Fixing Aetherdrift’s Worst Design Mistake
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
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Start your engines could have been Momentum. It sounds more serious and it fits the naming pattern for other abilities and keywords. Instead they went with goofy name for goofy set.
I feel like Momentum implies more cards should be able to pull your speed down as well. There should be more of a fight for Momentum. I can understand why they didn't do that because when the vast majority of your payoffs for it are only active when it's at its maximum and being able to easily reset someone makes the mechanic feel very sisyphean. i know they were trying to do an Ascend Style mechanic. Maybe something like Push the advantage? Though Momentum certainly works better as a keyword
@@jmanwild87i disagree, for momentum, you already need energy to be conserved, you wouldnt be able to just start, it would have to make you add momentum somehow at first, start ur engines isnt all that goofy, its a racing set and your starting the engines of the car, tho i personally would prefer "get up to speed" or something similar, complaining about sye feels like the complaints about the set symbol"not being magic enough"
@@daltronius Flavour is important though. If it wasn't then nobody would care about Universes Beyond, positively _or_ negatively.
Was going comment this exact suggestion. Momentum is also a more universal concept. Such a shame
@jacobesterson i agree it is, and how is sye not flavorful, they are starting their engines, im pointing out how momentum needs energy to be conserved, so momentum as written wouldnt be
"Your speed is unlimited." is exactly the kind of crazy text that a Mythic Rare should have.
@@petrie911 the issue would be in tracking it, if speed is unlimited, but only for one card, you would have a reminder token saying something like "4/9" i could see it just saying speed is unlimited period, but then it would make all max speed cards useless
They could have also just give him haste and trample but when you’re max speed, he’s going so fast he starts fuckin flying
I really think "Ignition" would've been perfect
I find it weird that a 'speed' mechanic is one of the slowest in the game to activate. Very weird flavour choices in this set.
Bc it symbolizes gear changing, in a vehicle as u go faster, you have to switch gears to allow for that speed, so speed raising once is you reaching the speed for the gear change. And a t4/3 mechanic isnt the worst thing ever
@@daltronius Still a flavour fail that more of these cards don't have haste.
They don't want to become yugioh in terms of game duration. This seems like a better way to do what they wanted to do with Battles.
@jacobesterson not really, haste isnt just going fast, at least in comparison, if they released a set of all hasty creatures, it would suck. So instead haste is for cards who are meant to be faster than others
you just made me hyped for a card that doesnt exist
I was and still am a bit of an aetherdrift hater, but I played in the prerelease, and I have to say, it was really fun. I think it would’ve been a lot more palatable as a summer draft set like battlebond, instead of the first standard set of the year.
Agreed. It played better than it looked.
Maybe it could have cost BB6 and had "Speed Demon costs X less to cast, where X is your speed".
Engage!
Ignition!
Rev Up!
What are you talking about, this mechanic will return in the Transformer set, the F1 2027 set and the Nascar 2028 set, all playable in standard, lastly on the Wacky cars set.
This set is possibly one of the worst of all times thematically and mechanically. There are a couple pretty looking quartz crystals in the mire of muck and slag, but it's overall a depressing statement on the current state of the game.
I couldn't have said it much better myself. I've gone on tirades about the contiually accelerating nose dive in magic's quality in favour of volume of product releases and short term profits and why it will kill the game if left unchecked for long enough.
I have genuinely fallen out of love with the game because of these terrible gimmick sets, UB, product fatigue and the commanderization of everything and I don't think that wizards will turn things around.
Just five years ago this was my favorite game ever and now I just wish they'd put it down while it has the slightest bit of dignity left.
@cookiesandmilk6421 I'm a commander player and even I am sick of everything being designed for commander. The format was a lot more interesting and vibrant when it was still the home of neglected cards.
@@joelhatterini6392 I totally agree. It felt like back in the day legendaries were so much more interesting on average and you actually had to think about what to do with your deck. Nowadays maybe only 1 in 3 legends aren't total sleep enducers
@@cookiesandmilk6421yeah, back before every legend had 5 paragraphs of text that all say "once per turn"
Let me run my battle cruiser 7 drop with no evasion and a dream! The only designed commander l want is a wubrg gates synergy. NOT a payoff, we already have maze's end. I want more cards like hold the gates and crackling perimeter. We went to ravnica and didn't even get new art for the og 10 guildgates.
Before that, zendikar sans eldrazi to feel like the og experience, WITHOUT ANY ALLIES? Now you've got me ranting, sorry.
My main issue is the MH sets, which ruin EVERY format the cards are added into.
Speed demon kinda screams red black to me.
BAUMIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!! You play MTG also? Been watching your Dota vids for years! Looking forward to checking out your videos!
Always curious about any new games you make! Please do keep us updated :D
Is that turtle a reference for blue shells in Mario kart?
Yep.
I would love to play this reworked Speed Demon, pairing it with even more effects that could possibly lose me the game so it truly feels like a race. I like to imagine something like archfiend of the dross slowly losing oil while I'm gaining a bunch of speed.
I think having unlimited speed for all your other creatures as well would feel better to use and be easier to track. And it would feel thematic, imagining the rest of your racers drafting behind the speed demon and going crazy fast as well.
I think he meant that the max speed would trigger at 4, otherwise if you speed was unlimited all max speed cards wouldn't work.
Can't wait for them to return to Duskmourn and reward our complaints with the Fear of Ludonarrative Dissonance and the Fear of Rushed Novelizations.
Foretell - A mechanic which I always enjoy. A Mechanic long forgotten.
Probably because it's not as fast as e.g. the Speed Stuff which got probably so extreme because everybody would otherwise ignore the set completly.
Pick Up Speed -- You gain a Speed counter. Player's with 4 Speed counters cannot gain Speed counters.
Max Speed -- Activate this ability only if you have four or more speed counters.
Much better! Dealing an opponent damage is narrow and a flavour fail. Why wouldn't they make it a counter for proliferate and doublers?? MaRo has been designing mechanics for how long..
@wavpainter they wanted a way to gate having max speed to around turn 4-5. The problem is that dooms the mechanic to slow formats and makes it forgettable.
Start your engines had great potential, but the designs we got were too conservative with the mechanic.
Bigger payoffs that reward the effort to get to max speed and reflect the danger of going that fast would have made the set really stick out.
I feel the same about the vehicles - the mechanic itself is slow so the cards need to have a great upside to be worth playing
Accelerate or Momentum seem like good keywords for the mechanic.
I'd love to see more videos of you fixing cards!
It's really remarkable how we perfectly pinpointed the greatest worstest game destroying economy crashing mistake of all time ad extremis 2 turbo (Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series), 4 days *before* before set even comes out.
I love this custom version! I think if i build a soeed demon deck i'll ask people if i can use the reworked version of it.
I would have made it cost 7, but cost X less, give it haste and trample and "When this enters, increase your speed by 1, even beyond maximum speed." Then give it its same card draw effect.
Your version absolutely needs to see Rule 0 play and WotC needs to put more thought into their game design instead of vomiting new cards and mechanics out every two months. Very much in contrast to this set, WotC needs to slow down.
Just to say here that your platforms has become the last straw to get me into this cool new hobby.
Ty Baumy for all the years of company and great content
Hey Baumi, great video as always! Also can't wait for your mobile game too.
the reworked version of speed demon sounds so much better!
also really like the Monument to Endurance, i personally think you don't actually need a discard outlet to make it good, if you commander gives you a decent amount card draw, you have to discard often too, makeing it only trigger in your endstep but 3 dmg or a treasure each turn is pretty good!
I would like if it was called "accellerate"
He says he builds a deck with no life gain and there's a vampire of the dire moon in the front row 🤦
I haven't watched the video but based on the intro I think much like ninjutsu this mechanic is trying to be very set specific. It's important for the number of evergreen mechanics to stay relatively low. Also, I don't think they really want a mechanic like start your engines which is a Semi-Permanent effect to be splashed into decks not built around it. As soon as you play a card with it, you have to start tracking speed, and while obviously not quite as egregious, it does have similar maintenance issues to day and night. They do still add mechanics that will likely return but these are supposed to function in isolation. Exhaust, for instance, will probably be returning.
Funnily ninjitsu did recur lol
I am also fine with mechanics being one off things. Do know that they keep this sort of thing in mind it's why exhaust is not called turbo because they wanted that mechanic specifically to show up again
just call the mechanic "speed"
Bring back Affinity and Dredge. In the same set.
I think that the reworked speed demon is much cooler. Thematically, game design wise by playing with the mechanics more, and power wise it is not problematic in any format while still being an interesting bomb in limited and a build around theme commander, which is what 99% of 5 mana mythics are designed for.
I think in general this set feels a bit flat due to the limited design space they created for themselves. Starting speed is a boring trigger and hitting max is not too hard and inherently creates an "end" to the mechanic. They dont do enough with breaking speed limits, reducing other players speed through sabotage, not enough effects that are positive and negative based on speed (which is what actually makes the speed demon interesting).
My suggestions instead of just complaining:
1. I think that not having a max speed and changing all "max speed" cards to require a specific amount of speed would add additional flavor to every card.
2. More sabotage cards like "spike strips" "speed bump" etc to lower your opponents speed are easy theme wins while increasing engagement around the mechanic.
3. Speed being started in a more interesting way, like attacking with all of your creatures. We already have language around "racing" where both players attack with all each turn. Missed opportunity there. If you dont like a 0/1 bird of paradise attacking turn 2 starting the race, well "Anyone canstart a race, you just might not get very far" even the flavor text writes itself.
4. I really liked your idea of speed being just as dangerous as it is fun. It is great flavor, it adds layers to decision making and card evaluation, could have even woven it into the story as a morality play with no one who actually speeds winning, with the only "winners" at the end being the people profiting off of selling the carnage that the speed creates.
Building on that more throughout the set would be great, especially with speed being unlimited.
Black: exists with the speed demon
Red: "Sacrific X lands where X is half your speed rounded up, create x treasure tokens where X is your speed."
White: "Exile X non-land permanents you dont control and X permanents you control where X is your speed."
Blue: "blue blue X, draw X cards discard X cards where X is your speed."
Green: "Green Green (creature, maybe vehicle). Haste. This creature's power and toughness are equal to your double your speed. At the beginning of your end step sacrifice this creature unless you pay mana equal to your speed."
Not actually good design, but kinda cool for a 5 minute spitball.
Long story short: Good video. Interesting points, made me think. A+
Good call on Madness.
We miss you in dota
i played against a shorikai deck running monument of endurance and it was REALLY strong
I'm not sure if you'll say it, I'm at 4:33 but, I do think it would be more interesting if the max speed and the start your engine or put on separate cards. I also think the design space would be more interesting if it were a minimum speed of X before you got whatever effect rather than the counter capping at 4 and all secondary effects happening at one.
As flavorful as your design is, I think they would need to fix the whole mechanic before it could actually work. Having no Max speed might help the speed Demon, but it would ruin every card that wants you to achieve max speed if you can never get there.
That's what he said in the reminder text (max speed for other cards remains 4)
@Akabeche That's still clunky and inconsistent. Because you know there's special versions with no reminder text these days
excuse me, but you can up your speed the turn you get it ? I thought you could only up it once a turn ?
Yes to both.
On your marks! Could be a more transferable phrase between settings
You must like Vilis, Broker of Blood?
Maybe a sprinkle of Platinum Emperion or Angel?
Or maybe have fun with a Soul Conduit?
Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator and now you play mill?
What about the classic Sheoldred of the Apocalypse ? Starving Revenant could be an alternative?
Turn 4 sheoldred, turn 5 speed demon (with the changes), how much turns until you deck out? ☠
I wonder if they could shorten the mechanic to Start! in the future as a more flavor neutral option to reprint it 🤔
accelerate, momentum.
Anything but Start your Engines please.
I'd love to see the design notes for speed demon
I want to ask you, what is the issue with just making you have no maximum speed? Why do you have to keep the other cards capped off? I think you could open that up to make it open to new cards being printed.
Most speed cards care about reaching max speed. Removing the cap would make them useless
HOLD UP MOBILE BOOSTED SURVIVOR WOULD GO HARD LETS FUCKING GOOOOO RAIN ENJOYER REPORTING IN
Yup, massive flavor fails.
I agree with most of the video except for removing the 'Start your engines' line. This means that the Demon is unplayable unless you play other 'start your engine cards' with it. It results in parasitic design where the card does not see play anywhere else and cannot be slotted into other decks as one-off's. It would be better to keep the mechanic so that you could add this card in other decks that don't want to fully build around the mechanic (eg. Kaalia for edh or monoblack control).
I do think the name of the mechanic sucks though
this set is from Yu-Gi-Oh 5ds
.... MTG players don't care, as long as new cards have Power Creep
The worst thing Wizards did in Aetherdrift is any card with a road, or Loot.
I understand your argument, but i disagree with the premise of making cards specifically for commander. That shouldn't happen, tough WOTC already broke that rule ages ago. The card is good for other formats, just bad for commander.
And yes, the name "start your engines" is dumb. The entire set is kind of dumb, but unfortunately that's what Magic is about now.
I would've gone with velocity. It's strange too, because apparently Exhaust was chosen because it's not combustion engine-specific.
And an Autobahn type land would've been pretty cool (you'd hit, say, "high velocity" at 4 but then there's either no cap or the cap gets doubled).
I pulled 2 Monument to Endurance at prerelease and I immediately wanted to build a deck around it.
Nope, this was designed with limited in mind, and works the way it was designed. Start your engines needs to be on it so it does something as your bomb. Flying is on there to make it worth playing because its dealing 4 to you a turn at max speed, you need to be punching in for damage. And what you described is just the One Ring, so play that, lol.
Not cedh. Definitely also not busted. By any means.
Rev up!
Accelerate would be better