Gilded Ghoda | Aetherdrift | Art by Alexandre Honoré
29, Jan, 25

Sun Titan Returns As A Horse In MTG Aetherdrift

Giddy up for some darn good tutorin'!

While Aetherdrift is mostly focused on Vehicles, it also marks the return of Thunder Junction’s Mount mechanic. Turns out a lot of the participants in the Ghirapur Grand Prix prefer their rides with hearts instead of engines. So far we haven’t seen too many Mounts, mind you, and those we have seen haven’t been too impressive. Maybe Guardian Sunmare, a clear callback to one of the classic MTG Titans, will buck this trend.

Revealed just yesterday, this Horse has some serious potential in Standard and beyond. The investment needed is high, but the output can be higher still. Whether you’re a fan of toolbox-style Magic or just looking to beef up your Horse Typal Commander deck, this is a card well worth watching.

Guardian Sunmare MTG

Guardian Sunmare MTG
  • Mana Value: 3WW
  • Rarity: Rare
  • Type: Creature – Horse Mount
  • Stats: 5/5
  • Card Text: Ward 2.
    Whenever this creature attacks while saddled, search your library for a nonland permanent card with mana value 3 or less, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
    Saddle 4.

To get the obvious out of the way: yes, Guardian Sunmare is a clear homage to MTG favorite Sun Titan. If the ability that specifically interacts with three-or-less cost nonland permanents wasn’t enough of a clue, the ‘Sun’ in the name should clear things up. It joins a surprisingly lengthy line of callbacks in the set, including Marketback Walker (Hangarback Walker) and Repurposing Bay (Birthing Pod).

Unlike its inspiration, Guardian Sunmare doesn’t just recur permanents from the graveyard: it tutors them directly from the deck. This is a huge difference and one that totally changes the use cases for the card. Where Sun Titan was generally a value piece and an occasional combo enabler, Guardian Sunmare is a Swiss Army knife with hooves on. It can get you what you need when you need it, provided it costs three or less of course.

Naturally, this power comes at a cost. Where Sun Titan got to work as soon as it hits play, Sunmare only gets to do its thing when it attacks. This technically means both cards will take effect from turn six onward. Sunmare does have to survive the turn where Titan doesn’t, but 5/5 stats and Ward two go a long way toward making that happen.

The fact that Sunmare also needs to be saddled complicates matters, however. Having a creature with power four or greater that you’re willing to tap for the turn isn’t a trivial cost. You need to be in a pretty strong position already before you can really make use of this card, which is something to bear in mind going forward.

Unexpected Utility

Guardian Sunmare MTG Targets

The drawbacks to Guardian Sunmare are clear, but the upsides, particularly in MTG Standard, are huge. Thanks to the recent design trend of putting spell effects on permanents, Sunmare can do a lot more than you’d think if it gets to attack.

For a start, there are all kinds of removal options available, even if you just stick to white. Sheltered by Ghosts takes care of a single problem creature, making Sunmare harder to kill and impossible to race in the process. Since the tutor effect here is an attack trigger, you can enjoy the +1/+0 and Lifelink from this on your very first swing. If you need to deal with an Aggro board, then Temporary Lockdown is also a valid target. These are both cards that already see extensive Standard play as-is, so getting them on demand can only be a good thing.

Have noncreature problems to deal with? Sunmare can help there too. Reclamation Sage deals with any problem artifacts or enchantments, while Imprisoned in the Moon also hits planeswalkers and lands. You can also nuke the graveyard with Rest in Peace, or stall combos with Anointed Peacekeeper. Basically, if there’s a problem your deck might face, Sunmare can summon up an answer for it.

You don’t just have to play the card reactively, of course. Win conditions like Urabrask’s Forge and Abhorrent Oculus are fair game too. There’s no shortage of powerful three drops in Standard currently, and even some of the two drops aren’t bad either. Just using Sunmare as a way to develop your board is a totally valid strategy. It makes sense a lot of the time, too, since you effectively go down on board presence for a turn to saddle it.

A Puzzle To Solve

Mount Enablers

So Guardian Sunmare is an MTG card with a ton of Standard applications, that much is clear. It should probably go without saying that it’s phenomenal in Commander too. Your pool of options is much wider in that format, and tutor effects are always great to have in singleton decks. Before the card can excel in either format, however, we need to solve the saddle problem.

As I mentioned above, saddle four is a very real cost that isn’t trivial to pay. That said, there are a surprising number of cards in Standard that can let you do so at minimal cost. Perhaps most significant among these are the new Gods, Hazoret and Ketramose. These come down pre-Sunmare, on turn two and three respectively. They’re also Indestructible and have enough power to saddle Sunmare single-handed.

While these Gods can’t attack or block until their conditions are met, you’re free to use them to saddle at any time. Ketramose is probably the better fit here since it’s partially on-color and more conducive to Sunmare’s style of play. Both are excellent picks for a Sunmare deck, however.

Beyond the Gods, Aetherdrift also gives us a number of ways to saddle Mounts with ease. Interface Ace is a very solid early option for this, holding the fort early then saddling Sunmare once it hits. You could also go down the Boros route and run Kolodin to enable it immediately, and Tyrox, Saurid Tyrant as a cheap four power creature. This would be a more aggressive shell for the card, but I could really see it working.

Overall, Guardian Sunmare feels both very powerful and very well-balanced. I’m excited to see how players use it once Aetherdrift is off the starting block.

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