I am trying to ramp up my deck and slowly turn it from Delirium to a Delirium/Snek deck. I want to start using my Walking Ballista, but as a newbie, I don't quite understand the card and was hoping someone could explain it to me. What are the XX's and how do you decide what the Power/Toughness is?
I am trying really hard to figure things out on my own. lol It says Construct, so I am creating it. Do I decide how much mana I want to pay for it and what colour, then with the total amount of mana cost I have created for it, I add 1 of a +1/+1 counter? For example, say I pay 5 mana (3 green, 2 black). It becomes a 5/5 and then becomes a 6/6 because it has a counter on it?
OR...(and even better)...If I do the above, pay 5 mana, does it become 5 with 5 +1/+1 counters on it, thus a 10/10? Woah. Sounds awesome. More than likely I have both completely wrong. Thus, I have turned to all of you for help and advice!
Okay, so I make a Walking Ballista by choosing how much mana I am willing to use, being sure both X's are of equal amounts. Maybe a 3/3. 3 greens, 3 blacks. I then put 3 +1/+1 counters on it and that is now its Power/Toughness. So, it becomes a 3/3. I am guessing one of the pros of this card is that you get to choose how strong you want it, according how much mana you are willing to use?
Then does the next section mean I have to pay another 4 mana to put another +1/+1 on it?
Then the last part mean I kind of pay with my counters to do damage to target player or creature?
I know this card is extremely popular and costly. Am I missing something here? Seems like a lot of work "constructing" something I might already have in my hand to play, say...a Gitrog Monster or basically anything tougher than what I have constructed it as. Obviously there are cards that must feed this card to make it even more amazing? I guess I am not quite getting the wow factor of it! Anyone want to enlighten me, in fairly simple terms (being a noob) as to what makes this card so desirable and awesome?
There are a few things that make it great. First because its mana cost is XX that means it scales to the stage of the game you are in. That is on turn 2 you can play a 1/1, but on turn 10 you can probably play a 4/4. This means that you always have something to do with it.
The second thing that makes it so powerful is that it is removal. It makes any creature your opponent plays that is an X/1 something they just can't play.
And the last thing is that in the current meta game there is an infinite combo with Felidar Guardian and Saheeli Rai that Walking Ballista can stop by killing Saheeli Rai mid combo.
Okay, so I make a Walking Ballista by choosing how much mana I am willing to use, being sure both X's are of equal amounts. Maybe a 3/3. 3 greens, 3 blacks. I then put 3 +1/+1 counters on it and that is now its Power/Toughness. So, it becomes a 3/3. I am guessing one of the pros of this card is that you get to choose how strong you want it, according how much mana you are willing to use?
Then does the next section mean I have to pay another 4 mana to put another +1/+1 on it?
Then the last part mean I kind of pay with my counters to do damage to target player or creature?
I know this card is extremely popular and costly. Am I missing something here? Seems like a lot of work "constructing" something I might already have in my hand to play, say...a Gitrog Monster or basically anything tougher than what I have constructed it as. Obviously there are cards that must feed this card to make it even more amazing? I guess I am not quite getting the wow factor of it! Anyone want to enlighten me, in fairly simple terms (being a noob) as to what makes this card so desirable and awesome?
The fact that it can deal damage to both creatures and players just for mana. In other hands, regardless of what you draw or have in your hand, you can deal damage with Walking Balista as long as you have mana open. Your Gitrog Monster can't do that.
- If you pay X=1 (Walking Ballista for two mana), instead of coming in as a 1/1, it comes in with two counters being a 2/2.
- With Nissa, Voice of Zendikar or Rishkar, Peema Renegade, it gets two counters instead of just one.
- With Verdurous Gearhulk, it just gets ridiculous.
Think of it this way, those counters can be removed at instant speed. It can snipe and kill creatures, planeswalkers, and your opponent if they are low enough (in colors that don't have burn spells). It can even attack and then remove counters to deal damage. You don't even have to remove all of it at once. It can live to be used to put more counters on. Removal spells are useless on it since you can just sac all the counters in response so you'll always get some value.
Also in Delirium decks, it counts as two types: artifact and creatures. That's already half the requirement.
This thread originated in the Standard forum and was moved here because the original post was a rules question. The rest of the thread is strategy discussion which can't continue here, though, so I'm locking this.
-MadMage
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I am trying really hard to figure things out on my own. lol It says Construct, so I am creating it. Do I decide how much mana I want to pay for it and what colour, then with the total amount of mana cost I have created for it, I add 1 of a +1/+1 counter? For example, say I pay 5 mana (3 green, 2 black). It becomes a 5/5 and then becomes a 6/6 because it has a counter on it?
OR...(and even better)...If I do the above, pay 5 mana, does it become 5 with 5 +1/+1 counters on it, thus a 10/10? Woah. Sounds awesome. More than likely I have both completely wrong. Thus, I have turned to all of you for help and advice!
You pay X + X for it, and then it enters with X +1/+1 counters.
So say you play it as X = 2, you pay 2 + 2 mana (4 total) and it enters as a 0/0 with 2 +1/+1 counters, making it a 2/2.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
Then does the next section mean I have to pay another 4 mana to put another +1/+1 on it?
Then the last part mean I kind of pay with my counters to do damage to target player or creature?
I know this card is extremely popular and costly. Am I missing something here? Seems like a lot of work "constructing" something I might already have in my hand to play, say...a Gitrog Monster or basically anything tougher than what I have constructed it as. Obviously there are cards that must feed this card to make it even more amazing? I guess I am not quite getting the wow factor of it! Anyone want to enlighten me, in fairly simple terms (being a noob) as to what makes this card so desirable and awesome?
The second thing that makes it so powerful is that it is removal. It makes any creature your opponent plays that is an X/1 something they just can't play.
And the last thing is that in the current meta game there is an infinite combo with Felidar Guardian and Saheeli Rai that Walking Ballista can stop by killing Saheeli Rai mid combo.
The fact that it can deal damage to both creatures and players just for mana. In other hands, regardless of what you draw or have in your hand, you can deal damage with Walking Balista as long as you have mana open. Your Gitrog Monster can't do that.
Everyone has explained it, but think of it with Winding Constrictor. Here are some scenarios that could happen if Winding Constrictor is on the field:
- If you pay X=1 (Walking Ballista for two mana), instead of coming in as a 1/1, it comes in with two counters being a 2/2.
- With Nissa, Voice of Zendikar or Rishkar, Peema Renegade, it gets two counters instead of just one.
- With Verdurous Gearhulk, it just gets ridiculous.
Think of it this way, those counters can be removed at instant speed. It can snipe and kill creatures, planeswalkers, and your opponent if they are low enough (in colors that don't have burn spells). It can even attack and then remove counters to deal damage. You don't even have to remove all of it at once. It can live to be used to put more counters on. Removal spells are useless on it since you can just sac all the counters in response so you'll always get some value.
Also in Delirium decks, it counts as two types: artifact and creatures. That's already half the requirement.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
-MadMage