Venser
Venser was a Planeswalker and artificer from Urborg, and played pivotal roles in The Mending and the rise of Phyrexia. He also bears an uncanny resemblance to the Tenth Doctor and Phil Kelly. While Venser does not know many offensive spells, his main method of fighting is the use of teleportation and phasing, making enemies unable to hit him or suddenly having to deal with a 100 meter drop.
Origins[edit]
Born and raised in the swamps of Urborg, Venser's early years were harsh ones as he eked out a living as a scavenger and budding artificer. This displeased Urborg's protector, Lord Windgrace, forcing Venser to constantly live on the run. To escape this life he began to work on a device called the Ambulator, a reverse-engineered throne-shaped Phyrexian device capable of traversing time and relative dimensions in space, in other words Planeswalk. These devices were used by Phyrexia millenia earlier when trying to invade Dominaria. Because of his close proximity to the Time Rift above the Stronghold volcano, the once-capital of Rath, Venser's Spark was mutated somehow.
Teferi, another Planeswalker and once-student of Urza, was investigating the Time Rift when he and his companions Jhoira (former fellow student at Tolaria) and Radha (great-granddaughter of the warlord of the Keldon tribes during the Phyrexian Invasion) stumbled upon Venser. Seeing in Venser the same anomaly as in Radha, a mutated Spark, they recruited him on their quest to heal the Time Rifts. During this quest Venser was contacted by the voice of one Sensei Ryu, who catapulted himself back into existence by latching onto Venser's mutated Spark to regain his form as, you guessed it, Nicol Bolas. Bolas and Teferi clashed, but Bolas left when he realised the nature of the Time Rifts and went to Kamigawa. During their travels Venser grew rather attached to Jhoira, but when her crush Jodah (a descendant from the Brothers) joined up with them Venser got fed up with them and left. This proved to be a mistake: Lord Windgrace captured him, forcefully recruited him by placing a mark on him and made him return to the group. Back with them he agreed with meeting Karn in the Blind Eternities using his Ambulator, but this turned out to be a trap set by Leshrac Nightwalker to infest his mind and remove Windgrace's mark. When the real Karn appeared and joined up with Venser to close the Time Rift over Tolaria, Karn received a horrifying vision of the future and he disappeared, closing the Rift behind him.
As Venser returned he was met by Karn's apprentice and fellow Planeswalker Jeska. This was what Leshrac was waiting for: the infestation jumped from Venser to Jeska he took a hold of her mind and forced her to close the rifts above Yavimaya and Zhalfir at heavy losses (longtime-ally Multani and the continent of Zhalfir itself, to the pain of Teferi as the latter was his homeland). When the group caught up to Jeska they also encountered Nicol Bolas, at which point Leshrac revealed his master stroke. Stripping Jeska of the powers she held from her time as Phage, Leshrac attacked the Forever Serpent with the goal of taking his powers for himself and becoming the most powerful being in the multiverse. This was not a plan of his own: he was approached by the Myojin of Night's Reach, the Kamigawan spirit who brought the ancestor of the man that killed Nicol Bolas to Dominaria, to kill Bolas with the help of a powerful artifact, her mask. Leshrac almost killed Bolas until the dragon made a comeback, revealing he held the true mask of the Myojin of Night's Reach all along, imprisoned him in it and chucked the Nightwalker into the Time Rift over Madara, ending his existence. With one rift left to go and overcome by grief, Jeska cast herself into the Time Rift over her home of Otaria and closed it, ending the Time Rifts and kickstarting the Mending. This set off Venser's spark, making him the first of the fully-fledged Planeswalkers. He gave the Ambulator to Jhoira as he didn't need it anymore as a fully-fledged Planeswalker, and left to see the Multiverse.
Mirrodin[edit]
Approximately one century later (with Venser looking just the same, meaning his Spark prevented him from visually aging) Venser was approached by Elspeth Tirel and Koth of the Hammer, who were looking for aid in finding Karn. Venser showed off his new Planeshifting vessel, which made Koth flip his shit, encase Venser's head in stone and force him to Planeshift to Mirrodin. Venser was understandingly not amused, but he agreed on helping them anyway. After being captured, escaping and hiding they met the rebel leader Ezuri. He did not want to let them go initially because it would cost Ezuri his position of leadership, but after a quick lightshow by Venser he backed down.
The group followed a Myr send by Tezzeret who "gave" them Melira, a Mirran without any metal in her body and as such immune to phyresis. Returning to Ezuri Melira cured all Mirrans of their phyresis and the group left... when Tezzeret's forces attacked the now-revealed rebel camp. Elspeth pretty much killed all of them, creating piles of bodies so tall she disappeared entirely behind them. Melira was taken by Koth who thought they did not spent enough time fighting Phyrexians on the surface of Mirrodin, and after another battle Venser and Elspeth were captured by Tezzeret. Fortunately Koth had a change of heart and rescued the duo, fighting their way into Karn's throne room. Melira healed the golem as much as she could, but could not heal his heart. With his complete and irreversible infection near, Venser made the ultimate sacrifice: pumping massive amounts of mana into Karn's body, alongside his own Spark and, eventually, his life. As Karn rose Venser fell. Karn mourned his friend and savior before taking the fight to the Phyrexians, saying that he "still has a lot of work ahead of him". And no, Venser's final words were not "I don't want to go.".
Cards[edit]
Venser is, alongside Nicol Bolas, Jaya Ballard, and Karn, is one of only four characters to be represented as both a creature and a Planeswalker. Venser costs 5 mana for 3 Loyalty. He is an indirect support Planeswalker: his +2 exiles a permanent you own which returns at your next end step, which works great with cards with a "comes into play" ability (Mulldrifter comes to mind). His -1 makes all your creatures unblockable for a turn, which can be a game ender when properly played. His ultimate comes at -8 and gives you an emblem that allows you to exile a permanent whenever you play a spell. Combine this with a number of spells to pretty much win the game; though it cannot target things with (troll)shroud it can target targets with protection such as Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.
Planeswalkers of Magic: The Gathering | |
---|---|
Original Five: | Ajani Goldmane - Chandra Nalaar Garruk Wildspeaker - Jace Beleren - Liliana Vess |
Alara: | Elspeth Tirel - Nicol Bolas - Sarkhan Vol - Tezzeret |
Zendikar: | Gideon Jura - Nissa Revane - Sorin Markov |
Scars of Mirrodin: | Karn - Koth of the Hammer - Venser |
Innistrad: | Tamiyo - Tibalt - Davriel Cane |
Return to Ravnica: | Domri Rade - Ral Zarek - Vraska |
Theros: | Ashiok - Kiora - Xenagos - Calix |
Tarkir: | Ugin - Narset |
Kaladesh: | Dovin Baan - Saheeli Rai |
Amonkhet: | Samut |
Other: | Dack Fayden - Vivien Reid - Kaya |
Commander 2014: | Daretti - Freyalise - Nahiri - Ob Nixilis - Teferi |
Pre-mending: | Bo Levar - Commodore Guff - Jaya Ballard - Urza |
Forgotten Realms: | Ellywick Tumblestrum - Bahamut - Lolth - Zariel - Mordenkainen |
Planeswalker Groups: | The Gatewatch |