We've had quite a gap since our last Standard set release, but Aetherdrift is finally upon us! This racing themed set focuses heavily on all kinds of vehicles, mounts, and more to give an edge to your game. As is usual with new sets, Aetherdrift brings with it a slew of brand new common cards - 78 in total - and today we're going to look through and discuss the best of the bunch. There's a surprisingly high amount to cover today so let's dive right in and see what

Start Your Engines! and Speed

I don't think it's difficult for me to say that this mechanic just isn't for Pauper in a broad scope. The mechanic requires you both to spend three turns setting up to reach max speed and also requires you to be dishing out regular damage (the first turn you start at one, then attack which puts you at two). In most situations, these two aspects of the game are at odds with each other. Aggro decks want to be dealing damage fast, not over a long period of time, and the decks that want to go long are control decks that don't typically deal very much damage.

This is a format where turn four kills are possible, and even turn three kills are perfectly viable with the right setup of draws, albeit much more of a rarity. The ironically slow build up that speed requires here just isn't where you want to be for the most part when it comes to Pauper. It's much more of a Limited and possibly Standard consideration instead. Let's talk about a few of the actual cards for a moment.

I think there's only two cards that may realistically see play: Lightwheel Enhancements and Avishkar Raceway.

Lightwheel Enhancements is extremely comparable to Sentinel's Eyes, a card that already sees play in Bogles and to a lesser extent Mono-White Heroic. Personally I like this more than that card, but it comes with more risk. Decks like Bogles and Heroic get attacks going quickly, meaning its one of the few decks that can get up to speed reliably fast. If you can't get the hits in, though, you can feel a bit stuck with this compared to Sentinel's Eyes, but I think usually you'll be going enough to get your hits in. There's also some talk of potential combo decks looping it, but I think those are a bit sketchier. Still, I'm a fan of this and look forward to it showing up.

Avishkar Raceway on the other hand is something you want to be taking a slower approach with. This is a card tailor made for more control-oriented decks to have as a card filtration engine in the late game. The trick with these kinds of decks is getting the damage through to make the max speed relevant and if you're in those spots, chances are you're already winning. The card definitely seems like it can do good things, it's mostly a matter at this point of how relevant it is for the decks that want it.

Let's talk about a few others that I don't think will be very good. Walking Sarcophagus is a mediocre creature on the front side, but the fact that it can turn into a 3/3 for two mana as an artifact is a real potential threat. The lead time makes me feel it's unlikely that anything will happen with it, but hey, I'm willing to be wrong when it comes to an aggressive creature like this while Affinity is still very much a thing.

The next two are Kickoff Celebrations and Endrider Catalyzer. Both of these are worth noting because they're both cards that have interesting effects, but they're too slow to be useful in a timely manner. With Kickoff Celebrations, the comparison is easy, just look at Bitter Reunion. Sure, you can get the haste activation for free with this, but you're using it so late, you're just better off paying the one mana on Reunion. In the case of the Catalyzer, it's interesting to note because it's a Mono-Red mana dork, but again, it's way too slow to get going in a timely manner for you to use that mana.

Last but not least is a cycle of cards that all allow you to exile them from your graveyard for a card when you have max speed. These cards are neat, but they're all statted like middling Limited fodder and as such probably aren't where you want to be in Pauper.

Exhaust

For the most part, exhaust isn't that good, nor is it really anything new. If you swapped the exhaust ability on any of the above cards, you'd probably just think they were creatures with Monstrous like from Theros. Each of them are fairly generic creatures designed much more with Limited in mind than Constructed. Still, there are two I'm at least a little interested in.

This card is kind of great? A one mana 1/1 isn't the most exciting thing in the world, but it's not a bad way to start a game as an aggressive deck. More importantly, if you can get the mana to exhaust it, that's a lot of extra power on the board. Most decks don't want a one mana 1/1, though, so that holds it back, but I certainly like this design overall.

A Colorless Gray Ogre isn't anything to write home about, but it's worth mentioning in that you can exhaust it for more power and an additional artifact body. Probably not enough to make a big splash in the format, but it's interesting all the same.

Now that we've got the new mechanics out of the way, let's get into the real meat and potatoes of the set with all the other cards.

Vivien's Grizzly is still a card that shows up here and there in creature-heavy lists that utilize a ton of mana (see Elves and Walls Combo). This is a pretty comparable effect that's better for two reasons. For one, you get three looks for your mana as opposed to just one, which means you're getting more value for your mana. Additionally, it allows you to take any permanent and not just a creature, which is relevant for finding sideboard cards such as Spidersilk Armor and the like. For my money, this is just going to be an upgrade for those decks looking for the Vivien's Grizzly mana sink, but the fact that it's more fragile is a very real downside you need to take into account.

There's a lot of solid action happening here. The stats are very aggressive and the fact that it's something you can flash in means you can push through a lot of combat damage and have a solid vehicle for the following turn. There's something to be said about the fact that it's also artifact fodder for the decks that care about it. I like a lot about what's happening here, and while I'm not entirely holding my breath for it to make an impact in the format, I'm eager to see someone trying to do something with the card.

There's a lot to love with this one. Cost reduction creatures are always good, and while this does compare to another card that doesn't really see play (Writhing Necromass), the artifact count and cycling aspect of the card give it far more utility. As a result, it's much easier to cast than the Necromass, and can be cycled away if you feel you don't need it and want to find something better. Naturally, it's also a possibility for a deck like Cycle Storm, but the cycle cost being makes it a bit of a harder sell. Maybe as a one or two-of at best.

This is another solid modal effect that offers some shades of Thraben Charm for hitting artifacts. The big problem with it is that it's far less impactful than Thraben Charm has proven to be and also being a sorcery is a huge negative in terms of playability. Still, it's a nice option for players looking for both effects in one card.

Frankly, I don't think any of these cards are particularly spectacular. Each of these works great on its own and - mostly - have comparable versions already in Pauper (see Goblin Arsonist and Sanitarium Skeleton for examples). Each of them is only good when there are good vehicles and mounts to take advantage of, and unfortunately in Pauper, those don't really exist - even with this set. If we see good vehicles/mounts in the future, these should be re-examined, but right now they're not anything special.

1/1 deathtouchers for one mana have never been good in Pauper, but at least this one gives you something to do in the late game as well as the early game, I guess. I still wouldn't expect it to see play, though.

It's not hard to saddle this and get solid value out of it in the process. Realistically, though, how much do you want to be playing a two mana 2/2 that essentially requires another 1/1 to function well? Bears aren't where you want to be unless they're really pushing the game, and I'm not convinced that this does that.

Oh yeah, now here's a powerful card. The first thing many players will no doubt think of is Affinity decks, and you'd be right for thinking that. It's a great way to pick off creatures while filling your board with artifacts that enables you to set up for bigger turns later. At that point, it's just a matter of how many you want and what you're cutting for it. Personally, I'm more interested in seeing what the card does in Glint Hawk and Kor Skyfisher decks as another powerful permanent to pick up and replay for tons of value.

Affinity decks have utilized mana rocks before such as Springleaf Drum and Moonsnare Prototype. This one being an aggressively statted creature with a solid mana ability isn't bad, but the question becomes where do you fit it? The deck hasn't played either of the aforementioned mana rocks for some time now, and as such I doubt a two mana one isn't going to make it if the one-mana options are being cut. Some people will likely play with it, but it's probably not going to be a major player.

The body on this is not good, but the cycling ability gives it some degree of flexibility. Do I think that's good enough to see Constructed play? No, but I think it's at least worth noting that it's good to have modal cards like this in the format.

This is a fun card, but without the evoke cost to provide strong flexibility, this simply isn't close to being Pauper playable. With a crew cost like that and only 1 power of difference, just play actual Mulldrifter instead.

Garruk's Companion was a card that used to see play in Stompy but only rarely. This is easier to cast, but lacks the relevant trample effect. Stompy being Mono-Green would rather use the Companion, so this isn't going to be the new thing that puts that deck back on the map, but it might be worthwhile enough to use in a two-color deck with Green cards in it.

We've seen a lot of great variations on these kinds of one mana combat tricks lately and none have really made much impact. I wanted to mention this mostly because of the cycling ability, but I don't think that's exactly going to push this into being a super playable card compared to something like Archon's Glory or Jump Scare.

There's a whole ton of talk of this card comboing with Ophidian Eye. Make no mistake: it does, as once you discard, you'll deal a damage, draw a card, giving you a chance to discard again, and you have a loop. Some of the comments I've seen on the matter, though, involve having eight cards in your cleanup step to start it going. Have you played games of Constructed Magic? In the majority of circumstances, you aren't going to be playing a game where you're discarding to hand size.

That means you're probably going to need additional setup to pull this off. This is where I think this is a little more fragile than people realize. The comparisons right now are leaning on the Basking Broodscale and Sadistic Glee combo that is one of the best decks in the format. However, with that deck, you actually can just combo with two cards, and they're both two mana and one mana, with maybe another card or two for protection. Here, you need two three-mana cards (including alternatives to Ophidian Eye in Snake Umbra and Tandem Lookout), have an active discard outlet, and still hold up protection. That's way more fragile of a combo that has far more lead time required to get to the mana you need to get it going.

I have no doubt this combo will lead to a new combo deck existing in the format. Without a really tight and highly optimized build, though, it's probably tier two at best. If players can find a way to assemble the combo with ease and protect it cheaply, then we might have a talk, but as is I think it's too slow and fragile to reach Broodscale Combo levels of play.

Also, it is worth noting that this might be good for Cycling Storm as additional copies of Drannith Stinger. The costs being higher on both sides gives me pause on it, but we'll see what happens with it there. Maybe it shows up in small quantities, like one or two.

I saw a little buzz around this one during the preview season because of the interaction with cards like Krark-Clan Shaman and Crypt Rats. Both of these cards have shown up alongside Toxin Analysis to act as an outright board wipe as opposed to needing to scale your ability. The chatter surrounding Maximum Overdrive is that it enables your creatures to survive to wipe the board again after the fact. The thing is, though, we already had this in Black thanks to Battle-Rage Blessing and Offer Immortality, both of which have seen zero play.

That's not to say Maximum Overdrive isn't better than the other two, because it is, but it's worth noting the comparison. The big difference between them is providing a +1/+1 counter to these creatures. That means your creatures might not just get one more board wipe but multiple, assuming you're only looking to pick off a bunch of 1/1s. That makes the card quite a bit more deadly, so at that point you're left with the question of what do you prefer out of deck-building: a two-mana spell that lets you wrath again, or a one-mana spell that gains you a ton of life but you can only wrath once. You likely won't run both, and for now in this fast and aggressive mana, I think the cheaper life gain provided by Toxin Analysis will win out for the moment.

One final note on the card: this also benefits Basking Broodscale greatly. Tamiyo's Safekeeping is cheaper, which is often important, but Maximum Overdrive not only protects your Broodscale, it also puts a counter onto the Broodscale to make an eldrazi spawn token. That's a pretty big deal and might make this worth playing in that deck as well.

The fact that this just becomes a creature on opponents' turns makes it a solid defensive threat that can be an aggressive one when you need it to be. I don't think that's good enough at two mana, but it's worth noting regardless.

We've been getting a lot of these lately, and they're great for Limited, but we've had this effect before in Pauper and in better versions. Aviation Pioneer and Ghirapur Gearcrafter are both cheaper and Aspiring Aeronaut has flying. None of these are remotely playable in Pauper, though, and neither will this card.

Four mana for this is a lot, but it's important to remember that it triggers off any artifact entering the battlefield, which includes artifact lands. The most obvious comparison is to Reckless Fireweaver, which is a card that only occasionally shows up in the format. A big part of why it doesn't show up is that it's both easy to pick off and isn't an artifact, which hinders artifact synergies.

This one has way more going for it, as it's surprisingly harder to deal with than you might think at first blush. It survives Lightning Bolt and Snuff Out, which are two of the most prevalent removal spells in the format, and it also drains life instead of just dealing damage, allowing you to stay in the game longer. It also triggers off of itself when it enters, which means that even if your opponent does have a way to remove it, you still get some value out of it and it can just go nuts from there. The cost is the main questionable element, though, so while I think I'm higher on it than many others seem to be, we'll have to see if that bears out in play at all.

We've seen a lot of these effects over the years, but this is the first one that also damages your opponent as well. None of the ones that just hit you are good enough, but maybe this could be something for the Black-based Burn decks that exist in the format to deal damage while also drawing cards.

Bite Down effects aren't great in Pauper, but if we see a greater number of quality mounts and vehicles in the future, this card's stock can go way up. At one mana, this kind of effect is far better, but the cards needed to pull it off are in very short supply quality-wise.

This isn't that bad for something like Bogles. The deck has utilized Favor of the Overbeing before for vigilance and flying, and this provides a comparable effect, even if the untap effect is only a one-time thing. You probably don't want too many copies of this, but in flyer heavy metas, this is a solid option to have access to.

Cards that lower artifact costs have historically seen decent play in Pauper. That said, though, these days they're mostly just Altar Tron making use of Foundry Inspector with its largely colorless mana base. It's much harder to make this work reliably by comparison, though I've no doubt players will still try to make it work, though much more frequently on the casual side of Constructed play.

Yes it's a cheap and evasive artifact creature. No, that doesn't mean it's good for Affinity or anything like that. This isn't comparable to something like Refurbished Familiar and it's likely best left for bulk bins barring (unlikely) Standard play at some point.

That wraps things up for Aetherdrift! There's a lot of neat cards in the mix, but only a few seem like immediate standouts for a format like Pauper. Will we see a new combo deck rise up or will we just be left with a few standout role players? Time will tell, but it's very exciting to see what the set does for the format in the coming weeks. I'll be back with another Pauper review in April with the release of Tarkir: Dragonstorm, so I'll see you then for all kinds of exciting multicolored nonsense!

Paige Smith

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