Hard Hat Area MTG Card

Rarity	Mythic
Type	Artifact — Contraption
Abilities	Assemble
Released	2017-12-08
Set symbol
Set name	Unstable
Set code	UST
Number	187
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Borderless
Illustred by	Steve Prescott
Un-set :-)	This card is part of an Un-set

Key Takeaways

Hard Hat Area’s instant speed allows for reactive and flexible gameplay, adjusting to adversaries’ moves.
The card’s demand for card discard can be a double-edged sword, influencing crucial hand management.
Versatility shines through its use in artifact-centric decks, augmenting its utility and combo potential.

Text of card

Whenever you crank Hard Hat Area, roll two six-sided dice. Hard Hat Area assembles a number of Contraptions equal to the difference between those results. (To assemble a Contraption, put the top card of your Contraption deck face up onto one of your sprockets.)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Hard Hat Area card can be a game changer by helping players pull ahead with added card draws. This factor is crucial when it comes to outpacing your opponent in long, drawn-out battles where every card counts.

Resource Acceleration: By adding a touch of efficiency to your deck, Hard Hat Area boosts your resource management. This is particularly beneficial when you’re aiming to deploy heavy hitters earlier than expected or needing that extra mana boost for a pivotal play.

Instant Speed: With the ability to cast at instant speed, Hard Hat Area enhances tactical flexibility. It means you can adapt to the flow of the game, respond to threats immediately, or simply save it for the most opportune moment without losing tempo.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Hard Hat Area requires that you throw away another card from your hand to play it. While this may help you utilize your graveyard better in some strategies, this can put you at a disadvantage when your hand size is critical to maintaining leverage over your opponent.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s casting cost demands a specific combination of mana types. This necessitates careful mana base construction to ensure you have the required resources available at the right time, possibly restricting its integration into multicolored decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a higher than average mana cost for its effects, Hard Hat Area might not be as mana-efficient compared to other options. Considering the tempo of the game and available alternatives, it may not always be the most strategic play, especially in faster-paced games where efficiency is paramount.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Hard Hat Area offers unique utility in several deck archetypes due to its ability to manipulate the battlefield. It can be a formidable tool in construction-themed decks or those that capitalize on artifact synergies.

Combo Potential: This card can serve as a linchpin in creative combos, particularly in strategies focused on tapping or untapping artifacts for value or employing numerous artifacts for a powerful effect.

Meta-Relevance: In an environment where artifacts play a significant role, Hard Hat Area provides strategic advantages that could give players an edge against prevalent decks that interact with or depend on artifact dynamics.

How to beat

Hard Hat Area is a thought-provoking card that can fortify a player’s defense in Magic: The Gathering. It poses a unique obstacle by creating an indestructible artifact creature, thereby solidifying one’s board presence. Confronting such durability requires precise strategies.

One efficient path to circumvent Hard Hat Area’s resilience is through the use of cards that force a player to sacrifice an artifact. This removes the indestructibility factor from the equation. Another tactic involves altering the battlefield conditions, using enchantments or spells that neutralize the effects of all artifacts, rendering the indestructible creature impotent. Lastly, making use of direct player effects that bypass creatures altogether, thus ignoring Hard Hat Area’s defensive capabilities, can provide a clear advantage.

Engaging with Hard Hat Area is certainly a test of one’s adaptability and resource management. With the right countermeasures, players can navigate around the steadfast defense it offers, taking control of the game in their own strategic manner.

Cards like Hard Hat Area

Hard Hat Area joins a distinctive category of artifact enchantments in the world of Magic: The Gathering. A card it could be compared to is Static Orb, due to the shared concept of restricting player actions. Just as Hard Hat Area limits the number of non-creature spells played each turn, Static Orb limits each player to only untapping two permanents during their untap step.

Another similar card is Winter Orb, which is also notorious for its ability to control the flow of the game by only allowing players to untap one land during their untap step. While this might sound limiting, Hard Hat Area permits the untap of lands, but instead keeps a tight check on spell casting. A newer parallel might be drawn with Rule of Law, an enchantment that confines players to a single spell each turn, yet it applies to all kinds of spells and not just the non-creature variety.

Deciding which of these cards to include in a deck ultimately depends on the intended strategy. Nevertheless, Hard Hat Area provides a unique blend of manageability and flexibility, making it an intriguing card to consider for any player aiming to strategically limit their opponents’ actions in the game.

Cards similar to Hard Hat Area by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Hard Hat Area MTG card by a specific set like Unstable, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Hard Hat Area and other MTG cards:

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Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Hard Hat Area card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2018-01-19	Any Contraption that’s on the battlefield and wasn’t assembled immediately heads to the scrapyard. However, if it’s a not an actual Contraption card (like Copy Artifact isn’t), it goes to your graveyard as normal. Non-Contraption cards can’t be in the scrapyard.
2018-01-19	At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control any Contraptions, move the CRANK! counter to the next sprocket. You may then crank any number of Contraptions on that sprocket, causing their abilities to trigger. Cranking a Contraption is always optional.
2018-01-19	Contraptions are artifacts. Anything that interacts with artifacts will interact with Contraptions.
2018-01-19	Contraptions aren’t put into your main deck. They go into a separate deck called the Contraption deck.
2018-01-19	If a Contraption would leave the battlefield and go to any zone other than exile, it instead goes to the scrapyard, the Contraption deck’s version of the graveyard. Things that affect the graveyard do not affect the scrapyard. You can exile Contraptions just fine.
2018-01-19	If you crank multiple Contraptions, their abilities can be put onto the stack in any order. The ability put onto the stack will resolve first.
2018-01-19	If you or a permanent you control are instructed to assemble a Contraption, reveal the top card of your Contraption deck. Put it onto the battlefield on one of the three sprockets.
2018-01-19	If you or a permanent you control assembles a Contraption and your Contraption deck is empty, nothing happens. You don’t lose the game.
2018-01-19	In Constructed formats, a Contraption deck must have at least fifteen different Contraption cards and no more than one of each.
2018-01-19	In Limited formats, a Contraption deck may include any number of Contraption cards in your card pool. You don’t have to include every Contraption card you draft or open in sealed deck. In those formats, your Contraption deck may include duplicates.
2018-01-19	In silver-bordered games using Contraptions, you have three sprockets, illustrated on the back of Contraption cards. At the start of the game, put a CRANK! counter on sprocket 3.
2018-01-19	While Contraptions you control are on the battlefield, the Contraption deck is not, even if you are using it to signify the three sprockets.