Rowan and Will’s Royal Scions planeswalker card has been leaked prior to the official Magic: The Gathering spoiler drops from the Throne of Eldraine set.
Magic’s head designer Mark Rosewater revealed The Royal Scions during a Throne of Eldraine (ELD) spoiler stream last week, but the planeswalker doesn’t live up to the hype.
The card’s text, translated from Russian, reads as follows:
- Plus one: Draw a card, then discard a card.
- Plus one: Target creature gets +2/+0 and gains first strike and trample until end of turn.
- Minus eight: Draw four cards. When you do, The Royal Scions deals damage to any target equal to the number of cards in your hand.
For the first time in MTG history, two characters are sharing a planeswalker card. Rowan and Will are twins, sharing the same spark that makes them planeswalkers. But what should have been one of the most powerful cards in the ELD set is average at best.
The Royal Scions begins with a loyalty counter of five and costs three mana to cast. Despite these advantages, the loyalty counter abilities don’t offer much value. Only the minus-eight ultimate carries the card, but it still takes three turns to activate—at the cost of sacrificing The Royal Scions.
There’s a possibility, however, where the cantrip plus-one counter might become useful within Izzet (Blue, Red). Card draw always brings value to a card, even one as weak as The Royal Scions. It just has to benefit the deck while fitting into the three-drop spot on the curve. Within an Izzet aggro deck that deals out powerful one and two drops, The Royal Scions begins to improve in value.
Related: A viewer’s guide to every Throne of Eldraine spoiler release
The Royal Scions and Throne of Eldraine release on Oct. 4 via tabletop and Sept. 26 through MTG Arena.
