoring it to its rightful form, after losing a battle to Nicol Bolas.
3. Why was Teferi, Time Raveler banned?
Teferi, Time Raveler was banned due to its ability to provide card advantage, board control, and prevent opponents from using instant speed effects, which was considered overly powerful. He was recently unbanned in Historic.
4. Who is Teferi’s wife?
Subira was the wife of Teferi and mother of Niambi. She was a Zhalfirin woman known for her strong features and confident bearing.
5. What did Teferi do to Zhalfir?
Teferi phased Zhalfir out of time and space during the first Phyrexian Invasion in order to save it from the Phyrexian onslaught. This means that Zhalfir does not exist in the present timeline.
6. Does Teferi have a daughter?
Yes, Niambi is the daughter of Teferi and Subira. She is a wise healer and cleric of the sun-worshipping Femeref faith.
7. Who was the first planeswalker?
The first five planeswalkers to be printed are known as the Lorwyn Five: Ajani, Jace, Liliana, Chandra, and Garruk.
8. Did Teferi give up his spark?
Yes, Teferi gave up his spark to seal a time rift over Shiv. He would eventually regain it but the decision is a major character point.
9. Does Teferi have a family?
Yes, Teferi has a family, including his wife Subira and their daughter Niambi. He had to deal with his family aging faster than he was, which further motivated his choices.
10. Did Ajani become Phyrexian?
Yes, Ajani was compleated by the Phyrexians, although he was later purified. The Phyrexian influence twisted his views to see teamwork through a Phyrexian perspective.
11. Who is the first Phyrexian?
The first Phyrexians were created by Yawgmoth, a Thran eugenicist, who believed in perfection through artifice.
12. Who is the mother of the Phyrexians?
Elesh Norn is known as the Mother of Machines, becoming one of the leaders of the Phyrexian faction after she was born through the white sun.
13. Who is the father of the Phyrexians?
Yawgmoth is considered the Father of Machines and is known for his horrific experiments that shaped the Phyrexian race.
14. Did Tezzeret get compleated?
Tezzeret did not get compleated. He was injected with a serum by a vedalken servant of Bolas to make him immune to Phyresis.
15. Which planeswalkers died in War of the Spark?
Gideon Jura, Domri Rade, and Dack Fayden all died during the War of the Spark. The war was particularly brutal and had a large impact on the narrative of Magic: The Gathering.
By understanding Teferi’s character, his abilities, and his role within the Magic multiverse, we can fully appreciate the power and impact of Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset. He is a character defined by not just his manipulation of time, but by his sacrifices, his family, and his constant striving to help shape the fate of the Multiverse.