Magic: The Gathering
Magical Thinking: Aether Revolt
Kept you waiting, didn’t I?
At long last, I welcome you back to Magical Thinking, a look back at the cards and art of Magic: the Gathering, set by set, from the beginning.
Forgive the month long hiatus, but I ran into a bit of computer trouble (my hard drive straight up died on me). But now I’m back, and we’re picking right back up where we left off, with the January 2017 release Aether Revolt.
When we last left our heroes in the Gatewatch, they had come to Kaladesh, Chandra’s home plane, to rescue her mom Pia from being executed. Now Pia and the Gatewatch are staging a revolution against the ultra corrupt and controlling consulate, as well as evil planeswalker Tezzeret. But is Tezzeret just a pawn for a much bigger threat? The answer is yes, yes he is.
Now, on to the cards!
What is this guy inspecting anyway? Because he looks like a train conductor. Is he checking people’s Aether? How do you check Aether? Do you need to take a class in Aether inspecting?
Revolt is one of the new mechanics of the set. Basically it does a thing if you play the card and a permanent left the battlefield this turn. Not sure where it stands on the Storm Scale, but according to the MTG wiki Mark Rosewater considers it a failure of a mechanic. Sadly that seems fairly common in Magic; the failed mechanics far outnumber the successful ones.
White is still the “stop having fun” color. Kick their asses Pia! Get you some!
I started playing a barbarian in a DnD campaign recently, and I can attest there are few problems that can’t be solved by hitting them hard enough. That may be the wrong lesson to take away from that. Still, that spider-bot had it coming, working for the man.
Of course, White is also the “Oh, you thought I lose? Well, no, because shut up” color. I like how the angel here has four arms, but they really should be an artifact creature.
Sram single-handedly keeps the Kaladesh branch of Games Workshop in business with his love of minis. You should also see his Kingdom Death collection.
Here we have Baral, Chandra’s own Inspector Javert and personal nemesis. Considering one of them is a 1/3 jabroney and the other is a freaking planeswalker, this isn’t much of a rivalry but whatever.
And here is Baral trying to call Chandra out for a fight. Actually reading the lore, he does almost beat her, but Nissa shows up and kicks his ass and he ends up in jail. Good riddance.
*Looks out the window* Yep, that’s pretty much my day.
Care bear STARE!
Improvise is this set’s other new mechanic, letting you cast spells by tapping artifacts to help pay the cost. I like the flavor because you are basically using artifacts in a new way to pull off tricks.
“I mean, this is pretty cool, but I found something even better. It’s called an NFT…”
“Anyone want to buy this cool chain I found?”
And here is Tezzeret throwing down with Lilliana on the bridge, hinting that there’s something bigger going on here. Who could be the evil mastermind behind all of this?
Madness? THIS. IS. KALADESH.
I love how everyone is just like “…huh, it’s a demon. Don’t see that everyday.” You think they’d be a bit more concerned.
“Sweet armor, right? I bought it with the money I made selling NFT’s. Hoo boy, what a scam. Some people will buy anything.”
(The running joke here is that NFT’s are terrible).
“You’ll never catch me! You have to get by my adorable little thing first.”
I love how that’s the escape plan: drop a little robot behind you to hold them off. It looks like a prize from a gumball machine.
Including this one entirely so I can use it for the cover image, plus it’s a great piece. Sometimes I focus too much on the goofy or the weird or the bad art. I should focus more on good art as well.
Here’s a reminder that Kaladesh has gremlins, a creature type we don’t see too often around here (With the last ones before Kaladesh and this being in Antiquities with the Phyrexian Gremlins).
Now that is some awesome graffiti. I want graffiti in real life that does that.
Okay, I take it back. THIS is gonna be the cover art. This is just an amazing, powerful piece. I want more card game art that can be used as revolutionary iconography.
OH NO, THERE’S GONNA BE POD RACING. I CAN’T GO BACK, MAN. I CAN’T.
And here we have the iconic red card, with what would eventually become its iconic art. This is the art I will forever associate with this spell.
Just put a gremlin in a box, and chuck at something.
This elephant never forgets…to tear down the institutions of oppression and return power to the masses.
“Yeah, I got this magic flower off a beast living in an enchanted castle. Not much but hey, better than a damn NFT.”
This is why you always want to feed your hydra before taking them on walkies.
And here is our big guy himself, the newest member of the Gatewatch, our big furry pal Ajani. Haven’t seen him since Theros. And he’s rocking Selesnya colors now.
It looks like the evil mastermind here is none other than Nicol Bolas, everyone’s favorite evil dragon. But what is his endgame? That will be revealed in future sets.
But enough of Bolas, here’s Ajani’s oath. I always love these.
Still not as goofy looking as the hoverguards from Mirrodin. Still, it’s hard to look intimidating when you look like a child’s RC toy drone.
And of course we have Tezzeret. It’s probably possible to look more villainous, but I’m not sure how.
Vehicle were introduced in this set and are really cool mechanics. We have this neat looking vehicle which is undoubtedly doing damage to the environment sucking up all that aether.
I love the fact you have to charge the turrets for a few turns to use them. Team Fortress 2 this is not.
I KNEW IT. I KNEW THEY WERE GONNA HAVE PODRACING. NO. I’M DONE. I’M GOING HOME. COMPUTER’S GOING BACK TO THE SHOP.
But is it also a tool of power plays? (Transformers fans, that one is for you.)
No no, you have to lift with your knees. You don’t want to throw your back out. Also, that thing is way too big to be just a 1/2.
Aww, you know it takes something special to breath life into a card as old and as useless as the ornithropter, but Aether Revolt pulled it off.
Peace through excessive stomping.
We need more trains with dinosaur shaped engines. Look how cool that is! It’s a runaway train never coming back, wrong way on a one way track.
There it is. The place where they make NFT’s. The place where Mr. NFT is creating those terrible pictures of weed smoking monkeys to destroy the world.
And with that disturbing image, we conclude this week’s Magical Thinking. It’s great to be back! Come back next week when we depart Kaladesh for warmer climates, visiting the place where the dead walk among the living, the sun blisters above, and the sand is coarse and rough and gets everywhere. Amonkhet is next. Until then, stay Magical.
