Magic: The Gathering has a big year ahead. One that is going to drastically change what we understand the game to be, at least until now. With three Universe Beyond collections, two of them dedicated to Spider-Man and Final Fantasy, it has opened up to be something more. Not just fantasy. And the first collection of the year already demonstrates this, even if it does so more from the classic coordinates of its multiverse.
The new Magic collection: Aetherdrift
Aetherdrift, the first collection of 2025 from Magic: The Gathering, invites us to experience a race between three different dimensions. The prize? A spark that allows travel between dimensions. With many familiar faces and some new ones joining, the story of this collection has offered us what seems to be an approach towards the end of a great arc. But we still have to see what awaits us on that front. And before that, we need to talk about what awaits us in the important part: how Aetherdrift is played.
Aetherdrift is about a great race between different planes. That’s why it’s logical for all mechanics related to piloting, riding, or traveling in any kind of vehicle to return. And we have two of those in Magic that, of course, return in this expansion.
Crew and saddle up are the two major mechanics returning in Aetherdrift. With a strong presence within the expansion, the large number of vehicles and mounts make this an expansion that revolves around risk-reward. Also, in part, due to the large number of artifact creatures that have decided to join this race. Making it a particularly artifact-heavy expansion, which if proven popular, will render your Throat Slit useless in the short and medium term.
The new mechanics are complex and very, very interesting
Probably the most interesting aspect of the new expansion is its new mechanics. They are also particularly complex mechanics compared to what we are used to. That’s why it shouldn’t surprise us that they decided to introduce only two of them, but they have a lot of flexibility depending on the card they appear on. And their names are Exhaust and Start your engines!
Exhaust wants to recreate the moment in a race where one makes sacrifices to gain a competitive edge. Do you know the classic moment in a movie where a character blows the door off their car or activates the nitrous oxide even when it might make them explode? That’s Exhaust. Each card with this mechanic has specific conditions for its activation, but they all have one thing in common: they give us a great advantage that we can only use once.
A card might ask us to pay four mana and exile X artifacts from our graveyard to give all non-artifact creatures -X/-X until the end of the turn. Another might ask us to pay one mana to receive three mana of any color. Another can turn a vehicle into an artifact creature and put a +1/+1 counter on it. But we can only do it once, so we have to make that time count.
If Exhaust is the explosive part of any race, Start your engines! is the demonstration that you can run in a consistent manner. Because here it’s all about dealing damage regularly each turn. Because the cards that have Start your engines! focus on one thing: reaching maximum speed. Every time an opponent takes damage each turn, our speed increases, and when we reach four, we hit maximum speed. At that moment, the abilities of these cards are activated.
The effects of maximum speed are usually very powerful. Robots that copy any artifact we cast for one mana or draw a second card whenever we were going to draw a card are effects we see in this mechanic. But of course: activating it is not easy. It requires us to deal damage to our opponents in four different turns, and that must be properly rewarded.
Arena and Commander also receive love from Wizards
As it could not be otherwise, Commander lovers will not miss out on enjoying this collection. This time with only two decks, both are very particular. One white, blue, and black is based on zombies with the idea of discarding and drawing cards, while the other is green, blue, and red, based on artifacts and energy counters, returning to one of the most controversial mechanics of the game. Although it is also true that Wizards said they found it difficult for energy to return in standard, not in eternal formats.
Additionally, if you play Magic: The Gathering Arena, we have especially juicy news for you. Because besides the fact that this collection will have bundles, like all the collections they release on the platform, the game will now have a new addition: achievements. Independent from the daily and weekly ones, these achievements will serve to earn different types of cosmetics and will allow you to progress in the game in a more specific way than before. This will delight many players, giving them a specific purpose to play, and especially, what to play.
All this makes Aetherdrift an interesting collection. One to which we must pay particular attention. Although we will still have to wait a bit to enjoy it. Aetherdrift will have its pre-release events between February 7 and 13, its release on Magic: The Gathering Arena on February 11, and its physical release on February 14. So get ready and prepare for what promises to be a great year for Magic.