My Top Cards from Aetherdrift

And some thoughts on Vehicles

Aetherdrift, similar to Foundations, looks to be a lower power set. Still there are plenty of cards that present exciting brewing possibilities.

The Mechanics

There are 6 mechanics as far as I can tell:

• Vehicles

• Cycling

• Exhaust

• Max Speed

• Creatures with no abilities

• Affinity for Artifacts

Of these, Vehicles, Cycling, and Creatures with no abilities are low power mechanics, which contributes to the sets lower power level.

Creatures with no abilities are kind of self evidently low power.

Cycling seems strong, but it is at one of those awkward cost points where cycling for 1 is too cheap, so is used cautiously by design and cycling for 2 is too expensive, so you are often better off finding a card with a better rate at that slot than playing a cycling card.

Vehicles have all sorts of problems. They do nothing on their own. They only play well when you are curving out and ahead. You want to be able to win when things are not going perfectly, when you have an awkward curve, or when you are playing from behind.

There are only two spots where Vehicles have proven to be good:

• When they stand alone as a good midrange card. Reckoner Bankbuster and Esika’s Chariot being the two key examples. These cards fit in the midrange plan of dynamically switching between value and pressuring the opponent depending on what the situation calls for. However, most vehicles are not designed in this self-sufficient way.

• Used as a combo with Greasefang, most notably Parhelion II

Exhaust in contrast seems like a perfect mechanic for constructed. For an activated ability that costs mana to be constructed playable you want it to be so strong that your opponent does not want you to activate it even once.

You want your creatures to have gravity that forces your opponent to pause on advancing their plans to interact with your creature and Exhaust is mechanic that creates that gravity.

The creatures with activated abilities that cost mana I have been playing recently are Insidious Fungus and Vorinclex, which are both functionally Exhaust abilities.

Max Speed seems like it has a chance to be strong. However, it is a bit too parasitic of a mechanic to interest me, so I am not going to include the Max Speed aggro deck cards below. That should not be read as me thinking the mechanic is weak.

Affinity for Artifacts is one of the most powerful abilities ever. There is not a ton of it in the set and it seems reasonably costed, but definitely something to pay attention to.

The Cards

I will touch on some of the cards that interest me and end with a top 5. Unlike past new set lists that were purely Pioneer focused, I have been playing more Standard recently, so this will be across both formats.

The power level of the two formats is similar enough that most cards are broadly applicable and I will highlight if a card is for a specific format.

White

Valor’s Flagship

This is a Vehicle that meets the “pairs well with Greasefang” criteria mentioned above. I want to try it in my Orzhov Greasefang list, which is much more of a midrange deck that I think will play to Valor’s strength of being able to put itself in the yard.

Orzhov Greasefang

I could also side out the Greasefangs and rely on Valor’s as more of a Decree of Justice in some matchups.

Blue

Caelorna, Coral Tyrant

There is one creature with no abilities I regularly play:

Most often as a sideboard card. Against many aggressive decks Aegis Turtle acts as a removal spell. Imagine how good a one mana removal spell for 1 that you can also plot for 1 would be. That’s what Aegis Turtle is in these matchups and even better it builds devotion.

Caelorna can fill a similar role, especially in this double strike and Monstrous Rage format where you need a ton of toughness to survive blocking.

I also just discovered in writing this section that Aegis Turtle was reprinted in Foundations and is legal in Standard.

Mindspring Merfolk

Blue Devotion is my classic deck in Pioneer. One of the problems it has had recently is that Gadwick used to be one of the best cards in the deck, but has not kept up with the increasing speed of Pioneer.

I am hoping Mindspring Merfolk can provide a similar role of building devotion, while also providing a payoff to having a ton of mana from Nykthos. Being one mana makes Mindspring easier to play.

It is also a Wizard which could make Wizard’s Retort an option on top of light Merfolk synergies.

Memory Guardian

I have talked about how 4 toughness and can block fliers is a key stat line. In Pioneer it blocks Phoenixs and does not die to Fiery Impulse. Four toughness plus blocks fliers is key in standard as well for not dying to Nowhere to Run and blocking the fliers out of Esper and Dimir.

Memory Guardian has the chance to provide that stat line for one mana. It can also trigger Up the Beanstalk for one mana. Both of which make it a card to consider.

Repurposing Bay

This card pairs particularly well with Enigma Jewel, providing a turn three activation. I have not looked into what the good lines are, but it seems likely there is something powerful you can be doing with this.

Black

Bloodghast

I love blocking, which is a real knock on Bloodghast for me. But I do love taking advantage of free game objects, which is a real plus to Bloodghast. Bloodghast is also a card with pedigree from higher power formats.

I have no ideas that immediately jump to mind for Bloodghast, but it is a unique and powerful brewing tool we now have in our arsenal.

Red

Howlsquad Heavy

All the Goblin decks I face in both Pioneer and Standard seem strong to me and I am always surprised they are not bigger parts of the formats.

I am also becoming increasingly obsessed with Haste, so “other Goblins you control have haste” reads very strong to me.

Marauding Mako

Rummaging is already what you want to be doing in Red, so you likely do not need to jump through suboptimal hoops to make this card a meaningful threat.

Two key questions are first if you can get enough density of rummaging/looting (I do not want to have to rely on cycling)? And second how do you translate that rummaging/looting into value?

Green

Dredger’s Insight

I will frequently try Satyr Wayfinder and it is close, but not quite good enough. The particular problem is it being a “value” card that is bad late game.

Thanks to the life gain Dredger’s Insight seems like if Satyr Wayfinder could get artifacts and non-satyr creatures in addition to land. And that seems like a strong card, so Dredger’s Insight likely has a real chance of being good.

Regal Imperiosaur

I will frequently do Dinosaur searches in Scryfall. The deck seems close and Regal Imperiosaur certainly gets it closer.

Multicolor

Brightglass Gearhulk

Despite all testing telling me otherwise, I am convinced Goldvein Hydra is a secret powerhouse card.

Brightglass Gearhulk let’s you get two. That way if they kill the first hydra, the second is attacking as 9/9 and they have to deal with the Gearhulk as well.

Broadside Barrage

A real removal spell with looting built in. A good card to have in the toolkit.

Also, the flavor text + art really works for me.

Haunt the Network

Another common theme you will see in this blog is the importance of being able to win through whatever your opponent is trying to do.

Draining huge chunks of life while maintaining a board is one way to do this. I suspect this card is a bit too underpowered, but it does something unique that is in scarce supply so it should pique your interest as a brewer.

Kolodin, Triumph Caster

Turn 1 elf, turn 2 Kolodin and Consulate Dreadnought attacking, turn 3 Esika’s Chariot attacking.

There is likely a less powerful, but less awful on the mana and more resilient option.

The key thing is your opponent sees this and thinks I need to drop everything and kill that creature, which is what you want out of a two drop.

Oildeep Gearhulk

Lifelink is very strong. I don’t think this card is great or will obviously see play, but I find myself all the time on Scryfall looking for a big lifelinking creature I can cast on curve and there are not many of them.

Top 5

5. Skyserpent Seeker

I like blocking while ramping and then figuring out some way to go over the top.

Skyserpent Seeker blocks well and ramps. Where it sits on the curve is quite different from what we have seen before, so I am very interested to see how well it plays.

4. Afterburner Expert

Afterburner Expert will be limited by the number of good Exhaust cards, but I like the stat line, I like the ability to get value from rummaging/looting, and I like the ability to apply endless pressure with Afterburner Experts that keep coming back.

3. Momentum Breaker

I have played a lot of Trial of Ambition. Momentum Breaker is much better than Trial of Ambition.

You can play it on turn two against no creatures from the opponent. It does something against control.

Random small life gain isn’t much, but isn’t nothing. It also turns on Revolt for Fatal Push.

Obviously it fits in with all the Town Ain’t Big Enough decks, but it should also be tried with Yorion.

2. Grim Bauble

It took awhile, but my call of Hopeless Nightmare as the best card in WOE is finally starting to look good.

WOE: Top 32 Cards for Pioneer

Similarly, when I saw Grim Bauble my initial reaction was “wow, do we finally have a removal spell better than Fatal Push.”

Like it almost certainly is worse than Fatal Push, but are you 100% sure? I could see decks that run this over Fatal Push. I could see metas where this is the best card, acting as a one sided pyroclasm.

Again the obvious home are the Town Ain’t Big Enough decks, but it also opens up all sorts of other decks, especially ones with Artifact synergies, like sacrificing it to Deadly Dispute.

1. The Verges

I have been surprised by how good the Verges have been. In plenty of decks they feel like dual lands.

Many of my decks end up being near mono-color with a splash for a couple key cards and these are the kind of decks where a Verge in the right color pattern fits perfectly.

A lot of the strength of the Selesnya version of my Turtle list was getting to use the G/w Verge:

Selesnya Turtle Overlords

I also wonder if having 10 will unlock specific three color decks. For example, in Standard you can run Abzan with the two base green verges and Fabled Passage. This will allow me to do something like take my Gruul Calamity list and replace Terror of the Peaks and Calamity with 5 mana Elesh Norn and Rottenmouth Viper.

The mana would actually be better than my current deck because of moving away from double pip red cards.

What about in Pioneer base black Mardu, with 8 shocks and 8 verges. Also, a combo of Pathways and Verges can allow for a “free” splash for key sideboard cards. Like Mono-Red having access to a sideboard full of counterspells.

Wrap

Let me know if there are any cards or interactions you are particularly excited for.

Best of luck with all of your Aetherdrift Brews!