Post-GLR the read operation with $x.key[0] isn't necessary to get the buggy behaviour:
< bartolin> m: my $x; my @a = 1,2; $x = Array.new(@a) => 'x'; @a.pop(); say $x; # is that change with glr known/wanted <+camelia> rakudo-moar e6f360: OUTPUT«1 => x» < GLRelia> rakudo-moar a6bb0b: OUTPUT«[1 2] => x» < bartolin> m: my $x; my @a = 1,2; $x = @a => 'x'; @a.pop(); say $x; <+camelia> rakudo-moar e6f360: OUTPUT«1 => x» < GLRelia> rakudo-moar a6bb0b: OUTPUT«[1] => x»