Hello happy folks, I hope your day is going super fantastically well! Let's turn to my first Top Ten from the latest set called Aetherdrift for kitchen table formats like Type Four, Five Color, Pauper, Peasant, Highlander, multiplayer and some format you might have heard of called Commander.

Here we go!

Honorable Mention #1 (#14 Overall). March of the World Ooze

This six-drop mono-Green mythic enchantment is first! This makes your dorks have a power and toughness of 6/6 great for Green and then they are Oozes too. That doesn't change their type. Then when your foe's cast spells on other turns like yours you'll make a 3/3 Elephant token that becomes a 6/6 Ooze while this is out. The more foes you have, the more likely this is to be a nasty little thing. Love it on many decks from Aggro to tokens to Ooze kindred stuff too! Embrace it all up and down the block!

Honorable Mention #2. The Aetherspark

This fun and different take on planeswalkers as an Equipment is next! You drop it on the fourth turn and then it's got 4 loyalty. You +1 it to attach to your critter and then it now cannot be attacked to be killed, it gets a +1/+1 counter and then when the attached dork smashes face, you put that many loyalty counters here! That's easy to break and get tons of counters for that -5 to draw two and -10 to make ten mana! I tossed it into my Redshift Voltron Commander Deck this week, check it out here - (https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargent-02112025-building-redshift-rocketeer-chief-in-commander) Break people's faces with this planeswalker equipment duo! But not literally, just figuratively.

Honorable Mention #3. Captain Howler, Sea Scourge

My favorite two color Commander from this set is this four-drop on curve Izzet colored 5/4 with two wards, one mana and the other life. It's got a discard trigger to pump something's power by 2 and then when it smashes face draw that card. I built around it here (https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargent-02042025-building-around-aetherdrifts-captain-howler-sea-scourge-in-commander) with cycling. Love it much with that protection, pumping and card draw combo!!

Honorable Mention #4. (#11. Overall) - Adrenaline Jockey

This three-drop uncommon is next! It has a trigger for when someone casts that spell on any turn not theirs to eat 4 damage. It hits you too but you've built around it to just cast things on your turn. It's also on curve 3/3 so Aggro, permeant heavy brews like Voltron and Equipment as well as midrange dropping planeswalkers and dorks and then other things will love this.

#10. Quag Feast AND Spin Out

Top ten time! The Black two mana will mill two and then kill your target if cheaper than your graveayrd card count. We know how much kitchen table players love their graveyard as a second yard. Add this! The three-cost instant can Murder something. Note that both of these can kill Vees which are artifacts not something Black is good at, hence them hitting here on my first list.

#9. Vnwxt, Verbose Host

This two-drop 0/4 legendary dork is next! You have no max hand size and then start your engines and then when you've got max speed you draw two cards instead of one. We know how much Commander/multiplayer players love their card draw. Doubling and no discard is amazing on a two-drop 0/4. Love this little fun thang much!

#8. Gonti, Night Minister

This four-drop 3/4 take on classic Gonti is next! They want folks to cast each other's spells to ramp with a mana in Treasure form, you too. Then when they deal combat damage to your foes? They can cast that person's spell with any color of mana. The more foes the stronger this is and they encourage each other to attack them. But not you! Love it much for the formats we care about!

#7. Mindspring Merfolk

The very broken at times in this case exhaust ability is here. You can, at instant speed EOT and untap on yours tap this one-drop mono-Blue Merfolk and then tap for Braingeyser mana and then draw Braingeyser cards! Nasty! Then you'll pump this in size permanently with those counters! Then you can also pump all of your Merfolk too...wowzer bowzer!

#6. Chandra, Spark Hunter

Hello Chandra fans! This four-drop red four loyalty Chandra is next! You've got four abilities. Her static will crew a Vee on your turn and give it haste. Her +2 is card flow by saccing that artifact or discard to draw one. Then you can 0 her to make a 3/2 vee with crew 1 to crew for free that turn with her static. She is the first Vee loving planeswalker! Love her much; you will too!

#5. The Gearhulk Cycle

The fifth-scoring spot is, ironically enough a five-card cycle! You are welcome symmetry fans! Let's do these harder cast two color ETB effects in friendly colors in alpha order. The Selesnya four-drop has first strike, trample and a 4/4 and then has an ETB ability to search your library for two cheap artifact, dork or enchantment cards and toss them into your hand. The five-mana Rakdos 5/4 deathtouch and then menace as evasion is next. It's ETB is to recur a dork to the battlefield with menace, deathtouch and haste and then it gets exiled EOT from any graveyard that cost for or fewer.

The four-mana Dimir colored 4/4 with lifelink and ward 1 (I'd prefer 2 for that casting cost) has an ETB ability to look at a hand and then force a discard and draw. Note you can target yourself to discard and draw and it's a "may" effect. The six-mana 7/7 vigilance and menace Gruul one has evasion and the size and vigilance combo. It's ETB to pump your stuff by +2/+2 and then given them its abilities and then damage cannot be prevented this turn too, great little win-con Overrun there! The final five-drop Azorius 2/5 with double strike and prowess a nasty combo is next. It's ETB is to tuck one nonland permanent into their library third from the top for each opponent...nasty great tempo and removing Commanders of the board or forcing a recast with Tax now. Love this set much!

#4. Valor's Flagship

Ah yes, the Decree of Justice of Vees! Decree of Justice helped to make Mono-White Control a winner when it was printed, which I played heavily and even wrote a primer on it here (https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/a-closer-look-at-mono-White-in-onslaught-block-constructed/). You can wait until EOT, tap out and cycle for a ton of 1/1 and then you drew a card and it was hard to answer since you cannot counter a cycle since it wasn't cast. This is better since the front side is more feasible, and then the cycle here gives you Pilots with better power for mounting and crewing. Then this is a seven-drop on the front side and with 7/7 flying, first strike and lifelink - strong stuff. With just crew 3 needed! Love this big game winning Vee loads. It started as my #1 card but then as three more cards debuted it got knocked down to 4, but that's pretty solid from where I am sitting!

#3. Radiant Lotus

This mythic six-cost colorless artifact is going to be...bonkers...for Commander and kitchen table play! Its tap to sac any number of artifacts for Lotus mana without itself is great. Use those with death triggers like Solemn Simulacrum or Servo Schematic. Then use this with artifact tokens like Treasures, Junk and Food or creature tokens like Myr and Thopters and such. You can easily make a game winning amount of mana for your deck from this simple tap from fueling an X spell like Jaya's Immolating Inferno or Exsanguinate to dropping stuff like Eldrazi Titans and Blightsteel Colossus and then equipping with Greaves and winning. Nasty stuff. The colorless aspect means every deck can toss it in, like The One Ring. Get ready for its era!

#2. Repurposing Bay

Our highest-scoring artifact and Blue card and permanent is this three-drop! You can tap it with two mana at sorcery speed to sac an artifact and then drop one onto the battlefield from your library for a one higher mana cost. This is a Birthing Pod for artifacts. We know how dominant Pod is in casual, Highlander and Commander where you can tutor up the best thing for the situation. For example, starting with a two-drop Ichor Wellspring you can get a three-drop like Chromatic Lantern if you need to smooth your mana or a combo piece like Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Altar or Crucible of Worlds. Love its power and potential much! What's better?

#1. Spectacular Pileup

This is! This five-mana costing sorcery with cycling two! You can remove indestructible from all creatures and Vees and then sweep them! This feels better than exiling sweepage since people can recur them but answers the same stuff. Love it much, you probably do too! You are the answer to a lot of problems in this set and list! Run this and then if not needed you can just cycle and move on. This is the Fire Extinguisher to break out and use in case of emergency. This it the Akroma's Vengeance to sweep like Mono-White Control to keep you in the game!

There we are! What did you think of my first list of Top Ten from this set? I hope you enjoyed it! See you next week for another bout of this stuff, since it's pretty deep.