General [DFT/DRC] Aetherdrift Testing/Includes Thread!

[MilesOfficial]

I've really pulled back on this set, mostly for aesthetic reasons rather than for gameplay ones. I didn't like the Gearhulks much because of how much of a trap they felt like for my drafters either.

My two ride-or-dies remain some of the most pivotal cards in my Cube:



I love them. I've really tried to craft my Cube around them, even if their set symbol makes me physically ill.

There are two cards I have added since the set came out, the latter of which is thanks to the bunch of you:



Stock Up overcame its expansion symbol basically after the first time I cast it. Just a delight of a card draw spell to play, even if I'm sad to not have this kind of card dump into the graveyard. Like @shamizy said, Monument to Endurance has been a delightful build-around engine. I love discard effects so much, so I'm surprised it took me so long to bite the bullet on it.

I took out Basri for being yet another 2/1 for 1 that was clunkier and less interesting than other options. I took out the wrath with cycling because of the art/set symbol for more novel wrath effects. Scrounging Stingray truly stung to remove, but blue is really hard to make room in, and it just didn't hold its weight as much as cards that gave you a bigger advantage than a (potentially) big flying body. I still like the Verges and Greasewrench Goblin just fine...besides the art and set symbol.

The Aetherdrift plays extremely well but is way too complicated to read.

This set is really the epitome of why I can tolerate Ninja Turtles. Visually, at least I don't feel like Ninja Turtles is ruining my favorite worlds with cheap references and garish designs.

 

[Nanonox]

You guys nailed it with the worthwhile cards in the set. I'll add the other one I am playing



It doesn't look like much, but it's easy to underestimate 1 mana artifacts, especially ones that can bin itself. I find it tough to slot in removal in my most synergistic decks, but having the right card type goes a long way. Emry, Urza, Tinker, Thought Monitor, Welder, Engineer, Phelia, Flickerwisp, Tarmogoyf, Arcbound Ravager and so many more make great use of having a random artifact lying around.

 

[StrionicAdventurer]

My current favorite cube is running:


The set had a lot of interesting stuff if you're building a cube that plays with the graveyard. As for aesthetics, personally, if I had opened Captain Howler in a booster pack at age 11, I would have been hooked on this game for life. That's kind of my benchmark for a card, aesthetically speaking.

 

[MilesOfficial]

You guys nailed it with the worthwhile cards in the set. I'll add the other one I am playing



It doesn't look like much, but it's easy to underestimate 1 mana artifacts, especially ones that can bin itself. I find it tough to slot in removal in my most synergistic decks, but having the right card type goes a long way. Emry, Urza, Tinker, Thought Monitor, Welder, Engineer, Phelia, Flickerwisp, Tarmogoyf, Arcbound Ravager and so many more make great use of having a random artifact lying around.

I recently relented and put this in my list online...but then couldn't find it in my on-deck binder or bulk. I will absolutely play it once I remember to pick up another copy or brave the pits of my Aetherdrift RCQ bin or buy another copy.

I tried this out for a while and it just didn't do it for me. The sorcery speed and its inconsistency early game were worse than I expected, and as much as I think the design is excellent, it just couldn't keep up. It's a forever card for my Reject Cube, though!

I don't know why I would play this over Deathbonnet Sprout or Patchwork Beastie or Deathrite Shaman. I like the first two much better for milling cards, and Deathright for obvious reasons. I get that it does "both" but it requires so much working and tapping and tapping to do things that by the time it can actually be a mana dork, it's pretty hard to use. I played with it a lot in retail limited and didn't find it useful, but has it played better in your Cube?

if I had opened Captain Howler in a booster pack at age 11, I would have been hooked on this game for life

this is extremely fair

(I do like all the sharks in this set but just wish they didn't have the set symbol)

 

[ravnic]

There are a few cards from this set where I considered ALTERING THE SET SYMBOL with my acrylics, but in the end, nothing made it's way into my cube.

 

[LadyMapi]

I love this thing in any environment that has good ways of bouncing or flickering artifacts:



It turns out that sticking a Keening Stone activation on a cheaper artifact is pretty good, and figuring out the best way to do it multiple times makes for a nice little mini-game while deckbuilding.

 

[alvoi]

(I do like all the sharks in this set but just wish they didn't have the set symbol)

That's one of the reasons why I am very sad they stopped doing the Modern Masters-style expansions: they were a great way to get updated oracle text, or better art, better set symbol, etc, while they also usually lowered the prices of the originals, and made for great draft environments.

But no, apparently Wizards prefer reprinting Sol Ring over and over in Secret Lairs and doing UB half-sets.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

That's one of the reasons why I am very sad they stopped doing the Modern Masters-style expansions: they were a great way to get updated oracle text, or better art, better set symbol, etc, while they also usually lowered the prices of the originals, and made for great draft environments.

But no, apparently Wizards prefer reprinting Sol Ring over and over in Secret Lairs and doing UB half-sets.

I think the model they wanted to use for Master's sets ($15 regular booster packs with mostly chaffy cards) just was not selling to players anymore. A lot of the high-impact cards that used to need reprints have been printed multiple times already, so the only "big ticket" cards that are really left are Low Supply with Low Demand, Reserved Recent, scalding tarn or Recent Lands.

They just can't justify the price point anymore with the product model they have been using; they would basically need to go back to the drawing board and make an entirely new Master's model in order to find something more players would enjoy.

 

[StrionicAdventurer]

I don't know why I would play this over Deathbonnet Sprout or Patchwork Beastie or Deathrite Shaman.

In my particular case, Deathbonnet Sprout is a DFC and Deathrite Shaman is over-budget, so they're ineligible. Patchwork Beastie is in consideration, but in line behind Insidious Fungus. As for Molt Tender's performance in the cube: I'm really not sure, haha! He's mostly in here to try and fill the graveyard but I'm looking at the rest of the list and realizing there are a lot of other ways to do it already. He might not survive the next round of cuts.

In a heartbreaking turn of events (related to Aetherdrift), I just realized Lost Monarch of Ifnir has dropped below 1$ in price, putting him well within budget constraints for the cube. But I just literally yesterday placed my last card order for the month, and none of my local stores have a copy! To curate is to suffer. Remind me in a year!

 

[MilesOfficial]

To add to what Train said, they want nearly every set to have the feeling of "wow, I can't believe I opened a ______" that is provided by both Special Guests and other bonus list cards like the Strixhaven Archives. I love bonus card lists for retail draft...well, not the way they do it in Avatar and TMNT, where they're too rare and too spiky to really account for much, but they do impact prices.

Masters sets were less effective at lowering prices than doing this is, and honestly, I didn't think their draft environments were all that great; certainly not better than the median premiere set.

 

[shamizy]

That's one of the reasons why I am very sad they stopped doing the Modern Masters-style expansions: they were a great way to get updated oracle text, or better art, better set symbol, etc, while they also usually lowered the prices of the originals, and made for great draft environments.

But no, apparently Wizards prefer reprinting Sol Ring over and over in Secret Lairs and doing UB half-sets.

I'd say the bigger problem with Masters sets was the frequency with which they were printing them. It made sense at the beginning with a schedule of every two years beginning with Modern Masters in 2013. That was right in line with how frequently the meta would shift in that format for a long time. The problem was that WoTC did the same thing that they always do and went all-in on the concept to the point of product overload:

Modern Masters (2013)
Modern Masters 2015
Eternal Masters (2016)
Modern Masters 2017
Iconic Masters (2017)
Masters 25 (2018)
Ultimate Masters (2018)

There was absolutely no reason to double-dip on a full premium set like that and they got punished with the releases at awkward parts of the calendar where people were already gearing up for the next main-line set. Remember how sweet Time Spiral Remastered was? They saw that and decided well let's just do it for Dominaria and Ravnica and Innistrad for the same success. Except none of these were memorable or well-crafted.

But they took zero lessons from these as we're in the middle of a 2026 schedule with an obscene number of sets being released. It's unsustainable and will hurt in the long run until they make a drastic correction, but I guess we won't know until Maro inevitably puts out some shitty Blogatog answer in three years acknowledging it after corporate spinning for the next two years (while these are in print).

Love the game, hate their decisions with it. It's a constant two steps forward one step back.