Top 10 BEST Cards from Magic the Gathering: Aetherdrift!
Magic’s next standard legal set, Aetherdrift, races onto shelves February 14th with pre release happening the week prior - meaning you can pick up all of your singles February 7th! Set across Amonkhet, Avishar and Muraganda, this next set features a bunch of new vehicles and some new mechanics that are likely to shake up Standard. But what about Commander? Don’t fret, there are lots of goodies in this set for your 99. As with our usual top 10 lists we’ll exclude Legendary Creatures in favor of cards to expand your existing decks. Without further ado, let's buckle up and hit the gas!
Removing any Nonland permanent, even temporarily, can make the difference between getting knocked out of the game and securing a win. Perilous Snare gives us a new take on Banishing Light in Artifact form adding some extra utility. It won't fit in every strategy, but it does offer some new options for deck building.
Have you ever wanted to use Birthing Pod for Artifacts but have found Oswald Fiddlebender doesn't fit in your deck’s color identity? Well now there's a new option in Blue! Repurposing Bay lets you, well repurpose, your Artifacts by sacrificing them to tutor for another with a slightly higher mana value.
Do you love playing mill strategies but find the single target options frustrating? Well Riverchurn Monument introduces a new repeatable mill option that will mill all your opponents! The best part? There's a once-per-game payoff with the Exhaust effect that will force your opponents to mill cards equal to the number of cards in their graveyard. This essentially halves the amount of cards you need to mill!
Whip of Erebos is an excellent repeatable reanimation effect, and now we have another option with Cursecloth Wrappings! While there's no added keywords with this Artifact reanimation, it does offer an anthem effect for the Creatures brought back and any other Zombies you may have. Yes, you will have to pay the Creatures mana value to have it come back, so it's not as good as Whip of Erebos, but it's a solid backup!
Phyrexian Arena offers consistent card draw for the small cost of one life per turn. What if I told you that for two more mana you could also have a 5/5 Flying, Trample demon as well? Sounds like a pretty great deal! The Speed Demon uses one of the core mechanics in Aetherdrift (Max Speed) to adjust the amount of extra cards you can draw. If you can connect three more times you could draw up to 4 extra cards every turn. The payoff is pretty solid so I’d expect this Creature to also act as a lightning rod for removal.
What if there was a Phyrexian Arena in Red? Well Count on Luck has you covered! Swapping the life loss for an impulsive draw (exiling a card from your deck that you can cast until end of turn) to move the effect into the Red color identity. It does require Three red mana to cast so it will be harder to play in multicolor decks, unlike Phyrexian Arena which only requires two Black mana. It's great to see more options for functional effects in colors that need it!
Extra combat steps can end games. In some cases one extra is just enough to knock out all of your opponents, but when it's not quite enough it stings. Two extra combat steps however can help combat decks close the gap one turn earlier, adding some oomph to a strategy that's susceptible to board wipes. I’m excited to play Full Throttle and be knocked out by my opponents that play it.
Sneaking big Creatures into play can be a lot of fun. This is exactly why Sneak Attack is such a popular (and intimidating) card in Commander decks. A little bit slower, but just as explosive in terms of getting ahead on resources, Elvish Piper has been another excellent way to cheat Creatures into play. Now we have another option in Oviya, Automech Artisan. Oviya offers some solid upgrades to Elvish Piper, adding Trample to Creatures attacking your opponents, and potentially adding +1/+1 counters to Artifact Creatures (or Vehicles) you sneak in.
Drawing cards in Commander is a great way to secure a win, and drawing a lot of cards in one go can be a lot of fun. I'm excited to toy around with Walking Ballista and Hangarback Walker’s cousin Marletback Walker. Being able to use your mana to pump this Creature into a threat with a payoff of card draw is an awesome way to leverage extra mana. I expect this card to make a splash in a lot of different strategies.
Ancient Tomb is an exceptional land in Commander, whereas Temple of the False God isn't as favoured among many. So where does Muraganda Raceway fall? Worst case it's a colorless land, which is better than Temple of the False God. Best case? It's better than Ancient Tomb if you've got Max Speed. But how long is it going to take to get to Max Speed in Commander? It may be after you have five other lands, falling slightly behind Temple of the False God. Will I play Muraganda Raceway? Absolutely! Yes, it won't give you the explosive starts possible with Ancient Tomb, but getting an extra mana later in the game could be the difference between getting that second cast in or dropping that game winning play you're ramping towards.
Well there we have it, 10 cards you should pick up from Aetherdrift for your Commander decks. These aren't the only goodies that exist though, you should check out our pre-order page to see all the other cool tech. Were there any cards you’re excited about that I missed? Let me know in the Chimera Gaming Discord, or reach me directly on Twitter.
Did you know we usually have 20 pods firing for Commander night on Tuesdays? Tables fill up fast and I hope to see you there!
