Set Prospective
Aetherdrift
This article is part of our community-sourced Set Prospective series. We survey Cube designers before the set’s official release to document their first impressions of new cards.
The tortise and the hare. Podracing. The Fury Road. Bowser’s Castle. Pop culture is replete with racing tropes, so it’s almost surprising it took Magic this long to theme a set around racing. But with Aetherdrift, Magic is making up lost time, and that means there’s plenty to interest the Cube community!
Results
The cube community submitted 146 DFT surveys, telling us which cards they were testing. Our median respondent is sending 7 DFT cards to the starting line, and has assigned a median rating of 6.1, neck and neck with other Standard-legal releases from the past year. (There’s one exception to the overall trend: Judge Bones’ Vehicle-centered cube is testing a whopping 117 cards!)
| Card | Testers▼ | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Grim Bauble | 40.4% | 6.8 |
| Marauding Mako | 29.5% | 6.9 |
| Greasewrench Goblin | 29.5% | 6.7 |
| Scrounging Skyray | 19.2% | 6.2 |
| Diversion Unit | 17.8% | 6.3 |
| Molt Tender | 17.8% | 6.0 |
| Intimidation Tactics | 17.8% | 5.9 |
| Quag Feast | 17.1% | 6.4 |
| Sundial, Dawn Tyrant | 16.4% | 5.2 |
| Basri, Tomorrow's Champion | 16.4% | 5.0 |
| Brightglass Gearhulk | 15.8% | 6.0 |
| Agonasaur Rex | 15.8% | 5.7 |
| Monument to Endurance | 15.1% | 6.5 |
| Marketback Walker | 15.1% | 6.3 |
| Cryptcaller Chariot | 14.4% | 5.5 |
| Riptide Gearhulk | 14.4% | 6.2 |
| The Aetherspark | 14.4% | 5.5 |
| Locust Spray | 14.4% | 5.3 |
| Magmakin Artillerist | 13.7% | 5.7 |
| Fuel the Flames | 13.7% | 5.6 |
| Dredger's Insight | 12.3% | 6.1 |
| Thopter Fabricator | 12.3% | 5.8 |
| Chitin Gravestalker | 12.3% | 5.6 |
| Ketramose, the New Dawn | 11.6% | 4.5 |
| Gallant Strike | 11.6% | 5.4 |
| Stock Up | 10.3% | 5.6 |
| Memory Guardian | 10.3% | 4.8 |
| Captain Howler, Sea Scourge | 9.6% | 5.7 |
| Webstrike Elite | 9.6% | 5.9 |
| The Last Ride | 8.9% | 5.6 |
| Draconautics Engineer | 8.2% | 5.3 |
| Pactdoll Terror | 8.2% | 5.4 |
| Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied | 8.2% | 4.6 |
| Wreckage Wickerfolk | 8.2% | 6.2 |
| Wretched Doll | 7.5% | 5.3 |
| Demonic Junker | 7.5% | 4.9 |
| Thunderous Velocipede | 7.5% | 6.3 |
| Riverpyre Verge | 7.5% | 7.1 |
| Voyage Home | 7.5% | 5.6 |
| Night Market | 7.5% | 6.6 |
| Broodheart Engine | 6.8% | 6.3 |
| Broadside Barrage | 6.8% | 6.4 |
| Tyrox, Saurid Tyrant | 6.8% | 5.1 |
| Skyserpent Seeker | 6.8% | 3.9 |
| Lumbering Worldwagon | 6.8% | 5.5 |
| Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer | 6.8% | 4.7 |
| Shefet Archfiend | 6.8% | 5.5 |
| Boosted Sloop | 6.8% | 6.5 |
| Skycrash | 6.8% | 6.1 |
| Lightshield Parry | 6.8% | 4.8 |
| Willowrush Verge | 6.2% | 7.1 |
| Bleachbone Verge | 6.2% | 6.8 |
| District Mascot | 6.2% | 6.0 |
| Veteran Beastrider | 6.2% | 5.2 |
| Sunbillow Verge | 6.2% | 7.0 |
| Repurposing Bay | 6.2% | 5.7 |
| Dune Drifter | 6.2% | 6.1 |
| Spectacular Pileup | 6.2% | 7.5 |
| Wastewood Verge | 5.5% | 6.9 |
| Regal Imperiosaur | 5.5% | 3.9 |
| Oildeep Gearhulk | 5.5% | 5.9 |
| Coalstoke Gearhulk | 5.5% | 4.4 |
| Cursecloth Wrappings | 5.5% | 6.0 |
| Voyager Quickwelder | 5.5% | 4.7 |
| Voyager Glidecar | 5.5% | 5.7 |
| Bulwark Ox | 5.5% | 5.9 |
| Pyrewood Gearhulk | 5.5% | 6.0 |
| Waxen Shapethief | 5.5% | 5.6 |
Single Card Discussion
The Winner’s Podium
Grim Bauble is the only card from Aetherdrift to secure the interest of over a third of our respondents, a sorcery-speed Disfigure effect counterbalanced by an artifact typeline and some marginal card selection. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a new twist on an evergreen effect take the top spot in one of our surveys, but Grim Bauble is the first bobblehead pun to do so.
Hot on the Heels
Aetherdrift’s next-most-popular cards, tested by a fifth to a third of our respondents, are just as familiar as Grim Bauble: three takes on aggressive creatures with synergistic hooks. Marauding Mako and Scrounging Skyray enable and pay off discard-matters cards, but they don’t care how the discard happens, which opens them up to a whole range of synergies.
Meanwhile, Greasewrench Goblin is the only top DFT card with a new set mechanic, its Exhaust ability mostly serving to liven up the familiar Jackal Pup template. Exhaust is an open-ended and flexible new mechanic, but in DFT it was mostly used as a variation on the Monstrous ability.
Aetherdrift’s top cards read differently to me than the “known quantities” that were huge hits in 2023 — yes, people loved Cankerbloom, but they were also willing to test out new mechanics like Mercurial Spelldancer and Bloated Contaminator and Arcane Proxy. Instead, this looks more like a tepid reception of DFT’s core mechanics, or a cautiousness around anything that isn’t well-established.
Other Notables
For a set whose keystone is Vehicles, Aetherdrift doesn’t seem to hit. Its most popular Vehicle is Cryptcaller Chariot, but it falls well below the 20% popularity threshold I usually use for popularity. The Chariot is about as popular than a vanilla legend, Sundial, whose only novelty is as a more castable Watchwolf.
The Verge cycle was completed with DFT, but our designers seem largely uninterested. For those who don’t have the Verges memorized, it’s impossible to tell which colors are active at a glance (especially for the opponents). I’d almost rather play with filter lands, and that’s saying something.
The biggest surprise of Aetherdrift, though, is that Start Your Engines! is completely absent from DFT’s top cards. Again, Cube designers appear to be largely uninterested in novelty if it came at the price of new mechanics.
Community Reviews and Discussion
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