27, Jan, 25

MTG Aetherdrift Spoils New Affinity Draw Spell

Thoughtcast is one of the most renowned spells in competitive Magic history. Affinity made its mark when it was a Standard legal menace and, even though it is back after the unbanning of Mox Opal, it is a mere shadow of its former self. Despite its current state, players are bound to react whenever a new MTG Affinity spell shows up, especially when it draws cards.

A new Aetherdrift uncommon promises just this. The card is much more difficult to cast than Thoughtcast but offers an additional card alongside some lifegain. Is Voyage Home going to see competitive play, or is the card a little too difficult to access?

Voyage Home

Seven mana may seem like a lot, but Affinity for Artifacts goes a long way in making that cost a bit easier to pay. You can reduce this card’s cost to as little as just UW, as long as you have five artifacts in play. Artifacts like Springleaf Drum, Mox Opal, and Mox Amber can even pay for the colored mana on Voyage Home, essentially representing two mana when casting this spell.

In Affinity decks, getting to five artifacts in play is an easy feat. Using artifact lands like Razortide Bridge can easily cause your artifact count to grow in the opening turns. It’s not unrealistic to cast Voyage Home as early as turn three with the current tools in Modern.

Even better news for Voyage Home is that most Modern Affinity decks are in Azorius colors. This means that the new card will fit into an existing tier-two archetype in the format. Esper Sentinel is an incredible midrange piece at the moment thanks to the presence of multiple low mana noncreature spells, including Moxen. It will be able to tax most decks, and likely draw a few cards. Combine this with other powerful cards like Portable Hole, and you have a winning strategy.

An Affinity Focus?

It appears that the Guidelight cards from Aetherdrift all have Affinity-related mechanics that we’ve seen before. Mendicant Core, for example, has the classic effect of having power equal to the number of artifacts you control. Should you be able to get to Max Speed, you can even start copying artifact spells you cast.

Not only does this suggest that a serious affinity archetype will be available in Draft, but Standard should get some serious artifact support. Considering that there has been a viable artifact strategy available in the format for some time now, Mendicant Core and Voyage Home may be enough to finally make the strategy viable. Time will tell, of course, but between Simulacrum Synthesizer and other artifact support, the idea is certainly realistic.

Knowing now that some seriously artifact-centric cards will be released in Aetherdrift, it will be interesting to see how the cards impact various constructed formats. If Underworld Breach does indeed get banned in Modern instead of Mox Opal, Affinity could take a front seat in the format, allowing Guidelights to find their way to Modern. Metalwork Colossus is an artifact-centric deck that appears in Pioneer occasionally, which could become a place for powerful Guidelight cards to find a home.

Unfortunately, we haven’t seen too many Guidelight or Azorius, cards get spoiled from Aetherdrift so far. The Azorius Colossus, while very strong in Commander, is not really Affinity-focused. Guidelight Pathmaker does search for an artifact that can go into play if its mana value two or less, but the six-mana cost makes it difficult to utilize.

Repurposing Bay is a rather interesting artifact that could be strong with some building around it, but considering that Oswald Fiddlebender doesn’t see much play, it’s tough to tell just how good the card will be.

Voyage Home has certainly raised our expectations. We hope to see more exciting artifact support in MTG Aetherdrift.

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