With the option now open that Planeswalkers are in danger, I felt like a thread discussing that could manage on it's own. The idea being something of "who wore it best?" kind of hypothetical. Or to be less coy, a best case/worst case scenario for infection.

Who would hurt the most to see lose themselves? What repercussions would it have?
and
Who would you cheer to see because a fetid machine life form? Who has it coming or who do you hate enough that you want to see them be useful to the narrative for a change?

Mind you, you don't have to limit yourself to one answer in total, but for the longevity of the thread, I would appreciate one answer each in any given post.

I'll start off with some thoughts of my own:
Worst Case: Koth
Considering how long he's been out of the spot light, how desperate he is to fight, and how he's a good depiction of diversity, it would be so disheartening to see him succumb to something he's fought for so long. We've seen enough Mirrans turned into phyrexians, just let Koth see the end of his struggle.

Best case: Elspeth
She should have stayed dead. They make a big deal how Theros is an exception, but other than jamming her back into the Phyrexia story line, she has no valid story arc left and she was a repeated joke of being a frail woman that went through the same arc over and over again.
So, since she has such a long history with phyrexia and no spine to make a stand, I say they should give her a nifty metal one and twist her into a tool that she's been scared of all this time. Or "How I learned to stop worrying and love the oil!"

I love Koth. Scars came out right in my freshman year of college when I found my first long term lgs. I opened a foil Koth in the Besieged prerelease and a few more naturally and played them in a mono-red deck for fnm. My fondest memory with Koth is kicking an Elemental Appeal off of his -2 to lethal the resident final boss after he thought he had stabilized. I'm right there with you that it would suck to lose him. He's also the most obvious choice from Wizard's perspective.


I know you know it's a pipe dream, but I don't see WotC bringing back Elspeth just to lose her again so quickly. Speaking of pipe dreams...


BEST CASE: Nissa
This is just pettiness on my part, but I haven't liked Nissa's direction since the Origins reboot. And WotC doesn't seem to know what to do with her either. She leaves the Gatewatch, immediately rejoins without any reason or consequence, and now she's in this limbo area after Zendikar Rising.

WORSE CASE: Ajani
This one scares me because of how plausible it feels to me. Ajani is in that same area of popularity as Tamiyo where he's popular enough to be missed but not too popular to scare the shareholders. With Elspeth returning, I can see WotC twisting the knife by denying the reunion these two characters deserve.

Gonna add a third category here: character I think we gonna see completed.

Ashiok
In the Theros Beyond Death summary Ashiok leaves Theros to investigate Phyrexia, seem to ally with Phyrexia to help spread nightmares. Interesting to see if being completed would work on Ashiok with their body being degraded from their magic or if completion would prevent that and a reason I could Ashiok ending up joining willingly.

Tibalt
He was seeded by Vorinclex >;) But really, Vorinclex did something to Tibalt that its not clear what which might lead Tibalt to become completed or force him to go to phyrexia where he would be.

On the topic on hand;

BEST CASE

Jaya
I have nothing against Jaya but I have a hard time seeing how she and Chandra and kinda co-exist with each other, unless they try to have a clearer line between the two card-wise. I also think it hurt in the right kind of way, she is an older fans favorite and it would open the story ideas of Chandra needing to fight against her hero/mentor.

Kasmina
Depending on how amoral they have her I could see (if she ends up more villain) being completed as both to be a semi-comupance and it would present a nice "darkest hour" set up where this leader figure in the planeswalker cabal is completed and gives phyrexia access to the groups members and plans.

Lukka
Ignoring just not liking him, I don't see Lukka story going anywhere until they have a return to Ikoria unless he really has a change of heart. Having him command a bunch of phyrexia beast could be cool.

Nissa
I think one gatewatch member is gonna end up completed and I think Nissa will be it. They seem to be cutting her out of the story and really she never was all the popular it seems outside of people wanting to see her and Chandra together. Being already fringe member of the gatewatch also gives a similar impact to the main members but already seems marketing is willing to let her go.

WORST CASE

Angrath
Similar to Tamiyo, hes a parent and would hurt more, even more as he was trapped on Ixalan for 14 years and just got back with his daughters. He also plays a fun role of anti-hero since we have seen him willing to mentor Huatil and Teyo but clearly will drop everything for his family.

Arlinn
I just really like Arlinn and I know her being a werewolf causes so issues with her card design and suck if she was completed just so they didn't have to deal with this.

Ajani
What VLW, as well as Ajani being my favorite walker since I start playing with Lorwyn/Shadowmoor/Alara cards and got into the lore through Alara Unbroken.

Elspeth and Koth
While I think story-wise having the hero who fought Phyrexia become one is fun, I it be too tragic for both of them as well as retcon as they are suppose to be immune to being completed by Melira (also why I be upset if Karn and Tezzeret got completed or they brough back Venser.

I literally asked to not do more than one of each so we could keep the discussion going longer.
>Sigh<

Re :Elspeth
The woman is a black hole of storytelling. I'll concede she won't get compleated, but I'm pretty damn certain she'll get Gideon'd. Besides the fact that we have two white walkers in the wings filling roughly the same niche.

Re: Nissa
I'm all for it because she's not even a character, she's a macguffin. This bullcrap with leylines power she has is whatever the story needs it to be, logic be damned. Unfortunately, her bullcrap power is exactly why they won't turn her either. Instead, she'll leylines the moons in orbit into a super weapon and Legacy Weapon 2.0 the plane, saving the day.

Re: Jaya
It's been a problem mechanically, but that's at least because wotc had been uncreative as hell with red mechanically (where's the concern for green power creep, huh?) But both Teferi and Jaya are probably safe because there's waaaaaaaay too much old school investment there and they act as callbacks when the multiverse has to feel older than a bunch of twenty something's like they have now. Jaya was used to great effect in the comic for precisely that reason.

Re:Kasmina
Until we know more about what she's set against, I don't think wasting her on phyrexia works. Unless that's what she's plotting against in the first place.

Re: Lukka
That's a character that overall was mishandled at every turn. The fact he's the villain of Ikoria is asanine, especially since the Viv is a full blown actual terrorist.

So, on to my second tier thoughts:

Best Case: Huatli
Like Lukka, she just doesn't have a lot going on, made worse by the awkward fit of her cultural inspiration. She doesn't fit easily in anywhere, and for most intents and purposes, she doesn't really have an arc or much in the way of motivations. She's a tourist, and one with a shockingly bland personality considering she's an Aztec warrior poet dinosaur knight.... Which is part of her problem too. Her build is a kitchen sink.
But... Honestly, it really boils down to PHYREXIAN DINOSAURS. Hell yes I want undead cyborg dinosaurs.

Worst Case: Saheeli
So, part of this is that I really appreciate her ethnic background. But more, I think the good guys need a hard counter to Tezzeret, and she also plays towards a cool head to prevail and WILL call out the moral relativism that the gatewatch revels in. Every now and then, we need a character playing the Logical objectivist. With Tamiyo gone... Saheeli is who we have left. Plus, yes, I like her.

Probable case: Narset
Realistically, Narset is a nothing character. Her appearances have amounted to a grand total of cameos and aesthetically Mu Yanling is doing the same thing, but more importantly what's Narset's selling point? What ability does she have that distinguishes her? Mu has water bending, Tamiyo had stories, Jace has mind magic, etc etc, but what does Narset DO?
Aside from that, she's also very close with Tamiyo, so she's at risk anyway.
Her one point of defense is that she's supposed to represent the neurodivergent community, but... Quite frankly, I've always found that personally offensive.

I apologize I misread that part.

Re :Elspeth
I see her "dying", either self sacrifice or imo most likely I see her willing going with Calix back to the Theros underworld after the Pyrexia war. We just have the story summary but the ending of Godsend and the summary made it seem like Elspeth only left the underworld due to Ashiok and possibly Phyrexia spreading. Once Phyrexia (for the present or the future) is gone I see her returning seeing her work as done.

Re:Kasmina
I think the Kasmina and twins stuff (and possible Ikoira) are tied to New Phyrexia, otherwise they kinda seem like they setting up another story arc which don't sure they do anymore. Per Maro Kasmina was gonna feature in Eldraine as a merlin like character which seemed to have been recycled for Strixhaven so it seem creative has something planned they wanting to so with her and the twins.

Darker twist is she really working for Phyrexia and is helping gather powerful pw to let them experiment on.

RE: Jaya
I mean, I think there is room if they split up what Chandra can do, like give Jaya the instant and sorcery side and chandra more pure damage, maybe Jaya gets impulse draw to reflect she's more knowable and give Chandra more of the elemental making. Just seems like they haven't and both seem like they'd fight for space.

I agree with the Jaya being there for old lore fans and likely keeping her and Teferi safe or at least not getting completed and having a heroic sacrifice.

RE: Saheeli
I do like the idea of her being a counter to Tezzeret.

RE: Narset
Her thing is also being a monk and being three-colored. We didn't see much of it outside of Tarkir but I do like,similar with Will and Yanling, she is a more physical blue centered planeswalker.

UNLIKELY
Garruk
Similar to Elspeth, seems a huge waste to have a whole arc to restore him after years of being cursed. More likely I see his story having to put his grudge aside to work with Liliana.

I want a "Phyrexian Gatewatch" of Nahiri, Tezzeret, Ashiok, Tibalt and Tamiyo to put the Gatewatch in place.

I disagree on Huatli. I'm plotting my plan to brow bow WOTC to make Aqalax and I need her in it.

Best: Niko
A lot of the recent planeswalkers have been misses lately. It's like WotC wants a diversity representative, but doesn't really focus on giving them good long-term niches in MtG story. Niko's just one I forgot about, and most struggled to get through the wiki entry without getting bored. Power set isn't exactly interesting, but it would at least be an interesting against Teyo (Shards vs Shields) and Samut (Athletics vs Speed). This way could build two other characters I don't care that much about and help make them more interesting.

Worst: Will
There's others I care way more about, but they would just turn me cynical. Will, at least is more because it'd be continuing to waste a character that's gotten some potentially interesting developments, but gets it washed away with the revisits for the sake of making Rowan more the center of the story. Will would be compleated along side Rowan or because of Rowan. If they were both, they'd be boring villains. If not, Rowan will be a major part of the story (sharing a spark), and I don't know if I can handle another character with the similar annoying traits as Chandra (in terms of how the story handles them). Will is also the sole planeswalker will positive relations with Garruk, and it's already hard to get that guy in the story as is.

RE: Huatli
While Huatli didn't have a good role for a long time, she's probably the best planeswalker to take up the role of wandering observer that Tamiyo had, but with less of a "do not interfere" stance. She's also been paired up with Saheeli to give a history and future vibe duo. It'd actually be interesting to see a storyline focused on the two of them together. And it'd be necessary to build them up so that compleating either has worthwhile impact.

RE: Lukka
It's honestly how hilariously off WotC's attempts to characterize him have gone. Even without the complete fumble of the Ikoria story vs cards, the optics of trying to make him a bad guy while he bonds with cute fuzzy animals just don't land. At this point, they should just make him that ornery old guy who dotes on his pets.

If they compleated Niko there'd be an outrage the likes of God has never seen. And personally I like them; maybe traumatize them a little with the Phyrexian war if the current characterisation isn't enough.

Harking back to a comment before, the compleated twins acting like Urabrask would be a good way to redeem them.

It wouldn't generate nearly the same amount of outrage, but in a similar vein, Basri Ket would be a terrible meta-choice to compleat. Basri was created in part in response to WotC's poor track record at positive religious representation. Narratively, turning Basri's faith towards Phyrexia might be interesting, but corrupting one of your few positive reps of religious types isn't great.

Teyo would be a frankly good choice. Young so "not even children are spared", plus people might still feel spiteful towawards War of the Spark.

Best case:
Nissa.
Vivian's already got the Phyrexian mentality, so it would fit well.
I read Barinellos' post and had to wrack my brain trying to remember who Narset was. So I can't say I'd really miss her. It'd be weird to see an enlightened monk type get compleated though.
Tezzeret. As a Phyrexian ally, there's a lot of dramatic potential there.

Worst case:
Tamiyo. I like her. Whelp time to check the spoiler page and see if she's coming back for Kamigawa!
Liliana. She has actual-for-goodness plot threads. Ones I actually want to see developed!

Re:Huatli
I just can't work up that much interest in her to see where they could potentially capitalize on her, which is crazy because most every way you can describe her sounds like it should be awesome.
But the biggest thing that makes me want to see her compleated is Phyrexian T-Rex.

Re:Niko
Ye, gods, I forgot that character even existed. Or how shallow and uninteresting they are to exist to check a box. But yeah, on paper, people would lose their minds over Niko being written off. Which actually really damages their capacity to make any narrative with stakes centered on Niko, and they already have problems enough pushing the idea anyone is in danger.

Best case: Daretti
As much as I like having a goblin Planeswalker, they simply aren't doing anything with him. Plus, he can get upgraded to spider legs or something.

Worst case: Aminatou
Because that means they remembered Aminatou exists along with her busted ass powers and cringe inducing check box of an introduction.

Reading what's been written I'm really hoping for a Saheeli vs Tezzeret showdown.
Rowan is super boring and it would be cool to see her pitted against Will, so seeing her compleated would be really cool.
Also Nissa could get compleated and that would be super cool.

How do we all figure Glissa's going to figure into this?

I had a dream where she infiltrated a plane as a general and suggested a "curse of beasts" turning the people into biomechanical centaurs so there's that.

Glissa got trampled to death by a herd of panicked Plaguemaw Beast offscreen. Tragic really, but survival of the fittest and all that.

I had thought Glissa was set up as the real power behind Vorinclex. It'll be weird if she just never shows up again.

It was more of a tongue-in-cheek allusion to Slobad's untimely demise.

Don't worry buddy, I got the joke. 10/10

Best case: Vraska
So, this is the first suggestion of mine that I wouldn't actually be happy if they did, but since we were talking about Glissa, might as well toss the color identity in. On the one hand, it would annoy me to no end of they played the Phyrexian card on a character they already played the Bolas card on, but I can't really think of any more plots that might feature her that I would actually enjoy. That's not the same as saying she doesn't have any more stories in her, just... I feel kinda done with her. I even thought she was good in the comic, but I don't think they'll take any more interesting risks with her.
But, the real reason I placed her here is because I think she'd look freaking awesome compleated.

Worst case: Ral
I don't really have a protracted argument for this, I just feel like he hasn't peaked yet. Plus, they desperately need to further development his romance.

Though compleated Ral confronting his lover has the same kind of energy as the inevitable reuinion between Tamiyo and Nashi not gonna lie.

RE: Glissa
I would guess (from what we know so far) the phyrexia pw will be the ones sent to planes to start up the invasion/ infection there. This would likely place them pretty far up as they would need to be trusted to work off plane and effectively become the praetor of the plane for a time. So likely the pw will be put higher ranked than non-praetors so Glissa likely will get demoted some. Interesting to think that she was also nearly a pw herself.

Somethings else I was thinking was maybe the planeswalker will be used as planar gates as well, have them go to new planes and open up bridges to allow phyrexia to get through. There is the issues of the organic parts of phyrexias not being able to go through, not sure if non-praetors could rebuild themselves like they said Vorniclex did. That might be why they wanted the cosmic exilar from Kaldheim or find another way around it, but I do thinking setting up travel between planes or even trying to merge them is something Phyrexia would need/want to do. After all, all will be one and having planes separate them seems antithesis to this.

Just thought of this;

WORST- Sorin and Nahiri with context

I'd really hate if they completed Sorin and/or Nahiri as a way to justify the writing into making one of the them the "good guy" out of their conflict*. I don't wanna get into the discourse of the topic too much, just that at this point in the story they have both done really **** things to each other and I don't really feel like either is "innocent".

That said I could see one or both focusing on their feud more than the threat of Phyrexia and getting captured or one of them betraying the other to get them completed. Be interesting set up if the gatewatch and co. was forced to join up with the betrayer after that.

*i.e. Sorin gets completed and so it lets Nahiri be the hero and defeat him without having to deal with what she had done