The Best Cards In Aetherdrift Limited For MTG

Summary

• Aetherdrift format offers fun with vehicles & new mechanics, uncommons and rares are key.
• Cards like Pactdoll Terror and Rangers’ Refueler add value & strategy to the game.
• Cards like Migrating Ketradon, Ride’s End, and Thunderous Velocipede are powerful options.

Aetherdrift is a very fun Magic: The Gathering format to dive into, with all the great vehicles and mounts riding around everywhere, unique bombs, and brand new mechanics to explore.

There are tons of great cards to pick from, particularly with the rare and mythic rare cards, though that’s not to say there aren’t a few commons and uncommons to keep an eye on. If you’re looking for the best cards to build around while crafting your deck, we’ve got you covered.

There are a few very good Special Guests in this set, though we’re not going to cover them since they’re harder to come across in regular packs. If you get one in your Limited pool, generally you’re pretty safe to snag them since they’re pretty darn good.

8

Pactdoll Terror

Play The Drain Game

There is a ton of artifacts to be found in Aetherdrift so putting them to work so they do a little extra damage is the best thing you can do with them. This common black artifact creature costs four mana, so creeps into the midgame a bit for most decks.

What you get in exchange for the slower speed is that anytime Pactdoll Terror or another artifact comes into play, each of your opponents loses one life and you gain a life. This adds a little extra drain on your opponent’s life total, helping to inch them closer to a defeat.

The stats on Pactdoll Terror aren’t terrible either, making for a solid blocker in a pinch.

7

Rangers’ Refueler

Tons Of Bonus Value

The exhaust shell is a fairly strong archetype in Aetherdrift’s Limited format, so why not get a bonus effect every time you commit the mana to it, especially since you can only do it once a game per card (generally).

Rangers’ Refueler lets you draw a card anytime you activate an exhaust ability, which is pretty good for a two mana vehicle. Even better, Rangers’ Refueler has an exhaust ability tacked on it it, letting you permanently transform it from a regular vehicle to an artifact creature, while slapping a +1/+1 counter on it.

In a deck where you’ll likely have six or more other exhaust creatures, you can maximize your abilities to stay ahead of your opponent.

6

Migrating Ketradon

A Common Bomb

Big green creatures are the easiest bomb you can come across in Limited and Migrating Ketradon gives you a common option that is fairly easy to get your hands on. A six-mana 6/6 is right on curve when it comes to when it’s going to impact the game. There are not a lot of ways to deal with bigger creatures, especially for those in a kindred type like Dinosaurs, in Aetherdrift so picking up a few Ketradons is a safe bet.

When the Ketradon comes into play you gain four life, which in the mid to late game can help stabilize you if you’re running low from a few early game hits.

If you draw the Migrating Ketradon too early in the game, you can always cycle it away for two generic mana, digging through your deck to find whatever you need at the time.

5

Ride’s End

The Race Is Over

If you find yourself on the opposite end of a Migrating Ketradon, you’ll want to be able to hold off the heavy attacks with Ride’s End. This common instant is a five mana way to permanently remove either a creature or a vehicle from the game.

The nice thing about Ride’s End is that if you happen to be targeting a tapped creature or vehicle, the mana cost drops down to just one white and one generic mana, making it much more reasonable to cast.

You can hold up mana until when your opponent attacks and take whatever the biggest threat coming your way out of the game. You can also use it to get rid of any creature that comes with a tap ability that’s causing you problems.

4

Draconautics Engineer

Double The Exhaust

Just an overall good creature, Draconautics Engineer is a little two-mana 2/2 rare that has two very strong exhaust abilities that can all but win the game on its own. The exhaust ability you’ll want to use first is the four mana one that nets you a 4/4 Dinosaur Dragon creature with flying, which is a pretty good when you have nothing else to play once you hit four mana.

Now that you have a Dinosaur Dragon out, you can activate Draconautics Engineer’s first exhaust ability for one red mana to give all your other creatures haste for the turn and a +1/+1 counter on the Engineer. It might not be much, but you can surprise your opponent by dropping a bomb later in the game and give it haste in the same turn.

3

Thunderous Velocipede

Perhaps one of the best vehicles in a set loaded to the brim with vehicles, Thunderous Velocipede is a three-mana 5/5 mythic rare that has one of the strongest abilities in the set. With the Velocipede out, all your other creatures and vehicles come into play with an extra +1/+1 counter on it.

If that creature has a mana value of five or more, you get to have that creature enter with three bonus +1/+1 counters instead, which is a huge upgrade to practically every creature you play.

Your opponent will be on the back step trying to find a way to answer the vehicle, and during that time you can keep dropping more and more creatures on the board. By the time they’ve found an answer to your Thunderous Velocipede, you’ll have a few boosted baddies ou,t they’ll have to answer next.

2

The Aetherspark

A Planeswalker For Every Deck

One of the hardest planeswalkers to kill in Magic, The Aetherspark doesn’t work like your traditional planeswalker. First and foremost, you can equip The Aetherspark on to your creatures since it is a functional equipment. Once it’s attached, it is immune to combat damage though it still can be damaged via spells and abilities.

Now that you’ve got The Aetherspark attached, you can start ticking up the planeswalker, both through its +1 ability to give a creature a +1/+1 counter, and then dealing damage with an equipped creature also adds loyalty counters to it. If you’re able to keep The Aetherspark attached and get some decent hits in, you can keep drawing cards or pop the -10 ability to get ten mana of one color.

1

Agonasaur Rex

The Biggest Bomb Of Them All

Five mana gets you an 8/8 with trample, and it’s only in the rare slot, which is incredible for anyone who opens this in their Limited pool. Outside of a hard removal spell, there’s not much your opponents will be able to do to stop this Dinosaur from sweeping the board.

If for some reason you’re in a pinch, you can cycle Agonasaur Rex for three mana. Doing so lets you put two +1/+1 counters on a creature or vehicle you control, while also giving it trample and indestructible for the turn.