Welcome to the Daily Dose of Aether Revolt, where I talk about some of the great new preview cards coming up for the January 20th release of Aether Revolt. One of the largest themes seen in Kaladesh was the theme that artifacts matter. A lot of cards were improved, changed, or triggered based on playing an artifact or having an artifact on the battlefield. Based on what we’ve seen so far, this theme is going to be not only continued, but grown upon. In Kaladesh, 19% of cards were Artifacts, with many more producing artifacts when played. Aether Revolt is going to have 26% of its cards be artifacts, which means you should either join the Artifact revolution or find a way to defeat it. Today I’m going to be talking about three cards that are joining the Artifact fight.
First off, I want to talk about a new Vehicle from Aether Revolt. That’s right, Vehicles are back! Here is Heart of Kiran.
So, we get a two mana Vehicle that has Serra Angel-esque stats of becoming a 4/4 Flying creature with Vigilance when it is crewed. Those are some powerful stats on a two-casting cost permanent. One of the first things that stands out is that you will need a Crew of 3 to get it going. To offset this large Crew cost you can also remove a loyalty counter from any planeswalker you control rather than paying Heart of Kiran’s crew cost. There have been some rumblings that this works very well with Liliana, the Last Hope as you can get the planeswalker out on turn three and help it crew Heart of Kiran right away. I’m not too big of a fan of this as you often want to work towards the ultimate ability of Liliana, the Last Hope. I’d rather have either Chandra, Torch of Defiance or Gideon, Ally of Zendikar remove loyalty counters to crew.
Right away, a lot of people are trying to make a direct comparison to Smuggler’s Copter. Heart of Kiran has better stats, and thanks to vigilance will be better on defence as well. Smuggler’s Copter has the advantage of card looting which can be very strong to smooth out your hand into more playable cards. Heart of Kiran can be harder to crew as Smuggler’s Copter can be crewed by any other creature you put on the battlefield. Even though it has the tougher crew cost, I don’t think it will have trouble finding suitable options to crew the vehicle. Cards like Veteran Motorist and Depala, Pilot Exemplar become even more valuable thanks to their 3 power and the ability to make Hear of Kiran a 5/5 Flying, Vigilance vehicle.
I think that Smuggler’s Copter will still see more play than Heart of Kiran, but there is an option to play both at the two-mana slot. Mardu Vehicles decks will now have another Vehicle that they put in the deck.
The next cards I’m going to talk about is an Artifact creature that pairs very well with Heart of Kiran. Here is Scrap Trawler!
Scrap Trawler is a card that I believe can have a lot of potential if put within the right deck. Just imagine the following scenario. On turn one you play a Terrarion. On turn two, you cast Heart of Kiran on turn two using mana from a sacrificed Terrarion and draw a card. This is then followed up casting Scrap Trawler on turn three. You can then use it to crew Heart of Kiran leaving your opponent with an interesting decision. If they play a removal spell on the Heart of Kiran you will be able to get back the Terrarion thanks to Scrap Trawler. In the following turns, they can get back Heart of Kiran once Scrap Trawler dies.
Alternatively, they could kill the Scrap Trawler meaning you would only get back the Terrarion, but they would then need another removal spell later for the Heart of Kiran. There is a lot of potential for this card, and I’m sure that someone will take advantage of it.
Lastly, I’m going to be talking about one of the many cards from the Kaladesh block that helps you get more value out of the artifacts you already have on the battlefield. Here is Quicksmith Rebel.
I love cards that allow you to gain more value out of existing permanents on the battlefield. Ideally you would like to have some artifacts that aren’t creatures or artifacts that you sacrifice so they have a greater chance of being on the battlefield longer. I can see this being used in a Panharmonicon deck. You will be able to give two artifacts you control like Panharmonicon and Prophetic Prism this ability to deal four damage a turn to whatever target you want. This can be used to clear off the battlefield or deal damage straight to your opponent.
Another great use for this card is in conjunction with Heart of Kiran. You can play Quicksmith Rebel targeting Heart of Kiran. Than you can crew the Vehicle and attack for four damage. Before your next turn thanks to Heart of Kiran having Vigilance, you will able to deal an extra two damage to whatever you would like.
So, what do you think of this trio of cards from Aether Revolt? Do you believe that any of them will see Standard play in the new year? Let me know your thoughts on these exciting new cards. Thanks for reading the Daily Dose of Aether Revolt where I continue to talk about the exciting batch of cards that will be coming as we open fresh new booster packs of a new set. Join me next time as I preview more cards!
