Aetherdrift (DFT)

In figures

• 857,667 games analysed
• On the play: 57.7% wins, against 52.2% on the draw
• A game lasts 9.5 turns on average

What players think

Aetherdrift is judged a flawed limited format: poor color balance, mostly weak commons, board stalls, and Vehicles that disappoint next to the marketing. Green dominates, and (midrange) and (exhaust) are placed on top, ahead of , , and (the best speed deck); is the most fragile, and is seen as risky for lack of commons. Our measured games confirm the top end: and win most often, is right behind, and finishes last. The main gap: , ranked lower, does better than , and and sit in the lower half of the table.

Colour pairs

Win rate of the decks of each pair, from real games of online draft players.

Pair	Share of games	Win rate	Strong players	Over time
Graveyard Returns	15.8 %	56.5 %	54.8 %	57.3 → 55.3 → 55.4
Exhaust and Ramp	12.9 %	56.6 %	55.2 %	57.4 → 55.5 → 55.0
Thopters and Vehicles	10.5 %	54.6 %	53.5 %	55.0 → 53.6 → 54.5
Discard and Cycling	8.5 %	53.5 %	54.0 %	53.4 → 53.4 → 54.3
Exhaust and Vehicles	8.0 %	55.1 %	54.0 %	55.7 → 53.8 → 55.0
Aggro Speed	7.6 %	55.2 %	54.4 %	55.5 → 55.1 → 54.2
Mounts and Counters	7.0 %	56.2 %	55.9 %	56.1 → 56.4 → 56.3
Artifacts and Affinity	6.5 %	54.1 %	54.1 %	53.9 → 54.4 → 54.6
Drain and Sacrifice	4.8 %	55.6 %	55.7 %	55.2 → 56.4 → 55.8
Pilots and Vehicles	4.3 %	51.9 %	50.7 %	52.0 → 51.8 → 50.6

Archetypes: the gold uncommons

• Artifacts and Affinity

  54.1 % win rate6.5 % of games

  Vehicles and Crew

  • 

    120. Guidelight Pathmaker

    5.8
  • 

    141. Voyage Home

    5.6

• Thopters and Vehicles

  54.6 % win rate10.5 % of games

  Vehicles and Crew

  • 

    91. Haunt the Network

    6.2
  • 

    177. Haunted Hellride

    5.0

• Aggro Speed

  55.2 % win rate7.6 % of games

  Start your engines! / Max speed

  • 

    28. Gastal Thrillseeker

    7.4
  • 

    112. Apocalypse Runner

    5.8

• Exhaust and Vehicles

  55.1 % win rate8.0 % of games

  Exhaust

  • 

    68. Rocketeer Boostbuggy

    6.6
  • 

    176. Boom Scholar

    5.0

• Mounts and Counters

  56.2 % win rate7.0 % of games

  Saddle

  • 

    33. Veteran Beastrider

    7.4
  • 

    64. Lagorin, Soul of Alacria

    6.6

• Graveyard Returns

  56.5 % win rate15.8 % of games

  Cycling

  • 

    49. Thundering Broodwagon

    7.0
  • 

    116. Broodheart Engine

    5.8

• Exhaust and Ramp

  56.6 % win rate12.9 % of games

  Exhaust

  • 

    32. Skyserpent Seeker

    7.4
  • 

    103. Rangers' Aetherhive

    6.0

• Discard and Cycling

  53.5 % win rate8.5 % of games

  Cycling

  • 

    50. Broadside Barrage

    7.0
  • 

    115. Boosted Sloop

    5.8

• Drain and Sacrifice

  55.6 % win rate4.8 % of games

  Start your engines! / Max speed

  • 

    44. Embalmed Ascendant

    7.0
  • 

    88. Dune Drifter

    6.2

• Pilots and Vehicles

  51.9 % win rate4.3 % of games

  Vehicles and Crew

  • 

    99. Cloudspire Coordinator

    6.0
  • 

    201. Cloudspire Skycycle

    4.6

Mechanics of the set

• Start your engines! / Max speed

  With no speed, it starts at 1; it goes up once on each of your turns when an opponent loses life, to a maximum of 4 (Max speed), where Max speed abilities turn on.

• Exhaust

  Each Exhaust ability can be activated only once (per permanent).

• Vehicles and Crew

  Crew N: tap creatures you control with total power N or more to make the Vehicle an artifact creature until end of turn.

• Saddle

  Saddle N: tap other creatures with total power N or more, only when you could cast a sorcery: the Mount is saddled until end of turn.

• Cycling

  Pay the cycling cost and discard the card: draw a card.

The best cards

By colour

Rank by our rating, then rank by win rate when the card is in hand.

To remember

• Keep creatures to tap: 41 cards in the set are Vehicles with Crew, and many need small bodies to attack.
• Ten common gold lands enter tapped and gain 1 life: take them late, they help you play two colours or a splash.
• Several cards also answer Vehicles (Spin Out, Ride's End, Bounce Off, Crash and Burn): a Vehicle can be destroyed, exiled or bounced.
• For speed, count what makes players lose life: Gastal Thrillseeker (1 damage on entering) and Pactdoll Terror (drain whenever an artifact enters) help you climb.