When is the MTG Aetherdrift release date? Aetherdrift is the first premier Magic: The Gathering set of 2025. Featuring a massive death race with competitors from all across the multiverse, there’s bound to be a ton of variety and vehicles in this high-octane release.
Not only do we have the key dates for this MTG set, we’ve already seen a few spoilers. You can find out everything we know about Aetherdrift below, or check our MTG release schedule guide to see how it fits into the calendar.
MTG Aetherdrift release date
Upcoming Magic: The Gathering set Aetherdrift releases on February 14, 2025. It’ll presumably launch on Arena a day or two earlier, but players will be able to get their hands on physical cards from their Local Game Stores earlier still – from Prerelease, which begins February 7 – onwards.
While a few Aetherdrift cards have been shown off already, we can expect a week’s spoiler season in late January, where every card, including the Aetherdrift Commander decks, will be shown off.
MTG Aetherdrift news
According to head designer Mark Rosewater, Wizards of the Coast has wanted to do a racing set for at least a decade, but it was the Omenpath plot point and the concept of a multiplanar race that brought the idea to fruition.
As a result, the Aetherdrift race takes place across three different MTG planes, with ten factions from different worlds competing.
Of these worlds, two are known for certain. Artwork shows the unmistakable filigree of Kaladesh – an understandable choice given that this is where Vehicles debuted. The race also travels to the deserts of Amonkhet, and one other jungle-smothered world that is currently unconfirmed.
The ten factions are still largely unknown, but there’s one for each of the ten color pairs, and they give the set a faintly Wacker Racers feel. Here’s what we can guess at so far:
- A faction of Mad Max post-apocalyptic bikers (probably red/black)
- A faction of insects in insect-shaped cars (probably green/black)
- A pirate faction
- A goblin faction
MTG Aetherdrift spoilers
Only a few Aetherdrift cards have been revealed so far, but they already reveal the obvious focus of the set: Artifacts and MTG Vehicles.
First up we have Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer. He gets more powerful if you have expensive artifacts, and can sacrifice a tiny artifact like a clue or treasure to bring a much bigger one back to the battlefield.
Then we have Brightglass Gearhulk. Presumably part of a cycle of multicolor Gearhulks, this one does an impressive Ranger-Captain of Eos impression, fetching two little dudes, gadgets, or enchantments to your hand.
Finally, we have our first Vehicle card from the set, Earthrumbler. This car shaped like a beetle can become a creature at any time if you exile a relevant card from your graveyard. This hints at a potential GY theme for limited.
Aethedrift will also have a bizarre new combination of card types, the very first artifact planeswalker. This represents the Aetherspark, a mysterious, powerful artifact that is the prize for whoever wins the race. Chandra is in the running for it, presumably to give to Nissa.
For more Magic content, check out all we know about sets like MTG Final Fantasy, or our list of the best MTG Arena decks.
Source: Wargamer
