It’s safe to say that Aetherdrift got off to a rockier start than most Magic: The Gathering sets in recent years. Right off the bat the ‘multi-planar death race’ theme was divisive, and the zany aesthetic didn’t help matters. Then, when previews started pouring in, the set’s signature Max Speed mechanic caught a lot of flack for its ironic slowness. Effects that don’t come online for four turns or more aren’t particularly sexy, after all.
In a recent interview, Aetherdrift Principal Designer Yoni Skolnik defended the design of the mechanic. Turns out there are a number of factors at play here and alternate paths that could’ve led to an even slower mechanic. On top of that, some players are now starting to come around on Max Speed in its current state. Ironically enough, it seems we may have all been too quick to judge this speed-based mechanic.
The Reasoning Behind Max Speed In MTG Aetherdrift
Skolnik’s statement on the Max Speed mechanic in MTG Aetherdrift came during a video interview with Shacknews. The conversation covered a lot of ground design-wise, diving into the ideation behind the set, as well as the process of iterating on specific concepts and cards. The most interesting part, however, was the one that concerned Max Speed.
Responding to a question about the ‘one speed gain a turn’ limit on the mechanic, Skolnik went in-depth on the intent behind Max Speed as a whole.
“The role of the speed mechanic is quite interesting. At one point we were wondering ‘should we be leaning very much into this being an aggressive set?’ since it’s about a race.”
Yoni Skolnik
This mindset is clearly the one most Magic: The Gathering players are looking at Max Speed with currently. Races are fast-paced affairs, so tying that idea to a slow mechanic doesn’t make sense. Skolnik had some compelling arguments in the other direction.
“But also it’s a multi-planar, multi-day race, so it’s a lot about attrition in the actual story. So I appreciated that this was something that, moment to moment, is about going fast and hitting your opponent, but over the course of a game you have to do it over at least three turns of increasing your speed.”
Yoni Skolnik
Flavor-wise, this does make sense. The Ghirapur Grand Prix is a race, but it’s also very long and involved. Having players complete the race in a single turn wouldn’t really convey that journey. There’s also a neat thematic parallel between the fact you can get to Max Speed in three turns at the quickest, and there are three planes involved in the race.
“I appreciated that it was making early game aggression important and giving the feel of a race, but not being entirely about ending games quickly.”
Yoni Skolnik
Skolnik went on to mention that this decision was made partly because players aren’t huge on very aggressive-leaning sets. This is particularly true in Limited, but it applies to constructed Magic too. Current Standard is already dominated by Gruul Aggro, and adding more fuel to that fire is unlikely to create a good play environment.
Factor in the story considerations and the current design of Max Speed actually makes a ton of sense. Like all gameplay mechanics, it also needs to be experienced to be truly understood.
Turning The Tides
Now that Aetherdrift is in the hands of MTG players everywhere, via Prerelease and Arena, Max Speed can finally get a fair hearing. Early results look surprisingly positive, too. In a thread on r/MagicTCG by Tuss36, players shared the results of their initial experiences with the mechanic.
While some weren’t impressed, there was a lot of support for the mechanic in there too. DaRootbear noted that “I think it seems like it plays smooth and will be a good mechanic, at least in draft.” Gingeboiforprez added to that. “I think it makes for a valid closer. You’re in the lead, your board gets buffed, now seal the deal.” This also echoed a lot of the general sentiment about Max Speed in the thread. Many are now viewing it as more of a long-game finisher mechanic, rather than an Aggro one. That said, the mechanic certainly does have uses in aggressive decks.
Later in the thread, Gingeboiforprez noted the many Max Speed enablers in current Standard. “Between the crime lands and Bloomburrow lizards, pinging is super easy in standard rn, especially given turn 3-4 mono red win is still fairly common.” This is solid logic, to be sure. Aggro decks are incredibly popular at the moment, and they have no shortage of ways to get in for damage and raise your speed.
Of course, there are still a lot of considerations to keep in mind when adding Max Speed to a deck. That said, now that it’s had more time to simmer it looks a lot better than most initially thought. Tuss36’s initial post even points out how the ‘four turns’ needed to hit Max Speed is really more like 2.5 turns in many cases. Viewed through that lens, it looks much more attractive.
Alternate Timelines
Only time will tell if Max Speed ends up being a force to be reckoned with in MTG Aetherdrift Standard. It may still prove too slow, as many suspected initially. Even if that is the case, however, the version we got is still an improvement over what we might’ve had. Recent articles from Wizards reveal that the mechanic was actually even slower during design.
According to Mark Rosewater’s Aetherdrift Vision Design Handoff article, Max Speed was once called ‘The Race.’ Cards would allow you to ‘enter the race,’ in the same way that they now allow you to ‘start your engines.’ It was split into four sections, just like speed, but advancing between those sections got harder each time. You’d need to deal one damage to move to the second leg, two to move to the third, then three to move to the fourth.
This is immediately much harder to achieve than the Max Speed equivalent. Pingers and 1/1s can get you all the way in that system. In The Race, however, you would’ve needed to scale up your aggression. This was balanced with the addition of a free Treasure on completion of The Race, or two if you got there before your opponent. Ultimately, Rosewater notes that this version was scrapped almost purely for simplicity’s sake. Streamlining goes a long way toward making new sets accessible, after all.
It’s interesting to consider what might’ve been when it comes to Magic: The Gathering mechanics. Modern design has mostly eliminated the huge successes and failures of the past. Most mechanics now tend to fall somewhere in the middle, rather than being completely broken or utterly useless. This is probably the best possible outcome, all things considered.