Walking Ballista

Artifact Creature — Construct

This enters with X +1/+1 counters.

{4}: Put a +1/+1 counter on this.

Remove a +1/+1 counter from this creature: This deals 1 damage to any target (creature, player, planeswalker or battle).

Combos

• Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Walking Ballista
• Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter + Walking Ballista
• Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Pitiless Plunderer + Walking Ballista
• Corpse Knight + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Walking Ballista
• Blasting Station + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Walking Ballista
• Altar of Dementia + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Walking Ballista
• Archangel of Thune + Spike Feeder + Walking Ballista
• Archangel of Thune + Walking Ballista
• Greater Good + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Walking Ballista
• Archangel of Thune + Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder + Walking Ballista

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (44)

capwner on One-card wins

1 week ago

So here's an idea you may be familiar with...a one-card win: That is, a card that wins the game or initiates a winning line by itself without needing any other pieces. Just cast that one card and boom, you're in a position to win. This seems very OP because a 1 card combo is of course easier to assemble than 2-or-more card combos, and besides being easy to assemble I think it improves your resilience because it's easy to recur or topdeck a single card, and initial card investment is lower so you have more potential space in hand for interaction or a backup plan. The downside would be a lot of these either cost a lot of mana or require a lot of build around, or both. So some obvious examples of this would be cards like Tooth and Nail that tutor up multiple parts of a 2-part combo. Shared Summons is another card that, given enough mana, can win by itself say by assembling Heliod, Sun-Crowned + Walking Ballista. These double tutor cards are especially sweet because they can also find protection if you already have part of the combo or other tutors. I think Hoarding Broodlord is similar because it tutors for Saw in Half to find more combo pieces, so this wins by itself too. By extension, in the decks that have these, regular Demonic TutorGC or Solve the Equation become a 1-card wins as well! Next there are some weirder ones...there's straight up Enter the Infinite which if resolved should certainly give you the ability to win on the spot with a million counterspell backups. On the opposite end of the curve, Doomsday initiates a combo line by itself but is slower; you either need to pass the turn or have a means of drawing a card to continue comboing. Similarly, Selective Memory in an all-spells deck can exile your whole deck besides Thoracle, then draw her and win next turn. Of course in the all-spells camp there's also Balustrade Spy, Undercity Informer and Goblin Charbelcher which can win on the spot, these are probably the best and actually competitively played archetypes, and Hermit Druid combos similarly. Hmm.... what else, I guess there are tons of 1-card combos with commanders, like Etali + Food Chain, Niv Mizzet + Curiosity, and so on. Those are pretty close to 1-card wins but I would say a different genre of combo than the ones I am discussing. Another card I think fits is Timesifter, with the right build this card can very likely result in a win by itself, though it is totally non-deterministic! I think as a 5 drop artifact, compared with the mana demands of some of the other cards mentioned, this is a very competitive option for a potentially game-ending effect on a single card. I love Timesifter lol. What else? Other tutors like IntuitionGC and Gifts UngivenGC can assemble breach combo by themselves in Jeskai decks with Sevinne's Reclamation. Ad NauseamGC and other mass-draw effects scoop up huge portions of the deck and win from there. Anything that can tutor multiple times like Increasing Ambition or Razaketh, the Foulblooded can win by itself. Goblin Recruiter I'm pretty sure sets up Conspicuous Snoop combo by itself, maybe that's a win next turn one. Approach of the Second Sun but that's REALLY slow by itself. This far down the line I'm tempted to even say Stoneforge Mystic and/or Stonehewer Giant because you can play a line where you get Sword of Hearth and Home to flicker her, get Kaldra Compleat then get Worldslayer and that's baaasically a win 2 turns later from just a Stoneforge. On that topic, MLD spells in general come pretty close to being 1-card wins IMO by relying more on overall deck construction to out-recover opponents, so similar to a Timesifter resolving a Jokulhaups should usually win it for the MLD player if they built their deck right, and if nobody has Tef Pro <- another 1 card win here lol.

I feel like I've blabbed enough, I'd like to know which cards I've missed and what your favorite 1-card wins are? Or even cool Commander + 1 wins if you know of some lesser-known ones. Hey I guess Magda, Brazen Outlaw and Godo, Bandit Wardlord both win by themselves too, right? But kind of slowly, Godo needs haste and Magda needs dwarves/treasures. Also for commanders, I think both Captain Sisay and Sisay, Weatherlight Captain can assemble wins by themselves, slowly. Also Yisan, Wanderer Bard.

Anyways thanks for reading if you did, hopefully you got something useful out of this wincon rant. One-card wins are a big principle I try to use in my deckbuilding especially at higher powers and I think trying to enable the wackier ones provides some fun deckbuilding challenge and is really rewarding when you can pull it off.

theNeroTurtle on BBW - Big Burly Wizards

2 weeks ago

Muelton, I could be wrong, but I feel like Walking Ballista "could" have potential in this build if it was tweaked just right.

NV_1980 on Jankyard

1 month ago

I think Walking Ballista would make a lot of sense in here, as you'll be able to generate plenty of mana to keep it around as point removal for annoying (small) creatures. Also, I'd really recommend Crawlspace and/or Silent Arbiter, so that opponents will have a harder time to go wide at you. Ensnaring Bridge could be used for a similar purpose, but to ward off stronger creatures. Maybe Goblin Welder could help you with retaining artifacts that were blasted off the battlefield in favor of less important ones.

doc_frank_18 on Aluminum Alloy

2 months ago

Take out Walking Ballista for Patrick's Fabricate...... take out Darksteel Juggernaut for Chord of Calling.... take out Hangarback Walker and put in Endless Atlas..... simplify your lands.....15 forests, 15 islands, command tower, war room, two fetch, two shocks....something like that.

trippy_mcfly on Cumly Cube

4 months ago

Introducing Cumly Cube 1.4! Two months ago, Cumly Cube was updated to Cumly Cube 1.3, which was touted as balanced and without any notable flaws. There is no more insidious poison than hubris! Many cards remained that were too strong, or close to unplayable. Many archetypes existed in the cube but had too little support to ever be worth drafting. Many cards failed to fit the ethos of Cumly Cube. With 89 more cuts and adds, I am now pleased to announce that, this time, Cumly Cube has reached a final form! Perhaps a few cards are still too strong, too weak, or out of place, but the vast majority of the draft pool is now in an acceptable state. Any further changes to Cumly Cube 1 will exist as minor updates, swapping out only a few cards at a time. This means that there will never be a Cumly Cube 1.5, only 1.4.1, 1.4.2, etc.

Here are the changes, provided with brief justifications:

REMOVED:

ARTIFACT

1. Basilisk Collar: equipment is not part of Cumly Cube 1
2. Hedron Archive: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
3. Mox DiamondGC: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
4. Mox Opal: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
5. Mox Tantalite: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
6. Sensei's Divining Top:cut to weaken the artifact archetype

CREATURE

1. Academy Manufactor: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
2. Archfiend of Spite: madness is not part of Cumly Cube 1
3. Arsenal Thresher: too weak
4. Augmenting Automaton: too weak
5. Autonomous Assembler: Assembly-Workers have been cut from Cumly Cube 1
6. Baleful Force: too weak
7. Battleground Geist: cut for a better Spirit card
8. Belligerent Hatchling: too weak
9. Bloodpyre Elemental: too generic of a red card
10. Bloom Hulk: there are better proliferate engines available in Cumly Cube
11. Copperhorn Scout: cut to weaken the Elf creature type
12. Crosis, the Purger: too annoying to play against
13. Deathrite Shaman: cut to weaken the Elf creature type
14. Deus of Calamity: too weak
15. Dutiful Replicator: Assembly-Workers have been cut from Cumly Cube 1
16. Dwynen's Elite: cut to weaken the Elf creature type
17. Emperor's Vanguard: cut to weaken green
18. Farhaven Elf: cut to weaken the Elf creature type
19. Fear of Exposure: cut to weaken green
20. Fertilid: cut to weaken green
21. Galazeth Prismari: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
22. Geyserfield Stalker: too weak
23. Greater Gargadon: suspend is not part of Cumly Cube 1
24. Hallowed Priest: cut for an identical card to support the Cat creature type
25. Heedless One: cut for a similar card to better support the Elf creature type
26. Hematite Golem: too weak
27. Hunted Horror: too weak
28. Impetuous Devils: too generic of a red card
29. Jeskai Student: too weak
30. Junktroller: too weak
31. Lashweed Lurker: emerge is not part of Cumly Cube 1
32. Llanowar Visionary: cut to weaken the Elf creature type
33. Lodestone Golem: we have seen enough of this card in other formats
34. Lunar Avenger: too weak
35. Maze Behemoth: cut to weaken green
36. Mishra's Self-Replicator: Assembly-Workers have been cut from Cumly Cube 1
37. Morselhoarder: too weak
38. Night Incarnate: too generic of a black card
39. Omnath, Locus of the Roil: cut to weaken the Elemental creature type
40. Phantom Nishoba: too weak
41. Quirion Ranger: cut to weaken the Elf creature type
42. Scalding Devil: cut to make room for more interesting Devil creatures
43. Self-Assembler: Assembly-Workers have been cut from Cumly Cube 1
44. Seton, Krosan Protector: cut to weaken green
45. Soul of Zendikar: cut to weaken green
46. Teferi's Sentinel: too weak
47. Thought Monitor: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
48. Torbran, Thane of Red Fell: too generic of a red card
49. Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: cut to make room for more balanced Eldrazi creatures
50. Walking Ballista: cut to remove an infinite combo payoff accessible from the Cumly Zone

ENCHANTMENT

1. Aura ShardsGC: too powerful
2. Blood Moon: we have seen enough of this card in other formats
3. Impending Disaster: too weak
4. In Bolas's Clutches: cut for a similar but more expensive version of this effect
5. Night Soil: cut due to the presence of two other very similar cards
6. Revel in Riches: too powerful
7. Urban Utopia: cut to weaken green

LAND

1. Ancient TombGC: too powerful
2. Flagstones of Trokair: too weak
3. Mishra's WorkshopGC: too powerful
4. Urza's Saga: too powerful

INSTANT

1. Accelerate: too generic of a red card
2. Bedevil: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
3. Fading Hope: too generic of a blue card
4. Fissure: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
5. Fracture: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
6. Frazzle: too generic of a blue card
7. Inside Out: too weak
8. Lens Flare: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
9. Schismotivate: too weak
10. Seize the Initiative: too weak
11. Volt Charge: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences

PLANESWALKER

1. Karn Liberated: too generic and powerful of a draft pick
2. Nissa of Shadowed Boughs: animating lands is not part of Cumly Cube 1

SORCERY

1. Broken Bond: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
2. Chain Reaction: too generic of a red card
3. False Dawn: too weak
4. Grim Tutor: too powerful
5. Ice Storm: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
6. Lava Flow: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
7. Sinkhole: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
8. Tezzeret's Gambit: too powerful
9. Wildfire: too generic of a red card

ADDED:

ARTIFACT

1. Banner of Kinship: encourages building around creature types
2. Conduit of Worlds: supports graveyard synergies
3. Pillar of Origins: encourages building around creature types

CREATURE

1. Aetherjacket: supports the Thopter creature type
2. Ajani's Pridemate: replaces Hallowed Priest to support the Cat creature type and lifegain synergies
3. Akroan Conscriptor: supports spellslinger synergies
4. Alibou, Ancient Witness: supports the Golem creature type and other artifact decks
5. Ancient Cellarspawn: supports the Demon, Horror, and Nightmare creature types
6. Angelic Aberration: supports the Angel and Eldrazi creature types
7. Axgard Artisan: supports the Dwarf creature type
8. Bloodwater Entity: supports spellslinger synergies
9. Brass Herald: supports the Golem creature type and encourages building around creature types
10. Campus Guide: supports the Golem creature type
11. Chief of the Foundry: supports the Construct creature type and other artifact decks
12. Chrome Courier: supports the Thopter creature type
13. Cursed Wombat: supports the Nightmare creature type and +1/+1 counter decks
14. Darksteel Colossus: supports the Golem creature type
15. Duergar Hedge-Mage: supports the Dwarf creature type
16. Eidolon of Blossoms: supports the enchantment archetype
17. Endbringer: supports the Eldrazi creature type
18. Essence Depleter: supports the Eldrazi creature type
19. Gimli, Mournful Avenger: supports the Dwarf creature type
20. Gishath, Sun's Avatar: supports the Dinosaur creature type
21. Herald of Slaanesh: supports the Demon creature type
22. Hunting Velociraptor: supports the Dinosaur creature type
23. Immaculate Magistrate: replaces Heedless One to support the Elf creature type
24. It That Heralds the End: supports the Eldrazi creature type
25. Kozilek's Channeler: supports the Eldrazi creature type
26. Mayhem Devil: supports the Devil creature type
27. Patrician Geist: replaces Battleground Geist to support the Spirit creature type
28. Petravark: supports the Beast creature type
29. Pillardrop Warden: supports the Dwarf and Spirit creature types
30. Precursor Golem: supports the Golem creature type
31. Prosperous Pirates: supports the Pirate creature type
32. Quandrix Pledgemage: supports the Merfolk creature type and spellslinger synergies
33. Roaming Throne: supports the Golem creature type and encourages building around creature types
34. Rootwater Hunter: supports the Merfolk creature type
35. Shambling Suit: supports the Construct creature type and other artifact decks as well as enchantment decks
36. Shantotto, Tactician Magician: supports the Dwarf creature type and spellslinger synergies
37. Smokebraider: supports the Elemental creature type
38. Solarion: supports the Construct creature type
39. Species Specialist: encourages building around creature types
40. Squealing Devil: supports the Devil creature type
41. Tayam, Luminous Enigma: supports the Beast and Nightmare creature types
42. The Balrog of Moria: supports the Demon creature type
43. The Lady of Otaria: supports the Dwarf creature type
44. Three Tree Mascot: adds mana fixing and encourages building around creature types
45. Titans' Vanguard: supports the Eldrazi creature type
46. Torch Fiend: supports the Devil creature type
47. Ulamog's Dreadsire: supports the Eldrazi creature type
48. Vengeful Devil: supports the Devil creature type
49. Venomcrawler: supports the Demon creature type
50. Wavecrash Triton: supports the Merfolk creature type and spellslinger synergies
51. Zara, Renegade Recruiter: supports the Pirate creature type

ENCHANTMENT

1. Destructive Flow: offers a land destruction engine that can provide a large advantage in some decks
2. Efficient Construction: supports the Thopter creature type
3. Keldon Twilight: offers a creature destruction engine for aggressive decks
4. Lay Claim: replaces In Bolas's Clutches as a more expensive control spell
5. Might Makes Right: encourages large creatures and can be used in conjunction with sacrifice synergies as a creature destruction engine
6. Porphyry Nodes: offers a creature destruction engine for slower decks
7. Retreat to Kazandu: supports landfall synergies
8. Shivan Harvest: offers a land destruction engine and supports sacrifice synergies
9. Sunken Hope: offers a creature bounce engine for slower decks
10. Whirlwind of Thought: supports spellslinger synergies

LAND

1. Foundry of the Consuls: supports the Thopter creature type

INSTANT

1. Atarka's Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
2. Aura Mutation: quite similar to Artifact Mutation
3. Brokers Confluence: confluences have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
4. Cabaretti Confluence: confluences have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
5. Dromoka's Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
6. Kolaghan's Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
7. Lorehold Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
8. Maestros Charm: rounding out the charms in Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
9. Maestros Confluence: confluences have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
10. Obscura Charm: rounding out the charms in Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
11. Obscura Confluence: confluences have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
12. Ojutai's Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
13. Pulse of the Fields: supports lifegain synergies
14. Quandrix Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
15. Riveteers Charm: rounding out the charms in Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
16. Silumgar's Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
17. Silverquill Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
18. Siren's Ruse: supports the Pirate creature type and blink synergies

PLANESWALKER

1. Saheeli, Filigree Master: supports the Thopter creature type
2. Vraska, Golgari Queen: supports sacrifice synergies

SORCERY

1. Renegade Tactics: replaces Accelerate as a less typical red card
2. Roar of the Crowd: encourages building around creature types
3. Temporary Insanity: stealing creatures is a small but important part of Cumly Cube
4. Witherbloom Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility

rwn1971 on Willem Dafowl

5 months ago

I have no idea why i did not add it on here as i do have a Power Plant Worker in the deck . I will check deck later on today to see what i took out. I have a Scarecrone that is better than Myr Retriever . Glissa, the Traitor *oversized* is nice but i do not have alot removal in the deck for her to work and she is only one card type which does not work with the theme. You may have noticed but i only have 2 creatures that are only one card type and that is Craterhoof Behemoth and Massacre Wurm but they are there to be finishers for me. I did almost died to goaded birds tonight cause i had Coat of Arms out but Walking Ballista got me the win. I do enjoy playing this deck very much. I am working on new deck that i just started playing but will take awhile for that to get tweaked out to my liking. Thanks for the suggestions though and thanks for pointing out the plant for me.

DMFF on Aerith Throws Infinite Chairs

7 months ago

slvstrChung of course!

Walking Ballista needs to be in the GY with Agatha's Soul Cauldron and Aerith Gainsborough on the field.

1. Activate Soul Cauldron, exiling the Walking Ballista and putting the +1/+1 counter on Aerith.
2. Aerith now has a +1/+1 counter and has Walking Ballista's activated abilities due to Soul Cauldron. Activate the Ballista's ability to remove a +1/+1 counter from Aerith to do 1 damage to any target.
3. Aerith has lifelink. You will gain 1 life, which triggers her effect to give her another +1/+1 counter.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 infinitely!

Hopefully this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions regarding the deck!

SaberTech on Animar enthusiasts!

8 months ago

The value of Trinket Mage really depends on what else you have for it to target besides the Ballista. I did run it at one point but that was back when I was also running Skullclamp, which I think is the main inclusion that makes Trinket Mage worth considering. If you are also running a number of cheap mana rocks like Chrome MoxGC and Mana VaultGC that can also help justify the inclusion. If you face a lot of graveyard decks and feel compelled to put in some artifact-based graveyard hate then that could be another reason to run Trinket Mage. It can also tutor for artifact lands, but generally you want as many of Animar's lands as possible to produce at least two different types of mana so the single-colour artifact lands aren't the best to include while the dual-colour artifact lands enter tapped, which you also want to avoid your lands doing if you can.

The reason why Transit Mage makes the cut despite also only having a few targets is because:

• Finding Ancestral Statue is more important to the deck. There are already a number of ways to get to the Ballista.
• Being able to go Imperial Recruiter -> Phyrexian Metamorph -> Transit Mage -> Ancestral Statue -> Rack up counters on animar then bounce Metamorph -> Metamorph copying Recruiter to get Walking Ballista is a super mana efficient line when Animar starts with just 2 counters.

Total mana cost for the line: RU + 4 life.

That line is way more mana efficient than the old line that required you to tutor up Spellseeker, have the Seeker tutor Neoform and then you Neoform the Seeker into Ancestral Statue. Transit Mage basically lets you get the same result for that stage in the line for just one blue mana, and it keeps the line to only using creatures so there are less commonly-used counterspells that can interrupt it.