MTG Aetherdrift Set Release: Everything You Need to Know

Overview of MTG Aetherdrift Set

The first set of 2025 is here: MTG Aetherdrift! A death race set across multiple planes, Aetherdrift is unlike any MTG set we’ve seen before – racers, vehicles and even a Planeswalker on a motorbike! MTG Aetherdrift is taking us to places we’ve never been to before, setting the scene for the rest of the year and beyond. Let’s dive in!

As you’d imagine for a death race set, the theme is all about vehicles, drivers and racing. Ten teams (one for each colour pair) are racing across three planes: Kaladesh (now renamed to Avishkar), the ancient-Egyptian-inspired Amonkhet, and the jungle world of Muraganda. They are all after the grand prize of the Aetherspark, the game’s first equipment Planswalker, which can grant the power of Planeswalking to its owner. Chandra is among the racers after it, who wants to win it for her love Nissa, who lost her spark during the war with Phyrexia.

For players, there’s plenty of powerful cards that will take competitive formats and Commander up a gear, while for the players there are plenty of unique and collectible offerings, from the serialised ‘headliner’ to various unique treatments.

Release Date and Availability

If you want nothing more than to snuggle up with your beloved and crack some Aetherdrift then you are in luck, because it releases on Valentine’s Day – Feb 14th 2025! Pre-releases take place Feb 7-13th, and the MTG Arena launch is Feb 11.

There’s not much longer to wait, but if your excitement is fully revved to play with the new cards, remember you can already pre-order sealed product and singles, whether it’s booster boxes, commander decks, bundles, pre-release packs or collector boosters, you can find it all here at Magic Madhouse! And with shipping as fast as Chandra on a motorbike, you won’t have to wait long!

Key Cards and Mechanics in Aetherdrift

Whether you’re after drivers and pilots or vehicles and the ultimate prize for the winner, there’s some amazing new cards waiting for you in MTG Atherdrift: let’s take a look at who and what is on the starting grid:

 Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer

Daretti is all about big artifacts, with not only his power being equal to the most expensive artifact you have, but also his ability is a Trash for Treasure variant, allowing you to cheat a big artifact into play ‘reanimation’ style by sacrificing something cheaper. He’s going to be a very popular Commander choice.

Brightglass Gearhulk

One of a cycle of multi-coloured Gearhulks in the set, Brightglass Gearhulk is a 4/4 first striking trampler for four mana with a powerful tutoring ability to either use for value, or unlocking combo potential

Earthrumbler

As one of the first vehicles revealed to us, Earthrumbler really sets the tone on what to expect from Aetherdrift. While just an uncommon, the Earthrumbler can be a 7/6 trampler with vigilance for just five mana, if you’re graveyard has creatures or artifacts to exile

The Aetherspark

The ‘grand prize’ of the race, the Aetherspark is unlike anything we’ve seen before – an equipment Planeswalker! While very dependent on having a creature in play to function, the Aetherspark certainly has some power to it – time will tell on where its best home is

Chandra, Spark Hunter

It’s Chandra on a motorbike! Chandra, Spark Hunter has a unique spin on the well-loved Planeswalker, this time focusing on vehicles and artifacts, given the theme of the set.

As for mechanics, Mounts and Saddle also reappear, which makes sense for a set based around vehicles, and should play well with cards from Outlaws at Thunder Junction, where the mechanic first appeared.

Start Your Engines! is one of the new abilities, which uses a new resource called ‘Speed’. Your speed starts at 1 as you play a ‘Start Your Engines!’ card, and increases by 1 each of your turns that an opponent loses life, maxing out at 4 (called ‘max speed’). Once reaching ‘max speed’, a number of the cards in the set have very powerful abilities.

Exhaust is another ability appearing for the first time. It works much like ‘exert’ from the past, but where exert would give you an ability in exchange for the creature not untapping next turn, ‘exhaust’ grants an effect you can use just once in the game (i.e. exhausting that resource).

Cycling returns, helping smooth out your draws and filling the graveyard for graveyard synergies.

It’ll be fascinating to see how these new cards interact with existing decks. In Commander, there are already a plethora of cycling and vehicle decks that are going to have new toys to play with, while in Standard there are more mounts and saddle cards to play alongside those from Outlaws at Thunder Junction.

Collectibility and Rarity in Aetherdrift

For those collecting the set, the ‘headliner’ card series continues, this time with The Aetherspark appearing as a serialised card. There are also ‘first place’ treatments in the box topper packs, which replaces the regular card frame with one of bright golden yellow. There are also 10 cards that have the Japan Showcase treatment, and another 10 special guest cards with new art, including the much sought-after Chrome Mox.

On top of all that, there are borderless vehicles and legends, with ‘revved up’, ‘rude rider’ and ‘grafitti’ variants featuring some truly out-there artwork!

With so many variants, the collectibility of MTG Aetherdrift will be higher than usual. Especially considering this set also has serialised cards with the ‘headliner’ aetherspark.

Tips for Collecting and Playing with Aetherdrift Cards

Pre-orders are available for MTG Aetherdrift now, and a great way to ensure you get the cards you want for Commander, Standard and beyond as close to launch as possible. For the cards that prove to be as good, or better, than expected, the prices can jump up pretty fast, so it’s good to order early if you know you’re onto a winner – especially those that become Commander staples or popular competitive cards. And remember, markets shift as cards become more (and less) popular and prices move with them, so keep on top of the most winning decks and expert/pro commentary.

Where to Buy MTG Aetherdrift Cards

Sealed products and singles for MTG Aetherdrift are available to pre-order at competitive prices right now on Magic Madhouse – so don’t get left behind!