Gobhobbler Rats

Hellbent rewards you for being empty-handed, and the trick of designing around it is making that empty grip something a deck actually wants. Most hellbent payoffs are static stat bumps that do nothing once the board has turned against you. This one stacks both kinds of reward: the +1/+0 is the passive half, but the second clause is what changes the math, switching on a regeneration ability you can fuel with black mana the moment your hand runs dry. That converts a fragile two-drop into a body that refuses to stay dead in combat, a recurring shield rather than a one-time bonus, and it punishes opponents who try to trade with it on the ground. The cost of activation is the brake: regeneration is not free, so a clogged board can outpace your mana, and the trick fails entirely against exile or sweepers that sidestep destruction. It belongs in a fast black-red shell that dumps its grip early and wants every leftover land doing work, asking a clean question of that build along the way: are you actually empty, or just pretending to be? Answer yes, and a plain 2/2 rat becomes a 3/2 the red zone struggles to clear.