Hangarback Walker
Economics forum
Posted on Aug. 3, 2015, 5:13 p.m. by Ruffigan
I bought a couple packs of Origins about a little while ago and got a Hangarback Walker among the bulk rares. It was worth about $7 when I pulled it but now it's hovering around $13 on TCGplayer. I don't know much about Standard or Modern but I've seen it in a couple lists. Is it possible for this to go up in price or is this just a temporary thing?
If by "used in fringe thopter decks" you mean "used as a 4-of 25% of the meta at the Pro Tour and was more played that tournament than Courser of Kruphix, making it the most played creature on the whole scene", then you are on the spot.
The card is heavily used now, but will not see support upon rotation (not many artifacts on zendikar). Get rid of it while the hype is there.
August 3, 2015 5:29 p.m.
Havok.Bane says... #4
The "fringe thopter deck" actually got 2nd in the most recent pro tour which is why the price was going up. That said it probably won't hold it's price for much longer since half the cards in the thopters deck is going out of standard in 2 months and depending on what is in bfz probably won't see much play anymore and proceed to go down.
August 3, 2015 5:29 p.m.
Oh dang, it's used that heavily? I don't follow Standard too much, sorry. In that case, get rid of it now, or at least till rotation.
August 3, 2015 5:32 p.m.
omnipotato says... #7
It's not going to get much higher, considering it's not mythic. I'd sell it now before Ensoul Artifact rotates.
August 3, 2015 7:45 p.m.
Hangarback Walker is absolutely insane in Affinity when used with Arcbound Ravager. I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a staple of the deck as more people catch on.
August 3, 2015 8:27 p.m.
alanwescoat says... #10
It is still taking people a while to figure out just how GREAT Hangarback Walker is. For ProTour magic Origins, of decks which earned 21 points or more, Hangarback Walker ppeared more frequently than any other card, in 29% of those decks (with 27% of that meta being UR Ensoul Artifact decks. The next two most commonly found cards were Ornithopter and Chief of the Foundry, respectively.
A breakdown is available here.
Now, Standards Robots is currently an ephemeral deck. Its viability depends entirely upon the availability of Ensoul Artifact, Ornithopter, Darksteel Citadel, and Shrapnel Blast from M15 and Springleaf Drum from Born of the Gods. Also, while Chief Engineer is not being used, it is a reasonable option. All of those options are going to be gone in October.
I can predict that Battle for Zenidkar by itself will be highly unlikely to continue to fully support the archetype, so we can expect Hangarback Walker to drop a bit, but there is strong potential for Standard Robots to return as we gain a card here or there with each new set, and we can expect Wizards of the Coast to at least give some consideration to allowing the archetype to return. I noticed with M15 that there was a suspicious number of good Robots cards, and I correlated that with Ghostfire Blade and Renowned Weaponsmith. It came as no surprise to me that Magic Origins included the cards needed for Robots to once again briefly rise to the top of the format. They had clearly been setting up for it in a way that brings back the fun of Standard Robots without the "Artifact Winter" brought on by Mirrodin block's Affinity archetype.
Hangarback Walker will join the ranks of great cards for supporting Modern Robots. It will be an option, but in combination with Chief of the Foundry, there is a new kind of Robots deck shaping up as a possibility, Construct Tribal Robots. If they reprint Phyrexian Walker in Standard, Modern Construct Tribal Robots will be a solid possibility. (Errata makes Phyrexian Walker a Construct.)
The following cards are decent Contruct creatures available in Modern:
Hangarback Walker
Chief of the Foundry
Steel Overseer
Adaptive Automaton
Arcbound Worker
Memnite
Bonded Construct (weak but not terrible)
Mutavault
The current price of Hangarback Walker is bloated because of its success in Standard, which will decline post rotation but stands a solid chance of coming back. Beyond that, even if Hangarback Walker does not fill a particular slot in any given deck, it is a great filler card for most ANY deck. It works in control, combo, aggro, and mid-range. It is also an anti-control/anti-aggro/anti-mid-range card. It is simply an incredibly versatile card. Thus, if you are building a deck which does not even call for the card and find yourself short a rare or mythic, Hangarback Walker is not a bad choice to use as filler.
August 4, 2015 7:27 a.m.
omnipotato says... #11
That Construct tribal deck just looks like a really really bad version of Affinity.
Speaking of Modern, I don't think Hangarback Walker will break through to the Affinity deck because of Path to Exile being in the format
August 4, 2015 1:24 p.m.
jackanukealty says... #12
It's become quite powerful for Tezz Control decks in modern (I know, rarely played Rogue List, haha). I'll probably pick it up about M15 rotation time, and get 2 or 3 of them for the price of one right now.
August 4, 2015 7:45 p.m.
omnipotato I feel like Hangarback Walker is viable in Affinity if you build around it. If you pack your deck full of Steel Overseers and Master of Etheriums and run Shrapnel Blast instead of Galvanic Blast, you'll be surprised at how much work Walker does.
August 4, 2015 10:59 p.m.
@JDMCRIB: There's no way I'd play Shrapnel Blast over Galvanic Blast, but I think you're right about swapping out Steel Overseers and/or Master of Etheriums for Hangarback Walker. His synergy is unreal w/ multiple Arcbound Ravagers out, and he costs less.
August 4, 2015 11:21 p.m.
sylvannos I think you missed my point. Here:
iRobot | Hangarback Affinity Playtest
Modern
SCORE: 9 | 5 COMMENTS | 733 VIEWS
I brewed this as a sort of thought experiment near the end of spoiler season and it's been testing pretty good so far.
But, if you don't want to build around the Walker like I have, then cutting Steel Overseer and Master of Etherium for Hangarback Walker sounds fine to me.
August 4, 2015 11:25 p.m.
@JDMCRIB: ah okay I read that wrong. I see what you're saying now. I see you got Day's Undoing in there too :P
JDMCRIB says... #2
As far as I know, it's used in Standard control lists and some fringe Thopter decks, and I use it in Modern in my Affinity deck (you can look at it if you like, I won't self-advertise). Overall, I'd say it's a really good card if used properly. Certainly not OP, but it does work.
I also don't think it'll keep its pricetag for very long. As more and more of Origins is opened, more Hangarback Walkers will be available and the price will go down some. It probably won't go down a whole lot, but I could see it hitting $7 or $8 eventually. If you're looking to sell it, I'd sell it now if ever.
August 3, 2015 5:22 p.m.