The Aetherspark has, as you’d expect, taken pride of place in discussions of Aetherdrift so far. It is the game’s first-ever Equipment Planeswalker, after all. New card type combinations are always worth paying attention to since they could well lead to broken, previously impossible interactions. It turns out, however, that The Aetherspark isn’t the only brand-new type combo in Aetherdrift. Yesterday, Rover Blades, the first Equipment Vehicle in MTG history, was officially revealed.
It’s great to see more mechanical experimentation in MTG. It feels especially fitting in Aetherdrift, too, given how experimental it is in terms of aesthetics. Rover Blades may not be the kind of card that sets event top tables on fire, but it’s a milestone nonetheless. Years from now, when Equipment Vehicles have become commonplace, we’ll look back fondly on these innocuous rollerblades.
Rover Blades MTG
- Mana Value: 3
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Artifact – Equipment Vehicle
- Stats: 2/2
- Card Text: Double Strike.
Equipped creature has Double Strike.
Equip 4.
Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn. Creatures can’t be attached to other permanents.)
As a brand-new MTG type combination, it takes longer than usual to work out exactly what Rover Blades is capable of. Where The Aetherspark functions as a planeswalker and an Equipment simultaneously, Rover Blades is more of an either/or situation. It’ll serve as a Vehicle or an Equipment, but never both at once.
The Vehicle mode is, in my eyes at least, the most attractive aspect of the card by far. A 2/2 with Double Strike isn’t bad for three mana, and Crew 2 is a very reasonable cost. You can drop this on turn three and then immediately push for four damage on turn four. If you have Kolodin, Triumph Caster out this curve gets even more interesting. You can swing with Blades immediately on three, then crew it on four using Kolodin. Boros Vehicles seems like a long shot for Standard, but this is an undoubtedly solid line of play.
Things are far dicier on the Equipment side. Four mana is just such a high cost to equip this. Yes, you can drop Blades on three and then equip it the following turn, but even in Limited that feels pretty slow. The lack of any kind of stat buff alongside Double Strike hurts too. For those hoping to use the Vehicle and Equipment sides simultaneously, don’t bother. As soon as Blades becomes a creature, it will unattach itself from the creature it’s equipped to.
I understand Wizards’ reluctance to give the card too much utility, especially as an uncommon. As it stands the card is just an okay Vehicle attached to a bad Equipment, however. It’s a fun curio and a solid Limited card, but not one I expect to see in constructed play.
It’s Coming Was Foretold
- Mana Value: 2
- Type: Artifact – Equipment Vehicle
- Stats: 3/1
- Card Text: First strike, Haste.
Equipped creature has First Strike and Haste.
Equip 1.
Crew 1.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Rover Blades, far more interesting than its gameplay applications, is its place in MTG history. As I mentioned above, this is the first Equipment Vehicle the game has seen. It also marks another instance of Mystery Booster Playtest Card concepts making their way onto real cards.
This idea first arose in the original Mystery Booster set back in 2019. Unicycle was included as a playtest card, giving a tongue-in-cheek interpretation of what an Equipment Vehicle might look like. This means that, from initial idea to full execution, Equipment Vehicles took Wizards at least six years.
As you’d expect Unicycle is far less balanced than Rover Blades, and would probably be a powerful staple if released into Standard. While it’s probably for the best that we didn’t get something this good for our first Equipment Vehicle, Rover Blades does feel a touch too conservative. You could probably shave one mana off of its cast and Equip costs and not break Standard.
Interestingly, The Aetherspark is in a very similar boat. As the game’s first Equipment Planeswalker, it was teased last year with the Mystery Booster 2 Playtest card Luxior, Ignited. The final product is much closer to the Playtest version in this case, with both sharing the same mana cost and a very similar +1 ability. The Aetherspark is actually much better than Luxior, however, which makes sense given it’s the Headliner card of the set.
There are countless other examples of Playtest concepts making it into real Magic, too. The mechanics of last year’s Duskmourn and a lot of Alchemy design are both good examples. If you’re wondering what the future holds for MTG, these cards are a great place to start looking.