We're back for one final run with Aetherdrift previews! The card image gallery has been completed as of today and we have the complete list of cards coming with the latest Magic: The Gathering expansion. Last Friday, I ran through many of the previews from the previous week, and now I'm doing the same for this second and final week of previews, as well as the Commander cards shown off last week. Let's get right into it!

New Hotness

Described during the Weekly MTG stream, it was previewed as potentially being "the most dangerous card in the set," and it's not hard to see why. Radiant Lotus takes the concept of being a Black Lotus inspired effect and cranks it to 11. Requiring 6 mana up front is a lot, but this turns a critical mass of artifacts into a gigantic mana swing that can completely dominate any game it's used in. It might even have an impact as far back as Vintage, thanks to the format's liberal use of cheap artifacts, but it's sure to be a slam dunk in Commander at the very least.

When Mark Rosewater released his usual set teaser for Aetherdrift, players were eagerly anticipating the one-mana 13/13 that crewed for 2 mana. Expectations and guesses seemed to frequently reference Phyrexian Dreadnought, but in this case it ended up being much closer to Death's Shadow. More importantly, though, was the speed ability, allowing you to draw tons of cards at the cost of some life - a cost that can easily be mitigated thanks to Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber's presence in Standard.

Prowess and Double Strike alone would be enough for this card to be a hit, but the fact that it also provides removal for not just creatures but permanents as well makes this a home run. This certainly looks to be the best of the new Gearhulk cycle and it has plenty of hype surrounding it as a result. Now all that's left is to see if a new deck can come out to back up that power level.

The Latest Commander Cards

Precon face card? Get out of here with that nonsense. The Eternal Might deck's backup commander - Hashaton, Scarab's Fist - has gotten a ton of hype from all kinds of players. Given how easy it is to make a reanimator deck with discard enablers, this got a lot of attention for the amount of shenanigans you can get up to with it. Additionally, it's brought plenty of renewed attention to several classic cards like Tortured Existence and Varina, Lich Queen. Expect to see a ton of this commander floating around for some time.

Many players - myself included - fell immediately in love with this art. It was both adorable and showed an evolving world as Amonkhet rebuilt itself following the events of Hour of Devastation. Then at the end of last week, we saw the actual card get previewed and the design is just fantastic. Not only does it boost creatures of a specific type, but it also makes token copies of them, providing the potential for some extremely powerful plays in typal decks.

The energy precon Living Energy brings with it a whole host of awesome new designs for all kinds of energy-based decks. The last two energy releases focused on Jeskai builds, and now here we see a Temur one bringing with it several Green cards into the mix. Case in point is Nissa, Worldsoul Speaker which allows players to make tons of energy and play massive spells with that energy. Can you say Aetherworks Marvel decks anyone?

Reprints and Special Treatments

These decks aren't just full of great new cards either, but rather they're stuffed to the brim with outstanding reprints. The Living Energy deck in particular is extremely juiced, with several high profile reprints including Academy Ruins, Elder Gargaroth, Conjurer's Closet, Retrofitter Foundry, Triplicate Titan, and more. That's a ton! The Eternal Might also includes heavy hitters like The Scarab God, Unholy Grotto, and Bontu's Monument, making for a set of pretty juiced precons. Check out the full lists with all the cards right here.

While the main set of Aetherdrift didn't see too many notable reprints revealed since last week, both Spell Pierce and Lightning Strike were revealed to be in the set. This doesn't change things too much for Lightning Strike besides keeping it in Standard past the next rotation. Spell Pierce, however, disappeared from Standard with the 2024 rotation. This brings it back into Standard after a 6-month absence and has many players eager to utilize it once again for a few more years.

Perhaps most interesting this time around were the remaining Special Guest cards shown during the Weekly MTG stream. The first three shown off last week felt fairly standard as far as Special Guest cards go, if perhaps a bit more stylized. Here, however, it's clear we're veering much more into Secret Lair territory with cards like Bone Miser (featuring art by cartoonist Jay Howell) and the wild Whir of Invention (with art by noise rock legend Brian Chippendale). This suggests a new direction for Special Guests, and brings with it some interesting reprints in the process.

Additional Resources

If you'd like more information on this set, check out the following links to various official resources from Wizards of the Coast:

• Aetherdrift official card image gallery
• Collecting Aetherdrift
• Aetherdrift Mechanics
• Aetherdrift story

That wraps it up for this round of Aetherdrift previews! The set races into your local game store next Friday (February 7) for prerelease, so make sure you check in to get in on all the action! If you want to ensure you get the cards you need or can't attend prerelease, you can always check out the Aetherdrift store page right here on CoolStuffInc.com and pick up whatever you need.

Paige Smith

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