"Worzel, the Protector: Ten Fairies and a Whole Lot of Loyalty"

"Worzel, the Protector: Ten Fairies and a Whole Lot of Loyalty"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Worzel, the Protector is a mono-white Commander-eligible planeswalker who makes her appearance in Mystery Booster Commander Edition.

She is the sixth planeswalker I've talked about so far, and I think she can be effective even as part of the 99 rather than necessarily being the commander of the deck.

At four mana, with a cost of 1 colorless and 3 white mana, there is certainly a heavy commitment to white. You're probably going to want to play her in a deck that is heavily invested in white, if not outright mono-white.

Whew. That was a lot of white!

Fortunately, that's not really a problem.

White has no shortage of planeswalkers, so there are plenty of options for building a deck around her.

And at only four mana, Worzel is considerably easier to get onto the battlefield than some of the more expensive planeswalkers I've looked at so far.

Now, on to her abilities.

Her first ability is a 0 ability that creates a 1/1 Cat token. But this isn't just another disposable creature token. The Cat can eventually tap to put a loyalty counter on each planeswalker you control.

Well, well.

A creature worth having around!

Not only does it give you another body on the battlefield, but it can also help get Worzel closer to her ultimate while simultaneously helping every other planeswalker you happen to have in play.

That's a pretty useful little Cat.

Her second ability is a -1 that lets you look at the top six cards of your library and dig for either a planeswalker or a basic Plains.

What you choose depends on what you need at the moment.

Are you behind on lands? Grab the Plains.

Are you setting up your next big play? Find the planeswalker you need.

Everything else goes to the bottom of your library in a random order. It's a simple ability, but being able to look six cards deep for exactly one of two things you are likely to want is pretty useful.

Let there be Plains or planeswalkers!

And then we get to her ultimate: -8 to create ten Scryb Spirit tokens.

Ten 1/1 flying Faeries that are, rather oddly, green.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Green.

Which makes me think that Worzel might have a home beyond mono-white planeswalker decks. She could potentially fit into one of those Trostani/Selesnya token decks as well.

Ten flying creatures represent a potential ten points of damage coming from the air, and suddenly that doesn't look so insignificant.

Especially when you remember what token decks tend to do.

Doubling Season.

Second Harvest.

These decks are already perfectly capable of turning a modest army into an absurdly large one. Add ten flying tokens to the equation and things could get very interesting very quickly.

And because Worzel only costs four mana, getting her onto the battlefield and working toward that ultimate isn't quite the investment it would be with a more expensive planeswalker.

I think Worzel is worth considering for mono-white planeswalker-centered decks, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see her find a home in Selesnya token decks.

A Cat that helps your planeswalkers gain loyalty, a little library digging, and an ultimate that gives you ten flying tokens?

That's a lot of loyalty for one protector.