Thought it’s still a couple of months away at this point, excitement for Magic’s Aetherdrift set is building fast. Tuesday’s worldbuilding stream set up a lot of interesting stuff we’ll undoubtedly see in card form come January. It also, however, revealed the two Commander decks the set will be accompanied by on release. While one looks like an innocuous Zombie-type list, the other promises a return for the notorious Energy mechanic in MTG Aetherdrift.
This is a mechanic that has terrorized multiple formats, to the point of bans originally. How much of a focus it’ll be in the set as a whole remains to be seen. That said, such is the infamy of Energy that players are getting whipped up into a frenzy over this early sign alone.
The MTG Aetherdrift Energy Commander Deck
This new MTG Aetherdrift Commander deck is known as ‘Living Energy.’ It was officially unveiled towards the end of Tuesday’s worldbuilding stream. While no cards have been revealed so far, we can glean a fair amount from the box alone. The deck will use Temur colors (green/blue/red), and will let players “stockpile energy” and “charge up artifact creatures.” It will also more than likely feature a new Saheeli Rai card as its face Commander, almost certainly in Temur colors.
Given that a third of Aetherdrift will be set on Avishkar, formerly Kaladesh, the plane where Energy originated, this doesn’t come as a huge surprise. The use case of ‘charging up artifact creatures’ makes perfect sense too. Aetherdrift is all about Vehicles, and Vehicles that rely on Energy to function would make for solid gameplay. However, the problem here isn’t a lore one, but one of power level.
“Based on this Commander precon it seems likely that energy is returning to Standard, and I’m a little scared. So far Wizards is 2 for 2 for energy being broken (once in Standard and once in Modern), but maybe the third time’s the charm.”
SaffronOlive
SaffronOlive is right on the money here. When Energy made its debut back in the original Kaladesh block, it created a Standard deck so dominant that multiple cards from it had to be banned. When it returned in Modern Horizons 3 earlier this year, it created perhaps the most popular and powerful Modern deck of all time.
Clearly, Wizards has a bit of a poor track record when it comes to balancing Energy as a mechanic. We’ll get into it more later, but several replies to SaffronOlive captured the problem well. “As an impossible to interact with resource Energy can only be useless or broken,” noted Joan Carrasco in the thread. This is a big part of the issue. Like Poison counters, there’s no real way to remove Energy once it’s been gained. This can lead to games feeling un-interactive on the opponent’s part.
Cause For Concern
For those who weren’t around for the reign of Energy in formats past, the above may seem like hyperbole. For that reason, it’s good to remember just how good the mechanic is and was.
Starting off with Kaladesh Standard, Temur Energy was an absolute monster in this format. The deck ran a fairly simple game plan. It generated Energy early through cards like Attune with Aether, then dropped Aetherworks Marvel on turn four. This could then cheat out an Emrakul, the Promised End or Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger for an effective turn-four win.
The deck proved so dominant that Emrakul was actually banned in January 2017. Temur Energy soldiered on with just Ulamog, and eventually, the real problem of Aetherworks Marvel was banned in June 2017. Incredibly, this still didn’t stop the energy train. The deck evolved into a four-color good stuff list, using Energy cards as a base. In January 2018, a third round of bans hit Attune with Aether and Rogue Refiner. This, finally, brought the archetype down to a reasonable level.
The same can’t be said for the Boros Energy decks currently dominating in Modern. Consisting mainly of new Energy cards printed in Modern Horizons 3, these decks hold the biggest meta share in the format by far. As with Temur Energy in Standard, the issue here is one of efficiency. The new Energy cards are simply too good for their costs. Guide of Souls is probably the biggest offender, but Galvanic Discharge and Amped Raptor are no slouches either.
Throw in some generically powerful aggressive threats like Ragavan and Ocelot Pride, and Boros Energy is an easy slam dunk. So far nothing from the deck has been banned, but players are hoping that’ll change come next week’s announcement.
A Glimmer Of Hope?
Based on this troubled history, it’s easy to see why players are anxious about Wizards taking a third crack at the Energy idea. That said, it’s possible we’re all collectively jumping the gun here. As several commenters pointed out in SaffronOlive’s thread, the existence of an Energy Commander deck doesn’t mean the mechanic will be in the main set.
“I feel like we’re getting an energy commander deck because we’re not getting it in Standard.”
Ferro_man
That sounds like a stretch, but there is past precedent for this kind of thing. Duskmourn, for instance, had a Commander deck built around the Miracle mechanic. That mechanic didn’t show up in the main set at all, however. Based on this, it’s possible that Energy will be confined exclusively to the Commander deck this time around.
Honestly, I’d say this is unlikely. Energy is so intrinsically tied to Avishkar that it’d be strange not to see it at all in Aetherdrift. The Planeswalker’s Guide articles for the set also discuss the use of aether as fuel for the Vehicles in the set, which heavily implies some energy/Vehicle synergy. Even if the designers at Wizards were worried about pushing Energy too far again, I doubt they’d scrap it from the set entirely.
There’s also the very real chance that they’ve finally learned their lesson. Many in the comments weren’t too worried about Energy’s return in Aetherdrift. As DaCRabsMTG put it, “My guess is that they were too careful to ensure it wasn’t OP and it will be just ok.” This would be the ideal scenario, all things considered. Energy is a great mechanic, and having it in a balanced state would be a great addition to an already thriving Standard format.
