Hanna, Ship’s Navigator – MTG Throwback Thursday (2003)

Recursion for artifacts or enchantments is lovely, and it’s even more lovely when you can get one back each turn. Hanna, Ship’s Navigator is good at keeping your shiny things where you can use them, though she is less good at not dying gruesomely to many of the things running around in Magic. It also doesn’t help that she needs a turn before she can get going, and you’re usually only going to get one thing back a turn. Still, the effect is powerful enough to justify her in a deck suited to her talents, she’s in good colors for her effect, and she’s something that demands an answer before you’ve gotten everything back to where you want it.

Constructed: 1.5 (way too slow for Legacy, and probably would not be great in Modern)
Casual: 4
Limited: 2.75 (depends entirely on what your deck looks like, which isn’t great for a rare)
Multiplayer: 2.5
Commander: 3.75 (it’s easier to take advantage of her talents if she’s your Commander, even if she dies really quickly to just about anything)

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

It’s been a little while since we last reviewed Hanna, but she’s really the kind of card that just gets better with time. It seems quite unlikely that they’ll ever stop making artifacts or enchantments, despite the occasional forum complaints about one or the other being either too good or not good enough. Regardless of whether you’re using her offensively (equipment) or defensively (Ghostly Prison effects), she might be one of the best cards in your theme deck, at least in casual play. Legacy and Modern decks are likely to remove her on sight, unfortunately; so it’s a good thing that kitchen tables still exist and are the most popular way to play!

Constructed: 1/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander: 4/5 (particularly when she’s your commander!)