This Gearhulk's Tide Rips | Exclusive Aetherdrift Spoiler
When I think of original Kaladesh, some of the most iconic cards from the set are the Gearhulk cycle. Cards like Torrential Gearhulk and Cataclysmic Gearhulk saw a ton of play back in their day, while the rest of the cycle made their presence felt in Standard as well. As a result, it's super exciting to see Gearhulks return in Aetherdrift, this time in two colors! Today, I have a new Gearhulk to show off for you, and it's a good one! Meet our new Azorius Gearhulk, Riptide Gearhulk!
Riptide Gearhulk gives us a lot to unpack. Most obviously, it's a 2/5 double striker for five mana. This might not look like much at a glance, but really, double strike means it's a base 4/5 in combat, and prowess makes the card a super-scary attacker in the right deck. It seems very possible to play Riptide Gearhulk and then, next turn, have it hit for 10 or more damage by casting some spells to boost its power and toughness. This could give the card a home in control decks, or perhaps in the top end of some sort of spellslinger deck.
But it gets even better. Riptide Gearhulk's enters ability—putting a nonland permanent for each opponent in their library third from the top—might seem familiar. That's because it's the –3 ability from another iconic Azorius mythic in Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. While it is temporary removal since your opponent will draw back into the card that you "tuck" into their library sooner or later, it's actually a very powerful tempo play. Being able to remove your opponent's best threat along with its big butt make Riptide Gearhulk solid on defense, while getting rid of a blocker to allow for a massive double-striking attack the next turn makes it strong on offense as well.
Where Does It Fit in Standard?
While the card reads like it's powerful, there are also some areas of concern for Riptide Gearhulk when it comes to seeing Standard play. (I'm assuming that at five mana, it's a bit too expensive for non-rotating formats, although it's not wholly impossible considering we've seen cards like Torrential Gearhulk show up in Pioneer or even Modern in the past.) The first is the color commitment: needing double blue and double white is a real cost, making it difficult to splash into a three-color deck. Second, and related, I'm not exactly sure where this card fits into Standard. Assuming we need a heavy blue-white deck that also wants a lot of spells (to trigger prowess), the options are limited. Azorius Convoke doesn't have enough spells, it seems too expensive for UW Enchantments at five mana, and traditional draw-go UW Control isn't really a thing in Standard, in large part thanks to Cavern of Souls making counterspells a bit suspicious at the moment. I could see an argument for playing it in Esper Pixie—it's another way to annoy your opponent by tucking their stuff, it works well with blink, and looping cards like This Town Ain't Big Enough and Stormchaser's Talent is a great way to trigger prowess. It gets even better if you play cards like Scrollshift that can blink Riptide Gearhulk directly. But I'm just not sure the archetype wants a five-drop, considering its curve typically ends at two or, at most, three for a few copies of Kaito, Bane of Nightmares. When you add all this together, Riptide Gearhulk may be a good card that lacks a good home in Standard, at least in the short term.
The good news for Riptide Gearhulk is that it will be in Standard for a long, long time. Even if the card might not have a super-obvious tier home today, it is certainly powerful, and it has nearly three years for a home to develop. Even if it doesn't take off immediately, the combination of good stats and a strong enters trigger makes it a card to keep in mind for the future, at a minimum.
Where Does It Fit in Commander?
As far as Commander is concerned, there's an argument that Riptide Gearhulk will be even better there, at least in the right deck. Here, it's important to point out that its enters ability scales with the table—you get to tuck a card from each opponent, not just one opponent. While I don't think Riptide Gearhulk is strong enough to jam in just any deck as a good-stuff card, it does work really well in a couple of specific archetypes.
The most obvious is blink decks like Brago, King Eternal. The card is amazing if you can trigger Riptide Gearhulk's enters ability multiple times or even every turn. People play cards like Unexplained Absence, and Riptide Gearhulk does something similar for just one more mana, except it comes with a decent body, and you can reuse its ability with blink. If I'm building Roon of the Hidden Realm, Brago, King Eternal, Yorion, Sky Nomad, or Lagrella, the Magpie, I'd at least strongly consider putting Riptide Gearhulk in the deck.
Riptide Gearhulk is also an artifact, which could make it an option in decks like Urza, Chief Artificer or Urza, Prince of Kroog as a utility spell that works with the deck's theme. But spellslinger might be an even better home. If you're planning to cast a ton of spells in a deck like Narset, Enlightened Exile, Zethi, Arcane Blademaster, or Taigam, Ojutai Master, Riptide Gearhulk is basically a removal spell that also turns into a massive threat once you start casting a bunch of spells. At five mana, it's not exactly a cheap removal spell, but its body and ability to remove something from every opponent puts it in the conversation for these decks, at a minimum.
Wrap-Up
All in all, Riptide Gearhulk seems like a very strong card that looks even better when you consider the track record of Gearhulk playability. While the lack of a clear tier home might keep it from being an immediate Standard staple, I do think it will show up right away in blink decks and perhaps some prowess and artifact decks in Commander. And given how long it will be legal in Standard, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Riptide Gearhulk becomes a solid Standard card sooner or later!
Anyway, that's all for today. Thanks again to Wizards for hooking us up with a free preview card! What do you think of Riptide Gearhulk? Let me know in the comments! As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
