A Mirrian’s Guide to Planeswalkers: Venser, the Sojourner

While Koth is a new face, the other two plainswalkers visiting the metallic plane of Mirrodin are pretty familiar.  Venser, who is also known as Venser, Shaper Savant, is one of them.

It would only make sense he would show up on Mirrodin, he was a master artificer after all. If that isn’t enough of a tie-in to a plane full of artifacts, he also has experience with Phyrexians, having tinkered with the lifeless husks of Phyrexian soldiers left after the events of Invasion.

So, lets see what he does.

+2 Loyalty: Exile target permanent you own. Return it to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of the next end step.
What does it do? Well, a few things comes to mind.

1. Blink a creature to
a. Trigger any come into play ability it might have.
b. Remove any damage, counters or enchantment on it.
c. Evade any enchantment targeting it (such as Mind Control).
d. Hide it from wrath effects
e. Untap it.
f. Reset any counters on it.

2. Blink a land to
a. Untap it
b. Trigger any come into play effects it might have
c. Remove any damage or counters on it (it can happen).
d. Hide it from wrath effects.
e. Reset any counters on it.
f. Trigger landfall effects.

3. Blink an artifact to
a. Untap it.
b. Reset any counters on it.
c. trigger any come into play effects it might have.
d. Hide it from wrath effects.

4. Blink an enchantment to
a. Choose a new target.
b. Reset any counters on it.
c. Choose a new condition (color, creature type, ect…)
d. Hide it from any wrath effects.
e. Untap it (I think there are a few).
f. Trigger any come into play effects.

5. Blink a planeswalker to
a. Reset any counters on it.
b. Hide it from wrath effects.

Oh, I almost forgot he did other things.

-1 Loyalty: Creatures are unblockable this turn
What does this do? Enables you to sneak your creatures in to chip away at an entrenched opponent, or deal the final blow.

-8 You gain an emblem with “Whenever you cast a spell, exile target permanant”‘
What does this do? Gives you an insurmountable advantage, even if Venser leaves play. With the ability to exile a permanent; any permanent you want (including lands) with every spell you cast, it will be virtually impossible for your opponent to make any headway.

Overall, Venser does what a lot of good cards have done over the years; give you an incremental advantage which really add up. This strategy has proven to be pretty successful in the past, and an being able to blink any damn permanent makes this blink effect more powerful than any before them.

The game is always full of creatures and other permanents with come into play abilities. Many aren’t that great on their own, but when subject to the kind of abuse Venser can facilitate,  they become powerful tools. Remember Momentary Blink? Remember Revillark? Both became integral parts of successful decks; decks which usually remained viable until rotation.

None of those cards ever had a clause which allowed you to basically lock out a game just for using them a couple times. Venser’s final ability can. With the ability to cast an un-targetable O-Ring with each spell, you can turn the tide of a game and make sure your opponent doesn’t gain any ground for the rest of the game.

I may like Koth of the hammer a whole lot, but my money is on Venser as the “big” planeswalker of the set. Abusing the hell out of your permanants will be so fun.

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