Aetherdrift - A cEDH Set Review

White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | Artifacts & Lands | Allied & Shards | Enemy & Wedges | cEDH | Reprints | Pauper/Budget
A cross-plane death race has arrived to Magic: The Gathering, and you're in it pal! The set is full of high-speed characters and cards, but do any of them clear the bar to get played in the highest octane cEDH decks? In short, it's slim pickings here in a set so focused on its not-that-powerful-mechanics in Vehicles, Mounts, exhaust, & Vanilla-Matters-A-Little-Bit. BUT, we've got a Birthing Pod
White
Skyseer's Chariot
This set is very slim pickings for white, at least by my reckoning, with this being the only one that remotely jumped out to me. In a meta full of powerful activated abilities both outside and inside the command zone (Kinnan and Thrasios, I'm looking at you), having access to effects to slow them down becomes more and more attractive.
We don't have a shortage of cards that affect your opponents in this way, but Skyseer's Chariot
However, if you're really worried about Kinnan and Co., you should be playing stuff like Cursed Totem
Blue
Unstoppable Plan
Unstoppable Plan
Let's break down the benefits -
- It's affordable. Three mana, only one of which is a pip, is a relatively low cost for this kind of effect. Obviously, getting to untap all of your nonland permanents on your end step means that that three mana may even be "free," in that you will be untapping your mana rock or dorks used to cast it. Your creatures also have psuedo vigiliance while this is on the battlefield, if that's relevant.
- It untaps all of your mana rocks once per turn cycle.
- That's it?
There aren't exactly "downsides" to discuss, as the card doesn't have any technical ones, but this does feel like a lot of mana to pay for something that won't even do you the pleasure of untapping your lands along with your nonland permanents. Seedborn Muse
I think the most real use case for this is in a turbo Necropotence
Unstoppable Plan
This is, of course, assuming a perfect scenario in a genre of decks that already are tight enough on card slots to cut some of the best cards in the format from their 98 because, well, they don't need them. I don't see Unstoppable Plan
Repurposing Bay
While I can't see many people playing Unstoppable Plan
However, that is still reliant upon a deck-specific combo; I can see a much more deck-agnostic future for Repurposing Bay
Black
Gonti, Night Minister
In a midrange hell world, I love to be attacking my opponents. Gonti, Night Minister
A 3/4 body for four mana isn't the best and isn't the worst, able to attack on many cEDH boards that are clogged up with smaller value creatures. Once we get attacking, we'll get to steal our opponents' cards and when we cast them we'll get a Treasure, creating a small amount of disruption, card advantage, and mana for ourselves... and for our Ops. That's right: Gonti's effects are available for all players, with the only change being that they can't steal *your* cards.
In addition to the mana cost, this seems to be the death knell for Gonti in my eyes... but man, I still wanna give it a try. Esper Malcolm all-star, anyone?
The Speed Demon
If we're really all in on a Midrange hell, perhaps The Speed Demon
A bit slow, perhaps, but if you can resolve it and untap with it it feels like a real meta-buster level of card. But wow, is it still slow. Five mana is a ton for any non-game winning effect in cEDH, especially in a post Mana Crypt
A good college try at a huge midrange playable here, but I don't see it making the cut... and at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if I hear someone singing its praises at the next event that I attend.
Red
Howlsquad Heavy
Red's singular entrant on this list is one of the usual suspects: we've checked the "Is this a Winota card?" box for the article, which also of course raises the question "Are people still looking for Winota cards?" In my heart of hearts, I know the answer is yes, so let's take a look at Howlsquad Heavy
Another entry in the three-drop Goblin that gets out of hand very quickly Saga, this fella gives our other Goblins haste, gives us a token that has to attack every turn, and most interestingly, taps for mana equal to the Goblins we control... if we have max speed. As a quick refresher, the soonest this would happen is on the third turn that one controls Howlsquad Heavy
If we, rightfully, assume that we will never, ever, get to use that, this card just becomes a worse Goblin Rabblemaster
Of course, it would be different if we had any other start your engines! cards to get the party started with, but as far as I can tell, that's just not the reality we live in. This mechanic is so, so dang slow.
Green
Webstrike Elite
Webstrike Elite
While losing at the "I'm a land and an incredibly cheap naturalize" game to Boseiju, Who Endures
Multicolor
Brightglass Gearhulk
The one card from the new-and-very-cool Gearhulk cycle for cEDH applications, Brightglass Gearhulk
In fringe decks like Sythis it does as much as grabbing key combo pieces, which feels like a high future ceiling for this card as well. Will we see a card that costs one mana or less in an upcoming set that could combo with another to make Brightglass Gearhulk
But now, in the present, that will remain a dream. To sound like a broken record in looking at the set, is a massively restrictive mana cost, the type cEDH players are historically overconfident about being able to afford, especially in three-plus color lists. Plus, it ensures that you'll be casting this card at a time when some of its best hits (Mystic & Esper) have already passed their theoretical time of peak return. I'll be keeping an eye out for the cheap combo pieces this big robot demands, but I won't be holding my breath.
Ketramose, the New Dawn
An interesting Orzhov Commander? In my largely milquetoast set? Let's go!!! Ketamose is the long-awaited Orzhov commander that can do the most important thing in the game, draw cards, at a reasonable rate. It's also cheap. Exiling cards from the battlefield or graveyard is fairly easy, taking advantage of traditional white removal spells and weird graveyard hate pieces, such as Planar Void
It immediately and easily becomes the best Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
The possibilities here are really cool, enabling a new form of deck to come out of another color pair, hopefully joining the likes of Plagon and Ob Nixilis as paradigm-breaking, unique two-color options.The biggest problem I do foresee here is actually... winning the game. Having a new commander doesn't save Orzhov from its biggest problem: a lack of wincons.
You're stuck with weird Abdel Adrian lines or Lion's Eye Diamond
Loot, the Pathfinder
Loot, the Pathfinder
It's honestly incredible that all of his modes are relevant (though I imagine we're just... killing players with the Lightning Bolt
Hashaton, Scarab's Fist
Another absolutely gimme cEDH commander from this set! What gives! Hashaton asks us only to discard cards and pay , and if we do, he'll reward us with a wonderful 4/4 Zombie token as a result. I love the throwback to my beloved God-Pharaoh's Gift
Cheating a Thassa's Oracle
Hashaton is easily the most interesting commander here, and most obviously powerful while creating new archetype space. Count me in.
Colorless
Lifecraft Engine
Is this a Magda card? I was told it could be a Magda card. I've put it here so that the Magda heads wouldn't be mad at me. Please love me, Magda players. Please.
Checkered Flag
That's all we have, we're coming across the finish line on this crazy set. The theming has unfortunately, and unexpectedly, fallen flat for me, a guy who grew up on the likes of Hot Wheels movies, Speed Racer, and listed Redline as his movie of the year last year. For all of the interesting gameplay concepts contained within, the relatively parasitic mechanics stop this set from making a major impact on the 99 of decks.
Vehicles (and Mounts) are almost never going to be able to make the cut in cEDH decks just from their high creature count demands and mechanics like start your engines! and exhaust are too slow, asking too much and delivering too little. Wow, though, this is one of the most solid commanders I've seen come out of one set in ages. How long has it been since we got three obvious cEDH options like this in one set? It's been some dang time!
I'm hype about it, and I hope you are, too. Now, let's all take a bit of a break after this long, arduous competition. Wait, I'm receiving word that the set hasn't even released ye-