CardName – Aetherdrift
Date Reviewed: February 11, 2025
Ratings:
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
All I can think of when I see this card is the Scooby-Doo / WWE crossover about an offroad race plagued by a Speed Demon. Come to think of it, that had more than one conceptual parallel with Aetherdrift. Either way, apart from the speed mechanic, this version of the character is about as straightforward as you’d expect from the name. He’s super-efficient – seriously, I’m still not sure I’m used to every color getting 5/5s for five mana. Even in the worst-case scenario where you don’t want to attack for some unknown reason, you still have a Phyrexian Arena on a 5/5 creature, meaning that he pressures the opponent whether he attacks or not. In fact, he might even be able to do so in the notoriously aggro-lite environments of Commander, especially since you’re even less likely than usual to kill yourself with his card-drawing.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
I think someone needs to answer the real question here: can a player’s speed be removed by Naturalize 2?
vroom
The Speed Demon, despite lacking haste, is quite good at flooring the gas, thanks to the new speed mechanic triggered by “start your engines”. How it works is that you start with 1 speed, and making an opponent lose life on your turn grants you an additional point of speed, capping at 4. Speed will usually stay at 4 once it gets there, and some cards specifically care about max speed.
The Speed Demon cares about speed, but it’s a bit more varied. Each turn, it’ll give you a spurt of cards and bleed you out, and this can get going impressively. While getting the cards at your end step can be awkward, you do still have the chance to benefit from this even if The Speed Demon hits a speed bump along the way. And when it does come to your turn, it’s an evasive clock that hits for more than you’d lose from it, enduring you win most races.
The Speed Demon is a solid sort of threat: it encourages you to go fast. If you let up, it’ll run you over, and that’s rather thematic. It’s decently costed as a top-end finisher, and I can see it making waves in Standard at the top end of a black deck’s gameplan.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4
Limited: 5 (this is definitely a Limited bomb)
Multiplayer: 4 (you can only gain 1 speed each turn, but any opponent helps you speed up(
Commander [EDH]: 4 (there are better card-draw engines, but this is far from the worst)
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