Aetherdrift Limited Set Review: Black | Magic: the Gathering

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The full card gallery for Aetherdrift dropped earlier today, and that means it’s time for my Limited Set Review! In this video I give you my thoughts on every Black card in the set.
What my grades mean:
I use a letter grade system, and my grades usually fall into a bell curve (Very few A’s and F’s, lots of C’s.)
A - Bombs that are always your first pick, they completely warp the game in your favor, and they easily pull you into their color(s). You always first pick these. These are cards you are ecstatic to have in your deck. Most sets have 15-20 of these. Tend to mostly be Mythics or Rares, though sometimes an Uncommon gets there.
(Sire of Seven Deaths, High Society Hunter, Chandra, Flameshaper)
B - Premium removal spells and highly efficient creatures, often worth first picking. Still strong enough to pull you into their colors, but not quite as game or draft warping as A’s are. These are cards you feel good about having in your deck, and you would play several copies of most of them. Mostly Uncommons and higher, but there are usually 10-15 commons that get there too.
(Stab, Elvish Regrower, Dragon Trainer)
C - Filler. These are cards you neither feel good or bad about having in your deck. You play them if you’re in their colors, but they don’t tempt you to go into their color at all. Usually includes reasonably efficient creatures, good combat tricks, and removal spells. These appear at all rarities, but are most frequently Common. (Soul-Shackled Zombie, Icewind Elemental, Courageous Goblin)
D - Playable in an emergency. These are cards that you don’t feel so good about playing, but in a pinch, sometimes you just have to play them. (Incinerating Blast, Quakestrider Ceratops, Vampire Soucaller)
F - Unplayable. These are cards that you should never play. There are very few of these in modern Limited formats, but they do appear at all rarities, with the most usually appearing at Rare and Common. These are cards whose effects are pretty much useless or overly narrow. (Inspiration from Beyond, Boltwave, Goblin Negotiation)
There are two categories of cards that I give two grades to: Build Arounds and Sideboard Cards.
Build Around: These are cards that need special synergy to be at their best - synergy that won’t just come naturally. For these cards, I give one grade indicating how I think the card will perform in a typical deck of that color, and another grade if you manage to get there on synergy. (Nine-Live Familiar, Rite of the Dragoncaller, Revenge of the Rats)
Sideboard Cards: These are generally cards that are Ds or Fs in your mainboard, but can perform much better out of the sideboard - at least as a C or higher. We see less of these today than we used to, since so many cards are modal.
(Crystal Barricade, Seeker’s Folly)
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I Can Feel it Coming Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com )
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creativecommons...

[@elmmmmmmmmmmm]

I think Black is going to be one of the best 5 colors in this set.

[@cecilbigman4250]

Oh I'm sure it'll be in the top five yeah lol

[@geronimo8159]

Bold statement! That's certainly the kind of thing an ambitious black mage would say.

[@sethzard]

Brave prediction

[@llongone2]

Oh, I don't know about that. I think it's going to be one of the worst five colors.

[@Shimatzu95]

Seems resonable

[@starmanda88]

Hey Nizza! Just letting you know I watch these religiously. Please don’t ever stop making them.

[@skiboymax8291]

These videos help me understand limited a lot more than I would without them. Thanks for all you do and keep up the good work!

[@darushkii]

Gas Guzzler looks like Zoolander and I can't unsee it lol

[@n3croticism]

omg now I can't unsee it too 😂

[@Jawzah]

I guess it's completely intentional.. The references are strong in this set.. Akira bike poses for Chandra.. There's the Hazard of Dunes (Dune + Dukes of Hazard).. What else?..

[@timeparadox999]

the theme is goofy but i cannot deny the flavor win of the speed demon and last ride mechanically putting you in winter's situation

[@parkerdubois5855]

I feel like the fact that we have like 4 big body cyclers below rare in golgari will make back on track better than a c on average, and the extra body will be better than we give it credit for. kinda reminds me of mourner's surprise from thunder juntion that brought a body back to hand and made a 1/1. tagging that 1/1 onto a card was considered meh on its own, didnt mean much to people at first, but it was well liked by the end. if you have a thundering brood wagon its really good play line i think. I can see why you're skeptical tho

[@YourAdHere4]

Yah, it reminds me of LCI’s defossilize. Both sets have cyclers, and 2 explores is probably on par with a pilot. And defossilize was a top tier black uncommon

[@NizzahonMagic]

Yeah, I could definitely see it happening. It's rare that that style of card works out, but it does happen on occasion.

[@ben_clifford]

10:05 You didn't make it very obvious here, but Gonti triggers for *each* creature that gets through

[@DinobotTM2]

You can't Crew The Last Ride with Undertaker, and that's unforgivable.

[@haplo19]

These are pretty good dude ! keep em coming! :)

[@NizzahonMagic]

Glad you're enjoying them!

[@woodysmith2681]

Wretched Doll is a B-/C+ at worst since the ability is instant speed and can be used just before your untap step to improve your draw. So it'll never be untapped at the start of your untap step, in all likelihood. Plus, artifact synergy and crewing ability. Finally, if you get this on turn 2, your opponent will either need to trade one of their creatures for it on Turn 3 or use removal. And if you top-deck, it's a great chump blocker for X/3s, since I haven't seen Trample much in the set.

[@NizzahonMagic]

I feel like there's a 0% chance it's a B-. You're underestimating how infrequently you'll have time to Surveil. A C+ seems possible, though.

[@alexMendoza-wl5oj]

I got two guys that came back, ETB removal vehicle, a 3 mana draw two, and an amazing demon. Super happy for black in the set.

[@hiygamer]

I’ll be curious to see how the lack of instant speed removal affects it though. With only 3 instant speed kill spells, it’s the least instant speed interaction we’ve seen since Murders at Karlov Manor

[@alexMendoza-wl5oj]

@hiygamer honestly I only play Commander, I don't really care about single target removal, only really care about board wipes. I think only white got one.

[@reubenkaychengong2194]

Ancient vendetta can be used for land removal since is choose a card name so it could mean any card

[@NizzahonMagic]

You don't want to be doing that. Ever. It's not "removal," it's an effect that just won't matter 99% of the time.

[@reubenkaychengong2194]

@@NizzahonMagic well in draft or sealed the deck will be at least 16 to 18 lands in the deck and by removing from hand and deck it will be limiting the opponent in theory

[@samuelrussell5760]

It only removes up to 4 copies of the card. By the time you have 4 land to cast the vendetta, your opponent is not even guaranteed to have a certain land in hand, so no guarantee you get to make them discard. And if all you do is remove 4 lands from your opponent's library, he'll probably thank you as thinning land from a deck after the early game is good for most draft decks. Best case, your opponent will be forced to discard 1-2 lands. Mind rot isn't good in limited and this is much worse.

[@ItsDangerousGoAlone]

​@@samuelrussell5760exactly! At best, it is do nothing to the board to inconvenience your opponent because most players can play on 4 land, especially when opponent won't add to board

[@irou95]

I think the last ride is a bomb. Unlike death's shadow you can deploy it and crew it whenever you want. If you are ahead or in the lategame topdeck mode the card draw will carry the game, if you are behind a 1 mana 10/10 will carry you the game. It requires you to play perfectly but for a capable player it gives all the tools to win almost any game.

[@joedominguez8064]

Black seems pretty strong so far, one thing I’m still not clear on is how the “start your engine” cards work if you’ve already started them? Do they only increase your speed if it’s at zero?

[@number4497]

I believe so, yes, once the engines are started the only way to increase it is hitting your opponent

[@jdogx211]

SPEED DEMON is just a smaller version of GRISTLEBRAND! The only difference is that they changed all the 8's to 5's and NOW, you HAVE to pay the life/draw every turn.

[@ItsDangerousGoAlone]

Nope, i just don't agree. Losing lifelink is a big deal for limited

[@jdogx211]

@ItsDangerousGoAlone forgot, Big G was 8/8 with F/T/ AND, LL. Forgot that one. But it WOULDN'T make sense if it kept losing life AND having LL.

[@WetWetShmuel]

10:06 you’re just wrong about gastal raider lol, sure you’re not always going to hit an instant or sorcery, but when u do u drastically swing the game in your favor by getting rid of opponents kill spell and even if u don’t, U GET TO LOOK AT THEIR HAND. information in limited, a format where u have no idea what your opponents deck is comprised of, is such a game changer. u know how strong their curve out is which allows u to decide how aggressive to play, u get the information that they do or dont have removal which lets u determine if u can greedily play out your best cards early, and u also just get information for game 2 and 3 in BO3 formats. knowing every card that could be potentially played minus their top deck just completely swings the game

[@JoeyDCote]

Gonti feels like he is an enabler for "cast from exile" triggers

[@krisdaschwab912]

I'll certainly be running him in 12th Doctor, which wants me to cast my opponents' spells from exile.

[@Doomsday51225]

Ancient vendetta for me is s rank. I'm putting it in all my black decks. I play ventage against atraxa and oth of druids. This card is a god send.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Yeah in 60 card formats it is a real card

[@BrooklynMoo]

YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME CRABS NOT WHEN I SWITCH TO 18:42

[@samuelrussell5760]

Deathless pilot probably also works with some discard shenanigans, but 4 mana to get it back is probably expensive enough that it doesn't break anything.

[@andyspendlove1019]

I like how the Grim Bauble artist interpreted it as Grim Bobble apparently

[@BillyTheCheeseMonger]

I’m finding it hard to adjust to this new card border, I usually just buy cards from before 2015, they make me feel safer and have extra cheese sprinkled on top

[@cax1175]

What are YOUR favorite cards from this set comment section?

[@tomb8419]

I'd give this one a C+

[@sethzard]

The one I'm most excited for is probably the Dimir gearhulk.

[@olipod5470]

Coalstoke Gearhulk. So many shenanigans

[@hiygamer]

Black has surprisingly little instant speed removal in this set. There are only 3 black instant speed kill spells in this set. That’s the lowest we’ve seen since Murders at Karlov Manor.

[@WyattAndrews]

How many 2 mana 3/1s are in the set? I thought it was higher than average, possibly making locust spray a bit better?

[@NizzahonMagic]

It's definitely more than normal since they wanted us to be able to Crew easily.

[@RibusPQR]

Ancient Vendetta could be funny to name basic lands with

[@Aweman11]

I think fliers are going to be better in this set than in others just because they can easily generate speed.

[@bathsaltcircus9630]

Dis guy?? Again??? Very very busy, you the man!!

[@jackiespaceman]

I think Risen Necroregent is the now-expected Mythic Uncommon of the set

[@tomwoolsey1089]

Speed

[@ItsDangerousGoAlone]

Speed Demon isn't good. You lose 4 life tapped out so you can't use the cards yet. Then you have one turn to play with a bigger hand and attack for 5 damage before you lose 4 more life. Losing 8 life for one barely above average attack and 4 extra cards is not worth it, and the clock is ticking on yourself if 8 doesn't kill you. You can only play so many cards with mana, it isn't worth killing yourself. Funny enough, this card is good when you have no speed as one speed is when this is at its best

[@slendyspy2675]

Watched all the previous set reviews up to now. I really want to like Speed, but throughout previews, I felt underwhelmed.

[@bigbonerecords.4080]

I think that set have a trash type mecanic and there's few realy strong cards to be used in a near future.

[@Peter-qe1yh]

Momentum Breaker seems more like a B-

[@NizzahonMagic]

It's definitely possible, but most two mana edicts aren't.

[@Peter-qe1yh]

@NizzahonMagic true, but the flexibility on this is great. Plus you get a sweet play pattern of... Turn 1 play a creature. Turn 2 start your engines and swing for damage if they also had a one drop. If not you're still getting a discard and at speed 2 by turn 2

[@MarioJPC]

Ancient Vendetta let you exile up to 4 basic lands, that is the floor.

[@AroWolfArts]

At that point you'd rather not cast it in the first place 99% of the time

[@captainshiner42]

So, what you're saying is that it's garbage? We knew that all along.

[@samuelrussell5760]

From your opponent's library. Unless your opponent is horribly mana-screwed, he will say thank you.

[@captainshiner42]

This set not having oil counters is kind of a flavor fail.

[@olipod5470]

“Missed opportunity” is what you’re looking for.

[@captainshiner42]

@olipod5470 Nope.

[@olipod5470]

@@captainshiner42 I mean yes, a flavor fail would be those counters being in a set where they don’t belong, or the classic art depicting a bird but the card doesn’t have flying. Aetherdrift already has plenty of flavorful mechanics, oil counters not being there isn’t a flavor fail. Also oil in Magic is already established as something else entirely

[@matsonwoodfield9787]

I don't want an oil leak in real life, I definitely dont want an oil leak in my house. Nitrous or or Boost as ramp would have been the move.

[@ItsDangerousGoAlone]

Good point.