The Magic community is gearing up for Aetherdrift, set to launch on February 14th. Now that the set has been fully spoiled, players and collectors alike are combing through the set to find the cards they're most eager to add to their decks and collections.

Naturally, some cards see more demand than others. That's the whole premise of a collectible card game such as Magic, and it's been this way since the very beginning. Aetherdrift is no exception.

What are the cards players covet the most from Magic's new, fast-paced set? Let's dive in and look at the cards you'll most want to see in your prerelease pool...at least from a value standpoint.

Two Colorless Cards are the Headliners

The story goes that the winner of this multidimensional race will earn "The Aetherspark," a legendary artifact that grants the ability to walk the planes to whoever wields it. It's very much akin to War of the Spark--that "spark" referenced is the same as in Aetherspark. In other words, in the Magic multiverse, it's a pretty big deal!

Wizards of the Coast needed to make Aetherspark a big deal in card form as well, and it looks like they delivered:

There it is in all its glory: a Legendary Artifact Planeswalker - Equipment, the first of its kind! The card is currently selling (with preorders) for $35-$40, and it's one of the most exciting finds in the set. Will the card live up to the hype in constructed play? That is to be determined, but you can bet that players will be throwing this in all styles of Commander decks to try out the new card.

Believe it or not, The Aetherspark is currently the second most valuable card (non-foil, non-special printing) in the set. There's one card demanding an even higher preorder price: Radiant Lotus!

Radiant Lotus is currently in the $40 range, not too far from The Aetherspark. The card has the word "lotus" in it, are we really surprised by this? It seems like every time Wizards of the Coast prints a new lotus-like card, it presells for an exorbitant amount at first. It looks like this version is going to need to go into a heavy artifact deck, or perhaps a lot of tokens, to be very powerful. At six mana, I have to imagine this is another Commander play, and not really a card we'll see much in Standard. I'd suggest holding off on preordering this one, as its price could easy cut in half a couple weeks into release.

Some Mythic Rare Creatures

Beyond these two artifacts, the next most valuable cards from Aetherdrift include a smattering of mythic creatures. Let's take a look at some of the best-selling so far.

At the top of the heap is Ketramose, the New Dawn, which is currently preselling for $20-$25.

Those who hold nostalgia for Amonkhet will appreciate this throwback. This is a three-mana 4/4 legendary god creature, with menace, lifelink, and indestructible! As usual with the God creature type, you need to meet a certain criteria for it to attack and block--in this case, it's seven or more cards in exile. Luckily while you wait for this to happen, you can draw cards and lose life for exiling cards from your graveyard and/or battlefield, giving Ketramose, the New Dawn some early game relevance before it becomes a game-ender.

Speaking of nostalgia, another group of valuable mythic rares in Aetherdrift is a new cycle of Gearhulks! The first group made waves in Magic, and I expect at least a couple of these new iterations to also shake up the metagame! Let's take a look at the most valuable as an example: Brightglass Gearhulk.

That casting cost can be a bit prohibitive (splashing it in Limited won't be super easy), but in a White / Green build this 4/4 first striking, trampling construct hits hard. The fact that it also offers up the ability to tutor for up to two artifacts, creatures, or enchantment cards with mana value 1 or less means this is quite the little value engine! I wonder if we'll see this is different cube iterations--maybe Vintage Cube? This is currently preselling for $10-$12.

The other Gearhulk cards are also pretty valuable out of the gate: Riptide Gearhulk and Oildeep Gearhulk are also in the $9-$10 range.

Ketramose may be the top billing god from Aetherdrift, but there's at least one other worth opening in a booster pack: Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied.

Is this what I think it is? A frog goddess?? It sure looks like it in Valera Lutfullina's art, doesn't it? At five mana, this Simic god offers reach, trample, and the always-present indestructible abilities. However, it can't attack or block unless it has an even number of counters on it. That means it can attack or block as soon as it hits the battlefield, but by your next upkeep it'll be turned off again. Every other turn you have an active creature, and on the other turns you'll get to draw two cards. That doesn't count any additional counter shenanigans you can orchestrate throughout a game to blow your opponent out. This god is also preselling in the $10 range.

The Enemy Verge Cycle

Duskmourn brought us a new and exciting cycle of two-colored lands in the Verges. You know the ones: Gloomlake Verge, Blazemire Verge, Floodfarm Verge, Hushwood Verge, and Thornspire Verge. These have all held their price points fairly well given their relevance in Standard and Commander--they come into play untapped and are fairly easy to "turn on" so that they can tap for both colors of mana.

Well, now we have the rest of the cycle in Aetherdrift, which introduced the enemy-colored Verges!

We have Bleachbone Verge, Riverpyre Verge, Sunbillow Verge, Wastewood Verge, and Willowrush Verge, and they're all preselling for $7-$8. While their values will shift depending on how much play they each see in Standard, it's safe to bet that these will hold up value-wise better than many of the aforementioned mythic rares.

A Couple Honorable Mentions

Before wrapping up, there are a couple other cards I wanted to shout out for being noteworthy pulls. First, there's March of the World Ooze, a mythic enchantment that turns all your creatures into powerful 6/6 oozes. That's pretty solid! Add in the fact that you get another creature whenever your opponent plays a spell on your turn, and you have the making for a pretty powerful (and fun) enchantment spell! This one is also in the $10 range.

There's Monument to Endurance, a versatile artifact that gives you some value whenever you discard a card. This is preselling in the $7-$8 range, and I can immediately see it hitting sideboards against those pesky decks that play four copies of Hopeless Nightmare. That deck may suddenly get much worse, but I'm sure it can adapt with the right artifact destruction spell.

Other semi-valuable cards during this preselling period include The Last Ride, Salvation Engine, Thunderous Velocipede, and Valor's Flagship. Each of these vehicles are mythic rare and listed at around $8 at retail. I suspect one or two of these may become powerful cards, but since vendors aren't sure which will be the winners and losers, they just slapped a consistent preorder price tag across the board.

Wrapping It Up

The list goes on, but this gives you a feel for the most noteworthy and valuable cards to open from your Aetherdrift booster packs in the coming weeks. I don't know about you, but I'm excited for a new set to draft...even if Aetherdrift's flavor isn't exactly "for me." As long as the gameplay is fun, I'll be happy.

Don't forget that if you are the type to crack open collector boosters, you have even more value to unlock. With most modern day sets, there are plenty of special printing, fractured foil versions of cards worth upwards of $200.

Only the luckiest of them all will get to see these cards in their packs, but it's fun to daydream winning the lottery, isn't it? For those who do crack open such a sweet card, congratulations! For the rest of us, best of luck with your upcoming prerelease and release events, and may all your rares be high-dollar bombs!