Farewell, War of the Spark

This is part 3 of my 'farewell' series, looking at sets as they rotate out of standard (see previous two posts if interested). Today, we look at War of the Spark (WAR).

Released in May 2019, WAR was technically a stand-alone set, but related to the prior two Ravnica releases.  Here, war breaks out as all planeswalkers converge in an epic showdown involving Nicol Bolas.

I hate planeswalkers (I almost named this post "Good Riddance, War of the Spark"). Introduced in 2007, when I wasn't tracking the game as closely, I still remember opening a Lorwyn pack, getting Liliana Vess, and thinking "what is going on?" Once I learned, I wasn't thrilled. I need to rant.

<rant>

Planeswalkers are [thematically] like players on your side (in Magic, each player is a planeswalker). They have a starting loyalty value and generally three abilities, one of which can be used per turn, that increases or decreases their loyalty. Most of the time, their last ability is a 'bomb'- a big and expensive effect that produces an insurmountable advantage. But they can't use that ability right away- it takes more loyalty than they start with- so they have to build up over a few turns by choosing another ability that increases loyalty. In effect, it puts a ticking time bomb on the field. 

When you attack, if your opponent has one or more planeswalkers in play, you must declare the target for each creature- whether they are attacking the player or planeswalker [x]. Because of that bomb effect, you generally want to target planeswalkers. This draws games out and slows them down. It's extremly annoying. In my opinion; my children *love* them because of their power. My son once made a deck with only planeswalkers (no lands or anything else; it was unsuccessful). 

</rant>

WAR had 39 planeswalkers. Some were effectively enchantments with only negative loyalty abilities. Still annoying. Okay, on to the cards.

Favorites
Here are the cards I played (or enjoyed the most):

Ajani's Pridemate was another staple in life-gain decks.

I didn't play much blue, but Callous Dismissal removed anything and gave you a chump blocker if nothing else.

Massacre Girl was a great removal card, especially when facing armies.

I loved Krenko for his goblin-generating abilities.

Arboreal Grazer saw lots of play in ramp decks. Note that his ability says "land"- not basic land- meaning you could get a powerful mana advantage on turn one.

Multicolored has some nice offerings. Casualties of War was an expensive- but devastating- removal spell. Cruel Celebrant and Mayhem Devil helped eat away at an opponent's life total. Elite Guardmage had a nice ETB (Enter the Battlefield) effect. Feather + Legionnaire was a potent combo.

Good Riddance

I could put every planeswalker on here, but the following were especially annoying:

Yuck, just yuck.

Overall

One great thing about Magic is that you don't have to play every set- you can ignore expansions and still enjoy the game. I largely ignored WAR, buying select cards for specific decks but otherwise staying away. I haven't regretted that, and I'm glad we're waving goodbye to so many planeswalkers.