Warning!

The decks you are about to see are mostly untested first drafts! They were played Wednesday on the early access Streamer Event on MTG Arena and are my first stabs at the new Aetherdrift Standard format. Most are brews jam packed with Aetherdrift cards, while there are also a few updates to previously established archetypes, but it's important to note that these are the first steps and not finished products! Use them as stepping stones for your own deck brewing process, but play them card for card at your own risk!

Hello again!

I hope y'all are ready to start your engines, as Aetherdrift has rolled right onto the scene in Standard with a starting line full of new cards ready to make an impact. We've been blessed with a truly awesome Standard format for the last year or so, with many different types of decks viable and then a ton of variation and versions of each different deck.

It is also important to note how large Standard is right now.

There are simply a ton of awesome cards that haven't quite gotten the full amount of support to fill out a competitive deck, but are maybe one or two cards away from relevance. This causes us to look not only at Aetherdrift for deck ideas, but also how those Aetherdrift cards interact with these forgotten gems.

Which is what we're doing today!

Today we are going to go over all ten decks I played as part of my Ten New Brews on YouTube and stream, briefly going over each list and my thoughts on how it was, giving it a letter grade, and talking about what kind of potential it has going forward. I played five games of best of one with each deck so the deck's record will also be included, but do note that these matches were played during the Early Access event not on the open ladder.

It's also important to note that this Early Access was a bit different than prior Early Access events, as it also had everyone qualified for Pro Tour Aetherdrift invited because of the set's release date being so close to the Pro Tour. Almost all of our matches were against Pro Tour players, meaning our win rate was obviously lower than past Ten New Brews.

That being said, let's go!

Let's Ride! | Aetherdrift Standard | Jim Davis, Ten New Brews

• Creatures (23)
• 1 Scrapshooter
• 2 Miriam, Herd Whisperer
• 2 Rip, Spawn Hunter
• 3 Guardian Sunmare
• 3 Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero
• 4 Kolodin, Triumph Caster
• 4 Rocketeer Boostbuggy
• 4 Seraphic Steed

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Chandra, Spark Hunter

• Instants (4)
• 4 Road Rage

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Sheltered by Ghosts

• Artifacts (7)
• 1 Perilous Snare
• 3 Mobile Homestead
• 3 Unidentified Hovership

• Lands (24)
• 1 Plains
• 3 Karplusan Forest
• 4 Battlefield Forge
• 4 Brushland
• 4 Copperline Gorge
• 4 Inspiring Vantage
• 4 Razorverge Thicket

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Deck's Record: 2-3

Deck's Grade: Medium

Deck Potential: C+

Standout Card: Rocketeer Boostbuggy

Fast Cars! Danger!

One of the primary themes of Aetherdrift is of course vehicles, as well as the returning mechanic mounts, and this deck seeks to use both.

Kolodin, Triumph Caster is supposed to be the headliner here, as granting an automatic crew as well as haste to all of your vehicles and mounts is huge a mitigating the typical drawbacks that those kinds of cards have. That being said, it just sort of died a lot and wasn't great over the small sample size. Road Rage was clearly excellent, and Chandra, Spark Hunter was actually pretty solid as well.

The goal of this deck was to meld the Aetherdrift cards alongside the Outlaws of Thunder Junction mount cards and the Duskmourn survivor cards and see if they could get put over the top. Miriam, Herd Whisperer and Wylie Duke were both quite good, while Rip whiffed the one time we activated it.

Overall, the curve of this deck felt a little too high and a lack of 1 mana plays made it feel like we were often playing from behind.

Splinter Hulk | Aetherdrift Standard | Jim Davis, Ten New Brews

• Creatures (29)
• 2 Overlord of the Balemurk
• 3 Oildeep Gearhulk
• 4 Coalstoke Gearhulk
• 4 Evangel of Synthesis
• 4 Fear of Missing Out
• 4 Kiora, the Rising Tide
• 4 Visage Bandit
• 4 Waxen Shapethief

• Sorceries (7)
• 3 Ill-Timed Explosion
• 4 Quag Feast

• Lands (24)
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 3 Gloomlake Verge
• 3 Thundering Falls
• 3 Undercity Sewers
• 4 Blazemire Verge
• 4 Raucous Theater
• 4 Riverpyre Verge

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Deck's Record: 2-3

Deck's Grade: C+

Deck Potential: Low to Medium

Standout Card: Coalstoke Gearhulk

How about a little combo action?

The combo here is pretty simple - Coalstoke Gearhulk can return any creature from a graveyard with four or less mana value, so you return the clones like Waxen Shapethief and Visage Bandit, which copy the Gearhulk, and then return another clone, and so on. The last copy can get a Oildeep Gearhulk or Fear of Missing Out for a little extra damage. This will often be lethal, but even if it's not you deal a bunch of damage, put a huge creature in play, and the idea of the deck is not to be an all-in combo deck.

To this end, there are plenty of reasonable cards in the deck that can play offense or defense, blocking as needed or getting in chip shot damage to soften your opponent up. Ill-Timed Explosion is also superb in the deck as both a way to fill your graveyard and keep you alive.

That being said, the deck played out okay but felt a bit subpar on both sides of the ball; it wasn't a great combo deck and also wasn't a great midrange deck, and that's before something like graveyard hate enters the equation as well.

Think this one is more meme than dream.

Vengevine Lives! | Aetherdrift Standard | Jim Davis, Ten New Brews

• Creatures (31)
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Scrapshooter
• 3 Fauna Shaman
• 4 Fear of Missing Out
• 3 Flamewake Phoenix
• 3 Greasewrench Goblin
• 4 Afterburner Expert
• 4 Draconautics Engineer
• 4 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
• 4 Marauding Mako

• Instants (4)
• 4 Torch the Tower

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Rocketeer Boostbuggy

• Lands (23)
• 2 Forest
• 4 Mountain
• 1 Soulstone Sanctuary
• 4 Commercial District
• 4 Copperline Gorge
• 4 Karplusan Forest
• 4 Thornspire Verge

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Deck's Record: 4-1

Deck's Grade: B+

Deck Potential: Medium to High, But Metagame Dependant

Standout Card: Afterburner Expert and Draconautics Engineer

Sometimes they just put the perfect two card combo right in the same set.

Afterburner Expert is an awesome recursive creature, with high power being great on both offense and defense, but of course is limited by how many good discard effects and exhaust effects there are to enable it. Well, there are plenty of good discard effects in Standard, and luckily for Afterburner Expert, fellow goblin Draconautics Engineer is literally right next to him in the same set. Draconautics Engineer exhausts to give all of your creatures haste, and does so in a manner that returns the Afterburner Expert before the haste trigger resolves, meaning they all get haste too!

Throw in some awesome discard effects, with Fauna Shaman being the standout, and you've got a pretty consistent engine. There was definitely a worry that Fauna Shaman would be too slow, but it played out quite well in the games. Flamewake Phoenix provides a bit of threat redundancy.

The only issue with this deck is a metagame one. This sort of recursive graveyard aggro deck tends to be great against midrange and control decks, as you can overload their removal spells and grind them out, but notably poor against super aggressive decks that don't give you the time to set up. With various Red Mice decks already in the format and Boros Convoke having huge gains from Aetherdrift, this might not be the right time for a deck like this.

Beep Boop | Aetherdrift Standard | Jim Davis, Ten New Brews

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Mendicant Core, Guidelight
• 3 Riptide Gearhulk
• 3 Marketback Walker
• 4 Memory Guardian
• 4 Solemn Simulacrum

• Artifacts (20)
• 1 The Irencrag
• 1 Thousand Moons Smithy // Barracks of the Thousand
• 3 Braided Net // Braided Quipu
• 3 Perilous Snare
• 4 Fabrication Foundry
• 4 Glass Casket
• 4 Simulacrum Synthesizer

• Lands (24)
• 3 Plains
• 3 Island
• 2 Adarkar Wastes
• 2 Demolition Field
• 2 Mirrex
• 4 Floodfarm Verge
• 4 Restless Anchorage
• 4 Seachrome Coast

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Deck's Record: 3-2

Deck's Grade: B

Deck Potential: Medium to High

Standout Card: Memory Guardian

Many have tried, and many have failed (myself included) to make Simulacrum Synthesizer work in Standard.

The card offers an unbelievable amount of power once it gets going, providing an almost endless stream of huge constructs, but the slow setup is often just too much to overcome. Thankfully Aetherdrift offers a lot of potential fixes, the biggest of which is just a simple uncommon.

Being able to play a 3+ mana value card for less than three mana, often on the same turn as or double spelling the turn after playing Simulacrum Synthesizer, allows the deck to sort of break serve and get that leg up the deck needs to not fall behind.

Add in some other powerful new artifacts like the excellent Riptide Gearhulk and the interesting, maybe off plan Mendicant Core, Guidelight, and there's something definitely brewing with all of these artifact cards that have been languishing and looking for a home.

There's certainly something here.

Which Card? | Aetherdrift Standard | Jim Davis, Ten New Brews

• Creatures (8)
• 4 Marauding Mako
• 4 Scrounging Skyray

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Ral, Crackling Wit

• Instants (10)
• 2 Broadside Barrage
• 2 Opt
• 2 Skycrash
• 4 Torch the Tower

• Sorceries (8)
• 4 Ill-Timed Explosion
• 4 Sleight of Hand

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Roaring Furnace // Steaming Sauna
• 4 Artist's Talent

• Artifacts (5)
• 1 Brass's Tunnel-Grinder
• 4 Monument to Endurance

• Lands (20)
• 3 Island
• 3 Mountain
• 2 Thundering Falls
• 4 Riverpyre Verge
• 4 Shivan Reef
• 4 Spirebluff Canal

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Deck's Record: 1-4

Deck's Grade: B

Deck Potential: Surprisingly High

Standout Card: Monument to Endurance

One of the important things to note about Ten New Brews (or most pieces of content) is that they are pretty small sample sizes. Some decks have a bad run but show great promise, and that's exactly what we have here.

Artist's Talent plus Monument to Endurance is a hell of an engine. If you are able to consistently discard on demand, especially on your opponent's turn, Monument to Endurance is not only a great engine but a great win condition as well.

Add this to the one-two punch of Marauding Mako and Scrounging Skyray for some early and well sized creatures, and there's a lot to like about what's going on here.

The difficulty is figuring out the right mix, as so many cards push in so many different directions. Artist's Talent wants you to cast non-creature spells. Marauding Mako and Monument to Endurance want you to discard, which is better served by one-mana cycling cards. How much removal do you want? Do you even want creatures?

There are a lot of questions here, but there's also a lot of very powerful untapped potential.

(Speedy) Mogg Monday | Aetherdrift Standard | Jim Davis, Ten New Brews

• Creatures (29)
• 2 Draconautics Engineer
• 2 Greasewrench Goblin
• 2 Squee, Dubious Monarch
• 3 Fanatical Firebrand
• 4 Burnout Bashtronaut
• 4 Howlsquad Heavy
• 4 Krenko, Mob Boss
• 4 Rundvelt Hordemaster
• 4 Searslicer Goblin

• Instants (4)
• 4 Torch the Tower

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Impact Tremors

• Lands (23)
• 16 Mountain
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Amonkhet Raceway

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Deck's Record: 4-1

Deck's Grade: B

Deck Potential: Higher Than Expected!

Standout Card: Amonkhet Raceway

I cheated a little bit here, as I had a goblin deck built but played against someone playing a version that was featuring the new Start Your Engines mechanic to great success, so I changed mine a bit, also to great success!

The goal here is of course to give haste to Krenko, Mob Boss. One or two activations will end the game, so the deck is really twisted towards that end. Howlsquad Heavy does a great job of this while also doing a fine Goblin Rabblemaster impression, but the real prize is Amonkhet Raceway. Lands that Start Your Engines are excellent, as they allow you to start gaining speed as soon as you can attack and deal damage.

So, to get that speed going we turn to.... Impact Tremors? Wait Jim, is that just a crappy Commander card? Yes, it is, but with speed in the mix as well as a ton of token makers, Impact Tremors actually has more utility that it has ever had. Obviously Impact Tremors is a combo with Krenko, but even just Searslicer Goblin and Squee, Dubious Monarch making tokens left and right adds up.

Throw in the forgotten Rundvelt Hordemaster and some removal and you've got the biggest surprise of Ten New Brews. It remains to be seen if it can hold up to the other aggressive decks in the format, but this was a very good showing.

Rally the Ancestors | Aetherdrift Standard | Jim Davis, Ten New Brews

• Creatures (32)
• 1 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
• 2 Bloodghast
• 2 Gas Guzzler
• 2 Infestation Sage
• 2 Knight-Errant of Eos
• 3 Zahur, Glory's Past
• 4 Bartolome del Presidio
• 4 Gnawing Vermin
• 4 Nesting Bot
• 4 Snarling Gorehound
• 4 Vengeful Bloodwitch

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Eaten Alive
• 4 Raise the Past

• Lands (22)
• 2 Plains
• 4 Swamp
• 4 Bleachbone Verge
• 4 Caves of Koilos
• 4 Concealed Courtyard
• 4 Shadowy Backstreet

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Deck's Record: 1-4

Deck's Grade: D

Deck Potential: Low

Standout Card: Gas Guzzler

There's always at least one dud in Ten New Brews, and you're looking at it.

The idea was simple enough - put a bunch of crappy creatures in the graveyard, including a sacrifice outlet like Bartolome del Presidio and a drain effect like Vengeful Bloodwitch, sacrifice everything, and then bring them all back with Raise the Past to do it all over again.

The problem is the deck had essentially zero engine to get actually get there, except maybe Snarling Gorehound.

The deck needed some way produce some velocity and draw cards, as we just didn't really get anywhere besides naturally drawing some 1/1s. Gas Guzzler seemed pretty awesome, but getting max speed with this deck was not easy.

This one would need a total overhaul.

Deathrite Dredge | Aetherdrift Standard | Jim Davis, Ten New Brews

• Creatures (26)
• 2 Haywire Mite
• 2 Osteomancer Adept
• 2 Overlord of the Balemurk
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Molt Tender
• 4 Rubblebelt Maverick
• 4 Snarling Gorehound
• 4 Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler

• Instants (3)
• 3 Cache Grab

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Quag Feast

• Enchantments (6)
• 2 Dredger's Insight
• 4 Insidious Roots

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Agatha's Soul Cauldron

• Lands (21)
• 3 Forest
• 2 Swamp
• 4 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Llanowar Wastes
• 4 Underground Mortuary
• 4 Wastewood Verge

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Deck's Record: 1-4

Deck's Grade: C

Deck Potential: More Than Previously, I Guess?

Standout Card: Molt Tender

Insidious Roots is one of those cards that is clearly very powerful, but nobody has really been able to get to work consistently despite it being in Standard for a while now.

It's also super unclear exactly how you're supposed to build the deck beyond the core Insidious Roots plus Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler engine. Once you get those two cards in play and start to go wild, awesome! But what about when you can't find Insidious Roots or other things don't go to plan?

The deck certainly got some upgrades, as Molt Tender is just the perfect card for the deck and Quag Feast supplies some powerful and synergistic removal, but this deck remains an enigma.

Trash For Treasure | Aetherdrift Standard | Jim Davis, Ten New Brews

• Creatures (12)
• 2 Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer
• 2 Nahiri, the Unforgiving
• 4 Fear of Missing Out
• 4 Splitskin Doll

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Chandra, Spark Hunter

• Instants (3)
• 3 Torch the Tower

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Explosive Getaway
• 2 Day of Judgment
• 4 Tune Up

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Builder's Talent

• Artifacts (12)
• 2 Collector's Vault
• 2 Fomori Vault
• 2 Portal to Phyrexia
• 3 Chainsaw
• 3 Valor's Flagship

• Lands (22)
• 2 Plains
• 2 Mountain
• 2 Mirrex
• 4 Battlefield Forge
• 4 Elegant Parlor
• 4 Inspiring Vantage
• 4 Sunbillow Verge

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Deck's Record: 2-3

Deck's Grade: C

Deck Potential: Low to Medium

Standout Card: Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer

The combination of Tune Up and Valor's Flagship seems almost too good to be true, and it mostly turned out as such.

Tune Up is just a slightly buffed version of Refurbish, a card that saw a good amount of play the last time it was in Standard, and with a big dumb vehicle in the set that even has cycling, Tune Up can make Valor's Flagship into a permanent 7/7 flying flrst strike lifelinker.

The problem is that this will often not be enough to be worth all the work that got put into it, as there are just too many ways to deal with it or even just ignore it and win anyway.

That being said, while Valor's Flagship didn't play out very well, the engine itself wasn't half bad. Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer is a powerful card, especially returning Portal to Phyrexia, while the biggest surprise was how well Nahiri, the Unforgiving played. It was great to loot stuff, but being able to return Splitskin Doll, Chainsaw, or Fear of Missing Out for another go was very nice.

Cool things happening here, but the main course of Valor's Flagship kinda meh.

Sol-Bots | Aetherdrift Standard | Jim Davis, Ten New Brews

• Creatures (21)
• 2 Skrelv, Defector Mite
• 3 Marketback Walker
• 4 Gingerbrute
• 4 Nesting Bot
• 4 Splitskin Doll
• 4 Swooping Lookout

• Artifacts (17)
• 1 Thousand Moons Smithy // Barracks of the Thousand
• 2 Collector's Cage
• 2 Glass Casket
• 2 Sword of Forge and Frontier
• 2 Unidentified Hovership
• 4 Perilous Snare
• 4 Salvation Engine

• Lands (22)
• 12 Plains
• 2 Soulstone Sanctuary
• 4 Mirrex
• 4 Muraganda Raceway

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Deck's Record: 3-2

Deck's Grade: B+

Deck Potential: Medium to High

Standout Card: Murganda Raceway

Our last brew was perhaps my favorite and really showcased the power of the Start Your Engines! mechanic.

Being able to start your engines as early as turn one with Muraganda Raceway or Nesting Bot was awesome, as was the perfect draw of Raceway into Gingerbrute for 2 speed on turn one. And once you've got max speed, having an Ancient Tomb to play your bigger stuff, as well as doling out counters with your super Banishing Lights was awesome.

This extra mana was great to funnel into Salvation Engine, which was an overperformer. Pumping the squad was great, it was huge against sweepers, and bringing stuff back was great too, and Mirrex was awesome for ensuring you've got bodies for it. Sword of Forge and Frontier was also great with Mirrex and the extra mana.

This was a sweet one and one I'd definitely like to work on more.

Max Speed Pro Tour

The crazy part about Aetherdrift is how soon Pro Tour Aetherdrift is.

The set officially releases in paper on February 14th, and our decklists are due five days later on February 19th, with the Pro Tour itself starting on the 21st. That's a crazy fast turnaround!

With so little info before the big event, there's always a level of excitement for someone to show up with something super spicy... I just hope it's us!