Racers — Start Your Engines!
Hey hey, welcome back. I’m Command Zoe, and my engine is started for Aetherdrift — just waiting for that first flag to put the pedal to the floor. Recently, I had the pleasure of playtesting with a few creators that had access to the new cards early and let me tell you, I have plans. I got to see someone else play with The Aetherspark in a game of Commander, and the high-roll potential for that card is terrifying. They played a ten-mana Eldrazi on turn four. Horrifying. I can’t wait!
So I thought it would be nice to spread the hype around and tell you about the five Brawl commanders I am the most excited for in Aetherdrift. This is not a top-five list; it’s simply five commanders that look fun and the various ways I want to use them.
The Speed Demon
He just feels that need.
Hold up, that says you get to draw up to four additional cards every turn? And it’s on a huge flying trampler with a relevant creature type? Take it in. That is an absolute HOUSE of a card. There are very few archetypes in mono-black you will not want this in. Aggro loves this as a top end that also reloads it. Midrange and control lists can never have too many resources. Even a combo deck could use it to dig to combo pieces.
After settling down from the overwhelm of there being so many directions I could take it, I decided the first list I will build with The Speed Demon will be a self-damaging deck a la Death’s Shadow. There’s a similar Vehicle coming in Aetherdrift, The Last Ride. We also have Scourge of the Skyclaves, and black has a ton of tutors in the format. With lots of damaging card draw like Phyrexian Arena, Black Market Connections, and Unholy Annex Ritual Chamber to go alongside this commander, those key pieces and tutors should show up frequently. And with all that card draw in there… no, I shouldn’t. That’s too evil.
oops
Mendicant Core, Guidelight
The early years of the defect from Slay the Spire
Did anyone else read the lore on this Robot? It is so sad. They are the only sentient one of their type and they’re trying to wrangle all the non-sentient ones back to their home plane. That sounds so lonesome; it’s Angrath and his kids all over again. So why not build them with some Robot friends! An aggressive artifact creatures list featuring affinity staples like Frogmite, Myr Enforcer, Thought Monitor, and Thoughtcast seems like it could have legs. Add your favorite artifacts, a few cards with improvise, some interaction, and you got a brew goin’!
Another interesting direction you could go is with self-bounce effects like Nurturing Pixie and Shrieking Drake. Once you hit max speed, you can replay your favorite artifacts then copy them with Mendicant Core, Guidelight. Who doesn’t love pumping out a bunch of copies of Esper Sentinel? Now we just need them to print Retract into the format.
Before moving on, just a reminder that all of the following count as artifacts to buff Mendicant Core’s power: Treasures, Food, Clues, Blood, Maps, Gold, Karnstructs, Servos, Thopters, Mites, and Gnomes.
Ketramose, the New Dawn
Anyone getting Shelley vibes? I am Nicol Bolas, king of kings..
Whoa. Is there anything they didn’t print on this card? An over-statted, life-gaining, indestructible God that needs to be double blocked for three mana is guaranteed to see play everywhere. I think this is one of the strongest cards I have seen enter Standard since Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath – which got banned, by the way. So there really is no wrong direction you can take your strategy with him as your commander. If there is a black-white strategy you want to try, Ketramose will be a decent commander for it. So let’s talk real quick about his one and only drawback — the seven cards in exile clause.
Do it all at once, as a treat.
Immediately notice that it doesn’t specify who owns those seven cards in exile. A collective total of seven is significantly easier to get to since two players will inherently present cards to exile faster than one player. It also lets you choose a from a wider pool of cards and strategies to exile with – because this card wasn’t broadly powerful enough, I guess. So you can use any of the cheap artifacts that hit graveyards, the best probably being Relic of Progenitus for its ability to hit all seven at once or go one at a time. Any cards like Lion Sash are strong enablers for the card draw, and once you hit seven you can then equip Ketramose with it to increase his life gain. I think they’re going to be a popular pairing.
Ketramose gets access to Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void. Just keep in mind those replacement effects mean the cards don’t go to the graveyard for you to draw car-
What do you mean it says and/or battlefield!?
Loot, the Pathfinder
Do NOT hurt him. I will cry.
Whoa — that is a lot of text. Now I just need to come up with a deck that wants a multi-use Ancestral Recall, Lightning Bolt, and some sort of Dark Ritual that’s been to therapy. “But Zoe, exhaust says you can only use it once.” Well luckily, after Loot dies (NOOOOOO!), you can activate those exhaust effects again the next time you replay him (phew, he’s okay). You can also use cards like Teferi’s Time Twist, Displacer Kitten, and Thassa, Deep Dwelling to reset the exhaust, which conveniently also has him re-enter untapped. Does Temur have many ways to give things haste?
Whoa–
So how about ways to untap it? Paradox Engine is of course an option for Spikier lists, but if you’re looking for something less linear, try extra combat attackers like Aggravated Assault, Fear of Missing Out, and Anzrag, the Quake Mole. They can let you use more of your exhaust effects while also providing an outlet for all those keywords. And speaking of, you know what type of deck is in Temur colors and loves keywords?
Loot, are you feeling okay? You just sprouted horns and bat wings.
Samut, the Driving Force
Driving force? She’s not even in a car.
My immediate thought when I saw Samut was to get 4 as the baseline for any X spell. Getting to 12 for the Finales is quite difficult, but getting to max speed and 8 is completely doable. And, of course, there are all the Fireball effects on arena. Each one gets 4 added to it.
For when 8 is probably enough, but you want to send a message.
Notice that she makes spells cheaper and creatures more powerful, so any noncreature spells that create creature tokens will receive Samut, the Driving Force’s benefits two different ways. And on top of that she just so happens to be in the colors for token doublers.
They’re so much easier to use on Arena when the computer does the math.
If you really want to go wild with it, I imagine there is a Naya storm deck that uses colorless artifacts that draw a card when they enter in conjunction with Chatterstorm or Grapeshot that could be really fun to try and tune. I bet that could go real fast.
Looking Past the Finish Line
These are just a few of the commanders I’m excited about. Like I said last time, I am very hyped for The Aetherspark. Join me next time where I hope to have gotten my hands on some of these cards, and I’ll have a full Brawl list for you. Always remember, racers, whether you lost or you won — there’s always another race coming up. Don’t get distracted by the prize, and make sure to find joy in the race.
