I've always really liked the
armored-but-head-exposed look for fantasy
characters. Almost every one of my characters in
RPG video games dresses like that. I think I'm
still spiritually in the 60s or 70s, when long
hair was the norm for everyone. There's nothing
old-school about Venser's abilities, of course -
he's most clearly intended to be an additional
card advantage engine for a deck based on the
flickering mechanic, which has only been really
pushed in the last few years. And while his -1
ability is actually very effective at closing
out any game, it's almost worth waiting for his
ultimate so you can cast a Whitemane Lion
multiple times a turn, return it with its own
ability, and exile all your opponent's lands in
the process.
There are some planeswalkers that are incredibly
up-front with how they operate and what they do.
For example, all three iterations of Elspeth
crank out lots of soldier tokens and smash face
that way. All Chandras burninate things. Jace
revolves around card advantage and manipulating
the library. Venser…well, he's less
straightforward.
His +2 is one of the more unusual planeswalker
abilities: you blink out a permanent you own and
get it back at the end of the turn. This has a
lot of healthy applications: you can flicker
something with coming-into-play or leaving-play
triggers (like Reveillark, Stonehorn Dignitary,
or any of the other Evoke elementals from Lorwyn),
or you can get back something an opponent
absconded with. It’s one that begs to be
built around, and it also has the advantage of
pushing him out of burn range. His -1 can end
the game if you’ve amassed an army (making
creatures unblockable will do that), and the
only downside there is that Azorius colors
aren't great at building an army. His ultimate
is pretty soul-crushing (exile permanents on
casting spells) in all, and he gets there faster
than most planeswalkers do (fourth turn out,
absent any other effects).
Venser's major issue is that he's in a bit of
a “dead zone" for planeswalkers. Five mana is
probably the worst cost for a planeswalker:
they’re stuck in hand a bit longer, and they're
not nearly as powerful as their
six-mana brethren. He also has the issue of not
protecting himself on an empty board: Venser
needs support to do his job.
Venser's always been one of my favorite cards
(both aesthetically and mechanically); while
it's sad that he won't get another planeswalker
(probably), this is still a unique and powerful
card for him to have.
