Wizards of the Coast previews amazing new MTG cards for Aetherdrift expansion

Thanks to the most recent MTG preview session, we got a little peek at the game's upcoming Aetherdrift expansion. To me, it feels very much like Wacky Races, but in a Magic: The Gathering setting, and I love that idea. We only got to see three of the upcoming cards, but it really does a lot to set the tone. This feels like it will be a very artifact-heavy set, and I’m all for more of those. While the expansion itself won’t be out until February 14, 2024, I’m very excited to see more.

MTG Aetherdrift is a part of the 2025 launch schedule, and though it wasn’t the only thing we got a look at, as far as new content, it’s among the most exciting prospects, at least for cards that had actual stats on them.

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MTG Aetherdrift preview: Brightglass Gearhulk, Daretti Rocketeer Engineer, and Earthrumbler

As a part of the recent MTG preview, we got to see a trio of amazing new Aetherdrift cards. For those who do not know, Aetherdrift is a high-speed, high-stakes death race across a trio of planes. Players will be able to select a racer from among 10 two-color aligned teams and fight it out for the coveted Aetherspark trophy.

Let's fetch some powerful cards! (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

First up is the Brightglass Gearhulk, a Mythic Rare Green and White artifact creature. Gearhulks are a familiar type of artifact creature, and I’m very interested to see how this one influences the meta. Thankfully, it doesn’t have Flash, though it does have First Strike and Trample.

When this 4/4 creature enters play, you can search your deck for up to two artifact, creature, and/or enchantment cards with mana value 1 or less, reveal them, and put them into your hand. For 4 mana, that’s a pretty solid fetch card. Since it only requires you to put it into play, you can easily flicker this in and out to get more low-cost, high-value cards.

This is one rad goblin engineer (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Next up for MTG Aetherdrift is the Rare Legendary Red creature, Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer. A 5-drop may seem like a high cost in red, but it has some serious value. A */5, his power is equal to the greatest value among artifacts you control. Cheat out something huge, and you can do some real damage with this creature.

However, he also has another very useful power. Whenever Daretti enters play or attacks, you can choose an artifact creature in your graveyard. If you sacrifice an artifact, you can return the chosen card to the field. Sacrifice a token, and retrieve one of your big heaters to set up combos? I’m a huge fan already.

This is a less-powerful Master Transmuter, sure, but I’m always a fan of cheating powerful cards into play for absolutely no effort whatsoever.

Crew costs are annoying, anyway (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Vehicle cards are interesting, and this MTG Aetherdrift preview card gets around the most annoying part of this whole card archetype. It’s a 7/6 Green Artifact Vehicle that costs 5 mana. It has a Crew 3 cost, so you have to tap creatures with power totaling 3 or more to make it an artifact creature, but there’s a better way.

You can instead make it a creature until end of turn by exiling an artifact or creature card from your graveyard. In a pinch, you can make this a game-winning card. I’d love to see it in a enchantment deck, thanks to it already having Vigilance and Trample right out of the gate. I’d definitely sneak it into a deck starring Tyvar, the Pummeler as a game-winning bomb.

I’m very excited for MTG Aetherdrift overall. Though we’ve only seen some art and a few creatures, I like the setting, and I like having more ways to get around Crew costs. We’ll likely have to wait a few months to see more, but I think this expansion’s going to be a nice, flavorful trip.

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