Released February 2025

Aetherdrift

What's New

🏁Start your engines!NEW

The first permanent with this keyword sets your speed to 1; it climbs to a max of 4 as opponents lose life on your turns.

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The first time in a game that you control a permanent with start your engines!, your speed becomes 1 — this happens as a state-based action, not a triggered ability.
Once your speed is 1 or higher, a triggered ability fires: whenever one or more opponents lose life during your turn, if your speed is less than 4, increase your speed by 1 — only once each turn.
Speed is a player status, tracked separately by each player; it starts at 0 if you've never gained any, and is capped at 4.
Any life loss counts — combat damage, direct damage, drain, or an opponent voluntarily paying life — not just combat damage.
Losing control of your start-your-engines permanents (or having them destroyed) does not reduce your speed; you keep it and the trigger for the rest of the game.
You can go from speed 1 to speed 2 on the same turn you play your first such card, because setting speed to 1 is a state-based action that brings the increase trigger online immediately.

Does setting speed to 1 use the stack?	No — it's a state-based action. Opponents can't respond between the permanent entering and your speed becoming 1.
Can opponents respond to my speed increasing from 1 to 2?	Yes — that increase is a triggered ability that uses the stack and can be responded to.
How often can my speed increase per turn?	Once each turn, and only during your own turn when an opponent loses life.
Can I proliferate my speed?	No. Speed is a player status variable, not a counter, so it can't be proliferated.

📖 Official rule text

Card text: (If you have no speed, it starts at 1. It increases once on each of your turns when an opponent loses life. Max speed is 4.)

Rule 702.178a

A max speed ability is a static ability. “Max speed — [Ability]” means “As long as your speed is 4, this object has ‘[Ability].’” See rule 702.179, “Start Your Engines!”

Likely interactions

🔄 Flicker

Flickering a permanent with start your engines! won't grant an extra point of speed — once your speed is 1 or greater, the state-based action that sets it to 1 no longer applies.

702.179

☠️ Countered

The initial speed-setting can't be countered, but the triggered ability that raises your speed uses the stack, so a Stifle-style effect could counter that increase.

702.179

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🪞 Copy

The speed-increase trigger normally happens only once per turn, but effects that copy triggered abilities on the stack might let a player raise speed multiple times in one turn.

702.179

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🚀Max speedNEW

A static threshold: while your speed is 4, the object gains its listed max speed ability.

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You have max speed the moment your speed reaches 4 — the hard cap for speed.
A max speed ability is a static ability that constantly checks your speed; while it's 4, the object simply has the listed ability.
There's no stack and no activation — the granted ability turns on and off automatically as your speed passes 4.
If the granted ability functions from a zone other than the battlefield (like a graveyard ability), the max speed check functions from that zone too.
Max speed behaves like a threshold condition (similar to Threshold or City's Blessing): meet the requirement and the object instantly upgrades.

Does max speed use the stack?	No — it's a continuous static check. Reaching speed 4 turns the ability on with no stack step.
Can opponents respond to me reaching max speed?	Not to the status change itself, but they can respond to any activated or triggered ability granted by max speed.
Can I lose max speed?	Yes — if an effect drops your speed below 4, you immediately lose max speed and any abilities tied to it.
Is there a limit on max speed?	Speed is capped at 4 for the whole game, so max speed can't be exceeded.

📖 Official rule text

Card text: (Each opponent puts the top two cards of their library into their graveyard.)

Rule 702.178a

A max speed ability is a static ability. “Max speed — [Ability]” means “As long as your speed is 4, this object has ‘[Ability].’” See rule 702.179, “Start Your Engines!”

Rule 702.178b

If an ability granted by a max speed ability states which zones it functions from, the max speed ability that grants that ability functions from those zones. (See rule 113.6c.)

Likely interactions

⚡ Mid-combat loss

If a max speed ability granted an evasion keyword like menace used to declare an attacker, losing max speed afterward won't un-declare the attack — but a continuous power/toughness or lifelink buff granted by max speed is lost instantly, changing combat math.

702.178

🔄 Flicker

Blinking a permanent with a max speed ability doesn't strip that ability on return — as long as you still have speed 4, the static ability applies again immediately.

702.178

🪞 Copy

The static max speed ability itself can't be copied, but any triggered or activated ability unlocked by max speed can be copied like any other.

702.178

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🔋ExhaustNEW

A one-shot activated ability: activate each exhaust ability only once per object.

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Exhaust adds "Activate only once" to the activated ability that follows it — you pay the cost and put the effect on the stack a single time.
The restriction is tied to the specific game object: once you've activated that exhaust ability, that permanent can never activate it again.
You can activate an exhaust ability any time you could normally activate an ability — instant speed by default.
If a permanent's exhaust ability was activated, then it leaves and returns to the battlefield, it's a new object and the exhaust ability can be activated again.
If an ability triggers when you activate an exhaust ability, that triggered ability resolves before the exhaust ability itself.
Counters or tokens often track activation as a memory aid, but exhaust doesn't require any counters — the effects vary widely.

Does exhaust use the stack?	Yes — it's an activated ability that uses the stack and can be responded to.
What speed can I activate it at?	Instant speed by default, unless the card says otherwise.
If my exhaust ability is countered, can I try again?	No. Putting it on the stack counts as the activation, so a countered exhaust ability is spent for good on that object.
How do I reset an exhaust ability?	Have the permanent leave and re-enter the battlefield — it becomes a new object with a fresh exhaust ability.

📖 Official rule text

Card text: (Activate each exhaust ability only once.)

Rule 702.177a

Exhaust is a keyword that adds additional rules to the activated ability that follows it. “Exhaust — [Cost]: [Effect]” means “[Cost]: [Effect]. Activate only once.”

Rule 702.177b

An effect may allow you to take an action as long as you haven’t activated an exhaust ability this turn. Such an effect allows that action only if you haven’t begun to activate an exhaust ability this turn.

Likely interactions

🔄 Flicker

Blinking an already-exhausted permanent returns it as a new object, fully resetting the exhaust ability for a second use.

702.177

☠️ Countered

A Stifle-style effect counters the exhaust ability on the stack and permanently locks that object out of trying again, since the activation was already used.

702.177

🪞 Copy

Copying an exhaust ability already on the stack doesn't count as activating it, so effects that copy activated abilities work without violating the "activate only once" rule.

702.177

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What's Returning

🚗CrewRETURNING

Tap creatures with enough total power to turn a Vehicle into an artifact creature until end of turn.

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Crew is an activated ability on Vehicles: tap untapped creatures whose total power meets or exceeds N to make the Vehicle an artifact creature until end of turn.
The crew cost doesn't use the tap symbol, so a creature with summoning sickness can still crew — it's just being tapped as a cost.
A Vehicle can't crew itself, but a Vehicle that's already a creature can be tapped to crew a *different* Vehicle.
The Vehicle uses its printed power and toughness; it inherits no abilities from the creatures tapped to crew it.
If an effect turns a Vehicle into a creature and specifies different power/toughness, those specified values override the printed ones.
Some Vehicles have abilities that trigger when they become crewed — that means when a crew ability resolves.

Does crew use the stack?	Yes — it's an activated ability that goes on the stack and can be responded to.
What speed can I crew at?	Instant speed — any time you have priority.
Is there a limit on crewing?	No — you can activate crew as many times as you can legally pay for it.
Can I attack the turn I play and crew a Vehicle?	No — unless it has haste, it's summoning sick the moment it becomes a creature.

📖 Official rule text

Card text: (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 1 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)

Rule 702.122a

Crew is an activated ability of Vehicle cards. “Crew N” means “Tap any number of other untapped creatures you control with total power N or greater: This permanent becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.”

Rule 702.122b

A creature “crews a Vehicle” when it’s tapped to pay the cost to activate a Vehicle’s crew ability.

Rule 702.122d

If an effect states that a creature “can’t crew Vehicles,” that creature can’t be tapped to pay the crew cost of a Vehicle.

Likely interactions

☠️ Removal

Opponents can hit a Vehicle with artifact removal before the crew ability resolves, or creature removal after it's animated. Removing the creatures that crewed it after crew resolves does not de-animate the Vehicle.

702.122

⚡ Board wipe

Vehicles dodge sorcery-speed creature wipes because they naturally revert to noncreature artifacts on opponents' turns, so they typically survive a Wrath of God.

702.122

🔄 Flicker

Blinking an animated Vehicle returns it as an uncrewed, noncreature artifact — the crewed state doesn't carry over.

702.122

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🪞 Copy

The evidence pack raises several copy questions — like copying a crewed Vehicle with Metamorphic Alteration or Mirrorweave — where the resulting characteristics depend on timing and the copy effect.

702.122

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🔁CyclingRETURNING

Pay the cost and discard the card from your hand to draw a card.

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Cycling is an activated ability that works only from your hand: pay the cost, discard the card, and draw a card.
The discard is part of the cost — by the time an opponent gets priority to respond, the card is already in your graveyard.
Cycling and any cycling triggers are not spells, so counterspells like Cancel can't stop them — only ability counters can.
"When you cycle this card" triggers resolve before you draw from the cycling ability, and they trigger from whatever zone the card ends up in.
You can cycle a card even if a triggered ability from cycling has no legal target — the draw still resolves because the two are separate.
Cycling counts as discarding a card, feeding graveyard and discard-matters synergies.

Does cycling use the stack?	Yes — the ability (and any associated trigger) uses the stack, though the card is already discarded as a cost.
What speed can I cycle at?	Instant speed unless a specific card restricts it.
Can a counterspell stop my cycling draw?	No — cycling is an activated ability, not a spell, so only ability counters like Stifle work.
Is there a limit on cycling?	No — cycle as many cards as you have mana and cards to discard.

📖 Official rule text

Card text: ({2}{G}, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

Rule 702.29a

Cycling is an activated ability that functions only while the card with cycling is in a player’s hand. “Cycling [cost]” means “[Cost], Discard this card: Draw a card.”

Rule 702.29b

Although the cycling ability can be activated only if the card is in a player’s hand, it continues to exist while the object is on the battlefield and in all other zones. Therefore objects with cycling will be affected by effects that depend on objects having one or more activated abilities.

Rule 702.29c

Some cards with cycling have abilities that trigger when they’re cycled. “When you cycle this card” means “When you discard this card to pay an activation cost of a cycling ability.” These abilities trigger from whatever zone the card winds up in after it’s cycled.

Likely interactions

🗑️ Discard

Targeted discard can't strip the card in response, because discarding it is part of the cost — it's in the graveyard before opponents get priority.

702.29

☠️ Countered

If either the cycling ability or its triggered ability is countered, the other still resolves — they're independent objects on the stack.

702.29

🪞 Copy

The cycling ability on the stack can be copied by effects that copy activated abilities, resulting in multiple card draws.

702.29

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