A ton of powerful uncommons have been spoiled for MTG Aetherdrift. While some grant the possibility of powering up common Standard archetypes like Esper Pixie, this next uncommon threatens to show up everywhere.
Providing an efficient counterspell attached to a flier, Diversion Unit looks absolutely incredible. Sadly, it can’t counter everything, but combining this with an aggressive board of creatures ensures that you can survive many tricks that your opponents could have up their sleeves.
Diversion Unit
Diversion Unit offers both a relevant body and an emergency ability that can protect your board. A 2/1 flier for two mana is perfectly fine as far as Standard is concerned, but the reason to play Diversion Unit is its ability.
In exchange for sacrificing Diversion Unit, you essentially get a Miscast. This can save a stronger threat in play, or potentially stop a game-changing board wipe or win condition. All you need to do is keep one mana available in case Diversion Unit needs to sacrifice itself for the better of the team.
While Diversion Unit’s stats already make it playable in Standard, it also happens to be an artifact creature. This may prove to be incredibly relevant as Aetherdrift also includes Affinity support in Azorius colors. Not only will Diversion Unit stop spells in a pinch, but it can power up your other synergies, too!
This could mean that Diversion Unit is a strong tool in Jeskai Convoke strategies. The card can enable Convoke for your larger payoffs, counter board wipes that cripple the deck, and even become a Gleeful Demolition target if absolutely necessary. Given that cards like Split Up and Sunfall can devastate go-wide Convoke strategies, Diversion Unit should be a godsend. As if that wasn’t good enough, it can even swing in via the air for valuable chip damage.
Diversion Unit is also perfectly on-rate to see play in midrange strategies. Dimir Midrange already uses a ton of smaller bodies for tempo purposes, and Diversion Unit can trade itself in to stop problematic removal for a high-value threat like Kaito, Bane of Nightmares.
The card also fits well into Azorius Oculus. Diversion Unit can stop a spell threatening your Abhorrent Oculus and can be resurrected by Helping Hand as an emergency threat, or as a way to protect your Oculus. Trading a Unit for a Go For the Throat or a This Town Ain’t Big Enough, for example, is undeniably powerful.
Some players may also think that this card can do work in Esper Pixie lists, but this is unlikely. Diversion Unit is a good tool for trading into board wipes, but the card doesn’t accrue value by returning to the hand, making it less exciting in that archetype.
Weaknesses
Perhaps the biggest point against Diversion Unit is its bad matchup with Fear of Isolation. Both cards have a mana value of two, but Fear of Isolation stonewalls Diversion Unit on board. The Unit can still potentially protect your stronger threats and offer additional utility, but you won’t be able to do much against the 2/3 Flier.
The card also isn’t particularly great against aggressive decks. Trading Diversion Unit in for something like Monstrous Rage can slow down your opponent’s clock, but it certainly doesn’t feel too good. Ideally, the threats that Diversion Unit can protect will be able to cross the finish line against more aggressive strategies.
A Mythic Uncommon?
In addition to its potential roles in Standard, Diversion Unit is sure to be a Limited all-star. A 2/1 flier for two is already powerful enough in many Limited formats, but Diversion Unit has the added benefit of supporting artifact synergies that appear in Aetherdrift. The card’s effectiveness depends on how efficient instants and sorceries are in the format, but more often than not, you should be able to trade up on mana with Diversion Unit, especially if you play it on-curve.
Outside of Limited, Diversion Unit could be a decent budget Commander option. Any deck that cares about artifacts can similarly have Diversion Unit double as an early body that stops board wipes. I wouldn’t include this in Commander decks that cannot synergize further with Diversion Unit past its activated ability, but there should be a lot of strong homes for the card in decks like Urza, Chief Artificer.
Another Affinity Payoff?
We’ve already seen Voyage Home in Azorius colors, but Diversion Unit should also be strong alongside other Affinity payoffs coming in Aetherdrift. Demonic Junker can be cast for as little as one black mana and can destroy a creature that each player controls. While this is certainly interesting for Commander, it does seem a bit underwhelming in other formats. The payoff is rather underwhelming when considering that the body of this creature is conditional. Being able to turn one of your creatures into an additional buff for Demonic Junker is an interesting option, but since you need to Crew this card to use it, the synergy is awkward.
As far as Draft goes, however, Demonic Junker seems great – as long as you can cast it for a reasonable amount of mana. Spending even four mana for this card seems like a great deal, but the effect is rather underwhelming for six mana or more.
All of this Affinity support certainly raises the question of whether or not an artifact-centric deck will become a popular Standard choice. Artifacts are already fringe playable in the format, so it will be interesting to see if this support is enough to allow the archetype to break out.