General [DFT] Aetherdrift

Nanonox

Nanonox

Wasn't planning on posting about a new set, but one card looks really fun.

1729892900187.png

Ranger of Eos is an old favorite of mine and a great source of card advantage that feels like it belongs in White. This new version is obviously super pushed, but it has a few things going for it.

+
- Great types. Being an artifact is huge and being a construct is not nothing.

- Open ended. Being able to tie multiple themes and card types is great for Delirium for example. It also means you don't have to draft infinite one drops for the card to stay relevant late as you can lean on different types to keep it relevant.

+-
- Some targets are really busted (Urza's Saga, power, Fastbond), but you can also go fair (Chromatic Star, Rancor, Thraben Inspector). I am happy to push power level in Selesnya, so this is a plus in my mind.

- Trample and first strike encourage attacking, but 4/4 first strike is tough to block! Upping my artifact removal count couldn't hurt!

- WWGG casting cost is rough, but this card lends itself to good stuff decks. Having a tough casting cost means the Selesnya player is more likely to end up with the card which I like.

-
- The set symbol is offensive to me. To the point I ask myself, is modern magic meant for me? It's Thunder Junction all over again and I hate it.

- The art does nothing for me, which is a shame.
 
Brad

Brad

Ranger of Eos has essentially aged out of relevance and this looks like a good update to me.

I like cards that are balanced by the intensity of their cost. WotC said they'd be doing this more with Play Boosters. They've done well on that front so far and are continuing to do well.

I don't think these saw any play, but they're all at a power level that I kinda like.
 
StrionicAdventurer

StrionicAdventurer

This thing is very exciting for Welder's Workshop. Likely to replace Clay Champion, which is a very cool card but doesn't have much support in the environment.
 
Watermelon

Watermelon

Humpty_Dumpty said:
In terms of mana costs that keep a card focused on a certain colour pair, I liked the design of cards like Quandrix Cultivator. I’d like to see it pushed to {G/U}{G/U}{G}{U}, which keeps things focused on that guild but allows a bit of leeway if you don’t see two of each colour on turn four.
Click to expand...
Couldn't agree more

I like full hybrid like Boggart Ram-Gamg even more because it supports Gruul alongside mono color decks, causing 1.incentive to go mono color, something rarely seen in a normal draft environment, and 2.creating at least a bit of tension because there may be a monoR drafter fighting over the RG drafter over the card as opposed to the lone Gruul drfater being guaranteed to get the card
[I should mention full hybrid has color-pie considerations that limits the design for example quandrix cultivator cant be fully hybrid as it shouldn't be castable in mono blue since it ramps]
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

Nanonox said:
Wasn't planning on posting about a new set, but one card looks really fun.

1729892900187.png


Ranger of Eos is an old favorite of mine and a great source of card advantage that feels like it belongs in White. This new version is obviously super pushed, but it has a few things going for it.

+
- Great types. Being an artifact is huge and being a construct is not nothing.

- Open ended. Being able to tie multiple themes and card types is great for Delirium for example. It also means you don't have to draft infinite one drops for the card to stay relevant late as you can lean on different types to keep it relevant.

+-
- Some targets are really busted (Urza's Saga, power, Fastbond), but you can also go fair (Chromatic Star, Rancor, Thraben Inspector). I am happy to push power level in Selesnya, so this is a plus in my mind.

- Trample and first strike encourage attacking, but 4/4 first strike is tough to block! Upping my artifact removal count couldn't hurt!

- WWGG casting cost is rough, but this card lends itself to good stuff decks. Having a tough casting cost means the Selesnya player is more likely to end up with the card which I like.

-
- The set symbol is offensive to me. To the point I ask myself, is modern magic meant for me? It's Thunder Junction all over again and I hate it.

- The art does nothing for me, which is a shame.
Click to expand...
Yeah I think this card is really cool. I like how flexible it can be.

I actually like the set symbol, it's easily legible!
 
Velrun

Velrun

Well you’re thinking of car racing in the real world like Formula 1 when you see that set symbol.

But how about you think about it like it’s the flags they use in Aetherdrift on the three Magic planes?
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

MilesOfficial said:
to me, the set symbol is worse than dedicating a whole expansion to Spiderman

we can't even get magic-themed worlds without them being obnoxious tropes, and this is coming from the guy who liked MKM and OTJ more than most
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I'm going to withold worldbuilding judgements until we see the set– I thought Duskmourn was going to be a mess but it ended up being one of the best new Planes in the past decade.

As for the symbol itself– I think it just clearly communicates what the set is about. I don't really think that's an issue even if it is a little blunt.
 
MilesOfficial

MilesOfficial

the key art for the set is the Akira slide

would be totally fine as a card, but as the *key art* of the expansion? the thing that kids shows were riffing off 15 years ago?

also I previously worked with the art director for the set professionally for a few years. he doesn't really give me confidence that this will go beyond the surface-level
 
ravnic

ravnic

Wozards really need to understand, that some things just don't translate well to the medium of a card game with draftable sets of 300 cards. It didn't work for murder mystery and I can't imagine it will work for racing.

If they would made a video game that is MtG Kart I would actually like that. Because I can have a racing game where I dunno, Rakdos throws Imps at Urza, who got the lead with his high speed mech-bike. That's funny, but don't expect me to mix cards depicting that silliness with my beautiful cube cards.
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

ravnic said:
Wozards really need to understand, that some things just don't translate well to the medium of a card game with draftable sets of 300 cards. It didn't work for murder mystery and I can't imagine it will work for racing.
Click to expand...
Would a Vehicle Matters set not work for death racing?
 
ravnic

ravnic

No, because Magic is a game inherently about combat. Murder investigation didn't really work and a race situation even less so. There are no tracks in this game for example
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

ravnic said:
No, because Magic is a game inherently about combat. Murder investigation didn't really work and a race situation even less so. There are no tracks in this game for example
Click to expand...
To me, this reads more like a "Mad Max vehicle fight set with a race as a narrative device" set more than "Talladega Nights: The Gathering." I think it's definitely possible to do something about cars smashing into each other within the framework of a normal Magic set.
 
Humpty_Dumpty

Humpty_Dumpty

ravnic said:
There are no tracks in this game for example
Click to expand...
There were no dungeons in the game until AFR. I would not be surprised to see race tracks as an external game piece, and overtake as an ability that moves you along the track. Unlike dungeons the tracks would be shared and the first player to the end would take the prize. Look forward to it being reused in the Mario Kart and Star Wars: Pod Race Universes Beyond products.
 
Seeker

Seeker

Humpty_Dumpty said:
Look forward to it being reused in the Mario Kart and Star Wars: Pod Race Universes Beyond products.
Click to expand...
You're being narrowminded here. If they don't explicitly make it just pod racing they can double-dip with the guy from Shadows of the Empire for the N64 already being named Dash Rendar.

(this is a really long way to go to make that joke but I have no shame)
 
ravnic

ravnic

Humpty_Dumpty said:
There were no dungeons in the game until AFR. I would not be surprised to see race tracks as an external game piece, and overtake as an ability that moves you along the track. Unlike dungeons the tracks would be shared and the first player to the end would take the prize. Look forward to it being reused in the Mario Kart and Star Wars: Pod Race Universes Beyond products.
Click to expand...
Dungeons also had some minor flavor issues. How can you combat that other wizard while you are in a dungeon and they aren't, or in a different one? But those issues were far less egregious, as dungeoneering and magical combat feel so closely related to each other. There would be no such salvation for the akwardness of tracks imo. Is the race track part of the battlefield? Are you moving or is a creature moving on it? And why would either move on a race track during a battle?

I feel like R&D got overly ambitious with "magic is not a game, it's a game system", which is true but it doesn't really make sense to merge it with every narrative.
 
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