If you played Tarkir-Battle for Zendikar Standard, you're probably familiar with Hangarback Walker, a creature that was present in several decks due to the benefit it generated in filling the board if the opponent casts a removal on it, not to mention that its flexible cost made it a threat at any stage of the game, and in any list that wanted it - from the Abzan Midrange that would go until turn eight playing it as a 4/4, to the Ensoul Artifact lists that played it on turn two to enchant it with the aura.
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![Loading icon](https://cdn.cardsrealm.com/images/carregando.gif)
Walker eventually gained a new variant with Walking Ballista, which became a staple in every competitive format it was in, saw a lot of play in Golgari Energy and variants in Standard, and was banned from Pioneer for its combo with Heliod, Sun-Crowned, which also topped competitive Modern tables until MH2 completely changed the Metagame.
What these two cards have in common is flexibility: they can be played at any time and will generate some advantage for their controller: more bodies on the board, more reach in the match, or, with the most recent preview from Aetherdrift, more cards in hand.
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Marketback Walker is closer to Hangarback Walker than to Walking Ballista - its name, by the way, lacks originality -, with the difference of guaranteeing extra draws if it is destroyed. In direct comparison, it may be less effective than its predecessors, but it is very advantageous for decks that are more focused on attrition, or in lists that are dedicated to playing the game it proposes: with +1/+1 counters.
However, this mechanic feels obsolete. It has been ten years since Hangarback Walker was a Standard staple and Magic has changed considerably since then, with sky-high power level cards in every format, so how can a dated design with a different proposal enter the competitive Metagame?
Marketback Walker in Standard
Standard will obviously be where most decks will try to do something with Marketback Walker, but it has three gigantic obstacles to succeed in the format:
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Exile removals have become more common in the format when compared to the Hangarback Walker era, where its main concern was to avoid cards like Abzan Charm that not every list played. And although Lay Down Arms and Sunfall are in archetypes that aren't on their prime in the Metagame, Anoint with Affliction is a staple on every Midrange in the format and should remain as such as long as Heartfire Hero continues to be a must-kill threat.
Another chronic problem with Marketback Walker in Standard is the presence of Bounce decks. This Town Ain’t Big Enough is a nightmare for cards that have no immediate impact, no protection, and cost an absurd amount of mana to play. On the other hand, if it is destroyed, the number of cards we can draw with it will be more than enough to offset the damage caused by Hopeless Nightmare.
I believe that, to play with the new creature, it is necessary to go “All-In” and build a strategy that takes full advantage of the use of counters without relying entirely on them. Fortunately, we are in a season where +1/+1 counters interact with another common theme: enchantments.
This list tries to interact with Marketback Walker in different ways while establishing a concise game plan with the other pieces. Optimistic Scavenger and Calix, Guided by Fate work with a dozen enchantments and put counters on the new creature while we have combo-kill lines focused on Ethereal Armor and Voldaren Thrillseeker - a card whose interaction with Walker allows to not only put two counters on it, but sacrifice it to deal damage to the opponent and draw plenty of cards in the process.
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Similar lists may show up in the future and, perhaps, some Azorius variants with Warden of the Inner Sky and support to turn Marketback Walker into a larger creature with Zoetic Glyph would be another way to extract more value from it.
Marketback Walker in Pioneer
Pioneer has a serious problem with +1/+1 counters - no matter how many cards come out to support Hardened Scales, the enchantment never stands out. It's too fair for the format's Metagame and should remain that way until Wizards releases a Modular-like mechanic in Standard that allows you to transfer counters between creatures to create interactions similar to those we see in Modern.
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For example, Hangarback Walker, whose interactions play more with the board than with the hand, sees little play in Pioneer and the cost of Marketback limits it from taking advantage of interactions with Shrapnel Blast.
It may be worth testing in the Izzet variants of Ensoul Artifact for the possibility of generating card advantage with Legion Extruder or Shrapnel Blast. It may find a home in an Enchantment list similar to the one we introduced for Standard, but there are better cards to play with Auras in Pioneer.
Unfortunately, Marketback Walker's place in Pioneer seems quite limited, at least in the archetypes already in the format today.
Marketback Walker in Modern
Unlike Pioneer, Hardened Scales is a competitive deck in Modern with a fervent legion of fans and enthusiasts who are already hyped for this new card: Hangarback Walker usually shows up on the list as a one-of or two-of, and Marketback Walker may deserve the same treatment, as there are games in which extra draws matter much more than more bodies on the board.
![Loading icon](https://cdn.cardsrealm.com/images/carregando.gif)
We can't forget the interactions that Modern has with Arcbound Ravager and The Ozolith, which could - in some games - make their controller draw an arbitrary number of cards and return to a previously lost game.
It's worth mentioning the opposite direction as well: unless there's an Orcish Bowmasters on the board, Marketback Walker is often the perfect carrier of +1/+1 counters because your opponent doesn't want to kill it with removals that don't exile it - there are plenty of such removals in Modern (Static Prison, Solitude, Skyclave Apparition, Path to Exile), but there are also archetypes that don't run exile effects, and against those, the new creature can be a nightmare to deal with while carrying the counters of other threats.
It's certainly worth testing on Scales, but it shouldn't impact other archetypes like Affinity because it relies heavily on +1/+1 counters to function and generate attrition and this naturally creates a dependency on Hardened Scales and similar cards, while Affinity can rely on Emry, Lurker of the Loch as an attrition tool without additional dependencies.
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Conclusion
Marketback Walker has potential. It's not an instant staple and will face challenges in Magic's three main competitive formats. Its abilities, while powerful, feel too fair outside specific homes and this should limit its use, distancing it from the golden days that its older brothers - Hangarback Walker and Walking Ballista - had in the competitive Metagame.
Thanks for reading!
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