Hangarback Walker may end up being remembered as
one of the most annoying creatures to play
against in all of history. Any of the things it
does by itself could get it close to that status
- the arbitrarily large power and toughness when
combined with casual favorites like Heartbeat of
Spring, or the fact that it leaves a swarm of
Thopters that wipe the smile off of Doom Blade
Guy's face. It doesn't even require colored
mana, so you can use it with Meren, who we
talked about yesterday. But I'm not sure whether
that deck is quite as funny as making it play
the role of both Tetravus and Bitterblossom in
the Thopter Tribal deck.
The number nine card of the year is Hangarback
Walker which is an XX 0/0 artifact that enters
play with X +1/+1 counters, taps for one to add
another counter, and when it dies each counter
gives a 1/1 Flying token. Even with just
two mana this is really quite playable and very
efficient as doubling to a 2/2 on the next turn
still leaves two mana available to maintain
tempo. Entering play at four mana as a 2/2
or higher is of course an option later which
gives this increased value in any stage of the
game. Mana acceleration, counter
production, and many other effects can support
this and it slides nicely into a large number of
existing builds. Overall this is an
excellent card with no noteworthy weakness and
should see play across most formats for the
foreseeable future.
In Limited this is an easy first Booster pick
for both in and out of game value as a
reasonably priced colorless creature that can
easily become a large number of evasive tokens.
Every deck can and should play this when
available and there is no reason for any Sealed
deck to not include a copy when in the pool.
It's a mana sink. It's hydra-esque. It replaces
itself. Doubling Season and its Ilk makes it
insane. Oh, and it's colorless. This is the kind
of crazy Magic was missing, especially the set
following Origins. I'm a fan.
