Aetherdrift Spoilers and Set Information

Last updated on March 3, 2025

Earthrumbler | Illustrated by Jean Pierre Targete

I’m not a huge racing fan, so when I saw that 2025's first Standard MTG set based in Magic’s IP was race-themed, I was a little disappointed. However, now that I come to grips with Aetherdrift, I really appreciate the set.

While I may not be a fan of racing, the cross-planar Mad Max-style death-race featuring famous MTG characters is an exciting one. Plus, the story focuses partially on Chandra and Nissa’s relationship, a happy course correction from Greg Weisman’s infamous War of the Spark “no homo” moment. Thankfully this is not Wacky Races meets Outlaws of Thunder Junction, I see Aetherdrift as a fun addition to Magic’s canon.

Let’s go!

Aetherdrift Basic Information

The Aetherspark | Illustration by Donato Giancola

Set Details

Set Symbol
Set Code	DFT
Hashtag	#MTGAetherdrift
Number of Cards	261
Rarities	Common, Uncommon, Rare, Mythic Rare
Mechanics	Cycling, Embalm, Exert, Exhaust, Saddle, Speed, Start your engines! Vehicles

Important Dates

About the Set: The Story

Aetherdrift Concept art | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

Aetherdrift takes place during a cross-planar race called the Ghirapur Grand Prix. The main story follows Chandra as she tries to win the race’s prize – The Aetherspark – for her romantic partner Nissa. It’s rumored that The Aetherspark contains a planeswalker’s spark, so Chandra wants to help Nissa regain the power she lost during March of the Machine.

A now-desparked Daretti plays an important role in the story, especially with all the time working in and around vehicles. You might sense a theme of hoping to win and regain that planeswalker spark.

The set takes place across three planes. We visit Avishkar, the new name for Kaladesh, the beaches and deserts of Amonkhet, and the sky above Muraganda. It's not safe on the surface of Muraganda so the track is suspended in the canopy on this wild plane which is not represented by a racing team. Then there's the tale of Loot woven into the plot to make Omenpaths easily accessible.

Set Mechanics

Voyager Quickwelder | Illustrated by Kenn Yap

Cycling

There's bicycling and then there's Tron-like lightcycling and that gets much closer to the type of cycling you get in Aetherdrift. Valor's Flagship can provide a bunch of pilots, or require just one to use the massive flagship. Each color has access to cycling, and at varying costs like Skycrash for . Some cards work with cycling through cards you discard like Scrounging Skyray.

Cycling comes up often in Magic's history and dates back to cards like Hush from Urza's Saga. The secret to it's continued reappearance? It's a workhorse mechanic that doesn't need to fit the flavor of a set a whole lot, but is extremely useful.

Embalm

To embalm creatures into zombies, you need them in your graveyard first. Because that card leaves your graveyard for exile, embalm gives you a second copy of the creature and works only once like a finality counter. At no added cost like on Cursecloth Wrappings it's a reusable Zombify.

Exert

Exert keeps your card tapped for one extra turn in exchange for a better effect. Basri, Tomorrow's Champion is especially efficient in the cost category. A reasonably costed Heroic Intervention for cats when you cycle it. Any token producer that gives you lifelink creatures is not to be underestimated. If you want ways to untap faster in white, look no further than the Prop Room side of Dazzling Theater.

Exhaust

Exhaust works similar to monstrous in that you may only activate the ability once. It has it's own cost and some cards have multiple exhaust abilities. Some corner cases allow you to use the ability again, like a bounce spell. It is primarily in Temur with Loot, the Pathfinder imitating famous boons, the friend to Thopters in Sita Varma, Masked Racer, and a mana fixing Marshals' Pathcruiser.

Saddle

Saddle is back from Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Guardian Sunmare is a powerful card that tutors cards into play. Lagorin, Soul of Alacria is much easier to saddle and quickly adds +1/+1 counter to your mounts and vehicles. With powerful abilities like on Bulwark Ox that consistently grow creatures and protect them, these powered up animals do just fine against full blown vehicles.

Start your engines!/Speed

The best cards can do is when they hit full speed, and the only way to do that is at least 4 turns after you start your engines! You gain speed by hitting your opponent's life total during your turn, and have a max speed of four. It puts emphasis on pressuring your opponents and has no better representative than Samut, the Driving Force. Rakdos players love Far Fortune, End Boss and should remember spectacle (especially on Spawn of Mayhem, well, turn that dial up by 4 and we get speed in Magic). Wizards provides helper cards in Start your engines! that invite glass beads back to the table to help mark your speed.

Vehicles/Crew

The Boosted Sloop is hardly a Smuggler's Copter, but probably the closest Standard can go and not get pulled over for excessive card selection. Guidelight Pathmaker is an expensive but very good artifact tutor, and The Last Ride is an interesting build around with potential for artifact animation, card draw and life total manipulation.

Vehicles and crew costs are a big part of Aetherdrift. This is fitting since Kaladesh was the set that introduced vehicles to Magic. Aetherdrift includes 10 teams of 2-colors each and some have typal synergies, with two of the teams led by goblins and insects. Nine of the color pairs represented by a vehicle, and the one team that doesn't has a multicolor saddler (the team).

Full Card Gallery

White

Blue

Black

Red

Greed

Multicolored

Colorless

Lands

Alchemy: Aetherdrift

Alchemy: Aetherdrift is available on Arena for these formats:

• Alchemy
• Historic
• Historic Brawl
• Timeless

Notable Cards

Aatchik, Emerald Radian | Illustration by Loïc Canavaggia

The Aetherspark

The most notable card from DFT is The Aetherspark. Not only does it serve as the main driving force behind the Aetherdrift’s story, it’s also the first ever equipment that is also a planeswalker. Practically all planeswalkers are interested in this MacGuffin so expect it to play a role in the lore.

Wizards built the hyper early when they teased us with a preview image that revealed a serialized card of The Aetherspark, this one can only be found in collector boosters.

The Aetherspark | Illustrated by Donato Giancola

Chandra, Spark Hunter

Chandra, Spark Hunter is a one-person crew for any vehicle, plus a little bit of Reckless Detective. Chandra's a good artifact token generator and potentially dangerous with artifactfall. Chandra is always exciting in Magic’s story, so I'm excited to have the red planeswalker back after a brief hiatus.

Loot, the Pathfinder

The Temur legendary little beast is one of the only 3-color cards in Aetherdrift. It has three different exhaust abilities that should remind you of Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, and Lightning Bolt, and don't forget the side of keyword soup. Loot is a big deal, just pair it with Elvish Refueler, and through errata Pit Automaton can't copy the Black Lotus ability but it's still strong.

Mimeoplasm, Revered One

Mimeoplasm, Revered One is the first Mimeoplasm since The Mimeoplasm which dates back to Commander 2011. The Sultai commander still wants to delve creatures out of your graveyard and has a fun time copying them in a permanent way.

Samut, the Driving Force

Samut, the Driving Force counts toward your keyword soup cards and includes a super helpful cost reducer. Give Naya commanders a chance, Samut is legendary for it's haste.

Verge Cycle

A land cycle of verges emerge from Aetherdrift, I'm definitely a fan of these dual lands. Get your hands on a Bleachbone Verge, Riverpyre Verge, or Wastewood Verge for some good lands that care about your land types.

Available Products

Spectacular Pileup Illustrated by Zezhou Chen

As a premier set, you can get play boosters, collector boosters, a regular bundle and the Finish Line Bundle along with a pair of commander precon decks.

Play Boosters

The Aetherdrift Play Booster box is the first box of its kind to be sealed with 30 play booster packs to keep the price riding lower than previous play booster boxes. There's Special Guests, a one in five chance of a foil land, and potential for up to four rares in one pack.

Magic: The Gathering Aetherdrift Play Booster Box

• IT’S ONLY A DEATH RACE IF YOU DIE—Buckle up for a death race across the Multiverse full of high-octane action and adrenaline-fueled Magic gameplay
• BEST BOOSTERS FOR PLAYING WITH FRIENDS—Play Boosters are the best way to discover what Magic: The Gathering has to offer; they're perfect for building decks, playing Limited games with friends, and are tons of fun to open
• 2 FOIL BOX TOPPER CARDS—A tantalizing prize for a high-stakes match, with every booster box you’ll score a Box Topper containing 2 cards gleaming with a brand new foil treatment
• PACKS MAY CONTAIN MULTIPLE RARES—Each Play Booster contains 1–4 cards of rarity Rare or higher, including the possibility of Special Guest Mythic Rare from Magic’s history featuring new Borderless art
• SHINING FOIL IN EVERY PACK—Every booster also includes at least 1 shining Traditional Foil card of any rarity; in 20% of packs you’ll also find a Traditional Foil Land card

$96.98

Buy on Amazon

Collector Boosters

Trick out your DFT collections with Aetherdrift Collector Boosters. 15 cards of the slickest, most blinged out cards of the set, each pack is anchored by five rares and impressive art throughout. Japan Showcase cards return here as do serialized prize cards.

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Aetherdrift Collector Booster Box

• IT’S ONLY A DEATH RACE IF YOU DIE—Buckle up for a death race across the Multiverse full of high-octane action and adrenaline-fueled Magic gameplay
• STEP INTO THE WINNER’S CIRCLE—Rev up your decks and lead the pack with top-gear cards; Collector Boosters are the ultimate way to add unique and exclusive cards to your collection, with tons of foils, special card treatments, and more inside every pack
• 2 FOIL BOX TOPPER CARDS—A tantalizing prize for a high-stakes match, with every booster box you’ll score a Box Topper containing 2 cards gleaming with a brand new foil treatment
• COLLECTOR BOOSTER-EXCLUSIVE TREATMENTS—Collector Boosters are the only place you may find certain coveted card styles, including Collector Booster-exclusive foil treatments, Japan Showcase cards, or the grand prize: a special Serialized card printed with a unique number
• COLLECT ALT-BORDER CARDS—Turbo charge your collection with a grand total of 6 alternate-border cards in every Aetherdrift Collector Booster

$228.95

Buy on Amazon

Bundle

The Aetherdrift bundle is that balanced racer/vehicle that gives you a great experience of 9 play boosters, a stack of 40 basic lands (some are foil and full art), one foil promo and the box printed with set-specific art.

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Aetherdrift Bundle

• IT’S ONLY A DEATH RACE IF YOU DIE—Buckle up for a death race across the Multiverse full of high-octane action and adrenaline-fueled Magic gameplay
• YOU’RE IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT—Get behind the wheel and leave your competition in the dust with a Bundle full of cards and exclusive play accessories
• SPECIAL ALTERNATE-ART CARD—Every Bundle comes with 1 promo card featuring Bundle-exclusive alternate art and a shiny Traditional Foil treatment
• 9 BOOSTERS FOR PLAYING WITH FRIENDS—Perfect for building decks, playing Limited games, and tons of fun to open, this Bundle includes 9 Play Boosters, with at least 1 Traditional Foil card and the possibility of multiple Rares every pack
• 40 LAND CARDS—Swerve through 3 planes of mayhem with 20 Traditional Foil and 20 nonfoil Basic Land cards to turbo-charge your decks, including 10 Full-Art Lands (5 foil, 5 nonfoil)

$42.94

Buy on Amazon

Finish Line Bundle

Get the Finish Line Bundle that cuts three play boosters in favor of two premium collector boosters. This high-end gift bundle puts exclusive art in the hands of a winner along with foil box toppers and 5 full art lands backed by 15 foil lands.

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Aetherdrift Finish Line Bundle

• STEP INTO THE WINNER’S CIRCLE—Turbo-charge your collection and claim the gold with this high-velocity bundle full of boosters, special cards, and exclusive accessories
• COLLECT THE COOLEST AETHERDRIFT CARDS—Get 2 Collector Boosters for a shortcut to the coolest cards in the set; each pack is full of Rare and/or Mythic cards, shiny foil cards, and special alt-art, alt-frame cards
• 6 BOOSTERS FOR PLAYING WITH FRIENDS—Perfect for building decks, playing Limited games, and tons of fun to open, this Finish Line Bundle includes 6 Play Boosters, with a possibility of multiple Rares and at least 1 shining foil card in every pack
• 3 EXTENDED-ART CARDS—Soup up your decks with 3 Extended-Art cards featuring alternate art exclusive to the Finish Line Bundle
• 2 FOIL BOX TOPPER CARDS—A tantalizing prize for a high-stakes match, in every Finish Line Bundle you’ll score a Box Topper containing 2 cards gleaming with a brand new foil treatment

$62.96

Buy on Amazon

Commander Decks

The Aetherdrift Commander decks are Living Energy and Eternal Might, each features 10 new to Magic cards and pair of cards that are a sample of what the collector boosters hold. If you do any tag team Commander and want two pairs of both EDH decks from Aetherdrift, there's a deck bundle for you.

• Eternal Might is a graveyard deck, with discarding zombies. The creature type comes up often at Commander tables, just not always in Esper . Eternal Might has a great history of cards to tap into for upgrades.
• Living Energy is Temur and ripe to add a more full energy experience given a substantial amount of energy cards for Commander. See which old energy cards are worth adding in our upgrade to Living Energy.

It looks a little strange to see MSRP on the Commander decks, but there they sit at $44.99 each, though we know one of them will end up ahead of the other in the price race.

Magic The Gathering Aetherdrift Commander Deck Bundle - 2 of Each Deck (2 Living Energy + 2 Eternal Might)

• GET 2 COPIES OF EACH AETHERDRIFT COMMANDER DECK—This Bundle includes 4 items, with 2 Aetherdrift Living Energy Commander Decks and 2 Aetherdrift Eternal Might Commander Decks
• 2 LIVING ENERGY DECKS—Join artificer extraordinaire Saheeli to stockpile energy, then charge up your artifact creatures for a big finish with this Red-Green-Blue Aetherdrift Commander Deck
• 2 ETERNAL MIGHT DECKS—On the plane of Amonkhet, the dead never rest; burn through cards and grow your mummy army with this White-Blue-Black Aetherdrift Commander deck
• FOIL BORDERLESS COMMANDERS—Every Aetherdrift Commander Deck includes 2 Traditional Foil Legendary Creature cards featuring Borderless art
• INTRODUCING 20 COMMANDER CARDS—Each deck introduces 10 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering

$134.62

Buy on Amazon

Finish Line

Redshift, Rocketeer Chief | Illustration by Wayne Reynolds

Aetherdrift is a very unique Magic set, I don't call it quite as good-unique as Duskmourn, but not bad-unique like Thunder Junction. I love what vehicles do for the current Standard and like how the color combinations stretch mechanically.

Do you watch NASCAR? What's your racing team? If Magic were to sponsor a real-world car brand would it be Toyota, Honda or something else? Comments your thoughts or on Draftsim’s Discord. And tell the world which racing team you belong to.

Thank you for reading and see you at the winner's circle!

Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to make a purchase, you’ll help Draftsim continue to provide awesome free articles and apps.