So, I opened Brightglass Gearhulk at last week's Aetherdrift prerelease.

Didn't play it.

I had a lot of Red rares, and the in Brightglass Gearhulks casting cost just didn't seem worth it to me.

I read the card over and over.

"How can this not get lands?"

Christian Calcano was sitting next to me during deck construction.

To be fair, Valgavoth's Lair [from Duskmourn] is legal in Standard.

"Okay," I conceded. "I suppose you can get lands with this." But the lands kind of suck. Coming into play tapped sucks.

And if you're going to compare Brightglass Gearhulk to other gigantic Green creatures who specialize in getting lands... Maybe it, itself kind of sucks. In Standard right now we have Overlord of the Hauntwoods for either one less or one more mana. And in the wider realm of searching for two-something's, Brightglass Gearhulk is no Primeval Titan.

Of course, once you leave Standard there are any number of artifact lands that can be obtained untapped; and Urza's Saga has been a pretty good land in some decks, too.

It's only a few days later, reflecting as I write this, that I realize how g-d spoiled I am... How everyone who looks at Brightglass Gearhulk as anything but let's-say-well-above-average must be.

This is a Green card; but it isn't just a Green card. It's also a White card; a four-mana White card.

Huh?

This just isn't a Ramp card. It's more a mid-range card! Once you get past the in the casting cost, this card is just a bigger, better fighting, and wildly more flexible Ranger of Eos. I probably don't have to remind you that Ranger of Eos won the World Championships over a sea of Jund in its era.

Just in Standard, here is a short list of awesome things you might want to find with Brightglass Gearhulk:

• Scene of the Crime
• Valgavoth's Lair
• Basilisk Collar
• Dusk Rose Reliquary
• Ghost Vacuum
• Haywire Mite
• Lost Jitte
• Marketback Walker
• Patchwork Beastie
• Soul-Guide Lantern
• Authority of the Consuls
• Shardmage's Rescue
• Goldvein Hydra
• Insidious Fungus
• Llanowar Elves
• Novice Inspector
• Nurturing Pixie
• Progenitor Exarch
• Teething Wurmlet

You can find land (even if the land kind of sucks), removal, graveyard hate, artifact and enchantment control, defense, absolutely gigantic threats that might not otherwise see much play... And Llanowar Elves. Most of the decks that play Brightglass Gearhulk will also play Llanowar Elves, so you can always find some of those.

This isn't a particularly good card.

However it might be a great one.

You can cycle Waxen Shapethief into your graveyard, so that when you play your Gearhulk, it can bring up the Shapethief, which will copy the Gearhulk. Of course, if all is going well that's actually the nth Clone in your graveyard. Ideally you will have cheated with some Black Overlord action to get Visage Bandit and others down... Ideally setting up for a wide and hasty fifth-turn kill.

There are some problems with this strategy. Like, what do you do if the opponent has any graveyard hate at all? Look at a hand of un-cast-able Blue spells?

Still, this is a card that is going to, at a minimum, spawn a new archetype.

This is another card that is indicative of being kind of spoiled.

7/7 offense / defense that doesn't really get blocked... for six?

Oh, it's also an Overrun!

Not just Overrun, but your whole team plays offense / defense now.

Here's the thing: It's not just one more mana for an Overrun-like effect that leaves behind a 7/7 with a bunch of abilities.

This is also a Natural Order target for some other formats. Pyrewood Gearhulk might not be as "game over" (potentially) as a Craterhoof Behemoth, but it makes up for that by being imminently castable. Again, very decent rate... I don't know that anyone is super excited for just a pretty big monster as Plan A. But as a card's fail state?

To me, this is the most interesting Gearhulk.

Not the "best" Gearhulk, probably... But it's quite pregnant with possibility.

Years ago Pro Tour Champion Osyp Lebedowicz was the first person to point out that Control players could tap out for something, so long as that something was better than everything in the opponent's deck. The most emblematic threat of that kind was Keiga, followed by Meloku the Clouded Mirror.

Keiga was super big, so often took two if not three opposing cards to take down. And even when the opponent did that successfully, Keiga would steal their best thing on the way out.

Riptide Gearhulk kind of does Keiga one better.

Keiga was huge (5 toughness) in an era when beatdown decks often invested three mana for a 2/2. But Keiga didn't do anything when immediately entering the battlefield. That's where Riptide Gearhulk might have something special to say.

How do you like this just as a point removal spell?

Control decks in Standard always need some kind of point removal. This can target anything. Creature? Sure. Artifact? Enchantment? Planes-wait-for-it-walker? Target-able.

More than that, it doesn't just kill. That means that the opponent won't get the benefit of a death trigger on a Cacophony Scamp or Heartfire Hero.

This card is kind of expensive... But don't forget that it leaves a killer body.

2/5 for five isn't normally anything to write home about but Riptide Gearhulk is armed with both Double Strike and Prowess. Most decks that play this are going to be full of the kinds of cards that make the Gearhulk big. Two swings in? It doesn't take a lot of Prowess triggers to get this to a two-turn clock.

I can imagine a regular u-w deck siding Riptide Gearhulk in; there is plenty of precedent for bringing in five-toughness monsters... But those typically have some kind of lifelink.

Maybe the more obvious spot for this card is to reinvigorate the artifact decks.

Simulacrum Synthesizer anyone?

Which leaves us...

Let's talk about Oildeep Gearhulk's power and toughness first.

This is a 4/4 for four mana... Kinda sorta the same as Brightglass Gearhulk. Except it's not the same at all. You expect a medium-to-large Green creature to be able to fight. You don't expect quite the same from a Blue creature.

Even when a Blue creature is the best finisher in a format - when it's a Psychatog or a Morphling - you typically have to pour a ton of mana into it to make it good at killing, or discard your hand or something.

Adrian Sullivan was considered a weirdo for splashing Spiritmonger where other Wizards would have played Morphling. Morphling was better, maybe. Morphling was more on-theme. But Spiritmonger took so much less mana to present an effective end game.

Is Oildeep Gearhulk the biggest? No. It's not even the biggest Gearhulk. But for four mana? 4 power, 4 toughness, Lifelink and Ward is a heck of a combat package for four mana.

Just compare Oildeep Gearhulk to this favorite:

Same power.

One less toughness... But arguably more durable. Some decks - Red decks in particular - usually have to put together more than one spell to kill Sheoldred. Even though Oildeep Gearhulk is a little smaller on the back side the Ward can make it trickier to kill with multiple spells. Not to mention this is an artifact creature, meaning the main way people have been killing a Sheoldred for the past couple of years - Go for the Throat - can't target it.

Let's take another look at Sheoldred.

Sheoldred has been, at times, one of the best cards in Standard; not just one of the best creatures. The fact that Sheoldred can do a little extra damage when the opponent draws cards is nice (and well within the kit that makes Sheoldred Sheoldred)... But the backbreaking element of this card is that it can pull you back into a game that seems lost by gaining two life.

Oildeep Gearhulk can gain effectively twice as much life as Sheoldred.

We haven't started to talk about synergies yet... Just the body on what is probably the best Gearhulk.

It's also in a color combination that can fall behind Red Aggro decks on life total. This card is good at helping to catch up. Can you imagine siding it in a Dimir Control deck? Semi-morph into Tap Out Blue after sideboarding? Tempo the opposing aggro deck a little and then close the game out starting on turn four?

But let's talk context now.

Black-blue 187 decks (including Esper) were among the most popular coming into Aetherdrift. Oildeep Gearhulk is a perfect addition to a Dimir self-Bounce deck. For one thing, it's the right colors and is big enough to be a mirror breaker. You can't kill it with Nowhere to Run, and you can't even target it with Go for the Throat.

But it also has a 187 ability!

I imagine that Momentum Breaker will slot right into Standard Dimir. Think of it as Nowhere to Run 5-8, synergizing with This Town Ain't Big Enough and Fear of Isolation. But when the opponent doesn't have a creature, Momentum Breaker can be a pair to Hopeless Nightmare instead.

Oildeep Gearhulk, therefore, can help to disrupt the opponent's hand in a triple-synergy.

Or!

You can think of it as just defending itself. Do they have an answer? No? Coast is clear. Yes? They might be able to draw a replacement card... But is it a replacement card that can immediately deal with a 4/4 Ward creature?

I think this card is great. Less "interesting" than the cycle-sibling... But straight up great in a lot of contexts.

LOVE

MIKE