Wizards of the Coast has been more experimental with its sets lately, and with the release of Aetherdrift, Magic: The Gathering is pushing the boundaries past traditional set design further than ever before.
This time around, Magic is not content with taking players to just one plane, and instead is following ten racing teams, hurtling through planes like magical Speed Racers.
What’s Happening In Aetherdrift?
Before the opening of the Omenpaths across the multiverse, the plane Avishkar (formerly Kaladesh) held a race called the Ghirapur Grand Prix, giving speed demons a chance to show off their skills. In this post-Revolution, post-Phyrexian Invasion Avishkar, the powers that be on the plane are working to secure the plane while branching out into the greater multiverse.
As part of this outreach program, Avishkar has invited planes like Amonkhet to join the Grand Prix, taking the race through the sandy dunes and giving them their own team to compete in the race. There are ten teams in total, each one representing a different two mana color pairing:
- Guidelight Voyagers (Blue/White)
- Speed Demons (Blue/Black)
- The Champions of Amonkhet (White/Black)
- Goblin Rocketeers (Red/Green)
- Alacrian Quickbeasts (Green/White)
- The Endriders (Black/Red)
- Chordatan Keelhaulers (Blue/Red)
- The Speedbrood (Black/Green)
- Cloudspire Racing Team (Red/White)
- Aether Rangers (Green/Blue)
Each team has its own motivations for racing, like the Guidelight Voyagers, who are trying to find their home plane and believe that if they are first through each of the Omenpaths, they might trigger the same random magic that brought them to Avishkar in the first place. Teams will have legendary creatures as their racers, as well as a card for each of their vehicles.
One of the more intriguing planes as a part of the race is the world of Muraganda. This plane doesn’t have its own team, but instead provides the largest look at the plane since it was first hinted at in Future Sight and Planeschase, as well as a danger-filled track that racers will have to survive.
Each of the teams is racing for the grand prize of the Aetherspark, a planeswalker spark contained in a chalice. This prize is made real in an equipment card that has some fascinating abilities. For four mana you get this artifact planeswalker that will function like any other planeswalker. Once attached to a creature, The Aetherspark cannot be attacked anymore, and gains bonus loyalty counters when the equipped creatures deals combat damage on your turn.
Since it is a planeswalker, it has a few abilities, which can be activated whether it’s on its own or equipped to a creature. They are:
- +1: Attach The Aetherspark to up to one target creature you control. Put a +1/+1 counter on that creature.
- -5: Draw two cards.
- -10: Add ten mana of any one color.
One of the main racers of the set comes from the Cloudspire Racing Team, and that’s Chandra, Spark Hunter, who is trying to win the race to restore her girlfriend Nissa back to a planeswalker with The Aetherspark.
This four-mana Chandra is all about vehicles and artifacts, letting you basically crew a vehicle for free at the start of combat on each of your turns. She also comes loaded with three unique abilities:
- +2: You may sacrifice an artifact or discard a card. If you do, draw a card.
- +0: Create a 3/2 colorless Vehicle artifact token with crew 1.
- -7: You get an emblem with “Whenever an artifact you control enters, this emblem deals 3 damage to any target.”
The card depicts the iconic Akira motorbike slide, which is such a cool little detail and a very Chandra-feeling move.
Mechanics
Start Your Engines
This brand-new mechanic plays a big role in Aetherdrift, with cards gaining bonus benefits depending on this mechanic. It is a mechanic you’ll have to track, much like being tempted by the Ring, though there are only four levels you’ll have to monitor.
Cards that have Start Your Engine will get you started on the track if you have no speed already, starting you off at one. You can increase your speed by one at the end of your turn so long as your opponent has lost life during your turn. Cards like Vnwxt, Verbose Host that have the Start Your Engine ability get your speed counters going, and then once you hit Max Speed of 4 speed counters, they do something different. In Vnwxt’s case, if you were to draw a card, you draw two instead.
Notably, speed can neither be lost nor proliferated upwards. It exists on an emblem track and will function like other track-based mechanics.
Exhaust
Exhaust is a new keyword ability in Aetherdrift and can be found on Loot, the Pathfinder and some other cards. The adorable little fella has three exhaust abilities: An effective Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, and Lighting Bolt. Exhaust abilities can only be used once, but you can reset them with a blink ability or by bouncing and recasting them.
Saddle
Back from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, saddle is back and is also very fitting for the theme of the set. Not all the vehicles are mechanical in Aetherdrift, so saddling up a creature only makes sense. Saddle functions just like crew does for vehicles, letting you tap creatures to meet a specific value and then giving that creature a bonus ability if it’s saddled.
Commander Decks
Two commander decks are joining the race, both with some rather unique mechanics to play around with. Eternal Might is an Esper Zombie-themed deck from Amonkehet, helmed by Temmet, Naktamun’s Will, with Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist as the backup commander. This deck brings back the Eternals in a form and seems to do some unique things with the graveyard.
Next up is the Living Energy deck, a Temur Energy-based deck that sees Saheeli, Radiant Creator gathering energy and then using it to create a token copy of one of your permanents, making it a 5/5 artifact creature for the turn, and sacrificing the copy at the end of your turn. Supporting her is Pia Nalaar, Chief Mechanic, who can take your built-up energy and give your creatures a boost.
Magic: The Gathering Arena Updates
Aetherdrift is also bringing something new to Magic: The Gathering Arena, achievements. With the release of the set, players will be able to
Achievements include:
- Play a game with four or more cosmetics equipped.
- Spend 5 Mastery Orbs.
- Enter 5 Events
- Reach Gold Rank in either Constructed or Limited.
You can start revving your engines now, but the green light for Aetherdrift won’t light up until it releases on February 14. Debuts are going live now, with new cards releasing every day until the full set is released before the pre-release events begin on February 7. Arena players will get to play a few days earlier on February 11, so if you’re itching to get those achievements racked up or want to start brewing decks early, that’s the way to go.
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