If you’re looking for a Tune Up, look no further! I’ll be breaking down every Aetherdrift card to get you a head start with the new set! For those interested, J2SJosh is still in my basement, and he has been rewarded for good behavior! Keep up the good work, basement buddy!
5.0: Disgustingly powerful and basically unbeatable. Either answer it the turn it comes down or just pack up your cards. (Gruff Triplets, Virtue of Persistence, The Eternal Wanderer)
4.5: Incredible bomb that still gives your opponent a slim chance. (Virtue of Loyalty, Imodane's Recruiter, Realm-Scorcher Hellkite)
4.0: Great rare or the absolute best uncommons and removal. (Faunsbane Troll, Gumdrop Poisoner, Talion’s Messenger)
3.5: Great role filler or removal that you never cut. (Candy Grapple, Hearth Elemental, Torch the Tower)
3.0: Good playable that I’m basically never cutting. (Shrouded Shepherd, Spellscorn Coven, Sharae of Numbing Depths)
2.5: Decent playable and the bar I hope nearly every card in my deck to reach. (Evolving Wilds, Archon's Glory, Flick a Coin)
2.0: Mediocre filler that normally is your 20-23rd card(s). (Mintstrosity, Ice Out, Grabby Giant)
1.5: Replaceable, overall bad filler. Could also be decent sideboard cards. (Titanic Growth, Scarecrow Guide, Territorial Witchstalker)
1.0: Bad filler. Gets cut most of the time. (Dark Tutelage, Kindled Heroism, Impact Tremors)
0.5: Very unhappy to main deck this, but maybe it has fringe sideboard applications. Cards that “could” be situationally decent, but bad in most situations. (Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, Mana Flare)
0.0: Unplayable in every possible situation. They rarely print cards this bad these days. (Hew the Entwood, One with Nothing)
Afterburner Expert
Rating: 3.5 // 5.0
This guy is extremely pesky. It’s big enough to trade with creatures, as well as threaten your opponents’ life total.
Agonasaur Rex
Rating: 4.0 // 5.0
This is a gigantic 5 drop, that isn’t too hard to cast. Cycling it as a combat trick is very powerful as well, and will likely be underutilized. To help contextualize the cycling ability, think of it as an instant spell: Put 2 +1/1 counters, trample/indestructible until EOT, draw a card.
Alacrian Jaguar
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is a well designed card overall, but still falls a bit short. It’s fine filler if you need some top end thickness.
Autarch Mammoth
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
6 mana for 8/8 worth of stats is solid, and if you can manage to assemble a crew large enough to mount the beast, spitting out 3/3’s is no joke.
Beastrider Vanguard
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
An unexciting two drop, however, the activated ability on this guy starts to become very relevant when you get to the late game.
Bestow Greatness
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
If you need a combat trick, this one will suffice. It works especially well with huge creatures, but I wouldn’t want to run more than 1 copy.
Broken Wings
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
I never thought I’d see the day when Broken Wings is a decent maindeck card, but here we are. There are plenty of targets this set to feel fine putting a copy in your main deck.
Defend the Rider
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
I’m not super excited about this trick, but it is versatile. The best way to use it is for an instant speed pilot to crew a vehicle to block with. As a protection trick, it’s not quite Snakeskin Veil, but it does the job.
District Mascot
Rating: 3.5 // 5.0
This little pup starts growing as early as turn two, snowballing out of control pretty quick. At worst, you can saddle this and sacrifice him to kill an artifact, so it’s always pretty good.
Dredger’s Insight
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This is close to Regrowth, but it also fills your graveyard and gains some life.
Earthrumbler
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This is a giant beater and blocker that’s fairly easy to crew up.
Elvish Refueler
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This can create some very problematic board states, like spitting out 3/3’s with Stampeding Scurryfoot among many, many, others. It’s essentially a must kill creature if you’re unable to ignore it.
Fang Guardian
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This works well on offense or defence, though sometimes it’s just a bit awkward.
Fang-Druid Summoner
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
One of the best creatures to pair with this is Terrian, World Tyrant, which you can deploy the next turn.
Greenbelt Guardian
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
A very solid 2 drop that can threaten attacks by becoming a 5/5. The trample activation is also something to keep in mind.
Hazard of the Dunes
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
The exhaust is a bit expensive, but this is large enough to be relevant until 7 mana.
Jibbirik Omnivore
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This guy will trade with almost every other 2 drop. It is a nice early beater, but becomes irrelevant pretty quickly.
Loxodon Surveyor
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is a pretty weak 3 drop, and you should try to avoid having to play it in your deck.
Lumbering Worldwagon
Rating: 4.0 // 5.0
This gets out of control right away. You get to 5 mana the turn after you play it, making it fairly easy to crew. Even if it dies during attacking, you’re still up 2 lands.
March of the World Ooze
Rating: 3.5 // 5.0
This is kind of a windmill slam win card when you have board presence. It obviously requires you have creatures, but assuming that’s the case, you should win most games you play it.
Migrating Ketradon
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
A big solid beater that’s hard to ignore. The life gain also helps stabilize games when you’re behind.
Molt Tender
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
While not quite Birds of Paradise, it’s close. It helps self-mill, ramp, and mana fix, for the low, low price of 1 mana!
Ooze Patrol
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is a bit too inconsistent for 4 mana, though it could be alright in a deck with plenty of self mill.
Oviya, Automech Artisan
Rating: 1.0 // 5.0
This is far too slow for limited. The turn after you play this, you’ll be at 5 mana, which should be enough to cast most of your deck already.
Plow Through
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
A cheap removal spell to fight or blow up vehicles.
Point the Way
Rating: 1.0 // 5.0
This is an inconsistent mana ramp spell, I’d try to avoid.
Pothole Mole
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
A solid 3 drop that should net you a free land the majority of the time.
Regal Imperiosaur
Rating: 3.5 // 5.0
A gigantic 3 drop that’s quite problematic for the next few turns. There are 4 other dinosaurs at common/uncommon between red and green, so the +1/+1 can be relevant.
Rise from the Wreck
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This can be crazy card advantage in the right circumstances, able to return 4 cards for 3 mana is incredibly powerful. It doesn’t mill any cards itself, so it can fall a little short outside of self mill decks.
Run Over
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This is the go-to common removal spell for green. Instant speed Rabid Bite, that can be cast for 1 is pretty hard to beat.
Silken Strength
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
In a similar vein of Bestow Greatness, this can be a 23rd card if you need a combat trick.
Stampeding Scurryfoot
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This is a lot better than it looks at first glance, and possibly the best green common. 5 mana for 5/5 worth of stats is fine, but paying in increments makes a huge difference.
Terrian, World Tyrant
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This is a must-address threat. If no removal spell hits this, your opponent will need to keep chump blocking, or trade 2-3 creatures to kill it in combat.
Thunderous Velocipede
Rating: 3.5 // 5.0
This is a gigantic 3 drop that makes every subsequent creature bigger, and big creatures significantly bigger. You shouldn’t have any issues crewing this, as long as you have creatures to play afterwards.
Veloheart Bike
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is on the weaker side for a streamlined two-color deck. It’s more like a 2.0 for decks that require the mana fixing.
Venomsac Lagac
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This is a perfectly fine 2 drop. The saddle ability isn’t super relevant, but deathtouch is great in this format with gigantic ground creatures.
Webstrike Elite
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This is at its best when you get to cycle it, but that’s on the expensive side. It’s perfectly playable, but it’s far from broken.
Top 3 Green Commons:
Stampeding Scurryfoot Run Over Migrating Ketradon
Green has the deepest pool of playable commons, able to support plenty of green decks at the table. I would assume green is the best individual color this set, and has very few “bad cards”. I’ll be finishing up with multicolored/artifacts next, stay tuned!
Lose and Learn, Learn and Win!
