Do Planeswalkers Have Summoning Sickness, Planeswalkers are one of the most fascinating and powerful card types in Magic: The Gathering. They, General, do-planeswalkers-have-summoning-sickness, Timnesia
Planeswalkers are one of the most fascinating and powerful card types in Magic: The Gathering. They are unique because they can be played as spells and can be attacked directly by opponents. One of the questions that often comes up about planeswalkers is whether or not they have summoning sickness.
Summoning sickness is a game mechanic in Magic: The Gathering that prevents creatures from attacking or using their abilities on the turn they enter the battlefield. This is to balance the fact that creatures can attack and block, making them powerful tools in the game. But planeswalkers don't attack or block, so do they have summoning sickness?
The answer is yes and no. When a planeswalker enters the battlefield, it does have summoning sickness. This means that you cannot activate any of its loyalty abilities on the turn it enters the battlefield. However, planeswalkers have a unique rule that allows them to use their loyalty abilities even if they have summoning sickness as long as they don't have any abilities with the tap symbol.
This means that if a planeswalker enters the battlefield with a loyalty ability that doesn't require tapping, you can use it right away even if the planeswalker has summoning sickness. For example, if you play a Chandra, Torch of Defiance and have enough loyalty counters, you can use her +1 ability to add two red mana to your mana pool even if she has summoning sickness.
However, if a planeswalker has a loyalty ability that requires tapping, like Jace, Architect of Thought's -2 ability, you cannot use it on the turn the planeswalker enters the battlefield because it has summoning sickness and cannot tap.
It's also important to note that while planeswalkers can be attacked directly by opponents, they are not creatures and do not have power and toughness values. This means that they cannot be affected by spells or abilities that specifically target creatures, like Doom Blade or Giant Growth.
In conclusion, planeswalkers do have summoning sickness when they enter the battlefield, but they have a unique rule that allows them to use their loyalty abilities even if they have summoning sickness as long as they don't require tapping. This makes them powerful tools in the game and adds an additional layer of strategy to playing with and against them.