Can You Use Planeswalker Abilities Same Turn? A Comprehensive Guide
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The short answer is a resounding yes, you can use a Planeswalker’s ability the same turn it enters the battlefield. However, the nuances surrounding Planeswalker abilities can be tricky. Let’s dive deep into the mechanics of how and when you can activate these powerful cards and address some frequently asked questions to clarify any confusion.
Planeswalker Basics: Activation Rules
Understanding the timing and limitations of Planeswalker abilities is crucial for efficient gameplay. Here are the core rules:
- Sorcery Speed: Planeswalker loyalty abilities can only be activated at sorcery speed. This means you can only activate them during your main phase when the stack is empty.
- One Activation Per Turn: Typically, you can only activate one loyalty ability per Planeswalker each turn. This limitation prevents players from immediately maximizing a Planeswalker’s potential.
- Activation on Arrival: A key rule to remember is that you can use a Planeswalker’s ability the turn you play it. This allows for immediate board impact and tactical flexibility.
- Loyalty Costs: Activating a Planeswalker ability usually involves either adding or removing loyalty counters. The number of counters added or removed depends on the chosen ability.
- Planeswalker Death: A Planeswalker with zero loyalty counters is immediately put into its owner’s graveyard as a state-based action.
Flickering and Resetting Planeswalkers
One interesting tactic involves flickering a Planeswalker. If a Planeswalker is exiled and then returned to the battlefield (through effects like “Cloudshift” or “Flickerwisp”), it is treated as a new object with no memory of its previous state. This means:
- Resetting Ability Activation: You can activate a Planeswalker’s loyalty ability, flicker it, and then activate a different or even the same ability again during the same turn. Since the flicker creates a new permanent.
- Fresh Counters: When a planeswalker flickers, it enters the battlefield with its base number of loyalty counters, essentially refreshing its loyalty and granting an additional ability activation that turn.
- Strategic Advantage: This strategy is highly effective in maximizing the value of your Planeswalkers and can create complex board states.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
To further clarify the rules around Planeswalkers and their abilities, let’s tackle some common questions:
1. Can I activate multiple planeswalkers on the same turn?
Yes, absolutely! You can activate one loyalty ability on each of your Planeswalkers on your turn. If you have three different Planeswalkers on the field, each can have one of their abilities used.
2. Do planeswalker abilities count as instants?
No. Planeswalker loyalty abilities can only be activated at sorcery speed. This means you cannot activate them during your opponent’s turn or in response to other spells or abilities.
3. Are planeswalker abilities considered spells?
No. Planeswalker abilities are activated abilities, not spells. This distinction is important because it means that counterspells cannot interact with them.
4. Can I use the same planeswalker ability twice in one turn?
Under normal circumstances, no. You can only activate one of a Planeswalker’s loyalty abilities each turn. However, the flicker strategy detailed above is one key way around this rule. There are also certain cards and effects that allow you to use a Planeswalkers ability more then once in a turn.
5. Can I copy a planeswalker ability?
Yes, you can copy a Planeswalker ability with cards that allow you to do so. Copying an ability does not affect the loyalty cost. The ability will still cost you loyalty to activate. The copy effect will only occur if you pay the original loyalty cost.
6. What is the Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule?
The Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule used to prevent players from having two Planeswalkers with the same subtype (e.g., two “Garruk” Planeswalkers) on the battlefield at the same time. However, this rule was replaced by the Legend Rule. Now, you can control multiple Planeswalkers with the same subtype as long as they have different names. For example, you can have a “Garruk, Unleashed” and a “Garruk, Cursed Huntsman” on the battlefield simultaneously.
7. Does Deathtouch damage a Planeswalker?
No. Deathtouch only affects creatures. Damage from a source with deathtouch will not destroy a Planeswalker. However, certain cards, like Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence, create an exception where deathtouch is allowed to affect planeswalkers.
8. Can a Planeswalker Block?
No, Planeswalkers cannot block. They can be attacked by creatures, but cannot be used in any blocking capacity.
9. Can I Redirect damage to a Planeswalker?
Yes. Whenever a source you control would deal damage to an opponent, you can choose to redirect that damage to a Planeswalker they control. This happens before damage resolution and can not be split.
10. Why doesn’t Doubling Season work with Planeswalkers?
Doubling Season only doubles the amount of counters placed when permanents enter the battlefield. For example, Planeswalkers do enter with double counters when Doubling Season is on the board. However, it does not double the counters added or removed by their activated abilities, unless stated otherwise.
11. Can a legendary Planeswalker be a Commander?
Yes, some planeswalkers can be Commanders. If a Planeswalker specifically states “[CARDNAME] can be your commander” then it can be your commander. However this rule doesn’t apply to all Planeswalkers.
12. What happens when a planeswalker has 0 loyalty?
When a Planeswalker’s loyalty reaches zero, it is immediately put into its owner’s graveyard. This is a state-based action and does not use the stack, so it cannot be responded to.
13. Can you have two Planeswalkers with the same name?
No, you cannot have two Planeswalkers with the exact same name on the field at the same time due to the Legend Rule. But as stated above, you can have a variety of named planeswalkers.
14. Does indestructible protect against deathtouch?
Yes. Indestructible creatures are unaffected by deathtouch. Creatures that have indestructible are immune to being destroyed by damage, including damage from a source with deathtouch.
15. Can you use a planeswalker’s ability then immediately flicker it to use it again?
Yes, you absolutely can. This is a valid and powerful strategy that many competitive players use. It allows you to maximize the output of a single planeswalker in a given turn, by triggering the ability, removing the permanent, then bringing it back as a new instance.
Final Thoughts
Mastering the intricacies of Planeswalker abilities is essential for any Magic: The Gathering player looking to improve their gameplay. By understanding the rules surrounding activation, timing, and the clever use of effects like flickering, you can effectively leverage these powerful cards to gain a significant advantage over your opponents. Always remember the core principle: one activation per turn (usually) at sorcery speed. Happy dueling!