Buckle up folks!

Aetherdrift preview season is gearing up, Magic's foray into a fast and furious world of cars and excitement, and today we are sharing not one but a pair of doggone preview cards courtesy of Wizards of the Coast!

Whether you're a Constructed player or a Limited player we've got you covered today, so let's get you right to it.

First up is District Mascot, which brings us a return of the saddle ability from Outlaws Of Thunder Junction, as well as cute corgis in art.

District Mascot is effectively a 1/1 for one that has the ability to grow every turn, as saddle 1 is a trivially easy condition to meet and essentially gives all of your future creatures an element of pseudo-haste. District Mascot being based in +1/+1 counters gives it a whole host of synergy potential, from everything to counter-based stuff like Hardened Scales and Innkeeper's Talent, to more esoteric synergies like drawing cards with Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar.

One-drops that scale have always had a place in Constructed, which bodes well for District Mascot, and that's not even considering how it plays with the other saddle cards from Outlaws of Thunder Junction or the survivor cards from Duskmourn. There's a lot of cross-set synergy at work here which makes District Mascot more than the sum of its parts.

But wait, there's more!

District Mascot also has the ability to pay two mana, remove two counters, and destroy any artifact. Adding this sort of utility to an already very reasonable 1-drop is excellent, and with Aetherdrift looking like it is going to be an artifact-focused set this is a big one. Modern day creatures are so good they can't just be pure numbers, so being able to put some interaction into such an important part of the curve is awesome.

A good on rate 1-drop with extra flexibility alongside potential synergies in a variety of places makes for a pretty exciting new rare!

But what about you Limited players?

Well, blocking in Aetherdrift draft is going to be a scary thing to do against Green decks! Check out Bestow Greatness:

Three mana is a bit expensive for a combat trick, but Bestow Greatness feels almost more like a finisher than a combat trick. +4/+4 is massive, and the trample is going to end a lot of games. Just being able to win a combat step while also getting in for a nice chunk of damage is going to be great in aggressive Limited decks, and Bestow Greatness is a card that scales very well with other power enhancing effects.

Sure, it's not quite Monstrous Rage, but Bestow Greatness will have a similar effect on your Limited games and is a card that must be respected when you are considering your blocks. And like Monstrous Rage, sometimes you're just going to have to throw your hands up into the air and say "well I can't beat Bestow Greatness here, if they've got it they've got it." Bestow Greatness also ends up upping the value of large, high power creatures in your deck as the draft goes on.

Once again, thank you to Wizards of the Coast for the free previews cards! Aetherdrift officially releases February 14th in paper and February 11th on MTG Arena and Magic Online, so be ready to rev those engines and ride! And don't forget Pro Tour Aetherdrift happening at MagicCon Chicago which is the first major event happening with Aetherdrift cards!

It's been a nice break for the holidays since Foundations, but it's once again time to rev things up again!