Hello and welcome back. Aetherdrift prerelease is today! It looks to be a set with a bit of tech for a number of strategies but of course in this article we focus on what might be good for our Commander decks! While you go and get your draft or sealed experience in for the set be sure to keep an eye out for things that might enhance your Commander play experience as well.

Of course, we also got some Commanders deck alongside the se. I’ll be going over the new cards that come in those decks in the article today.

DECK: ETERNAL MIGHT

The new Esper (White, Blue and Black deck) has already made a small splash with players due to some of the new cards included, so let’s take a look at that tech!

TEMMET, NAKTAMUN’S WILL

This card tells you exactly what it wants and what you’re going to get for it. Attacking lets you loot, and with an evasive 4/4 body that shouldn’t be too hard to manage, not to mention other attackers you might have at your disposal to really ramp up the looting.

Better is when you draw those cards, zombies you control get a +1/+1 bonus, including Temmet here. So digging for your best stuff to put down and into your graveyard while putting some pressure on opponents seems like a good strategy and one that gets to keep going with little support.

HASHATON, SCARAB’S FIST

While this legend is also fairly straight forward in what it wants to do, Hashaton here isn’t limited to just zombies. He just wants you to discard stuff, and then make eternals out of them. By that I mean 4/4 bodied copies of whatever you discard, and you don’t even exile the discarded card as a cost! This makes Hashaton an easy-to-abuse legend, especially with a number of synergies at multiple levels to exploit.

Discarding a card into a graveyard with Black in the deck is going to be trivial at the worst of times since you can just get the card back easily if it’s a creature. Hashaton just takes a shortcut for 2 and Blue and gives you a copy. Enters and tokens synergies abound after that, not to mention a few good synergies with cycling, madness, channel, and other self-discard abilities.

This legend is already getting some powerful decks behind it, so watch out if this lands in a command zone at your pod.

RHET-TOMB MYSTIC

Speaking of some discard abilities, the Mystic here gives cycling to creature cards in your hand. This may seem simple at first, and it is, but the cards and avenues this can open up for a variety of decks is frankly huge and varied. I’m considering this for my Ancient One deck over things like Ledger Shredder simply for the control it gives you over what is happening to your cards in comparison. Don’t overlook this card even for just the ability to sculpt a hand if your deck has a decent creature count.

WIZENED MENTOR

A decent zombie making card here, but as an inclusion in decks I’d say it's a call to make based on your group(s). There are a lot of powerful triggered abilities these days, and few decks have a number of activated abilities that I’ve run into. However, there are still enough that getting a free token here and there would be worth it, specifically against decks like Agatha, Loot Exuberant Explorer or Kenrith, Returned King.

LOST MONARCH OF IFNIR

If you can’t hit them, take their hope away. Afflict is already an okay effect to have on a card, especially weaker creatures to get them in for damage and effects, but giving it to you whole team of zombies is going to force hard decisions and weaken your opponents one way or another.

This zombie lord of sorts also comes with recursion if your opponents opt to take the combat damage over the affliction, so you’re getting the game plan going either way.

The card is zombie centric, but it will be a great inclusion in those typal decks. Unfortunately it wont be seen anywhere else (maybe typal typal?), and I feel that the recursion didn’t need zombies to work.

PRIEST OF THE CROSSING

This is an interesting card only because it isn’t every day White cares about stuff dying on scale.

It also has a simple design. If something of yours dies, at the end of turn, each of your remaining creatures gets bigger. I guess the flavor is more ‘sacrifice for the greater good’ than anything that matters death wise.

In a tokens deck, especially any White, Black and Color ones, this thing will probably be nuts to say nothing of sacrifice decks. It might also do well in combat oriented ones too that use counters, like Breena the Demagogue.

PROPHET OF THE SCARAB

Card draw on the enter. Zombie centric, but in those decks it will definitely fill a hand since zombie decks themselves tend to have large amount of them on the field and/or in the yard.

Vigilance seems kind of just tacked on but it isn’t unwelcome. Still, the card will only find a home in typal decks, though we aren’t short on cards that have a similar effect so it’s not going to be missed anywhere else.

RENEWED SOLIDARITY

Another breakout card from the deck that is demanding a price tag north $40 at time of writing, this is a typal enchantment that boosts your critters and doubles your tokens you created per turn.

Obviously doubling anything is powerful, and in White where you can make humans to golems to angels this card is going to get a work out. I don’t anticipate it coming down soon so if you manage to nab a copy hold onto it.

All that said, it is a typal centered card like most of the ones I’ve reviewed here, so there is some hope the price will at least be stable for a time. Hopefully we get a good print run of this particular commander deck.

ON WINGS OF GOLD

One the few things that stops a hoard of zombies is the fact that they don’t fly. Never fear! Or begin to fear! Zombies get another chance at flying with this typal enchantment!

However, unlike most other cards reviewed here, this one also applies to tokens in general, giving those permanents a +1/+1 and flying bonus as well.

Further, you can make zombies by moving cards out of your graveyard, which could be via Enternalize or Embalm, regular recursion spells and abilities, or other effects that might shuffle a graveyard into the deck.

ACCURSED DUNEYARD

Swarmyard, but for the dead and undead. Regenerate is something we almost never see anymore, so it’s nice to see it come back. It is a little complicated, but luckily this new land comes with reminder text.

I do like that it also mentions shades, specters and wraiths. Specters we get occasionally, but Shades and Wraiths not so much. Hopefully we get some more in the future, where this land will be a welcome addition.

DECK: LIVING ENERGY

We finally got a Green, Blue and Red (Temur) energy deck. I’m surprise it took so long since GUR Energy was a darling in standard for a while so the bones were there. Better late than never, so let’s see what’s been charging those thought batteries!

SAHEELI, RADIANT CREATOR

As far as I know, this is the second legend to care specifically about artificer typed creatures. Whenever you cast one of those creatures or an artifact, you gain one energy.

When combat happens on your turn, you may then pay three energy and create a copy of a permanent you control that is an artifact with a 5/5 body and haste. It gets sacrificed at the end step.

Tons of fun things you can do with that ability, including attacking with a planeswalker or land, or just adding the value this might bring. Blue also has some access to ending the turn early, so you might be able to keep those new tokens around! (just remember the legend rule) There are also cards like Doubling Season to consider of course.

PIA NALAAR, CHIEF MECHANIC

In my last article, I said that Pia was the less powerful legend of the two that come with the deck. I stand by that, but it doesn’t mean that Pia can’t be at the head of a great deck.

First, her ability grants more energy if you can hit all three of your opponents for a total of six energy. That’s a better rate than most energy cards. Second, she get to keep the tokens she creates if you want to create any, and they easily dodge most mass removal as well. Of course, she can crew the tokens herself, and the tokens fly to help feed her first ability.

So, while Saheeli can potentially be more explosive, I’d say Pia is more dependable on strategy and more self contained to get where you need to go, as a good mechanic should.

PEEMA TRAILBLAZER

Energy after a good attack with built in evasion. Seems to do what the deck wants. Then if you have enough energy you can make this creature bigger one time thanks to its exhaust ability and draw five plus cards. Not a bad deal! It seems like a great inclusion in this precon, and you can buff it beyond its own stats for large amounts of energy too.

STRIDEHANGAR AUTOMATON

Well, a thopter and artifact centric Chatterfang-like card. It does specifically care about artifact tokens, so there aren’t too many blink strategies to be had unless the blinked target makes tokens like Myr Battlesphere. It buffs the tokens it creates and those tokens have evasion with flying as well. I’m giving this some strong consideration for my Sophia Dogged Detective deck and I would keep an eye on this card going forward. Treasures, Clues and Food tokens are plentiful these days and will only get more numerous.

NISSA, WORLDSOUL SPEAKER

NIssa returns to us still caring about lands, but this time she gives us energy on landfall. With that energy she then allows us to cast permanent spells for eight energy instead of their mana value.

Green cheating on costs again, but the card itself seems fine. Sure there will be ways to abuse it and as a payoff in the precon is good, but I think the card by itself isn’t broken. It will be anything around it that breaks it.

RAMPAGING AETHERHOOD

A creature that makes energy and then eats the energy to get bigger. This creature will likely be the lynchpin in many energy decks with Green to make a regular turn go explosive, even just on its own. It might take a little setup and a turn, but I’d happily remove this card from the table sans anything else needing dealt with.

Did I mention it has evasion and Ward 2? Yeah, my removal just got more expensive…

TERRITORIAL AETHERKITE

Cat Dragons are native to Avishkar by the way. They probably spend a lot of time knocking over aetherflux reservoirs.

Haste is always good to have on a flyer, and a well sized one too. However, it also comes with a built-in board wipe, depending on how much energy you pay. Luckily, this starts by giving you two energy to help deal with pesky Birds of Paradise and thopter tokens. Still, you can put more energy into the ability and wipe an entire board besides the cat dragon. A good inclusion for the deck and it might be a good inclusion for prior energy precons.

ADAPTIVE OMNITOOL

Not your normal standard issue omnitool. Well, maybe it is. The equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control, which in the deck promises some decent buffs to your critters.

Secondly, it helps you dig for more artifacts from the top six cards of your deck. While the buff may not be impressive all the time, the ability to get something just for attacking is always relevant and you shouldn’t whiff much with this precon.

Of course this can be fantastic in other decks that are more tuned to use or want artifacts, not to mention the damage it could threaten on a creature in those decks.

AETHERIC AMPLIFIER

A mana rock that has the potential to double counters. It’s going into many decks for sure, like saga, planeswalkers, regular +1/+1 counter decks, you name it. Some alternate win cons will also love this. Also, the buff to the few decks that like to use experience counters are very appreciative.

AETHERFLUX CONDUIT

This card right here doesn’t even need an energy deck to turn the game on its head. While it might slightly be win more, the potential this thing has to vomit an absurd amount of value onto a board should not be underestimated. Granted, there is set up involved, and in an energy deck using the energy might be the better option. However in a storm deck, or a deck that gets around casting costs anyway like discover or cascade, or a deck with just even lower costs like Goreclaw Terror of Qual Sisma, you get the idea.

Fifty energy may seem like a lot of energy, but when you can cast two 6 drops a turn that isn’t so far away.

That all said and my bluster about it done, you won't see this everywhere. Not every deck is built to cast so many things or wants to. If you do see this though, destroy it before it gets out of hand.

TO THE FINISH LINE

That’s it for these new decks. A lot of good to great cards here for their strategies, even if some would only see play within said strategy. Some others like the above Aetherflux Conduit might into decks that already are doing outrageous things and just want to do more. Overall a good smattering of things, continuing the trend and quality of precons.

While I’m not picking up much from either the set proper or the Commander decks, vehicles and artifact lovers shouldn’t gloss over this set. What are your thoughts however? See anything that can break out of its lane and dominate? Let me know below.

Until next time, yellow lights mean a moonfall is in progress.