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Hangarback Walker

Artifact Creature — Construct

This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
When this creature dies, create a 1/1 colorless Thopter artifact creature token with flying for each +1/+1 counter on this creature.
{1}, {T}: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.

CMC
0
Mana cost
{X}{X}
Color identity
C
Rarity
special
Set
Kaladesh Inventions
Price
—
EDHREC rank
#1564
Buy on TCGplayer
Hangarback Walker card art
Hangarback Walker scales with investment, dies into a board of fliers, and fits any artifact-matters shell without asking for a specific color — that versatility is the whole pitch. The cost is that it does nothing the turn it enters at small sizes and folds to exile-based removal without leaving a single token; Emry, Lurker of the Loch and Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate both dodge that weakness by treating the graveyard or the counter-doubling as the actual payoff.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate

Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate

85.4% of decks · synergy 0.66

Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate doubles +1/+1 counters placed on artifacts, which means a Hangarback Walker entering with X counters immediately becomes twice as wide when it dies — the death trigger scales exponentially rather than linearly.

03
Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist

Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist

43.5% of decks · synergy 0.43

Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist creates Powerstone tokens whenever artifacts enter the graveyard, so Hangarback Walker feeds that engine twice: once on sacrifice and once for each thopter token that dies afterward.

04
Kilo, Apogee Mind

Kilo, Apogee Mind

46.4% of decks · synergy 0.42

Kilo, Apogee Mind cares about artifacts entering and proliferate effects, both of which Hangarback Walker enables naturally — stacking counters on it over several turns makes the eventual death trigger produce a genuinely threatening number of fliers.

05
Inspirit, Flagship Vessel

Inspirit, Flagship Vessel

45.0% of decks · synergy 0.40

Inspirit, Flagship Vessel rewards artifact token production, and Hangarback Walker is one of the most reliable repeatable sources of thopter tokens in the format, making it a near-automatic inclusion at nearly 45% of decks.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

In Commander, Hangarback Walker earns its slot as a flexible threat that doubles as a sacrifice outlet, a proliferate target, and a finisher in artifact-heavy builds — the ceiling is high enough that dedicated synergy decks run it close to mandatory. In Modern, it saw serious play in midrange artifact shells and Hardened Scales strategies, where the counter synergies made it a must-answer threat that punished removal either way. Pioneer treats Hangarback Walker similarly, fitting into Ensoul Artifact strategies and artifact aggro, though the format's speed means it competes harder for that two-drop slot. Legacy and Vintage will play it in niche Affinity or workshop-adjacent lists, but raw power density in those formats keeps it as a role-player rather than a cornerstone. Standard and Pauper aren't currently options, so Commander and the 60-card non-rotating formats are where Hangarback Walker sees its real work.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Pricing data isn't currently available for Hangarback Walker, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the most accurate current figure before buying. Historically it has spiked around artifact-matters releases and settled back down, so it's worth watching if you're in no rush.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.