The Elderspell: Comparing Similar Keyword Abilities for MTG

In TCG ·

The Elderspell card art from War of the Spark

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Exploring Similar Keyword Abilities in MTG Through The Elderspell

Magic: The Gathering has long delighted us with a vocabulary of actions that feel tangible on the battlefield. Destroy, exile, sacrifice, draw, and counters—each keyword or spell text carries its own tempo and philosophy. The Elderspell from War of the Spark sits at an intriguing crossroads of removal and payoff, offering a glimpse into how a single spell can interplay with a very specific resource: planeswalkers. As we compare similar keyword abilities, we can see how designers balance power, color identity, and strategy to create memorable moments across formats 🧙‍♂️🔥💎.

What The Elderspell actually does

Costing two black mana, The Elderspell is a rare black sorcery from War of the Spark (2019). Its text reads: “Destroy any number of target planeswalkers. Choose a planeswalker you control. Put two loyalty counters on it for each planeswalker destroyed this way.” In practical terms, you sweep away opposing walkers while simultaneously fueling one you control. It’s a two-step dance: wipe the passerby threats and accelerate your own long-term plan by boosting a loyal ally’s loyalty with each fallen rival. The flavor line—“The path to power is often paved with atrocities”—lands with a grim wink to Bolas’s manipulation of the multiverse and its walkers 🧭⚔️.

Flavor and function align here: you’re not just removing a board obstacle; you’re siphoning momentum from the battlefield and redirecting it into your strongest pawn. It’s a rare blend of soft control and hard resource generation, which is exactly the kind of tilt that makes War of the Spark feel like a party with a purpose.

The card’s mana cost and color identity emphasize black’s affinity for consequences and consequences-as-power. The dual nature—board safety through removal and board growth through loyalty—invites players to plan multiple turns ahead. You don’t merely answer an immediate threat; you set up a future surge of planewalker-based inevitability. It’s a design that rewards meticulous timing and careful judgment, especially in Commander where walkers abound and the life total isn’t a hard stop like in limited matches 🪄🎲.

Where this sits among similar removal effects

In MTG history, removal is often categorized by how permanent it affects and what it leaves behind. Destroy effects can be broad or targeted; exile effects bypass indestructible constraints; and return-to-hand or bounce effects reset threats to their owner’s hand. The Elderspell sits in a distinct niche: it specifically targets planeswalkers and converts each destroyed walker into a loyalty boost for one of your own walkers. This creates a feedback loop that’s particularly potent in planeswalker-heavy decks, where the battlefield can swing dramatically in a single turn.

  • Destroy a single planeswalker—classic targeted removal that punishes walkers for lingering on the battlefield. Elderspell scales this concept up by hitting multiple walkers and repurposing the damage into planewalker loyalty growth.
  • Exile a planeswalker—exile effects remove a walker from the game entirely, often preventing revival through minus-to-plus loyalty tricks. Elderspell’s destruction-and-reward mechanic provides a different strategic arc: you’re trading temporary tempo for long-term advantage.
  • Destroy all walkers—mass walker-clearing spells exist, but they risk blowing up your own assets if you’re not careful. The Elderspell avoids collateral damage by letting you choose only the walkers you want to destroy, then funnel the result into your own planewalkers’ growth.
  • Planeswalker-support or ramp—cards that add loyalty counters or help walkers grow are common, but Elderspell couples this growth with a meaningful control effect, which is a clever synthesis of two separate strategic axes 🧠💡.

In practice, the spell shines in formats where walkers are central—Commander, for instance—where the density of planeswalkers makes The Elderspell a potent tempo-and-upgrade tool. It’s not just removal for removal’s sake; it’s a deliberate engine that translates tolerance for a few destroyed walkers into a stronger, longer-lasting board presence for you. The balancing act—destroying opponents’ walkers while feeding your own—feels thematically on-brand for a spell named after the elder powers that manipulate the entire multiverse. The design invites creative play: which walker will you boost, and how can you maximize that boost over subsequent turns? 🧙‍♂️⚔️

Gameplay rhythm and deck-building takeaways

From a strategic standpoint, The Elderspell rewards decks that lean into a walker-centric plan. Think of assembling a suite of planeswalkers with complementary abilities, so each time you empower one with loyalty, you’re not just advancing a single card—you’re accelerating a suite of threats. Cards that tutor or duplicate walkers can amplify the effect, turning a two-mana spell into a catalyst for a multi-turn plan. The synergy between destruction and loyalty acceleration also invites players to consider timing: you may want to cast Elderspell when you’re about to topple a rival’s board in the same turn you’ve already loaded your side with walkers ready to sprint forward on loyalty thresholds 🧭🔥.

On flavor, the Daarken artwork paired with the dark, foreboding flavor text anchors the card in Bola’s era of manipulation and power games. The art and text work together to remind players that some victories taste of ashes, but can still be profoundly satisfying in the right moment. And for collectors, the card’s War of the Spark rarity—rare, with foil and non-foil varieties—adds a dash of appeal to a set that celebrated the proliferation of walkers across the multiverse. The price point in the real market may be modest today, but the strategic utility in the right build can feel priceless in the right moment 💎🎨.

Collector value and art

While Elderspell isn’t a marquee mythic, its appeal lies in its clever interaction with planeswalkers—a constant through many formats, especially in multi-player Commander games. The card’s foil versions fetch a small premium, and its collectible value is buoyed by War of the Spark’s walker-centric narrative arc. If you’re building a black-dominant walkers list, Elderspell serves as both removal and a built-in engine to accelerate your strongest walkers, making it a welcome discovery for your binder and your board state alike 🧙‍♂️💎.

Whether you’re drafting, building, or just nerding out about keyword mechanics, The Elderspell is a compact case study in how a spell’s text, color identity, and set context can collide to create something memorable. It’s the kind of card that invites you to think not just about what it does, but how it invites you to think two steps ahead and twice as hard—because in MTG, sometimes the best move is a calculated act of destruction that becomes your most valuable upgrade ⚔️🎲.

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