Spoiler Highlight: Raubahn, Bull of Ala Mhigo and Hammer Time on Pioneer

You're probably familiar with Hammer Time.

Born in Modern, Hammer Time is an archetype that aims to use the interaction between Colossus Hammer and Sigarda's Aid to equip the artifact for free and attack for ten or more damage every turn — it was born from a meme where players tried to equip the card on Glistener Elf or Inkmoth Nexus, but gained the structure to be a competitive deck with Modern Horizons II, which introduced Urza's Saga and Esper Sentinel.

The strategy has become incredibly popular since then, and players have been trying to replicate it in Pioneer for years unsuccessfully: it lacks payoffs, tutors, extra enablers, and a solid structure to make this strategy more consistent and competitively viable — Perhaps, Final Fantasy is to Hammer Time in Pioneer what MH2 was to it in Modern.

Equipment is one of the central themes of Magic's next set, and the new Raubahn, Bull of Ala Mhigo fits into the payoff and enabler category simultaneously and much more consistently than other cards already released, such as Kemba, Kha Enduring.

It allows you to equip Colossus Hammer on a different creature each turn, protects itself on its own, and, if attached to the hammer, its Ward ability is practically Hexproof since no player would want to take 12 damage to remove a creature. Combined with the also new Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, Raubahn can lay the new foundations to make Hammer Time the newest Aggro-Combo in the Pioneer Metagame.

Cloud, Midgar Mercenary is half of a Stoneforge Mystic, and we've already covered it in another spotlight. Its second ability may not be very relevant today, but it guarantees the perfect follow-up between Sigarda's Aid and Colossus Hammer. Additionally, now that we can piorize due to Raubahn, we gain access to Cori-Steel Cutter, which takes advantage of the large number of low-cost spells on the list to create tokens every turn, as well as some toolbox possibilities with interactive cards like Chainsaw.

Another notable addition from Final Fantasy to the archetype is Zack Fair. Normally, cards like Selfless Savior would be preferable since they don't require any extra mana, but Zack also transfers the equipment attached to him, so there may be some uses for having him on the list as protection alongside Skrelv, Defector Mite and Voice of Victory, which tend to demand immediate responses for locking down the opponent's interaction on their turn.

Raubahn also benefits from the Cori-Steel Cutter plan by either equipping the artifact for free in combat, or because it is cheap to equip by paying mana and can therefore lead to the character attacking as a 13/13 with Trample and Haste in the same turn it enters. For similar purposes, Shadowspear and Lavaspur Boots offer these same abilities separately, but with low costs that interact with both cards.

The addition of a new red staple for Colossus Hammer also means pursuing other potential alternative lines with it. Some lists, for example, can rely on cards like Bladehold War Whip and Thran Power Suit to turn any creature into a threat, while others might want these interactions with the mice package of Heartfire Hero, Emberheart Challenger and Manifold Mouse to create a deck based on free equip costs.

Others, more combo-oriented, may focus on Cacophony Scamp for a potential hit-kill, in addition to other versions that may include more legends to speed up the combo with Mox Amber.

Recently, Hammer Time decks in Modern have emerged with a new variant focused on Cori-Steel Cutter and its interaction with cheap spells.

These lists also include cards like Magnetic Theft to bypass Colossus Hammer along with Sigarda’s Aid and Puresteel Paladin, and perhaps Raubahn, Bull of Ala Mhigo deserves a spot in these slots, despite the competition being quite fierce — especially now that the blue versions have also gained Stolen Uniform as an alternative to Magnetic Theft.

Hammer Time hasn’t had very impressive results in Modern since MH3 established Boros Energy as one of the best decks in the format, and that situation probably won’t change with Final Fantasy, nor is there any sign of bans being on the way or necessary, so Raubahn is likely to see little play in the format.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!