Magic: The Gathering's Dominaria United reveals that Ajani is a sleeper agent

Over the past few Magic: The Gathering expansions, the Phyrexians have slowly been trickling in, teasing fans with impending war. Once Tamiyo was revealed to have become Compleated, joining the Phyrexians, fans were speculating if any other planeswalkers have been turned to the Phyrexians.

Thanks to the Magic: The Gathering developer stream, many cards were revealed, including one exciting one: Ajani, Sleeper Agent. It turns out that Ajani, the Leoninplanewalker, is working against Karn and aiding the Phyreixian invasion.

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Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming expansion reveals Ajani is a villain

Ajani Goldmane is a familiar and popular planeswalker who is a part of the Gatewatch. Not a native of Dominaria, he traveled there to help Karn uncover the plot of the Phyrexians, or so it seemed. Unfortunately for the heroes, one of the noblest and most powerful planeswalkers is working against his allies.

There are several exciting facets of Ajani, Sleeper Agent, such as him featuring Phyrexian Mana, to make him come into play much faster than normal. He normally costs four mana - one green, white, and one white or green. But that green or white can instead be paid with two life.

This means he can come into play on turn 3 and can immediately start making himself a threat. Phyrexian mana is now under the umbrella of the “Compleated” mechanic, but there is a cost for using Phyrexian mana. If the player does this, it comes into play with two fewer loyalty counters.

It may be better to put it into play on Turn 4 instead. What can the planeswalker do, though?

Ajani’s loyalty powers

• +1: Reveal the top card of your library. Put it into your hand if it’s a creature or planeswalker card. Otherwise, you may put it at the bottom of your library.
• -3: Distribute three +1/+1 counters among up to three target creatures. They gain vigilance until the end of the turn.
• -6: You get an emblem - “Whenever you cast a creature or planeswalker spell, target opponent gets two poison counters.”

The -6 ultimate ability is the reason it’s an excellent turn 4 card. Players will likely want to put that emblem into play as fast as possible. Poison Counters are a unique way to win in Magic: The Gathering and aren’t brought into expansions often.

If a player gets 10 Poison Counters, they lose the game. This could be used starting on turn 6, and through casting several weak creatures with low mana costs, a player could easily win on that turn.

For example, if the user of Ajani hits the -6 on turn 6 and casts five creatures and/or planeswalkers that turn, they win the game, and the other player can’t do anything to stop it. Not in the current standard meta, anyway.

However, he can look at the top card of his deck for +1, and his -3 is more for aggressive decks. It allows the player to give 3 +1/+1 counters to up to 3 creatures, and they get vigilance for the turn. That means they can attack without being tapped.

Ajani, Sleeper Agent isn’t the only revealed Magic: The Gathering planeswalker revealed so far. But this white/green planeswalker has got a lot of potential when it comes to powerful cards in the upcoming Dominaria United expansion.