MTG Aetherdrift introduces incredible new 'Speed' mechanic

MTG Aetherdrift comes with a wealth of fun cards, and new ‘Speed’ / ‘Max speed’ abilities. After all, what would a race to the death be without a little “gotta go fast” in it? It wouldn’t be the Aetherdrift, that’s for sure. I’m a big fan of this ability, and I’ve already seen a handful of cards that I think are powerful if you can get that speed going early in a game of Magic: The Gathering.

During our recent press preview, we got a look at this mechanic and how it works. Thankfully, it’s not something you can easily max out in one turn, since the game puts a firm halt to that through its own mechanics. The Speed mechanic in MTG Aetherdrift rewards aggressive and clever gameplay with some unique bonuses, depending on how you build your deck.

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MTG Aetherdrift’s new Speed mechanic rewards aggressive play with amazing bonuses

In MTG Aetherdrift, there’s a new mechanic called Speed. It works in a relatively simple way. First, you must play a card that features the text Start your engines! That’s the first trigger for speed in your gameplay. If you have no Speed at this point, you now have 1 speed. It increases once on each of your turns when an opponent loses life.

Just imagine this in a low-cost, high-value artifact deck with some Speed going (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

In addition, the maximum Speed you can accrue in MTG Aetherdrift is 4. What’s interesting is that, in multiplayer games, it doesn’t have to be you who deals the damage. As long as an opponent loses life for any reason, you gain that +1 speed. However, it also only triggers once a turn, and since there are no counters involved, I don’t believe you can proliferate this at all.

The vast majority of cards with Start your Engines! also have a bit of card text that reads Max Speed in MTG Aetherdrift. This means: if you reach that 4 speed, you get something special out of it. One example is Vnwxf, Verbose Host. If you have Max Speed and he’s in play, you draw two cards instead.

If you already have a card with Start your Engines! on it and you play another, you don’t gain more speed. However, it doesn’t reset you back to one, either. You can get a maximum of 2 speed that the first turn you play a Start your Engines! card - 1 from the card itself and 1 from the damage to an opponent.

Who doesn't love free card draw? (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

What I love about this is, the more Max Speed effects you have in play, the more ridiculous stuff you can do. You can duplicate artifacts you cast, get free zombies, and all manner of crazy interactions can happen.

It could be a fun way to trigger a mid-game bomb and make players wary of incoming damage/combos. I’m a huge fan of this interaction and can’t wait to see more cards with it.

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MTG Aetherdrift launches on February 14, 2025, and the spoiler season begins today, January 21, 2025.