Aetherdrift Mechanics

The Grand Prix is only moments away, and if you don't want to be left in the dust, you'd be well advised to get up to speed on all the new and returning mechanics coming in Aetherdrift. We've got a crash course on these rules of the road right here, and since these racing references are coming to me all fast and furious-like, we really should just get on with it. We'll be going over the major new and returning mechanics from Aetherdrift to help you gear up for the set's Prerelease events starting February 7, followed by its official release on February 14.

If you're looking to learn the basics of Magic, you can take this shortcut right here for a speedy tutorial. For an in-person tune-up, try new-player events like Magic Academy. No matter what kind of ride you're rocking, there's always a lane for you.

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Speed and Start Your Engines!

Pop quiz, hotshots. Which new mechanic is the most bussin'? It's speed: a new trait that players can have, along with its related mechanic, start your engines! (exclamation point and all). Start your engines! is a new keyword ability that gets things rolling. Streaking Oilgorger serves as the pace car for this section.

The first time in a game you control a permanent with start your engines!, your speed becomes 1. This happens immediately, so no one can respond and try to remove the permanent before you pick up speed. Once your speed is 1 or greater, you can trigger an ability to increase your speed. That ability is "Whenever one or more opponents lose life during your turn, if your speed is less than 4, increase your speed by 1. This ability triggers only once each turn." This ability isn't tied to any permanent. For the rest of the game, it can be triggered as long as your speed is less than 4, no matter what permanents you control.

You are bound by some rules and regs, though. Once your speed is 4, you've achieved "max speed," and your speed can't go any higher. Some cards, like Streaking Oilgorger, have abilities that care if you have max speed. These abilities are noted with "Max speed — [Ability]." That means that as long as you have max speed, meaning your speed is 4, the permanent has the stated ability. However, you don't always need max speed to benefit from cards that care about speed. Plenty of cards will reference your current speed and reward you based on that number as well. If you haven't started your engines and don't have speed yet, that number is 0.

Exhaust

Winning is everything, and sometimes you have to—have we used "pedal to the metal" yet? No? That's surprising, but sure—put the pedal to the metal! Exhaust abilities are activated abilities that can give you a potent punch, but only once. 

Exhaust abilities can have all sorts of effects. Not all of them involve +1/+1 counters, and a few of them aren't even on creatures! They usually have an easy way to remember that they've been activated, though, whether that's putting a counter on the permanent with the ability or creating a tricked-out token. If a permanent with an exhaust ability that's already been activated leaves the battlefield and then returns, it's a new object with a new instance of its exhaust ability. That exhaust ability can be activated.

Vehicles

Aetherdrift is a set that features the greatest multiplanar race ever conceived, so yes, we got Vehicles. Vehicle is a returning artifact subtype that pops up in most Magic sets these days, but if this is your first time behind the wheel, stick, or navigational array, here's a quick rundown.

Each Vehicle begins as simply an artifact. That is, a tantalizingly drivable artifact. Most Vehicles have the crew ability, which turns it into an artifact creature until end of turn. To activate a crew ability, you tap a number of other untapped creatures you control with total power greater than or equal to the number after crew. The crew ability doesn't use the symbol, so you can tap an untapped creature you control that just came under your control to crew a Vehicle. While a Vehicle can't be used to crew itself, a Vehicle that's a creature can be tapped to crew another Vehicle.

As Midnight Mangler so capably demonstrates, sometimes Vehicles have non-crew abilities that turn them into creatures as well. In all cases, if an ability turns a Vehicle into a creature and doesn't specify a power and toughness, use the power and toughness printed on the Vehicle. If the animating effect specifies a different power and toughness, use that one. It'll overwrite whatever's printed on the Vehicle.

Mounts and Saddle

If you can ride it, it can probably win, right? Maybe? Hopefully? Mounts are a returning creature type. Creature types don't have any specific rules associated with them, but Mounts are where you're most likely to find the returning ability saddle. As with Vehicles and crew, there's no mechanical connection between a Mount and its saddle ability. If a Mount with saddle becomes some other creature type, it will still have saddle, and non-Mounts can gain saddle if you can find a way to do it.

Saddle is an activated ability that can be activated only as a sorcery, meaning during your main phases while the stack is empty. To activate a saddle ability, tap untapped creatures you control (other than the Mount itself) with total power greater than or equal to the number after saddle. When that ability resolves, the creature becomes saddled until end of turn. What that means exactly varies from creature to creature. Many Mounts have a triggered ability that triggers whenever it attacks while saddled.

Some creatures are a little better suited to the racing life than others. Look for Pilot creatures throughout the set that can crew Vehicles and saddle Mounts as if their power were 2 greater. Under their steady hands, your Vehicles and Mounts will be hitting the road before your opponents are out of the garage.

Cycling

Our final returning mechanic is cycling. It's a little engine of a mechanic that keeps the cards flowing. If a card with cycling is in your hand, you can pay that card's cycling cost and discard it to draw a card.

Cycling is great on situational cards like Lightshield Parry that have situationally useful effects, but if the right situation doesn't come up—say you need a creature and not a combat trick—you can dig for the card you need. Additionally, some cards have abilities that trigger when you cycle them, or when you discard other cards, so keep those cards flowing! No one wins a race when they're out of gas.

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No matter where you play or how you play—from Commander in Chicago to a Tokyo draft—Aetherdrift puts you in the driver's seat! Follow along with all the previews over in the Aetherdrift Card Image Gallery and get ready for the set's worldwide release on February 14. Aetherdrift is available for preorder now at your local game store, online retailers like Amazon, and elsewhere Magic products are sold.