It’s no secret that a large part of Magic: The Gathering sets are designed with Commander in mind. Even Standard-legal sets like Aetherdrift are bound to have dozens of dedicated purpose-built Commander cards. This may seem frustrating, but it’s actually for Standard’s benefit that 100+ new meta-breaking cards aren’t released every two months.
While it’s entirely expected to see Commander-focused cards in Standard sets, thankfully, not all of them are so obvious. That cannot be said for Samut, the Driving Force, who looks like the obvious build-around choice for the Start your engines! mechanic. Even if they’re a touch on the nose, there’s little question that Samut looks like a very exciting MTG card.
Samut, the Driving Force
Like Marina Vendrell from Duskmourn: House of Horror, Samut, the Driving Force is purpose-built support for a set mechanic. In case it wasn’t obvious, Samut is the embodiment of the mindset ‘gotta go fast’ since they care about speed. Thankfully, Samut is one of the very few cards in Aetherdrift that doesn’t just care about hitting Max Speed.
In theory, caring about any speed rather than just Max Speed makes Samut always useful. At worst, all your other creatures get +1/+0, and noncreature spells get one cheaper. So long as you can make Samut stick, this isn’t too too terrible for six mana, especially alongside her stat line and combat abilities.
In reality, Samut, the Driving Force is actually a lot better than their worst-case scenario. Thanks to their expensive mana cost, you will almost always reach max speed before you get to play them. Even with a bit of ramp to get them down on turn four or five, you shouldn’t struggle to have some speed build it up.
Unfortunately, while Samut makes a great commander, hitting max speed might actually be somewhat difficult in this format. Unless there are enough cards in the right colors in the main set, you may struggle to build a full Speed Typal deck. As a result, you may have to aggressively mulligan to find something to Start your engines!
Hopefully, since we haven’t seen all of Aetherdrift just yet, this concern will be unfounded. Should we not get enough support, however, Samut, the Driving Force may be hamstrung for quite some time. Given the racing-focused name of Start your engines! it’s unlikely to be reused in a premier set any time soon.
Too Slow for Standard?
Even if Speed-Typal isn’t the most powerful or consistent archetype, Samut, the Driving Force is an obvious Commander option. Outside of Commander, their playability is a lot more suspect since they cost so much. In current-day MTG, six mana is a huge amount to pay for a creature that doesn’t necessarily end the game instantly.
Technically, Samut, the Driving Force could do exactly that with only a small amount of setup. If you can go wide with a few creatures, and build up max speed, Samut provides an insane turn six buff. In Standard, there are plenty of ways to build up an impressive board of tokens, especially in Naya colors.
Between Resolute Reinforcements, Gleeful Demolition, and Caretaker’s Talent, building a wide board should be a breeze. Sadly, what will be more troublesome is generating Max Speed reliably by turn six. Technically Hazoret, Godseeker could be a low-cost option, but something like Muraganda Raceway would get things started earlier. There’s even an argument to use Starting Column to help get Samut down earlier.
While a dedicated go-wide speed-focused deck might work, a somewhat suitable archetype may already exist. Selesnya Cage has been putting up impressive results in Standard recently, and a Naya twist could theoretically work wonders. If you can build up enough speed, finding Samut with Collector’s Cage threatens to end games devastatingly quickly.
Admittedly, splashing red for Samut while also throwing in Start your engines! cards does threaten to destabilize this archetype. Given the potential, however, we’d be surprised if this variant doesn’t see a least a little experimentation after Aetherdrift’s release.
C-C-C-Combo Potential
While it’s hardly going to be their main focus, we’d be remiss not to mention a cheeky Samut, the Driving Force combo. When at max speed, Samut goes infinite with Sprout Swarm. Between the four casting cost reduction from Samut and the Saproling token that can be Convoked, this spell is free.
Admittedly, this combo won’t win the game on its own. Sadly, the Saprolings you create will be tapped to continue the loop. You’ll also obviously need to reach Max Speed before starting this combo in the first place. Despite these drawbacks, this combo nonetheless has serious potential.
All you need is an Impact Tremors and each Saproling will be able to whittle each opponent down that turn. Alternatively, casting Full Throttle will give you two fully untapped extra combat steps. As flashy as Full Throttle is, Great Train Heist or Benefactor’s Draught are more versatile and arguably useful alternatives.
Ultimately, this combo likely won’t close out every game with Samut, the Driving Force as your Commander. Nonetheless, it’s always nice to have an extra win-con packed into your deck just in case.
