MTG Aetherdrift Draft & Sealed archetypes explained: Color combos, strategies, more

If you’re looking to take home first place in the Ghirapur Grand Prix, you’ll need to understand Magic: The Gathering Aetherdrift’s Draft and Sealed archetypes. We’ve got a rundown of every color combo and their unique strategies right here.

Magic: The Gathering has been kicked into overdrive with the new Aetherdrift set. This high-stakes rally across the Planes features exciting new cards and some interesting mechanics inspired by its racing theme.

Challengers are competing for the Aetherspark which bestows massive power on whoever wields it. If you’re hoping to get your hands on it, you’ll need to pick the right team to race with.

We’ve gathered up all the info you need to know about MTG Aetherdrift’s Draft and Sealed archetypes so you know exactly what you’re dealing with when you crack those packs. But first, what the heck’s an archetype?

What are Draft & Sealed archetypes in Magic: The Gathering?

When playing Limited formats of MTG, archetypes work as fantastic guidelines to plot out a potential strategy. Archetypes are divided amongst the ten potential color pairings in MTG and they are basically shorthand for what that particular combo wants to do to win.

In many sets, these archetypes are fairly standard, whether that’s the Sorcery-slinging antics of Izzet or Golgari’s patented Graveyard manipulation. In Aetherdrift however, traditional archetypes have been shaken up by the newly introduced mechanics of Speed and Exhaust, as well as a big focus on Artifacts.

This latest set divides the color pairs up into racing teams competing in the Ghirapur Grand Prix and each has a unique identity and gameplay style. Below, we’ve listed the 10 Draft & Sealed archetypes for MTG Aetherdrift as well as a brief explanation of their preferred strategies on the tabletop.

The Speed Demons (Dimir)

Wizards of the Coast/Dexerto

• Colors: Blue/Black
• Strategy: Artifact Bleed
• Key Cards: Winter, Cursed Rider / The Speed Demon / The Last Ride

Like many of MTG Aetherdrifts Limited archetypes, The Speed Demons rely on Artifacts and have a plethora of Vehicles at their disposal. A number of cards in this color combo will manipulate your opponent’s and your own Life total.

Pulling Winter, Cursed Rider may push you into this particular archetype. The team captain provides a nasty Ward cost that will make your opponents think twice before swinging at your Artifact-heavy board. His Exhaust ability also has the potential to board-wipe if you choose your moment carefully.

The risk/reward combination of cards like The Speed Demon and The Last Ride can offer a powerful closer if you can successfully manage your Life total. Blue offers a number of different card draw engines and Black will give you some much-needed removal.

Unfortunately for this particular archetype, the pool of cards that plays to its Artifact Bleed win condition is relatively small. It’s really only advisable to invest in it if you’re lucky enough to pull all of its necessary tools.

Aether Rangers (Simic)

Wizards of the Coast/Dexerto

• Color Combo: Blue/Green
• Strategy: Exhaust Ramp
• Key Cards: Sita Varma, Masked Racer / Elvish Refueler / Ranger’s Refueler

MTG Aetherdrift’s Simic archetype wants you to stack your mana pool to take advantage of the powerful new Exhaust abilities introduced in the set. In the early game, flood your board with low-cost mana dorks to make sure you can pay for the more costly Exhausts.

Ordinarily, these abilities can only be used once per game but Elvish Refueler lets you cast them multiple times as long as it’s the first Exhaust you use in a turn. With a wide board and enough mana, you can load up team captain Sita Varma with a plethora of +1/+1 counters and transfer that buff to your other cards for an almighty swing.

Blue lends you access to the usual card draw options to make sure you always have the tools you need while Green has a number of Sorceries to buff your creatures’ strength and add keywords. It can be a slow process building up your mana pool but the payoff is pure dominance in the late game.

The Keelhaulers (Izzet)

Wizards of the Coast/Dexerto

• Color Combo: Red/Blue
• Strategy: Discard Aggro
• Key Cards: Captain Howler, Sea Scourge / Marauding Mako / Boosted Sloop

While the last few MTG sets have kept Izzet in its usual Sorcery-slinging bubble, Aetherdrift switches it up with a Discard-centric playstyle. The key is to use Cycling to swap your cards around and buff your key pieces with as many Discards as possible.

Cycling involves Discarding a card and drawing one in its place. This allows you to filter out cards you don’t need and draw into new tools. The real bonus here is that a number of the Keelhaulers gain bonuses or trigger abilities whenever you Discard one or more cards.

Captain Howler for example lets you buff your attackers and draw more cards on successful hits. Marauding Mako can come into play early and, with the right suit of Cycling, become a major threat.

As an added bonus, you do get access to a limited version of Izzet’s usual shenanigans with disruptive instants and damage-based removal. The Keelhaulers are an excellent choice if you’re lucky enough to pull into the archetypes.

Guidelight Voyagers (Azorius)

Wizards of the Coast/Dexerto

• Color Combo: White/Blue
• Strategy: Artifact Value
• Key Cards: Mendicant Core, Guidelight / Guidelight Pathmaker / Interface Ace

The Guidelight Voyagers are MTG Aetherdrift’s Azorious offering and they run a very Artifact-heavy playstyle. This combo offers a tonne of different cards that reward you for having artifacts in play and also make cards cheaper to cast.

Thankfully, most of the Creatures in this Aetherdrift archetype are artifacts themselves meaning you don’t have to invest too heavily in Vehicles with a pesky crew cost. That doesn’t mean you should forgo them entirely as Guidelight Pathmaker is a fantastic body and it offers a search for one of your other key pieces.

Mendicant Core, Guidelight allows you to create copies of your other Artifacts if you have the mana to spare which you should if you’ve invested in cards with Artifact Affinity. You can also rely on some extra card draw and Life regain that are baked into the color combo.

Champions of Amonkhet (Orzhov)

Wizards of the Coast/Dexerto

• Color Combo: White/Black
• Strategy: Max Speed Attrition
• Key Cards: Zahur, Glory’s Past / Embalmed Ascendant / Risen Necrogent

MTG Aetherdrift’s White/Black Archetype is all about taking advantage of the new Speed Mechanic. The Champions of Amonkhet want to go fast and have a number of cards that award bonuses for reaching Max Speed.

Thanks to the Creatures of Amonkhet’s affinity with the undead, they allow you to flood the board with Zombie tokens. Both Zahur, Glory’s Past, and Risen Necrogent will help you in that effort.

Of course, to truly get the most out of the archetype, you need to reach Max Speed and this can mean a slow early game. Fortunately, Black and White have a tonne of removal options to open your opponent up to damage in order to gain that Speed. Some added Lifelink also allows you to keep yourself in the game.

Cloudspire Racing Team (Boros)

Wizards of the Coast/Dexerto

• Color Combo: Red/White
• Strategy: Vehicles and Mounts Aggro
• Key Cards: Kolodin, Triumph Caster / Spire Mechcycle / Cloudspire Skycycle

The Cloudspire Racing Team takes Boros’ traditional aggro playstyle and adds a twist. This Aetherdrift Archetype is all about delivering a speedy assault with Mounts and Vehicles.

Grabbing cards with those keywords that also have Haste is a safe bet but if you’re lucky enough to pull Kolodin, Triumph Caster, you won’t have to worry. Not only does he apply Haste to all Vehicles and Mounts, he also eliminates their Crew and Saddling cost for their first turn in play.

This allows you to steamroll opponents with heavy-hitting cards that can immediately activate their effects. Spire Mechcycle makes an excellent closer and there are a tonne of reliable direct damage and removal options in the Boros offerings for Aetherdrift.

The Alacrian Quickbeasts (Selesnya)

Wizards of the Coast/Dexerto

• Color Combo: Green/White
• Strategy: Vehicles and Mounts Midrange
• Key Cards: Caradora, Heart of Alacria / Earthrumbler / Guardian Sunmare

Another Aetherdrift archetype focusing on Mounts and Vehicles, The Alacrian Quickbeasts want to load your board up with both and stack them with +1/+1 counters. Thanks to the extra benefits of attacking with Mounts while Saddled, you can expect some big swings in the mid-to-late game.

Caradora, Heart of Alacria not only doubles your +1/+1 output but also allows you to search for whatever Mount or Vehicle you need at the time. Earthrumbler and Guardian Sunmare are both decent options for this search if you can pull them, despite not technically being aligned with the Alacrian Quickbeasts.

When playing this archetype in Aetherdrift, expect a slow start while you amass the right combination of cards for a heavy hit. You can use the additional ramp afforded by Green to help you get there and White’s removal to ensure that hit finds its mark.

Goblin Rocketeers (Gruul)

Wizards of the Coast/Dexerto

• Color Combo: Red/Green
• Strategy: Midrange Exhaust
• Key Cards: Redshift, Rocketeer Chief / Boom Scholar / Rocketeer Boostbuggy

The Goblin Rocketeers not only offer a tonne of Goblin synergy, they also come stacked with a load of powerful Exhaust abilities. Many of these have a pretty significant mana cost but with Green’s Ramp and a few extra tools, you should have no trouble getting them off.

Boom Scholar will help you reduce the cost of your Exhaust abilities and if you get your dream pull in Redshift, Rocketeer Chief, you have the opportunity to flood your board with a Goblin army.

When playing this archetype in MTG Aetherdrift, focus on building your mana up in the early game. Once you have a reserve, you can overwhelm your enemy with a barrage of Exhaust activations.

The Speedbrood (Golgari)

Wizards of the Coast/Dexerto

• Color Combo: Green/Black
• Strategy: Graveyard
• Key cards: Aatchik, Emerald Radian / Carrion Cruiser / Chitin Gravestalker

Golgari’s Graveyard-oriented strategy should be familiar to fans of the color combo and The Speedbrood’s insectoid race team uses it masterfully. Expect to see plenty of cards that offer rewards for having a full Graveyard but ensure that you balance them with any cards that let you reanimate in order to save your biggest hitters from mills.

Getting Aatchik, Emerald Radian on the field with a stacked Graveyard gives you a host of Insect tokens to play around with, Sacrificing them will buff his attack and burn through your opponent’s life. The archetype is another with a sluggish early game but the payoff is a viscous onslaught in the late game that could snatch victory from the mandibles of defeat.

You can supplement the core playstyle with Green’s ramp and Black’s removal. This also allows for the summoning of some chunky Vehicles like Thundering Broodwagon.

The Endriders (Rakdos)

Wizards of the Coast/Dexerto

• Color Combo: Black/Red
• Strategy: Max Speed Aggro
• Key Cards: Far Fortune, End Boss / Gas Guzzler / Gastal Thrillroller

The Mad Max-inspired Endriders want to build up Speed and turn sideways. The key to playing this archetype is to ensure you have a number of low-cost creatures with the Start Your Engines mechanic to get your Speed counter online early. Thankfully, there are plenty of them in the color combo.

Far Fortune, End Boss is great way to cheat out Speed against a defensive opponent and once you hit Max Speed, deal extra damage to finish them off. Hasty Vehicles like Gastal Thrillroller also allow you to put some pressure on your opponent.

The aim of the game is to start your assault early and keep it up for a quick victory before your opponent can regroup. Removal from Black and direct damage from Red will help in that endeavor.

Those are the 10 Draft and Sealed archetypes for MTG Aetherdrift. The full release kicks off on February 14, 2025, and you can test these out on the tabletop then.