We finally have the full list of Aetherdrift, and there's quite a bit to look through. This week, I'll finish my analysis of some cards that stand out, and we will move on to Limited next week.
A few cards caught my attention in the final rollout. Let's take a look.
Spectacular Pileup
I usually don't bother reviewing the latest wrath effect, as they're generally tame, boring, and not that good in a modern Magic setting. However, Spectacular Pileup changes how these things function.
One of the major upsides of vehicles was how they were insulated from sweeper effects and, in some cases, targeted removal until you were prepared to activate them with the ability to defend them with a protection spell.
Spectacular Pileup destroys this advantage. It also has cycling, so you can put it in your deck without fear of drawing a dead card. While there's no evidence Spectacular Pileup will see much play, it will in a world where vehicles are successfully integrated into a Standard setting. For instance, would Esika's Chariot have had nearly as big an impact if Spectacular Pileup was available? We don't know for sure, but now we have a tool to use if that type of situation were to arise again.
Sunfall is probably the best five-mana wrath effect we've seen. It's still legal, so it would be hard to see that falling out of favor in decks that want that effect, but that could change in a world where removing vehicles matters.
It's nice to have access to a tool like this, even if it's not a Standard staple.
Salvation Engine
Salvation Engine is an interesting card. It's a massive vehicle with a demanding crew cost, but the ability to put additional artifacts in play, including other copies of itself, is quite powerful.
I've seen this mentioned in the same breath as Tempered Steel. We don't have the same type of support in Standard at the moment, and Magic is in a place where a Tempered Steel-type deck probably wouldn't pass the bar. It's possible over the next couple of years that we end up in a situation where a card like Salvation Engine can make a massive impact.
For now, Salvation Engine is too clunky and doesn't have enough support. It has potential in a perfect storm situation, but I'll leave it on my wait-and-see list.
Radiant Lotus
People were clamoring for ways to break this six-mana artifact. As far as I know, it likely won't happen. Radiant Lotus is too expensive. While there are various ways to cheat it into play, it requires a lot of other cards to be functional. We need artifacts in play and a payoff while dodging interaction.
The ceiling for a card like this is incredibly high in a solitaire-style game. In a game with heavy interaction, Radiant Lotus is likely to only see play in a more casual setting.
There's a world where enough artifacts are printed that there's a cohesive plan for Radiant Lotus, but in any of those worlds, I still see the type of interaction we have available in Standard and beyond to keep anything like that in check.
Radiant Lotus is a miss for me competitively. I'm sure it will be a fun card to build around and play with in a more casual setting.
Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer
I'm struggling with this version of Daretti. It's currently my favorite or second favorite "character" in MTG, so I don't know if I'm being biased, but Daretti looks like it could end up being powerful.
Trash for Treasure on a stick has some serious potential. While the graveyard has become easy to interact with in modern Magic, Daretti can cheat a massive artifact into play from the graveyard, and it's a hard-hitting threat.
The obvious first possibility is with Valor's Flagship where you can cycle it and put it into play on turn 5 with Daretti and give you a 7-power body to boot. We even have a mana rock with cards like The Iren Crag to ramp out a start like this.
I'm sure there are more creative ways to utilize Daretti, but Daretti pops out as a card that could be worth building around. As the Standard format grows, it will only have more potential.
I'm excited to see if Daretti has a shot at seeing competitive play, and my hunch is it will happen.
Repurposing Bay
It's easy to gloss over Repurposing Bay as another Birthing Pod reprint, but it has potential. Repurposing Bay's activation cost is the most prohibitive part of the card, but Repurposing Bay has one thing Pod doesn't, which is redundancy protection. An additional copy of Bay can be sacrificed to move up the ladder. Because of that, you can do things like sacrifice an Ichor Wellspring to find a second copy, then sac the original copy to get a four-drop. Chains like this could produce some kind of powerful combo or loop. While I'm certainly not Matt Nass, I'm sure the Denver boys will be cooking with this one.
While Repurposing Bay is likely not a Standard card, I could see it having an impact on formats like Pioneer or, potentially, Modern.
I'm intrigued by this, and while I'm not a Modern buff these days, I'm interested to see what people cook up with Repurposing Bay given Birthing Pod's track record and the abundance of broken artifact support you get these days.
Cryptcaller Chariot
Cryptcaller Chariot hasn't gotten a lot of buzz, but it looks interesting as a potential sleeper.
While it's designed to go with cycling in the set itself, looking into a format like Pioneer, we have ways to trigger the Chariot, including cycling, channeling, Blood Tokens, Fable of the Mirror breaker, and the list continues. It's an outside shot, but Cryptcaller Chariot is worth a try in a variety of formats to generate value while using game mechanics we were already using in decks like Rakdos Midrange.
The fact that Cryptcaller Chariot is four mana is the only thing holding it back, since it seems like a powerful engine in older formats and in interactive archetypes.
I have my eye on Cryptcaller Chariot as a sleeper pick for Pioneer and potentially Standard.
Overall, I'm underwhelmed by Aetherdrift. The vehicle is one of my all-time least favorite mechanics because it tends to impact Limited where it becomes hard to block when you're forced to block an oversized vehicle on the draw or you cast a vehicle you can no longer block, so the normal patterns of Limited don't hold up.
Regardless, I'm excited to see how and if Aetherdrift will have a major impact on Standard and curious to see if my opinion about vehicles will change after playing with them in this set in Limited.
Next week, I will move on to a Limited review of this set. Perhaps I'll start digging a little deeper into Limited Archetype analysis over the next few weeks. We'll have to see, but I'm excited to get started.
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