What it does
Impending is a casting mechanic where you pay an alternate cost (typically cheaper) to put a permanent—usually an enchantment-creature like an Impending Avatar—onto the battlefield with a number of time counters on it. While it has time counters, it is not a creature; it enters as just an enchantment. At the beginning of your upkeep, you remove a time counter, and once the last one is gone, it loses "impending" and becomes a creature.
The key nuance: during the impending period, it can't attack, block, or use abilities with the tap symbol, and it's immune to creature-targeted removal and effects that check for creatures. But it is still affected by enchantment removal and effects that count its mana value, power, or other characteristics.
In Commander, impending lets you deploy a threat early that dodges sorcery-speed creature wraths if timed well, sneaking value past board states before it "wakes up" and starts swinging.
Iconic cards with Impending
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