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Walking Ballista

Artifact Creature — Construct

This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
{4}: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Remove a +1/+1 counter from this creature: It deals 1 damage to any target.

CMC
0
Mana cost
{X}{X}
Color identity
C
Rarity
rare
Set
Jumpstart 2022
Price
$10.58
EDHREC rank
#462
Buy on TCGplayer
Walking Ballista card art
Walking Ballista is a repeatable, instant-speed damage outlet that doubles as a mana sink and a win condition — the fact that it costs double the X means you're always paying full price for what you get, but the flexibility makes that cost irrelevant in most powered shells. Heliod, Sun-Crowned turns it into a two-card infinite damage combo; Trazyn the Infinite can borrow its activated abilities wholesale.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Walking Ballista is banned in Pioneer, where it and Heliod, Sun-Crowned formed a two-card combo that was too consistent and too easy to assemble at a low mana investment. Everywhere else it's legal — Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Commander all welcome it. Commander specifically gives it a pass because you're one copy in 100, you need a partner piece to go infinite, and the 99-card singleton variance means the combo is powerful but not oppressive. In fair configurations it's just an efficient threat that scales with your mana, which is exactly the kind of card Commander rewards.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Trazyn the Infinite

Trazyn the Infinite

66.2% of decks · synergy 0.64

Trazyn the Infinite can imprint Walking Ballista from the graveyard and use its activated abilities as if it were Trazyn himself — meaning any board state with infinite mana becomes a win immediately. It appears in over 66% of Trazyn lists, which is about as close to mandatory as Commander gets.

02
Tidus, Yuna's Guardian

Tidus, Yuna's Guardian

70.5% of decks · synergy 0.61

Tidus, Yuna's Guardian runs Walking Ballista as a flexible counter-manipulation target and a consistent late-game mana dump that synergizes with the deck's +1/+1 counter subtheme. The 70% inclusion rate signals that it's filling a structural role here, not just a combo slot.

03
Yuna, Grand Summoner

Yuna, Grand Summoner

63.1% of decks · synergy 0.54

Yuna, Grand Summoner lists want Walking Ballista as a scalable creature that can absorb or distribute +1/+1 counters while doubling as a removal spell stapled to a body. Its modular nature fits cleanly into the deck's counter-based engines.

04
Heliod, Sun-Crowned

Heliod, Sun-Crowned

57.0% of decks · synergy 0.52

Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Walking Ballista are the classic two-card infinite: Heliod grants lifelink, the Ballista deals one damage, you gain one life, Heliod puts a +1/+1 counter back on the Ballista, and you repeat until everything is dead. This is one of the most played two-card combos in Commander, and it's the primary reason Heliod lists run the Ballista in 57% of builds.

05
Zirda, the Dawnwaker

Zirda, the Dawnwaker

53.1% of decks · synergy 0.51

Zirda, the Dawnwaker reduces activated abilities that cost mana, which cuts Walking Ballista's counter-adding cost down and makes it a much more efficient mana sink in the mid-game. That cost reduction is relevant enough that Zirda lists include it in over 53% of builds even without an infinite combo attached.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

There is no true budget replacement for Walking Ballista — it occupies a unique design space as a colorless, modular, repeatable damage outlet. Goblin Sharpshooter covers the pinging role in red decks but requires creatures to die first and can't scale with raw mana; Mikaeus, the Unhallowed plus Triskelion replicates the infinite loop in black-inclusive shells but costs more mana and requires two specific pieces instead of one.

Price Context

Current price

$10.58 mid tier

At $10.58, Walking Ballista sits in the mid tier — not a budget include, but not a reserved-list obstacle either. Multiple reprints have kept it accessible, and the price reflects genuine demand across competitive formats rather than artificial scarcity.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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