We’re into week two of Aetherdrift preview season now. Appropriately enough for a set with such an emphasis on speed, things don’t seem to be slowing down at all. While we haven’t seen any absolute barnstormers yet today, we have seen some very interesting pieces of cardboard. Case in point: Transit Mage, an MTG card 21 years in the making.
The importance of this card won’t be immediately obvious to newer players, but to the enfranchised, it’s a big deal. It’s also just a solid piece with applications in a range of decks and formats. If the tone set here continues for the rest of the week, then Aetherdrift should be an absolute banger.
Transit Mage Finishes An MTG Supercycle!
- Mana Value: 2U
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Creature – Human Wizard
- Stats: 2/2
- Card Text: When this creature enters, you may search your library for an artifact card with mana value 4 or 5, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
Transit Mage, on the surface, doesn’t look like a very interesting MTG card. Three mana for a 2/2 that tutors up a very specific artifact? Hardly likely to make a dent with how fast every format is right now. In a way, it feels like a card from an older period in Magic history. Almost exactly like one, actually.
Way back in 2004, with the release of Fifth Dawn, came a card known as Trinket Mage. This had the exact same type line, stats, and cost as Transit Mage, but hit artifacts of cost one or less instead. Seven years later, Treasure Mage arrived in Mirrodin Besieged. Again, this packed all the same stats but tutored for six+ mana cost artifacts. 2017 brought Trophy Mage which tutored for three mana artifacts, and then 2019 added Tribute Mage which covered two mana.
The result? A supercycle of three mana artifact tutors that covered every mana cost except four and five. This is where Transit Mage comes in. Conveniently hitting both values and removing the need for a sixth member of the cycle in the future, this card closes a loop that Wizards opened nearly 21 years ago. Feels a bit more exciting now, doesn’t it?
In terms of playability, Transit Mage compares quite favorably to the rest of the supercycle. It lacks the cutthroat eternal appeal of Trinket Mage, but grabbing four mana artifacts makes it great on curve. You can drop this on three, then follow up with the card you searched for on turn four. That’s pretty solid in slower formats. On top of that, there are some very spicy targets that Transit Mage can ship to your hand.
Finders Keepers
To get the worst out of the way first, I don’t think Transit Mage will do much in MTG Standard. Even if there were good targets in the format, it feels far too slow in a world of Esper Pixie and Gruul Aggro. Potential combo pieces like the Mycosynth Lattice, or value cards like The Aetherspark, are certainly tempting, but probably not enough to push the card into Standard playability.
Go back in time a bit, however, and Transit Mage shines. Goblin Charbelcher is a popular win condition in Modern, Legacy, and Vintage, and it just so happens to be a four mana artifact. This gives combo decks that rely on Belcher an extra four copies of their key card if they want them. If you’re not a combo fan, Transit Mage can also grab your One Ring in Legacy or Vintage. Sadly it just missed the boat on doing so in Modern, but that’s probably for the best.
In Commander, the sky’s the limit for a card like Transit Mage. Tutors of any kind are excellent in the format, and while this one is very specific it’s still potent. It can grab many a value piece, from Panharmonicon to The One Ring, if you’re of a ruthless disposition. Alternatively, it can scoop up combo pieces like Aetherflux Reservoir or Krark-Clan Ironworks, with the aim of ending the game on the following turn.
There are countless other great options too. Even if Transit Mage sees no play anywhere else, it’s almost guaranteed to see play in Commander for that reason. When it comes to singleton formats consistency is king, after all.
Cycles, Mega And Super
Playability is only one piece of the puzzle here, of course. Transit Mage is also exciting because it finishes off a long-running MTG supercycle. The whole idea of a supercycle is something that newer players will likely be unfamiliar with. This is because, by their very nature, supercycles are separated by long stretches of time. Sometimes even decades, as in this case.
Supercycles are essentially the next step up from megacycles. This was an old MTG concept from the era of multi-set blocks. Rather than deploy a cycle of cards all at once, Wizards would spread it out over the three sets in a given block. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the Ravnica Shocklands, but there are plenty of other megacycles too. The Kaldra pieces from Mirrodin block, the Mutation spells from Invasion block, etc.
Supercycles take this concept to the next level. Rather than being spread out over multiple sets in the same block, supercycle cards are spread out across multiple blocks. In the post-block era we’re now living in, these have completely replaced megacycles. Noteworthy examples include the Platinum Angel/Abyssal Persecutor duo, and the compass point Paladins.
More interesting than the completed supercycles are those that remain unfinished, however. There are plenty of these remaining, including the Kaldheim Elder Giants and the Archmage’s Charm cycle. That we’re seeing the artifact Mage cycle completed in Aetherdrift now gives hope that these other supercycles will be completed at some point in the future too. Don’t hold your breath, mind you: it did take Wizards 21 years to finish this one, after all.
