Welcome to another edition of the Daily Dose of Aether Revolt where new cards are coming through the pipe at record speed as they work to preview all the remaining new cards in one week.
Yesterday I talked about the two new mechanics for Aether Revolt and today I’ll be going over some new cards from two returning mechanics from Kaladesh. Vehicles and Energy were two of my favourite new mechanics to come around in quite some time and I for one am glad to see that they are coming back in Aether Revolt. Vehicles were a fun new type of permanent that have a huge upside when they turn into creatures. Energy was a new resource for players to utilize and build decks around. I was excited to see what was coming in Aether Revolt and so far, I haven’t been disappointed.
Energy
First, I’m going to be talking about two new Energy cards that have some potential to grow the power of the Energy decks going forward. Let’s have a look at the first of the new cards involving Energy, here is Greenbelt Rampager.
This is a very well designed card in my opinion. Here you have a 3/4 creature that can’t stay on the battlefield on turn one, but can still get you some value. Without any other sources of Energy, it will take you three green mana over any number of turns to be able to cast Greenbelt Rampager. If you can get other sources of Energy, like from Woodweaver’s Puzzleknot or Attune with Aether you can cast it for only one mana. In the case of casting Attune with Aether, it will allow you to have it stick on turn two. Greenbelt Rampager also works well with the new Aether Revolt mechanic Revolt, as you can bounce it back to your hand if you don’t have two Energy so that you can trigger Revolt.
Next is a card that will gain you a ton of Energy while having a potentially game changing ability in the late game. Here is Gonti’s Aether Heart.
I enjoy the cards they’ve printed so far that allow you the possibility to gain a lot of Energy then have a big payoff. Aetherworks Marvel was one where it helped you gain Energy throughout the game and subsequently gave you a chance to cast a spell for free. Gonti’s Aether Heart will help you gain Energy throughout the game and eventually will give you a very big payday if you can sacrifice it to take an extra turn. There are times when you will want to leave it in play for as long as you can if you have other cards that can take advantage of the Energy that you are accumulating. It is nice to have a card that isn’t blue that allows you to take an extra turn. This will give Naya decks an opportunity to take an extra turn and finish off an opponent with powerful creatures and planeswalkers.
Now that we’ve seen some of the new Energy cards, it’s time to switch our focus to some new Vehicles! In Kaladesh, we saw some powerful Vehicles like Smuggler’s Copter and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship that have become well positioned in the Standard metagame. Here are some new Vehicle cards from Aether Revolt that will continue the presence of Vehicles. The first Vehicle I want to look at is one that excites me with its immense possibility for greatness. Here is Consulate Dreadnought.
Yes, that is a one mana Vehicle, and yes that is 7 power and 11 toughness that you see in the bottom right-hand corner of this card. This Vehicle is simply amazing. Now I do understand that Consulate Dreadnought has Crew 6 which makes it difficult to turn into an artifact creature. Not even Lupine Prototype has enough power to crew this mighty Vehicle. Luckily there are other ways to make sure this creature gets to attack. First off there is the card Start Your Engines that will allow it to attack for 9 damage. There is also a new enchantment from Aether Revolt that will help not only Consulate Dreadnought, but all your Vehicles turn into creatures. Let’s look at Siege Modification.
Look at that amazing middle line of text on that card. “As long as enchanted permanent is a Vehicle, it’s a creature in addition to its other types.” Well hello there Consulate Dreadnought, meet your new friend Siege Modification. Allowing your Vehicles to attack is great enough, but giving it +3/+0 and first strike brings it to the next level. That would make Consulate Dreadnought a 10/11 first strike creature attacking on turn three.
There is also another new Vehicle that will help Consulate Dreadnought attack as well. Let’s look at Peacekeeper Colossus.
By itself, Peacekeeper Colossus will be hard to attack with in the early game, but what it will allow you the power to make all your other Vehicles better. The Crew of 4 is a challenge, but later in the game it will be able to activate and attack if needed. It will allow you to activate other Peacekeeper Colossus if you have multiple on the battlefield or certain one mana Vehicles like Consulate Dreadnought.
So, as you can see, there are some exciting new cards involving the two-returning mechanics that will make sure that there is some great synergy between the two sets when drafting and during prerelease. I look forward to seeing what is still to come for Aether Revolt, so join me tomorrow on the Daily Dose of Aether Revolt as we continue the path to prerelease weekend and the release of Aether Revolt!
