Hazoret, Godseeker | Aetherdrift
31, Jan, 25

MTG Aetherdrift Mechanics May Doom Draft Gameplay from the Start

One area of concern for modern-day Limited that many players have complained about is the sheer speed of recent formats. Over the past two years, we’ve seen a noticeable shift in how fast the average draft game is and how punishing it is to fall behind.

Part of the problem stems from the efficiency of threats. Thanks to power creep, impactful creatures come down early in the curve, and many of them generate value in the process. This can make it tough to catch up if you stumble, even if you have removal.

MTG Foundations took a step back in this regard, which was a nice change of pace. Unfortunately, though, the early look at Aetherdrift does not seem promising in this regard. The mechanics of the set are extremely punishing for defensive strategies and heavily favor those who are able to curve out. Don’t let the cool themes fool you; this set has the potential to be a rather unfun draft environment.

Speed Kills

Burnout Bashtronaut

The first mechanic that incentivizes you to play quite aggressively is Start Your Engines! The idea behind this mechanic is to deal damage to your opponent to increase your speed. Once you get to a maximum speed of 4, your permanent will get a pretty significant bonus.

On the surface, this seems pretty interesting. Evasive creatures help get the job done, and in the late game, cards like Risen Necroregent turn from mediocre filler to incredible top-end once you get your speed to the max.

The problem here is that this mechanic is a complete blank unless you’re able to routinely attack unscathed. Building up your speed in the early game is significantly easier both when you have a potent one-drop and when you’re on the play.

On the flip side, when you’re on the draw and your first play isn’t until turn two, it’s very difficult to consider attacking at all early on because you’re leaving yourself vulnerable to a big swing on the crackback. So, your best bet is just to play defensively against your opponent’s Start Your Engines! cards.

Well, this unfortunately doesn’t help you gain any advantage whatsoever. All your Start Your Engines! cards are stuck until you can turn the corner. Most cards with the Start Your Engines! mechanic don’t gain any bonus until you’ve reached a speed of 4, either, so you have to get a bunch of hits in before you’re rewarded.

All this does is mean the mechanic ranges from doing nothing to snowballing out of control. If your opponent can land one of these one-drops and use some removal to clear away blockers and build up speed in the early turns, all that does is make any Start Your Engines! card they play for the rest of the game better than yours. A remedy to this, however, is if a strong amount of nondirect damage options are available in Aetherdrift draft. This could help advance your Speed without leaving you vulnerable to attacks.

That said, Start Your Engines definitely favors the player on the front foot, and the other mechanics present in MTG Aetherdrift don’t help this.

Play Patterns with Vehicles and Mounts

Thunderous Velocipede

The second group of cards that can lead to games spiraling out of control vehicles and mounts. Both vehicles and mounts, in their own ways, are significantly stronger when you’re the one ahead on board.

Vehicles are rather awkward in Limited. Most of them require you to have other creatures on board in order to Crew them in order for them to be able to attack or block. This raises a couple of problems.

If your first play of the game is to play a vehicle, you failed to impact the board in any meaningful way. This makes it even easier for your opponent to run you over. Theoretically, you can play a creature the following turn, planning to crew your vehicle and block. However, if your opponent has an instant speed removal spell in that instance, you get blown out and go yet another turn without blocking.

As bad as vehicles are defensively, though, if you’re on the front foot, they can be devastating in their own right. Many vehicles, such as Boosted Sloop or Debris Beetle, make up for the fact that they require being Crewed to function by having boosted stats or built-in evasion. This makes them incredibly difficult to block down in combat, further encouraging players to play fast to the board.

Mounts take this idea a step further. While you aren’t required to Saddle a mount by any means, doing so typically provides a buff or some other potent ability to your attacker that makes it worth the investment.

It is true that your opponent can wait for you to Saddle up a mount, then kill the mount if they have instant speed removal. Still, there’s only so much instant speed removal in the set. If the opponent gets to attack with a Saddled mount, chances are they’re ahead on the exchange even if you can block it down.

Fighting Back is Exhausting

Boommobile

Finally, in the rare case where you’re able to successfully keep pace on the draw with the opponent’s beatdown start, you then have to contend with their mana sinks. With so many cards in the set with Exhaust, there’s ample opportunity for players to spend excess mana and create further advantage.

All this does is make it easier for the player who’s ahead on board to close the game. Cards like Ranger’s Aetherhive provide additional benefits for sinking mana into Exhaust abilities. As such, if you have the luxury to do so, you should.

In comparison, if you’re on the draw and are naturally behind, you’re likely spending your time trying to keep pace. Expecting to have the time to spend mana on Exhaust abilities when behind is unrealistic.

This is especially true given that many Exhaust abilities, such as that of Greenbelt Guardian, don’t help widen your board at all. Putting all your eggs in one basket when falling behind is a recipe for disaster.

Ultimately, Aetherdrift looks like a collection of intriguing ideas that may flop in practice. While it’s not unreasonable for a set dedicated to racing to be fast and furious, that doesn’t exactly promote good draft gameplay. We’ll have to wait and see how things shake out, but I’m not optimistic.

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