Magic: The Gathering‘s newly-launched Aetherdrift expansion is all about an inter-planar speed race where teams of creatures compete for glory, and the prize of the magical Aetherspark. It introduces engine-revving mechanics that allows creatures to power up new, deadly abilities. It features a distinctly “Americana” flavour across unique collectible art cards. It’s got sharks riding wagons, ant-things riding other ant-things, and demon-powered muscle cars.
But even so, it’s the humble zombies that shine brightest, and arguably get the best treatment, in this new set. For anyone currently playing a zombie deck, it’s an absolute dream.
While it feels an odd pairing at first, it’s important to know the raceway of Aetherdrift cross through three main planes – Avishkar, Muraganda, and Amonkhet. It’s in Amonkhet where many of MTG‘s zombies reside, with this plane being heavily inspired by Ancient Egypt, with a touch of Mummy mythos. As one of the main planes of Aetherdrift, the zombies of Amonkhet have a major stake in the Ghirapur Grand Prix, and they certainly make their presence known.
Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, I’ve been playing around with Aetherdrift over the past week, particularly using the new Eternal Might Commander Deck in matches, and ruminating on the potential impact new and reprinted zombie cards will have on my own, personal Commander Deck – which is inspired by The Mummy (2017).
Read: MTG Aetherdrift: Everything you need to know
What I’m most pleased about is there’s plenty of new zombie cards to buff my deck, where previously, cards were too expensive due to limited reprints, or didn’t exist at all. It’s great to see a whole new range of zombie options available, and fresh art for some returning favourites that really let you lean into the mummy-zombie theme.
Corpse Augur gets a nice new zombie jackal art variant, complete with pyramids and sand. Corpse Knight gets the same treatment, with this new card depicting a mummy warrior on mummy horseback. There’s also new mummy theming for Cryptbreaker, Grave Titan, and plenty more besides.
While I would’ve liked to have seen some other cards given similar treatment – Cemetery Reaper and Gempalm Polluter – for reasons of uniformity, it’s still great to see these (and other cards like these) reprinted, to enhance the potential zombie apocalypse.
As a whole, all of these cards are gorgeous, and contribute well to the flavour and vibe of Aetherdrift – which leans from fun, wacky race antics to pure horror as the racetrack winds through its many stages. If you look closely at the art of all the cards in this set, you can actually see cars winding in and out of these arenas – and it’s very funny to imagine them speeding around as the mummy-zombies of Amonkhet groan.
That’s part of what I find most endearing about the Eternal Might Commander Deck I’ve been using. While it’s part of the Aetherdrift set, it doesn’t really have much to do with the action of the race. These mummy-zombies are siloed in their own little dramas, as risen leader Temmet, Naktamun’s Will attempts to fight for a brighter future for his people. Never mind that a race is going on. There’s people in need of saving.
MTG: Aetherdrift – Eternal Might Commander Deck Review
On first cracking open MTG Aetherdrift‘s Eternal Might Commander Deck, I felt a rush of validation – as it turned out it’s structurally quite similar to my own Mummy-inspired deck. Who would’ve though you get plenty of synergy when your zombies buff other zombies, or resurrect creatures from your graveyard?
What I liked most is this deck goes much further than my own, to cover a range of your zombie-mummy needs. While most are land-bound, the inclusion of cards like Eternal Skylord and On Wings of Gold means you get mummies that fly. (This is a current deficiency in my deck that will soon be rectified.) There’s also plenty of card draw here, with Temmet’s ability allow you to draw cards and discard cards whenever you attack. If you’ve got a dud hand, it’s a great way to cycle in new options.
Get synergies going with other useful draw cards, and they’ll bounce off Temmet to buff your zombies by +1/+1 for each card you draw. Forgotten Creation, for example, lets you discard all the cards in your hand and draw that many cards in response. Midnight Reaper lets you draw a card whenever a nontoken creature you control dies. Stack these abilities well, and your zombies will be ridiculously overpowered – and the apocalypse will commence.
Even with these synergies, I do think there’s some room for improvement in the Eternal Might deck. Thematically, it’s good – but I would’ve liked to see more mummy-zombie cards included, and I’m not so certain the angel or demon cards (Angel of Sanctions, Archfiend of Ifnir) are all that useful (even if a Zombie Angel is a very neat concept). There’s also a lot of lower-powered zombie filler cards that are really taking up space, like Gravecrawler and Undead Augur. It’s not usually so easy to spot cards in Commander Decks that can be done away with ASAP, but there are certainly some easy picks here.
Read: The Mummy (2017) had an official video game sequel that nobody talks about
For enhancements, I can see myself swapping these out to add in Hordewing Skaab, Rise of the Dark Realms, Lord of the Undead, Zombie Apocalypse, and the like. There’s not a heap of change needed to maintain power levels, but fitting in a few favourites could amp up the power level overall.
Still, even without changes, I had a great time with Eternal Might. In one particular round, I managed to play Vizier of Many Faces (a rare Shapeshifter for the deck) to copy Sauron, the Dark Lord – and I ended up quickly amassing an Orc Army, as an added bonus. Paired with my growing Zombie Army, and an array of zombie-buffing mummies, I survived well into the final stages of the game, until I was defeated by an opponent whipping their exploding snails at me. (MTG is a fantastic game.)
Of all the precon MTG decks I’ve tried out in recent years, Eternal Might is the one that most suits me thematically, and mechanically. I think it’s a fantastic new deck, supported by very good artwork and a collection of great cards, and it’s fantastic to see an official mummy-themed deck that does Amonkhet justice. While I will likely tweak the deck for longevity, and to match the power levels of my pod, it’s great as built, and inspires plenty of great mummy-zombie shenanigans.
It’s set to become a key part of my deck rotation, moving forward – and I certainly plan to raid the rest of Aetherdrift to add in sweet new vehicles and ‘tude to the rest of my decks.
MTG: Aetherdrift Collector Booster Packs, a Bundle, and the Eternal Might Commander Deck was provided by Wizards of the Coast for the purposes of this review.
