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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Walking Ballista
Image from Wizards.com

 Walking Ballista
- Aether Revolt

Reviewed Feb. 24, 2017

Constructed: 3
Casual: 3.67
Limited: 4.13
Multiplayer: 3.38
Commander [EDH]: 3.38

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 - Horrible  3 - Average.  5 - Awesome

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Card of the Day Reviews 


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Walking Ballista
 
Walking Ballista's abilities are reminiscent of Clockwork Hydra, from Time Spiral. At the time, the Hydra was seen more in limited than in constructed, and Walking Ballista may occupy a similar niche; but it's certainly worth keeping in mind whenever you have a deck that generates lots of mana and/or cares about +1/+1 counters. It's also worth noting that its damage ability doesn't require an additional mana cost or tap or attack, so that it's very flexible in terms of timing and lends itself to combos (remember the Triskelion-Mephidross Vampire interaction).
 
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 3/5
James H. Walking Ballista (2/24)
 
This is basically the new Hangarback Walker. Well, close, anyways. It's not the token engine its forebear was, but it's a different (and powerful) beast all the same.
 
Unlike Hangarback Walker, which was an awesome turn 2 play, Walking Ballista is not nearly as good early. It wants time to come in with more counters or ways to get more counters; it needs to get to 4 mana for that to happen on its own. Once you get it "online", though, it's a real force, able to gun down hordes of Thopters and Servos. It does well at sustaining itself, and it can be a real terror with support (like Fabrication Module and energy generators).
 
It scales well, it can scale well into the late game, and it can rip apart hordes of tokens and annoyances. Not much more to say, besides “consider playing it".
 
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 4.25
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander: 3.75

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