Acquire the newest Planeswalker or Level up the ones I already have ? Dilemma...

Magic:PQ Support Team

Hello everybody,

We are thinking about starting to make some posts for us to interact more here and to provide everyone a friendly discussion and lots of fun!
We'll have some questions, polls, and even challenges. (I heard that we might even get some prize worthy challenges 🤭🤫)
For today, I brought you a question:
Acquire the newest Planeswalker or Level up the ones I already have?
Please vote for what you think is most important and don't forget to comment on why!

ambrosio191

A lot of it depends on where you are at in the game.  Early on, you need to acquire enough planeswalkers to fully participate in each event, plus some extras to have some choice in the matter.  Once you have a good starting collection you probably want to focus on leveling them up, so you can fully utilize what you have.  After that you want to shift back to acquiring new, better ones.  At some point you have everything you need, all that's left is what you want.  Eventually you have enough runes that leveling up a planeswalker to 60 doesnt factor into your decisions, all thats left is acquiring new ones, if you want them.

For me the only reason not to level up a planeswalker to 60 and buy the extra deck slot the moment I get it is to save it for the level up a planeswalker x amount of times daily quest.

BongoTheGrey

It also depends on the abilities of that PW and if they are still relevant. I wouldn't recommend anyone, specially not a new player, to buy a Planeswalker that generates energy gems since you cannot do anything with those in the current standard.
Saheeli is an amazing PW but in Standard you will be basically playing a PW with 2 abilities since you have 0 vehicles to summon with her third.

spellsmasher

Acquire the newest Planeswalker

Almost all of my walkers are leveled to 60, even my new Sarkahn that I got today is leveled to 60. The only one that I do not have leveled to 60 is the sky dancer and that is because I do not play her, and she is there only for getting the level planes walker x levels objectives. But it only takes a month or two of playing the game to get to the point of having enough runes to keep any walker leveled to 60. 

madwren

Level up the ones I already have

Saheeli was a powerhouse back in the day. I don't know how many people remember, but she was an event prize, so only a few people had her. Her third ability used to summon the first four supports, not vehicles. Alas...

Anyway, my vote's for leveling. Making sure you have adequate node coverage is important, but most crucial is ensure you're investing limited resources in planeswalkers that will remain strong regardless of set. 

ambrosio191

madwren said:

Saheeli was a powerhouse back in the day. I don't know how many people remember, but she was an event prize, so only a few people had her. Her third ability used to summon the first four supports, not vehicles. Alas...

Anyway, my vote's for leveling. Making sure you have adequate node coverage is important, but most crucial is ensure you're investing limited resources in planeswalkers that will remain strong regardless of set. 

I remember playing with Saheeli in that event, and was sad when I couldnt place high enough to get her.  It took forever for her to come available for purchase, and by then they had changed her to her current state. That caused a little bit of an uproar if I remember right.

Opperstamper

Level up the ones I already have

Pick up the good ones and get them to a decent level. But after that - Gotta catch 'em all

ambrosio191

Opperstamper said:

Pick up the good ones and get them to a decent level. But after that - Gotta catch 'em all

Without a different way to organize my planeswalkers I cant recommend the gotta catch 'em all philosophy.  Scrolling clear to the end of close to 100 planeswalkers for the one you want to use just because it's name starts with a letter towards the end of the alphabet isnt fun.  Then, once you get there and start building a deck, the top of the hour close out of the events issue pops up and you have to do it again.

Opperstamper

Level up the ones I already have

ambrosio191 said:

Opperstamper said:

Pick up the good ones and get them to a decent level. But after that - Gotta catch 'em all

Without a different way to organize my planeswalkers I cant recommend the gotta catch 'em all philosophy.  Scrolling clear to the end of close to 100 planeswalkers for the one you want to use just because it's name starts with a letter towards the end of the alphabet isnt fun.  Then, once you get there and start building a deck, the top of the hour close out of the events issue pops up and you have to do it again.

Yeah scrolling is a pain. I use the "view all" button which makes it a bit better, and build decks in the PW menu, which doesn't close at an event's end. I'd go nuts if I used the method you described. 

TomB

I'm afraid I don't understand the question. I mean, you use crystals (or cash) to purchase planeswalkers, but you use runes to level them. Why was this question put as an either/or decision when you use 2 different resources to execute the result?

I think a better question would have been: Acquire the latest planeswalker or buy packs from the latest set?

I say this, of course, since twice now I've screwed up and blown significant crystals on a pw only to have a new set drop a few days later leaving me with a feeling like I got caught with my pants down because I was low/out of crystals...

HomeRn

Level up the ones I already have

My thought process is this:

Get current PWs up to snuff before getting new ones.  Then evaluate which PWs to get based on abilities, mana gains, deck restrictions, etc.  Some PWs are great on paper but can be really, REALLY niche (Kaladesh PWs anyone and the severe lack of energy outside of Kaladesh?).

Also, I always re-roll that "Purchase a new Planeswalker" daily quest whenever it rears it's ugly head... WHY is that a daily quest?!

Gunmix25

madwren said:

Saheeli was a powerhouse back in the day. I don't know how many people remember, but she was an event prize, so only a few people had her. Her third ability used to summon the first four supports, not vehicles. Alas...

Anyway, my vote's for leveling. Making sure you have adequate node coverage is important, but most crucial is ensure you're investing limited resources in planeswalkers that will remain strong regardless of set. 

Now we have Ashiok 2 for a support surge.

naabaldan

Acquire the newest Planeswalker

As far as all pw's I own are at maximum level I always buy the newest pw and level it to max.
In case I do not own all pw's I would level up only those pw's I love to play with and buy the newest pw's because they interact with the latest set abilities