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    Ride your way to victory in Magic The Gathering: Aetherdrift

    Mount up, grab your vehicle, and ride to victory in Magic: The Gathering (MTG)’s latest set. Think Tron-style bikes, Ben-Hur chariots, and even roller blades.

    This newest card set in the popular trading card game (TCG) encourages players to combine mounts and vehicles in a fun way that can shake up any game. Read on to find out more about the new set, and how you can use crews, mounts, and vehicles.

    Full throttle – death race in the multiverse

    MTG: Aetherdrift centres around a multiverse of high-speed racing. There are lots of high-speed themed cards including lighting fast roller blades, bike riders, and speedy vehicles. You’ll also find horses, chariots, and riders. There are ten unique racing teams to choose from, and players will be speeding to catch the prize. Returning mechanics make this new set even more fun.

    These two mechanics are: mount and vehicle. A mount or vehicle can be saddled or crewed respectively. Team up cards to create combinations to take out your opponent. There are lots of different mounts and vehicles to collect in Aetherdrift. A mount is a creature card that will become more powerful once you have another creature to saddle your mount. One creature card will effectively be riding another.

    Haunted Hellride Artifact Vehicle card and Brightfield Mustang Creature Horse Mount card.
    Vehicles, like the Vehicle card on the left, can be used only once they are crewed. Mounts, like the Horse Mount on the right, can be used as a Creature card, or saddled to become more powerful. (Photo: TechAU)

    Vehicles on the other hand are artifacts. They won’t be able to attack until you crew your vehicle. In essence, it’s like having a car and getting someone to jump in and drive it. Some creature cards will have crew power, which indicates the type of vehicle they can crew.

    Dynamite Diver Creature card and Midnight Mangler Artifact Vehicle card.
    The Creature card on the left can be used to saddle Mounts and crew Vehicles. The Artifact card on the right is a vehicle card that needs Crew with a power of 2 to control it. (Photo: TechAU)

    In order to take out your opponents, you’ll need to determine the most effective way to mount and crew your vehicles. If you want to make it less complicated, add lots of creatures to your deck and only use the mount mechanic rather than trying to juggle artifacts.

    Take it to the Max Speed

    Max Speed is a fun, brand-new mechanic that will help you on your path to victory. Some cards will have “Start Your Engines” instructions. When you play one of these cards, you’ll be able to start tracking your speed. During each of your turns, when another opponent loses life points, you’ll gain one level of speed. At each level, some of your cards will become more powerful. The maximum speed is four. Some cards have special effects that activate once you reach max speed.

    Start your Engines and Max Speed card – the same card, double sided (Photo: TechAU)

    This cool mechanic changes the strategy and gameplay. Will you aim for Max Speed as quickly as possible? Or will you build up your defenses and take down your opponents with raw attack power? You choose who you play the game with this new mechanic.

    Collecting cards

    All MTG sets have lots of fun cards to collect, and Aetherdrift is no exception. If you’re a rev head, then you’ll want to hunt down those slick racing-themed cards. Japanese and manga fans will be excited to discover the Japanese themed cards, featuring borderless artwork and lots of colour.

    Card: Loot, the Pathfinder. Legendary Creature - Beast Noble. Double strike, vigilance, haste.
    Collect all the Japanese themed cards (Image: Supplied)

    Hard-core Magic fans will be seeking out Chandra, one of the original Planeswalkers. In this set, you’ll find her sporting a sleek red racing suit, atop a red bike. There are only 500 of these cards printed, and you can find them in Collector Boosters. Check out the full list of cards on the MTG website.

    Card: Candra, Spark Hunter. Text reads: Legendary Planeswalker - Chandra. At the beginning of combat, on your turn, choose up to one target vehicle you control. Until end of turn, it becomes an artifact creature and gains haste.
    Each of these cards are individually numbered. (Image: Supplied)

    As with many MTG sets, Aetherdrift gives buyers lots of options for first time, or plenty of packs to add to your collection. You can purchase Play Boosters and Collector Boosters, as well as Prerelease Packs, Bundles, Finish Line Bundles, and two types of Commander Decks.

    Michelle Duke
    Michelle Dukehttps://mishmanners.info
    Mish is the Hackathon Queen, having participated in more than 100 events. Between being a Developer and Twitch streamer, Mish also finds time to pursue her keen interest in driving entrepreneurial culture in Melbourne's Melbourne’s esports industry and has founded several tech companies.

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