The frantic race of Aetherdrift preview season is over, and now we’re just cruising through to Prerelease weekend. This has turned out to be a pretty layered set, with multiple planes and multiple themes mixing together into a rich brew. That said, Vehicles are by far the most prevalent among these themes. A huge chunk of the set is dedicated to the card type, with over 40 new Vehicles parked in the Aetherdrift garage. Naturally, some of these rides are better than others. But which are the best new Vehicles in MTG Aetherdrift?
That’s a big question. This set really pushes the card type forward in terms of what it can do and how good it can be. There are cards here with potential far beyond Standard, which is exciting for a generally underpowered card type. In advance of the traditional test drive, these are the Vehicles from Aetherdrift we think have the best chance of seizing pole position.
5 | Dune Drifter
- Mana Value: XWB
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Artifact – Vehicle
- Stats: 3/3
- Card Text: When this Vehicle enters, return target artifact or creature card with mana value X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
Kicking things off with a bit of a wild card, Dune Drifter probably isn’t an answer most MTG players would give to the question of the best Vehicles in Aetherdrift. That said, I think it’s worth keeping an eye on, especially in older formats.
On the surface, Drifter just looks like a bad Vehicle attached to a bad reanimation spell. Delve deeper, however, and that theory proves only half right. A 3/3 Vehicle for two with Crew 2 is, admittedly, not great. The ability to reanimate cheap artifacts or creatures for very little mana is exciting though. Zero mana artifacts are prevalent in the likes of Modern and Legacy, with Mox Opal, Lotus Petal, and Mishra’s Bauble all seeing heavy play. Getting these back for just two mana is a great deal a lot of the time, and the Vehicle is just a nice bonus.
There are a ton of great creature targets for Drifter in Modern, too. Energy decks have started adopting Mardu colors fairly regularly, and in such decks this can recur Ragavan, Ocelot Pride, and Guide of Souls. Maybe even an Ajani, Nacatl Pariah for just a little more mana. This is aggressively-costed enough that I think it has a real chance in older formats. That said, the weak Vehicle side means this is still an outside chance.
4 | Demonic Junker
- Mana Value: 6B
- Rarity: Rare
- Type: Artifact – Vehicle
- Stats: 4/3
- Card Text: Affinity for artifacts (This spell costs 1 less to cast for each artifact you control.)
When this Vehicle enters, for each player, destroy up to one target creature that player controls. If a creature you controlled was destroyed this way, put two +1/+1 counters on this Vehicle.
Crew 2.
Any time the word ‘Affinity’ appears on a Magic card, the card in question warrants thorough consideration. This is one of the most notoriously broken mechanics in MTG history, so to see it on new cards in our year 2025 is wild, to say the least.
While it’s not quite as powerful as Voyage Home, Demonic Junker still has a ton of potential. As a removal spell that comes attached to a threat on board, it shares a lot of DNA with the likes of Ravenous Chupacabra. It’ll often cost about the same too, if not less, in a dedicated deck. The tempo swing of developing your own threat while dealing with an opposing one is immensely powerful.
On top of that, Junker can also act as a roundabout sacrifice outlet when needed. Destroying your own creatures gives the Junker a sizeable buff to a 6/5, which makes that Crew 2 look like a bargain. This is a nice bit of extra utility, especially with the Aristocrats-esque Orzhov artifacts package in the set. If you’re playing the likes of Nesting Bot and Zahur, this card is a slam dunk. Even if you’re not, it’s generically powerful enough to be worth playing in any kind of artifact-heavy list.
3 | Boommobile
- Mana Value: 2RR
- Rarity: Rare
- Type: Artifact – Vehicle
- Stats: 5/5
- Card Text: When this Vehicle enters, add four mana of any one color. Spend this mana only to activate abilities.
Exhaust — X2R: This Vehicle deals X damage to any target. Put a +1/+1 counter on this Vehicle. (Activate each exhaust ability only once.)
Crew 2.
From one potentially broken Vehicle to another, next on our list of the best Vehicles in MTG Aetherdrift is Boommobile. Any time a Magic card refunds its mana cost on entry, there’s potential for shenanigans. Just look at the likes of Palinchron, for example. Boommobile does just that, albeit with an abilities-only restriction on the refund. Turns out, however, that isn’t a problem.
Pair Boommobile with Emiel the Blessed or Deadeye Navigator (links needed) and you can flicker it an infinite number of times, generating mana each time. This mana can then be fed into Boommobile’s Exhaust ability for an instant kill. In Commander, where combos like this are by far the most likely, you can win the game on the spot by abusing this interaction.
The beauty of Boommobile is how it fulfills two traditional combo roles in one card. It’s a way to generate infinite mana, and it’s also an outlet for that mana. This is a perfect example of modern Magic design philosophy and a very powerful Vehicle that you should kill on sight if you see it in Commander.
2 | The Last Ride
- Mana Value: B
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Type: Legendary Artifact – Vehicle
- Stats: 13/13
- Card Text: The Last Ride gets -X/-X, where X is your life total.
2B, Pay 2 life: Draw a card.
Crew 2.
Of all the powerful Vehicles in Aetherdrift, The Last Ride is one of the biggest question marks. In a way, it’s a better version of Death’s Shadow, which proved to be a Modern-level card for a time. You can actually run this out on turn one and not have it die right away, since it begins as a Vehicle. Then later on, once you’ve brought your life total down, you can Crew it and attack with a huge beater immediately. You can even lower your life with the activated ability to prepare.
The fact that we already have some low-life support in the Duskmourn ’13 or less life’ lands is another mark in The Last Ride’s favor. That said, there are still a number of problems with the card. Death’s Shadow succeeded in Modern primarily due to Shock Lands, Fetch Lands, and Thoughtseize; powerful tools with steep life costs. Standard simply has fewer ways of intentionally lowering life, and therefore fewer ways of getting in with this early.
That the card is this high up on the list despite these problems should tell you something about its power level. At some point, someone is going to crack a Mono-Black Aggro list with Tinybones Joins Up, The Speed Demon, and this card. When that happens, The Last Ride will be a scarily appropriate name for this mighty Vehicle.
1 | Valor’s Flagship
- Mana Value: 4WWW
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Type: Legendary Artifact – Vehicle
- Stats: 7/7
- Card Text: Flying, First Strike, Lifelink.
Crew 3. Cycling X2W (X2W, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
When you cycle this card, create X 1/1 colorless Pilot creature tokens with “This token saddles Mounts and crews Vehicles as though its power were 2 greater.”
When it came to choosing the very best of the Vehicles in MTG Aetherdrift, it wasn’t a tough decision at all. At the time of writing, there’s only one real competitive deck that relies on Vehicles, and that’s Greasefang in Pioneer. That deck wants the biggest Vehicles possible in the graveyard so it can reanimate them early with its title card. Valor’s Flagship is the biggest Vehicle in Aetherdrift and the best fit for Greasefang lists by far.
While a 7/7 Flying Lifelink isn’t quite as good as Parhelion II in terms of sheer value, it is still a massive swing that can buy you a ton of time. On top of that, Flagship just plays much better with the overall strategy than other options. The ability to cycle this rather than mill it means it’s not a dead draw. It also gives you an easy way to get it back in the graveyard once Greasefang returns it to your hand. The extra Pilot tokens are a nice option to have too, though most of the time you’ll just be paying three for this I imagine.
Outside of Greasefang, there’s also potential for a Vehicle Reanimator deck in Standard using Tune Up and Back on Track. Flagship is a must-run in such a list for all the reasons above. Just like Boommobile, this is a card that pulls double duty, as a reanimation target that can put itself in the graveyard. For that reason I expect it to outshine every other Vehicle in Aetherdrift when all is said and done.
