Boommobile | Aetherdrift | Art by Ian Jepson
5, Feb, 25

Explosive MTG Aetherdrift Vehicle Enables Multiple Infinite Combos

Never run out of fuel again!

One of the most exciting parts of a new Magic: The Gathering set release is poring over the full card list in search of broken interactions. With hundreds of new cards entering a pool of thousands, there’s typically a combo or two to be found somewhere. In some cases, these take a good bit of digging to discover, while in others they stare you right in the face. The latter is definitely what’s happening with Boommobile: a new Aetherdrift card that enables combo nonsense in more than one MTG format.

This isn’t just a fairly obvious infinite combo enabler. It’s also a marked change in how Wizards designs cards like this. Where once effects and their payoffs were split across different cards, now they come packaged together. Long-term this may well be a destructive trend for the game, but for now, Boommobile looks like a very fun card indeed.

Boommobile: A New MTG Combo Machine!

Boommobile Combo MTG
  • 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.

A quick glance at Boommobile is enough to make its MTG combo potential clear. On entry the card refunds you four mana, which is how much it costs to cast in the first place. This isn’t an on cast effect, which means any card that can cheat this out or blink it can generate four mana. As we’ve seen in the past with cards like Palinchron and Burning-Tree Emissary, effects like this can lead to broken results.

Granted, Boommobile has more restrictions on it than those classics. The mana it generates can only be spent on abilities, which is a significant downside. It can also only generate mana of a single color each time, which limits things further. These shortcomings can be easily mitigated, however.

The fact that Boommobile itself has an activated ability goes a long way toward this. Cards like this typically allow for infinite mana generation, but then you need an outlet to actually funnel that mana into. Boommobile comes equipped with an outlet of its own. The Exhaust ability here is essentially a very inefficient Fireball, capable of finishing your opponent off in one go given enough mana.

Boommobile is also a pretty well-statted Vehicle for the cost, but that doesn’t really matter. This is a combo card, plain and simple. If it sees play at all, it’s going to see play in decks up to no good. While some may criticize design this transparent, I think it’s fine from time to time. The aesthetic element of this being a volatile Goblin Vehicle fits perfectly, too.

Skidding Into Standard

Boommobile Combo MTG Standard

Boommobile has a ton of potential, then, but which MTG formats will it be showering in combo chaos? There are a lot of options here, but I think Standard and Commander are the most likely candidates.

In Standard, You can set up an infinite combo with Boommobile using just two other cards. These cards are Kolodin, Triumph Caster from Aetherdrift, and Lilysplash Mentor from Bloomburrow. Mentor has an activated ability that lets you flicker a creature you control for three mana. Combined with Boommobile, which generates four mana on entry, this can lead to infinite mana when looped repeatedly.

Of course, Boommobile can only be flickered by Mentor while it’s a creature. This is where Kolodin comes in, converting Boommobile to creature form each time it enters play. After that, the only issue is the mana for Mentor’s ability. This needs both green and blue, while Boommobile only makes mana of a single color. To get around this you’ll need one extra source of either green or blue pre-loop, then you can alternate between green and blue from Boommobile’s ability to keep things going.

The end result of this combo is infinite mana, which you can put into Boommobile’s ability to kill your opponent on the spot. It’s a fairly straightforward loop all told, but it’s also quite resource-intensive. Not only do you need two creatures and Boommobile itself, but you also need access to four colors of mana. Even with the new Verge lands that’s a tall order. It’s also slow and fragile, which makes it a long shot in our current Aggro and Midrange-heavy Standard. Definitely a fun deck to try out on Arena, however.

Crashing Out In Commander

Commander Combos

Even if you can’t pull it off in MTG Standard, Boommobile is primed to unleash some serious combo action in Commander. Time and resources are much more abundant in this format, so assembling the necessary pieces should be easier. There are also more ways to pull the combo off, owing to the colossal card pool.

For example, you don’t need to rely solely on Kolodin to animate your Boommobile. You can use March of the Machines instead: a much more resilient enchantment alternative. You also don’t need to worry about the awkward mana on Lilysplash Mentor, and can instead use Emiel the Blessed and Deadeye Navigator as flicker engines. Both cost less than four mana, so both can go infinite when paired with Boommobile. With infinite mana you can actually take out every player at the table here; something that not all Commander combos are capable of.

Depending on the pieces you choose, you can include this combo in a Boros or an Izzet deck with just a few card slots. Alternatively, you can go Jeskai and use them all, or five-color for maximum redundancy. It’s not a world-shattering combo by any means, especially given how quickly you can end games in Commander if you really want to. It is undeniably flashy and fun, however.

Winning on the spot with Demonic Consultation into Thassa’s Oracle? Old news. Winning on the spot by bouncing a silly Goblin car in and out of play for five minutes? Much more interesting. The individual pieces here, Emiel and Navigator especially, also serve as powerful value cards outside of the combo. If you run just one of these cards in your deck, it could be worth taking the Boommobile for a test drive in your next post-Aetherdrift game.

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