Ral Zarek
Ral Zarek is a blue and red planeswalker from the city plane of Ravnica and is devoted to the Izzet League. Despite this, he doesn't like the Guildmaster of the Izzet, Niv-Mizzet. As in the typical "love the work environment, hate the boss" kind of deal. He's a storm mage, something he caught a bunch of shit over when he was a kid, but now uses to zap assholes with lightning if he wants. His district of Ravnica has the highest amount of thunderstorms by far just because he lives there. During the Dragon's Maze Ral murdered the Izzet champion, who had been specifically designed to run the maze, and took his place. During the maze he stopped only to fight Jace over a perceived slight who then used illusions to get away because Jace is kind of a bitch.
Later on he realizes that Niv-Mizzet is trying to set up an experiment to determine the source of some weird environmental magic stuff, which Ral knows is related to Planeswalking (but Niv-Mizzet doesn't). He puts two and two together and figures out that Jace is a fellow 'walker, so the former foes collaborate to sabotage the experiment so Niv-Mizzet doesn't learn about planeswalkers and try to vivisect them. They end up bonding a bit over their love for Ravnica, even if they aren't exactly besties yet.
As of the end of Hour of Devastation, we find out he's working for Bolas. Just great. As of Guilds of Ravnica, Ral has taken over as leader of the Izzet League following the disappearance of Niv-Mizzet. Where did Niv go? No one really knows.
As of War of the Spark, we find out that Ral didn't like being Bolas's plaything, and struck out to be as much of a pain in the ass for him as possible. In doing so, he fried a bunch of Eternals and tried to give Niv-Mizzet the powers of the Guildpact to fight Bolas. This doesn't quite work out because Dovin Baan sabotages the machine Ral was going to use, but Dovin ends up dying later. Niv-Mizzet eventually gets his powerup anyways.
Cards
For a Blue, a Red & 2 colorless you get Ral's first card, Ral Zerak with a loyalty of 4, his +1 is tap a permanent and untap another permanent, which isn't so bad. His -2 is deal 3 damage to target creature or player you'll probably only use this you really wanna kill a 3 toughness creature or your opponent is at 3 life. Finally his ultimate is -7 and let's you flip 5 coins each coin that comes up heads gives you another turn, so you'll either fail miserably, Win the game or somewhere in between. This ability becomes trolltastic with a Krark's Thumb (2 colorless mana artifact that lets you reroll any coin flip and pick which one you want) in play. Ten flips to get that extra turn goodness instead of five in a Izzet deck that inevitably has numerous library search options to find said cheap ass artifact and enough blue trickery to keep Ral alive long enough to build loyalty? That'll do Planeswalker. That'll do.
His second card, Ral, Izzet Viceroy, is a much more consistent version that requires less moving parts. A 3 generic, 1 red, 1 blue walker, his +1 lets you look at the top two cards of your deck, pick one to put into your hand, and the other in the graveyard. This lets you tear through your deck extremely quickly, which can be both a good thing or a bad thing. His -3 zaps a creature for damage depending on how many instants and sorceries you have in your graveyard and in exile. His ultimate at -8 gives you an emblem that zaps anything you want for 4 AND draws you two cards any time you play an instant or sorcery. Slower, but undeniably effective!
His third card, following his anger fit at Bolas, returns to the same casting cost as his first incarnation. A Rare walker, Ral, Storm Conduit is a very good companion for storm decks, which is weird considering how much MaRo hates storm... While he's on the field, anytime you cast or copy an instant or sorcery card, you can plink your opponent or one of their walkers for 1. He can +2 to Scry 2 to set up future draws. His -2 lets you copy the next instant or sorcery.
| 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 |