Welcome back, Loreseekers! Today we're going to talk about the set I was most excited for this year: Aetherdrift! While there isn't actually much (or any) drift racing in the set, this is the kind of multi-planar collision I love in Magic. Let's dive in!

Tune Up by Chris Rallis

Racing Teams

While Miguel Lopez has great worldbuilding in Planeswalker's Guide to Aetherspark, Part 1 and Part 2, there's more to discover built into the set about these characters and worlds! Below I'm going to tackle some things you might not have thought about or realized by each of these teams. Please note when I discuss inspirations, I'm talking about what I perceive to have inspired these factions, those educated guesses are by no means definitive or correct.

Aether Rangers

Skystreak Engineer by Elizabeth Peiro

Symbol: The Aether Spire (Kaladesh set symbol)

Inspiration: Speed Racer, Original Kaladesh

Team Captain(s): Sita Varma, Masked Racer and Pia Nalaar, Chief Mechanic

Plane: Avishkar

The Aether Rangers are our sort-of classic racing team in Aetherdrift. The entire setting is obviously inspired heavily by Speed Racer (not Hot Wheels or Mario Kart, those came later and you are simply uncultured), and Sita is a very clear analogue to Racer X, filling in for the entire 'masked rider' archetype. There's not much else to say about the rangers here other than that they're in Green and Blue, which means the creature types we saw from them were human, elf, or vedalken (the creature types primarily in those colors from this plane). The dwarves of Avishkar are fine, and they appear in artwork (like Gilded Ghoda, riding a regular horse, which is what a ghoda is), they're just competing for space with goblins and Cloudspire, and none made it through.

Many of the vehicles on the Ranger teams seem to be repurposed from civilian use. In the case of Rangers' Aetherhive, it appears to be a train of all things.

Champions of Amonkhet

Samut, the Driving Force by Chris Rallis

Symbol: Pyramid and Lotus

Inspiration: Ben-Hur, Original Amonkhet

Team Captain(s): Basri, Tomorrow's Champion and Zahur, Glory's Past

Plane: Amonkhet

Amonkhet got the biggest worldbuilding overhaul in the set, establishing a new status quo on the plane beyond Avishkar's change of government. While appearing as a racing tean may not seem like a natural fit, racing was actually present on Amonkhet from the beginning: cards like Khenra Charioteer and Onward // Victory both show a tradition of chariot racing in the vein of classic films like Ben-Hur.

We also got to see Basri again, a character first introduced in Magic 2021 and then promptly forgotten about until his triumphant return here. Basri was originally one of several attempts at a mono-white planeswalker to replace Gideon (I assume), before Elspeth was finally brought back to life. Given that we know Elspeth has kept her spark post-angelification, it makes sense that Basri was desparked.

Cloudspire Racing Team

Wind-Scarred Crag by Svetlin Velinov

Symbol: Stylized Shield

Inspiration: Tron, Speed Racer

Team Captain(s): Kolodin, Triumph Caster, Chandra, Spark Hunter

Plane: Kylem

Cloudspire hails from Kylem, the world of Battlebond, and there's no better return for the plane than in another sporting competition. They travelled here from Kylem (presumably) aboard Valor's Flagship, a reference to the city of Valor's Reach. Along with them came the Ghirapur Grand Prix's emcee, Vnwxt, Verbose Host. Originally the emcee of Magic mobile game Spellslingers, "Vin" made the jump to canon Magic with Aetherdrift. This isn't the first time a video game character made the jump: Nissa, Ral Zarek, and Kiora all began life as decks for the Duels of the Planeswalkers series of video games.

While the lightcycles (as shown in Lightwheel Enhancements or Spotcycle Scouter) and outfits this time around are extremely evocative of Tron, it should be noted that Battlebond featured a lot of hard light weaponry. There's clear inspiration in Cloudspire from cards like Morphic Pool and Nimbus Champion. Chandra has notably joined their team, with her main artwork referencing the infamous Akira slide (possibly one of these most referenced moments in history).

Guidelight Voyagers

Symbol: Stylized Robot Face/Vehicle

Inspiration: Transformers/Gobots

Team Captain(s): Mendicant Core, Guidelight

Plane: Unknown

The Guidelight Voyagers are an interesting faction. Magic's first canon robots, they each have emoji display screens as faces and use technology at the higher end of what's been seen in the multiverse, comparable to Kamigawa. As to where they came from, Wizards hasn't yet revealed that (like most of the racers).

Speed Demons

Possession Engine by Leroy Steinmann

Symbol: Skull and Flames

Inspiration: Christine, Maximum Overdrive

Team Captain(s): Winter, Cursed Rider and The Speed Demon

Plane: Duskmourn

While the obvious analogue for Winter and The Speed Demon (and their car, The Last Ride) is the Marvel character Ghost Rider, there are more appropriate references here: namely the 80s "haunted car" horror sub-genre, exemplified by works like Stephen King's Christine and Maximum Overdrive (the latter of which features another Marvel Character - a giant Green Goblin is front-and-center on the possessed truck in Maximum Overdrive). Keeping that in mind, the Duskmourn team has merely found a new expression for their 80's horror inspirations. I've seen people complain a bit about their appearance here, but I thought it was a nice bit of continuity and made perfect sense when you understand the references involved.

Goblin Rocketeers

Symbol: Fanged Smile

Inspiration: Wacky Races

Team Captain(s): Redshift, Rocketeer Chief and Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer

Plane: Unnamed

The goblin rocketeers exemplify the more slapstick comedy style of race most notable in Wacky Races, an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon that featured archetypal racers and pastiches of other Hanna-Barbera cartoons all in a silly cross-country race. Their symbol can be found plastered all over many of their vehicles, it's the painted-on fanged grin. The actual symbol can be found on Redshift's bandanna on his borderless art. The Rocketeers are also notable for their chosen color patterns: pink, blue, and white, otherwise known as the Trans flag colors. So far, the only thing we know about their home plane is that it has goblins with bugbear varieties (like the one seen in Howlsquad Heavy. In that way, it isn't too dissimilar from Daretti's plane of Fiora, which similarly has goblins of big and small varieties.

Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer by Sam Perin

Besides Daretti, some of my favorite flavor of the set comes from this faction. Cards like Burnout Bashtronaut (mashing up "Bash" and "Astronaut"... because its on a rocket ship), Draconautics Engineer (draconautics - a fancy term for dragon rider), and Dynamite Diver (a new Pete Venters goblin!) all show off the mix of brilliant and idiotic these goblins exemplify.

Alacrian Quickbeasts

Symbol: Halberd Axehead

Inspiration: High Fantasy Animal Riders

Team Captain(s): Caradora, Heart of Alacria and Lagorin, Soul of Alacria

Plane: Alacria

Alacria is the only newly named plane from the setting, featuring the set's High Fantasy representation. There's a long and storied history of "dragon riders" and other creature riders in fantasy, so it's hard to pin down an exact reference here. The bond the Alacrian Riders have with their Quickbeasts is reminiscent of many, many stories throughout fantasy history. Alacria is home to humans, cheetah-like leonin (Leonin Surveyor), and the Quickbeasts, who run the gamut from regular-looking creatures to more fantastical beasts. How do they keep up with the cars? Lightshield Parry has the answer: they have a diet of aether that gives them access to magical abilities.

Speedbrood

Symbol: Four-Winged insect

Inspiration: Kamen Rider

Team Captain(s): Aatchik, Emerald Radian

Plane: Untranslatable

While the planeswalker's guide mentions that the Speedbrood's goal is to become speed itself, it's not necessarily obvious how until you look a little closer. All the Speedbrood vehicles are insects who have been transformed in machines. You can see evidence of this in Broodheart Engine, where the organic parts remain. The wheels of these vehicles are made of what appears to be arthropods rolled-up into themselves (like pillbugs or roly-polys). Once you start to notice the insect theming, you might even pick out specific types of insect in their vehicles. For instance: Debris Beetle is a Dung Beetle. I've used Kamen Rider as a reference here mostly because of the insect theme. I got nothing otherwise.

Keelhaulers

Clamorous Ironclad by Svetlin Velinov

Symbol: Shark-Shaped Anchor

Inspiration: 80's and 90's Saturday Morning Cartoons

Team Captain(s): Captain Howler, Sea Scourge

Plane: Unnamed

Jawsome! While Street Sharks may be a reference here, the Keelhaulers draw on a Treasure Planet aesthetic (that is, a retro-futuristic look at 18th century Caribbean pirates) that can also be seen in lots of media ranging from 1991's Pirates of Dark Water through 2016's Zac Storm. We got hints that sharkfolk might be coming way back in Outlaws of Thunder Junction's Loan Shark and then again more recently in Foundations' Bigfin Bouncer, this is our first real look at them in a more organized fashion. It's not clear if all the Keelhaulers hail from the same plane, as among them we also see what appear to be new homarid in Clamorous Ironclad, new cephalid in Keen Buccaneer, as well as a variety of shark and other fishfolk and even a magma elemental in Magmakin Artillerist (a magma elemental doesn't seem like a good fit for their ocean aesthetic). We also got Magic's first seal in Howler's Heavy. Fearless Swashbuckler is, amusingly, a swordfish that must be a challenge to duel.

We also get a peek at the Keelhauler advisor Kari Zev, Skyship Raider in Broadside Barrage.

Endriders

Symbol: Three Jagged Slashes

Inspiration: Death Race, Mad Max

Team Captain(s): Far Fortune, End Boss

Plane: Gastal

"Who runs Bartertown?" The Endriders are probably the most direct allegory of the bunch here, with clear parallels to George Miller's Mad Max, especially Mad Max: Fury Road. In the Mad Max films, society collapses and wars for resources, most importantly fuel, are raged in the wasteland. Far Fortune herself is somewhere between Tina Turner's Aunty Entity (the ruler of Bartertown from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome) and Charlize Theron's Furiosa from Fury Road.

Gastal was an off-hand reference to an empty, post-apocalyptic world mentioned in backstory during the novel Planeswalker. Between the name (which sounds like "Gas+Pedal") and the post-apocalyptic theme, it was the perfect setting for the Endriders, bringing some (limited) life to what was once simply another name on a long list of one-off planes. Between this set and Roy Graham mentioning Akul the Unrepentant is from there as well, Gastal has definitely been upgraded from the D-List of Magic worlds. It's unlikely we'll get a full set there, but it's a possible location with other C-listers in big, multiverse spanning sets in the future.

Gastal is home to scorpion dragons (Akul the Unrepentant), gas drinking vampires (Gas Guzzler), viashino (Gastal Thrillseeker), mutants (Mutant Surveyor), and tough-as-nails humans who can survive all that.

The Planes of the GGP

Similarly, there are a few details about the worlds of Aetherdrift not immediately obvious from the planeswalker guides. Let's talk about them!

Avishkar

Mindspring Merfolk by Andreia Ugrai

Avishkar (formerly Kaladesh) has had a small bit of an overhaul, and not just in their revolutionary government. We've met two new races native to the plane: merfolk (called japlari, which translates from hindi as 'water fairy') in Mindspring Merfolk and loxodon seen in cards like Loxodon Surveyor. This isn't the first time a plane has surprise merfolk, Return to Ravnica introduced them after their absence in the original block.

Gonti, Night Minister makes a reappearance, and while they may have appeared to go legitimate on Avishkar, we know from Thunder Junction that appearance can be deceiving. It wouldn't be the first time a criminal element that is part of a revolutionary movement gains legitimacy.

The Gearhulk cycle this time around showcases alternate forms of energy, representing solar power in Brightglass Gearhulk, coal in Coalstoke Gearhulk, fossil fuels in Oildeep Gearhulk, wood in Pyrewood Gearhulk, and hydroelectric in Riptide Gearhulk

We also see some scars from the invasion lingering. Academy Ruins depicts an institution from an original Kaladesh Island that was overrun and destroyed. Marketback Walker shows us weapons of war being decommissioned and made available for civilian use. Aetherjacket gives us an amusing update on fan favorite edgelord Shadowblayde, a young Avishkari elf with a silly moniker.

Amonkhet

Amonkhet is in a state of renewal. New gods have been born and life is flourishing again along the banks of the Luxa. The undead, once thought to be mindless aggressors with a magical cartouche controlling them in Bolas's era, turn out to simply be people. Suddenly, the worldsoul of Amonkhet telling Nissa the Curse of Wandering was a gift makes sense.

Hazoret, Godseeker returns, flanked by two newly emerged divinities: Ketramose, the New Dawn and Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied. Interestingly, these two new gods have taken up the colors of the four dead ones. The gods of Amonkhet are manifested from the leylines of the plane, and one has to wonder how much of a coincidence those colors lining up are. Perhaps they're the power of the old gods, remixed and reborn. Riverchurn Monument is an artistic reference to the Monument cycle of original Amonkhet. Hour of Victory is also a cute nod to the Fateful Hours of original Amonkhet.

Corpse Augur hints that the Chitin Court, right now just composed of The Scarab God and The Locust God want to resurrect The Scorpion God, and add two more two their number: the Fly and the Wasp! Hashaton, Scarab's Fist heavily implies that he knows The Scarab isn't the original form of that god (who had been twisted by Nicol Bolas), but that his faith in the god remains.

Muraganda

Tyrox, Saurid Tyrant by John Tedrick

Muraganda first debuted almost 20 years ago in 2007's Future Sight, with the future-shifted cards Muraganda Petroglyphs and Imperiosaur. These cards established the plane as a primeval plane that cared about vanilla (IE abilityless) creatures. It appeared again in 2009's Planechase on a single plane, and then once more in Commander 2011's The Mimeoplasm.

Then it disappeared for over a decade until March of the Machines, with Invasion of Muraganda // Primordial Plasm, Ancient Imperiosaur, and Rampaging Raptor showcasing the world. Even then, these things were largely in keeping with earlier entries, we didn't really see anything new. Until now. Muraganda got a worldbuilding upgrade in this set, and we see a return of fan favorite Mimeoplasm, Revered One, alongside five new vanilla legends: Sundial, Dawn Tyrant,

Caelorna, Coral Tyrant, Kalakscion, Hunger Tyrant, Tyrox, Saurid Tyrant, and Terrian, World Tyrant. As a flavor text writer, can I tell you how much I missed vanilla creatures giving space to write?

The new shape of Muraganda is a combination of Land of the Lost (a dinosaur world with humanoid dinosaurs as the dominant species) and Sword and Sorcery adventure in the vein of Conan. What's most intriguing about the plane is that it once featured a massive and powerful civilization that now lies in ruins... and no one remembers what, exactly happened (but I bet the chunks of moon that constantly fall to the surface has something to do with it).

Dracosaur Auxiliary is a dinosaur dragon, a feature of Muraganda. Agonasaur Rex shows off how Muraganda Dinosaurs are different: they tend to have more exaggerated features or proportions than dinosaurs on other planes. The name also means "Race Lizard Tyrant"!

Flavor Gems

Let's dive in to some more specific flavor gems! Air Response Unit is one of many unhighlighted 'factions' in the race: the Marshals! You can see them referenced in things like Marshals' Pathcruiser, but in general if you see someone doing something about the race that doesn't appear aligned with the factions, they're probably a race marshal.

Alacrian Armory is Horse Armor, for you Xbox 360 era Bethesda fans! Broadcast Rambler is a double-entendre, Rambler being both a type of car and a person who talks too much. Guardian Sunmare reminds us that good things have always existed on Amonkhet, as it returns the mysterious horse from Crested Sunmare.

Aether Syphon is just an adorable Keelhauler themed device meant to Syphon Fuel. Gearseeker Serpent returns with a reprint that actually gives it Affinity for Artifacts, along with a groan worthy flavor text pun. Hulldrifter is a reference to Mulldrifter.

Spikeshell Harrier is our obvious Mario Kart Blue Shell reference, and although people have noted Daring Mechanic and Pothole Mole as possible other Mario Kart references... those are more of a strong maybe. Stock Up shows off the concessions stands on Avishkar. Grim Bauble is a bobblehead, a fun pun that allows this to be reprinted elsewhere easily.

Bestow Greatness and District Mascot seem to reference the same dog, who may have been Caradora's old partner? Stampeding Scurryfoot pairs with Autarch Mammoth both show off the mammoths of Muraganda. Haunted Hellride is a play on Haunted Hayride, an American Halloween tradition.

Rover Blades is our first vehicle equipment! Captain Howler, Sea Scourge and Caradora, Heart of Alacria form a diptych, you can see that Howler is blasting at Caradora between their art. The Borderless Verges area beautiful set of pieces, and what's more they're an artist callback: they were all done by one of the Odyssey block Pit Fighter artists!

That's... really all I have time for. I am way over word count at this point. Let's do a lightning round of car & racing references and puns and then close this out:

• Collision Course
• Canyon Vaulter
• Roadside Assistance
• Flood the Engine
• Roadside Blowout
• Stall Out
• Gas Guzzler
• Maximum Overdrive
• Risky Shortcut
• Spin Out
• Adrenaline Jockey
• Crash and Burn
• Full Throttle
• Pedal to the Metal
• Push the Limit
• Road Rage
• Plow Through
• Run Over
• Racers' Scoreboard
• Scrap Compactor
• Starting Column

There's so much more I could talk about here, and while I think a racing set is a perfect return to Avishkar (which featured a lot of racing and whose original block was about an exhibition of invention), I hope we get a proper return to Amonkhet soon, as it seems like the stage is finally set there for a new era. I'll be back soon with some more Building for Flavor articles!