Aetherdrift Set Review - Budget | Commander's Herald

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Aetherdrifting Into Your Mom's House

Set review time! This one's pretty exciting, a racing set seemingly inspired by the Podraces of Tatooine. Kaladesh and Amonkhet asthetics, as well as some similar mechanics hopefully await us. I haven't spoiled the set for myself at all, so I'm excited to see what there is to unpack!

Multicolored

Guidelight Pathmaker

Okay, we're starting the set off strong with what I think is an extremely abusable blink target. First off, it's in Azorius, the color pair of exiling and returning stuff to the battlefield. You know which decks I'm talking about. Brago, King Eternal

, Niko, Light of Hope

, etc. All of them will be equipped with the tools necessary to re-enter this card over and over again.

However, there are some obstacles that need to be addressed. The first is that those decks primarily rely on cards like Ephemerate

, which only targets creatures, not artifacts. But I would say this is a minor problem, as blink builds are often full of tiny creatures, like Peregrine Drake

or Cloudblazer

(who are getting untapped by other blink effects), that can crew Guidelight Pathmaker

any time.

Then, you have to consider whether the deck really wants an artifact tutor, strong as it may be. There are certainly a few strong targets, like Strionic Resonator

or Conjurer's Closet

, that blink decks would be grateful to have in hand, but after that, there's not a whole lot to grab. When Guidelight Pathmaker

is competing with cards like Agent of Treachery

, Karmic Guide

, and Reveillark

, it's not winning.

Veteran Beastrider

I like this card a lot. I think its design is clean and versatile, balanced but interesting. Unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily mean it's good, due to its overpowered competition. The first card that it compares to is Wilderness Reclamation

. Obviously, Wilderness Reclamation

is one mana more expensive, but it's an enchantment, and it untaps lands rather than creatures. Then, you have Seedborn Muse

, which is two mana more, but untaps everything, every turn.

However, I don't think Veteran Beastrider

quite fits into the same decks that those two do. The Beastrider has a second ability that can also be used to buff the whole team, and while it's overcosted for the buff it provides, it's not entirely useless. Because this ability and its first ability focus on creatures, this card will find a home in aggro Selesnya decks rather than the strange value decks that Seedborn Muse

often slots into. And it does a pretty good job in Selesnya aggro, providing vigilance for attackers, and a buff for the hordes of tokens that usually spawn. I certainly expect to see it in Emmara, Soul of the Accord

Broodheart Engine

Here we have a solid value engine. There's not much more to it than that. Surveilling every turn is quite good, allowing you to filter through the cards you're gonna draw while filling up your graveyard. In the decks that want that, it'll be quite strong, and a welcome card. But it does raise the question, would it be better to just pay an extra mana for Phyrexian Arena

? Maybe.

Yes, Phyrexian Arena

is a stronger card, but playing it on turn three can be a big tempo loss, even if it makes up for it later in the game. Usually, on turn three, I want to be putting pressure on my opponent, or advancing my board state, rather than advancing my card advantage. This isn't true for all players, or for all decks, but consider what your deck gains by playing a sleeker version of the Arena that can also Reanimate

a creature.

White

Lightwheel Enhancements

Hmm, okay, a one-mana enchantment that gives vigilance and +1/+1? Pretty boring; there's about a hundred other cards that do the exact same thing. But what's that extra line of text? "Max speed - you may cast this card from your graveyard"? What? Like, anytime? Is this the enchantment version of Gravecrawler

? It looks like it.

Admittedly, it's not nearly as easy to abuse as the creature version, but there's still some cool stuff you can do with this. Ghen, Arcanum Weaver

or Ertai, the Corrupted

would love to have a one-mana enchantment that can be sacrificed an infinite number of times. This card is absolutely an include in those decks, and in many others, I'm sure.

Detention Chariot

For pretty much every set since March of the Machines, there's been a cycle of cards that fit two criteria. a: they're expensive, five or more mana. b: They can be cycled. From what I can tell, these cards are designed for draft. They fill out top end of a deck, while not being totally useless in the early game. While they're mostly going to stay in draft, every once in a while there's a card that's somewhat usable elsewhere. Troll of Khazad-dûm

comes to mind as a potent reanimator target. What we have here is a decent blink target that can also be a big attacker. Is this a good card? Eh, probably not, but there are some Vehicle decks that wouldn't mind a bit of thematic removal.

Blue

Transit Mage

Whenever I see a tutor, I instantly take notice. In general, they're just powerful cards, especially in EDH. Transit Mage

is part of a very old cycle of mages, including Trinket Mage

, Treasure Mage

, Tribute Mage

, and Trophy Mage

. The most played of these is Tribute Mage

, which allows you to find an artifact of mana value two.

It makes sense why. Two is the mana value of some of the most powerful Equipment and mana rocks. Is mana value four and five as useful? Likely not, but I can easily name a ton of cards that are within Transit Mage

's range. Helm of the Host

, Thran Dynamo

, Panharmonicon

, and Gilded Lotus

are all great things to grab. This card absolutely has a home.

Bounce Off

Anyone who's read my articles knows I'm a huge fan of Unsummon

as a removal spell. It's as cheap as can be, and incredibly effective, even if it's not permanent. It can remove +1/+1 counters, terrorize Aura decks, and give Voltron decks a huge headache. It even deals with indestructible creatures! So naturally, I'm very glad to see a strictly better version of the card. This one will be seeing use immediately by me, if not by everyone, like it should be.

Caelorna, Coral Tyrant

Woah, what? A vanilla legendary creature? Since Legends, we've only see three of these, and now we're getting five more? They're pretty strange pieces of cardboard, but they're not entirely novelties. Like the two Yargles, their lack of abilities is made up for with incredible stats. Kalakscion, Hunger Tyrant

gives you a whole seven power for just three mana. Even with all the power creep we're seeing, that's still a unique ratio, rivaled only by Dreamtide Whale

. But I chose to highlight Caelorna, Coral Tyrant

, because I think she'll be the most played. She fits neatly into Arcades, the Strategist

, with eight toughness for just two mana. That's one of the best ratios the Arcades deck has to work with, guaranteeing that this odd octopus has somewhere to stay.

Black

Intimidation Tactics

Okay, this is interesting. Firstly, this is a worse Thoughtseize

. That's obvious. But does it compete with the next best card, Inquisition of Kozilek

? In Modern, no. But in EDH, maybe. In EDH, there's a lot that Inquisition of Kozilek

can't snatch. Often, the scariest things are bigger than three CMC, and while Inquisition can catch early game ramp, it can't do anything about an impending Vilis, Broker of Blood

Intimidation Tactics

can, and I think it can catch most of the important things that'll appear in an EDH hand. Even spellslinger decks rely on things like Aetherflux Reservoir

. In addition, it cycles. What's not to like? Well, probably the fact that it brings you and one opponent a card down, while leaving the other two untouched. That's been the problem with running Thoughtseize

since the beginning of EDH, and Intimidation Tactics

doesn't change that.

Hellish Sideswipe

This or Bone Splinters

? Obviously this. Hellish Sideswipe

is strictly better, allowing you to sacrifice an artifact rather than a creature. The real question is this or Bone Shards

. Which is best? Sacrificing an artifact, or discarding a card? Once again, the answer is clear. It depends on the deck. Got loads of Food tokens around? Run Hellish Sideswipe

. Got a graveyard you want to conveniently fill with a big monster? Run Bone Shards

But what you should really be doing is running Infernal Grasp

instead, because instant speed is so much more important than saving one mana. Trust me, you'll regret running these cards when sorcery speed causes you to lose a game. It's happened to me, and it'll happen to you.

Oh, and you can just ignore the card Hellish Sideswipe

draws you when you sacrifice a Vehicle. The Vehicle decks don't want to be sacrificing their attackers anyways, and the clause will never come up anywhere else.

Chitin Gravestalker

Woah, what? A 5/4 for only one mana? It's so ridiculously easy to get five artifacts or creatures into your graveyard that this will almost never cost more than one, and that means you can do cool things with it. A vanilla 5/4 isn't very useful on it's own, but there are plenty of cards that care about power. For instance, you can use this card to pay a total of four mana for The Skullspore Nexus

very early in the game. It's niche for sure, but not useless.

Red

Kickoff Celebrations

Now here's a card that should see play absolutely everywhere. It's a strictly better Tormenting Voice

. (Disregarding the card type.) If you're running one copy of Thrill of Possibility

, you should probably be running multiple, and this card is absolutely an option. I would probably play Bitter Reunion

over this card, because you don't really want to wait four turns to reach max speed, but this card is still good regardless. A standby-haste enabler will win the game when you desperately need to get a point of damage through.

Magmakin Artillerist

What's that one legend that cares about discarding cards? Brallin, Skyshark Rider

? Oh yeah. Well, I'm gonna assume that people are most playing him while Shabraz, the Skyshark

is also in the deck, but for the decks that aren't, Magmakin Artillerist

is a pretty appealing replacement or double. It's one mana cheaper, and it can be cycled when you don't need it. If you're discarding a lot of cards to wheels, or you're playing madness, this card can do a lot of work. Slow erosion is how those decks win, so Magmakin Artillerist

can be a key piece.

Push the Limit

This is an exciting card, one that's gonna make a great story, regardless of if it wins the game. It's reminiscent of Rise of the Dark Realms

, or Insurrection

, in that it's a big red card that'll probably throw a lot of damage around. Building a Vehicle deck? Might as well run this card. It's quite strong, and looks like a lot of fun. As far as win conditions go for those decks, this is spectacular.

Green

Defend the Rider

Sooo, it's Tamiyo's Safekeeping

, but you can make a blocker instead if you like. At first I dismissed the ability to make a Pilot as worse than gaining two life, but then I realized that that 1/1 Pilot is in fact a creature, and therefore a blocker that you can use to defend yourself as well as the rider. If you ask me, that's a huge boon, and a 1/1 creature will save your rear end a lot more often than two life will. Instant swap, if you ask me.

Dredger's Insight

One group of cards that I'm a huge fan of is stuff like Grapple with the Past

, Winding Way

, and Grisly Salvage. They're very efficient, and I would certainly run them over something like Impulse if I have the choice. Of course, if you want to fill you're graveyard, they're even more perfect. So I was pleased to see Dredger's Insight.

It grabs an artifact in addition to the creatures or lands that Winding Way could get you. It only grabs one, but in my experience, Winding Way almost never grabs more than two, so the widened range makes up for the potential lack of quantity. And then, it passively gains you life throughout the game. That won't often be relevant, but it's not unwelcome. It's definitely worth experimenting with, and I'm sure there's some deck that gains a boatload of life with this card.

Molt Tender

Oh, here we go, it's the typical set mana dork. Or is it? Hold up. I almost skipped over this card, until I noticed that it's mana value is one, and the colors it taps for are all of them. That's extremely rare, and has only been seen on two cards without big restrictions. Birds of Paradise and Deathrite Shaman. Those two are legendary by any standards, with one banned from Modern.

This card parallels Deathrite Shaman, exiling a card from a graveyard to add a mana. In some ways, it's even better. Firstly, it can mill a card itself, fueling itself if your graveyard runs dry. Secondly, it can exile literally any card, not just a land. The downsides are a) it can only exile from your graveyard, and won't act as graveyard hate, and b) unless your running an abundance of fetches, it probably won't be able to tap on turn one.

After that, in a graveyard deck, you'll probably always have a full graveyard, but if you play Molt Tender one your first turn, you probably won't be able to tap it on the second.

I prefer both Deathrite Shaman and Birds of Paradise to Molt Tender, but third place is an extremely relevant position for mana dorks. This card is good, and because it's uncommon, it'll be a lot cheaper than either of it's competitors. Definitely worth trying out.

Colorless

Racers' Scoreboard

Spells you cast cost 1 less to cast? All of them? Well, that's pretty good, but here's the thing: I could play Etherium Sculptor, or Jukai Naturalist, or Goblin Electromancer, and get the exact same deal instantly for two mana instead of four. Reducing all of your spells by one is a powerful effect, but but most EDH decks specialize in one card type anyways, and there are plenty of ways to reduce costs for a single card type. Four mana is just too much to pay for this, and even when you do cast it, you have to wait four turns for it turn on. Not worth it.

As a whole, I like Aetherdrift. It's fun and energetic, and the aesthetic makes me feel like I'm watching Star Wars Podraces for the first time again. It's a neat little set, with a lot of charm. I thought Kaladesh was cool, and I thought Amonkhet was cools, so this is quite an enjoyable blend. I'm less fond of the mechanics, however. Max speed is kind of terrible in every format.

Even in EDH, four whole turn cycles, where you have to hit an opponent, is an eternity. Many games don't even last that long, and the reward on most of the cards is pretty underwhelming. I would like the mechanic a lot better if it didn't take forever to speed up, but that's what we got, and I doubt we'll be returning to it. Other than that, there's exhaust, which received a lot of support for what is essentially an abbreviation of "activate this only once." Pretty boring, and definitely not something I'd be excited to see again.

But other than that, I think the cards a pretty great, and and a number of them will have homes in my decks. 7/10.