Riptide Gearhulk – Aetherdrift
Date Reviewed: February 25, 2025
Ratings:
Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 4.63
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 4.38
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
I’m used to talking about aggressive, in-your-face combat monsters in . . . well, colors that aren’t Azorius. To be fair, there have been a few in that combination over the years, but Riptide Gearhulk is unusually potent compared to some of those. Somehow it manages to have abilities that work well with each other, but also with both white’s combat proficiency and blue’s spell proficiency. Not to mention that its comes-into-play trigger is both highly efficient and demoralizing. Much like with Oildeep Gearhulk a couple of weeks ago, it’s the kind of card that tempts you to make a white-blue tempo deck that can use it just because you can. Five mana can be high for that sort of deck, but if you view it as a comeback or turnaround card that doubles as a resilient game-ender (five toughness!), it should work.
Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 4.5 (n.b.: “for each opponent”)
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
The new gearhulks certainly leave an impact, don’t they? Riptide Gearhulk is certainly a menace both coming into play and once in play; double strike and prowess combine to make this hit extremely hard in a color pairing that has few issues triggering prowess, and tucking a permanent away is even better than bounce in most cases. This might not completely blow a game out, but it will crack it open quickly, and the only impediment it has is a color-heavy casting cost that does it few favors. Still, the speed at which this can maul opponents is remarkable, and it won’t take much for this to get out of control.
Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 4.75
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 4.25
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
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