Aetherdrift (DFT) Limited Introduction — Red

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Aetherdrift (DFT) will hold its prerelease events on February 7, 2025, and be officially released a week later on February 14, 2025. Want to know more about how individual cards rate in Limited, with recommendations? Then check out this series of DFT Limited introductions!

• For a mechanics breakdown, see this article: Aetherdrift Mechanics Breakdown

Rating Scale

5.0: Unconditional must-pick, brings a near-winning advantage
4.5: Unconditional must-pick if in the right colors, brings a huge advantage
4.0: First-pick value, extremely synergistic with the color pair’s theme, can be the deciding card for splashing/switching colors or entering a color pair
3.5: Top uncommons and commons of the set and other cards of sufficient power, synergize well with the color pair’s theme, can be a key card for entering a color pair
3.0: Important cards for the color pair’s theme and other above-average cards, you’d want them in your final deck
2.5: Average level, usually a decent curve filler
2.01.0: Below average, basically leaning toward not playing; can be used as filler if necessary, but not too many
0.50.0: Unplayable, basically don’t play it, playing it will only help you lose

Ratings

Score: 2.5
Comment: Two positive abilities and a standard 3-mana 3/3 body. If you’re sure you’ll be built around Exhaust, its pick order can go up.

Score: 3.5
Comment: Worth considering in either aggro or control, but it’s a pity it isn’t a creature itself. If you’re sure you’ll be playing a more varied deck, I recommend including one.

Note: Remember that the four mana of any one color this Vehicle gives you when it enters can only be used to pay for the activated ability’s cost!

Score: 3.0
Comment: Use it in aggro to keep up the tempo. It’s a pity it isn’t a creature itself, but in past sets a similar card would have been an instant, and leaving an extra Vehicle on the battlefield may put huge pressure on the opponent.

Score: 2.5
Comment: It comes with menace and can grow itself, and after Max speed it also has double strike. Use it in aggro to keep up the tempo.

Score: 5.0
Comment: It enters on 4 mana with 4 loyalty, and its 3 abilities are useful whether you’re behind, even, or ahead on board. Although its self-protection is weaker, activating [+2] right away takes it to 6 loyalty, and unless the board is especially bad you can activate abilities twice, making it a very good Planeswalker.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A pity it isn’t a creature, but if you’re built around discard, using a little red cycling is a good choice.

Score: 2.5
Comment: The color requirement is too heavy, but in a red-themed aggro or midrange deck it’s a very good source of resources.

Score: 2.5
Comment: Paying 4 mana to deal 6 can handle most creatures. It’s a pity the other mode isn’t destroying an artifact, and can only destroy a Vehicle.

Score: 3.0
Comment: If you’re built around artifacts, it’s a very good choice, and the 5 toughness might hold off aggro.

Score: 4.0
Comment: Among the cards designed around the new Exhaust ability, I’d personally like to give this one 5.0. Its 2-mana cost lets it do something early, the 3R Exhaust can summon a 4/4 flyer in the midgame to create a threat, and with the right timing the R Exhaust can finish the opponent. It’s an excellent card that does work early, mid, and late game.

Score: 3.5
Comment: It has the body of Volcanic Dragon. A 4/4 flying haste for 6 mana is a bit behind the times, but the 2 damage to any target it gives when saddled may work wonders.

Score: 2.5
Comment: If you have lots of Mounts and Vehicles, you can consider playing one.

Score: 2.0
Comment: Use it as a 2-mana 3/1 in aggro; after Max speed it can support casting expensive spells late.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A 3/4 body plus reach, suited to holding off small flyers, and after Max speed it can also widen the resource gap.

Score: 3.0
Comment: An instant, and if you can’t use it you can cycle it away, so it’s destined not to be a weak card.

Score: 4.0
Comment: If you’re ahead on board, casting it successfully gives a huge advantage and can even win a game outright.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A pity it can’t kill the opponent’s creatures, but it can handle many troublesome artifacts.

Score: 3.5
Comment: It puts great pressure on the opponent, and if it gets dealt with you can discard excess cards from your hand and bring it back to the battlefield. Red-based aggro will love this card.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A card with slightly disappointing stats, but it’s excellent for filling out the mana curve.

Score: 2.5
Comment: Drawing an extra card once the game drags on is still very good.

Score: 2.5
Comment: Most of the time it’s used to swap away excess cards in hand.

Score: 4.0
Comment: Casting it on time is a bit tempo-losing, but after Max speed the opponent will find it hard to deal with.

Score: 4.0
Comment: With this card, the pick order of other Goblins can go up, and it can make a 1/1 without you declaring an attack, so it’s very good even without other Goblins.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A simple, direct loot. A pity the Max speed ability won’t always get used.

Score: 3.5
Comment: Simple and easy to use, and hitting the face helps raise your speed. In this set’s Limited its pick order is higher than in other sets, but only a bit higher.

Score: 3.0
Comment: An excellent card in a discard theme, but its effect is limited if you’re not built around discard.

Score: 3.0
Comment: An excellent card in a discard theme, but its effect is limited if you’re not built around discard. (The shark is cute)

Score: 3.0
Comment: A pity it can only be used at sorcery speed, but dealing 5 for 3 mana is still very good, and it helps raise your speed. Unfortunately there’s little chance to use it to finish someone off.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A 3-mana 2/3 isn’t impressive, and a 6-mana 3/4 double striker is a bit slow, so it only gets considered at the very end of deck building.

Score: 2.0
Comment: An excellent combat trick, but other burn or removal that directly deals with the opponent’s creatures is more direct and effective.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A card you’ll only consider once you’re sure you’re going aggro.

Score: 2.5
Comment: Casting it successfully might win the game outright, but 7 mana is really too much.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A card that encourages attacking. A 4-mana 3/3 is slightly below-rate, but the +2/+0 and trample it gives when saddled or crewed are decent. It’s just a pity the body is slightly below rate.

Score: 3.5
Comment: Simple and efficient single-target removal.

Score: 2.5
Comment: If you see many threatening artifacts while drafting, you can raise its pick order.

Score: 2.5
Comment: If you’re built around Mounts and Vehicles, it’s a very good card.

Score: 3.5
Comment: 5 mana is a pity, but with excellent stats, plus being able to reliably swap away unneeded cards each of your turns, it’s still very good.

Score: 2.0
Comment: It fills the mana curve decently, but there will be colorless 1/1 Pilot tokens in the format, and only 1 toughness is still too much of a pity.

Conclusion

The power level of red’s cards this time is moderate, even slightly conservative, but many cards combine for a 1+1>2 effect and work well with other colors. Overall I don’t recommend building toward aggro, but as long as there are cards that can widen the resource gap in the mid to late game (Count on Luck, Endrider Spikespitter) and the like, it’s worth considering adding some red.