Aether Revolt

Aether Revolt

 

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Aether Revolt
[[File:{{#setmainimage:AER set logo.png}}|250px]]
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	Leaking aether
Design	Mark Gottlieb (lead) Mark Rosewater Ken Nagle Gavin Verhey Adam Prosak Ari Levitch
Development	Ben Hayes (lead) Sam Stoddard Ethan Fleischer Adam Prosak Yoni Skolnik Tim Aten
Art direction	Mark Winters
Release date	January 20, 2017
Plane	Kaladesh
Themes and mechanics	Energy counters, Vehicles
Keywords/​ability words	Crew, Improvise, Revolt
Set size	184 cards +10 Planeswalker deck exclusives
Expansion code	AER
Development codename	Stock
Kaladesh block
Kaladesh Aether Revolt N/A
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Planechase Anthology Aether Revolt Modern Masters 2017

Aether Revolt is the 73rd Magic expansion, and the second in the Kaladesh block. It was released on January 20, 2017, and is a small expansion.

Set details

Aether Revolt contains 184 cards (70 commons, 60 uncommons, 42 rares, and 12 mythic rares) and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. Ten additional cards are found in the set's planeswalker decks (2 mythic planeswalkers, 2 rares, 2 uncommons, 2 commons, and 2 common dual lands). These are numbered #185/184 to #194/184. Some Aether Revolt booster packs contain a Kaladesh Invention. The expansion symbol of the set is a Far Eastern-inspired floral motive representing the "leaking spire," the symbol of the Renegades.

Storyline

“

It's Time to Take the Power Back

”

A revolt takes place on Kaladesh. Led by Pia Nalaar and aligned with aether-pirates, essence-drainers, and weaponsmiths, the Renegades have seized control of large portions of Ghirapur. They seek to overthrow the authority of the Consulate. The Consulate responds with increased security and surveillance, the seizure of unregistered inventions, the monitoring of aether distribution, and the enforcement of a city-wide curfew. The Gatewatch and Ajani Goldmane support the renegades, while searching for the nefarious planeswalker Tezzeret.

Story Spotlight cards

Aether Revolt contains five Story Spotlight cards, used to showcase key moments in the story.

• Consulate Crackdown depicts the Consulate's continued seizure of inventions.
• Pia's Revolution depicts the rebellion against the Consulate led by Pia Nalaar.
• Disallow depicts Baral's taunting of Chandra Nalaar in an attempt to lure her away from the rest of the Gatewatch.
• Battle at the Bridge depicts the final battle between Tezzeret and Liliana Vess.
• Dark Intimations foreshadows the upcoming role of Nicol Bolas in the story.

Magic Story

Title	Author	Release Date	Setting (plane)	Featuring
In the Dead of Night	Alison Luhrs	2016-11-30	Kaladesh	Yahenni, Nived, Gonti, Farhal, Vedi, Dhriti, Najm, the Gatewatch, Rajul
Quiet Moments	Michael Yichao	2016-12-07	Kaladesh	The Gatewatch, Saheeli Rai, Ajani Goldmane, Yahenni, Pia Nalaar
Breakthrough	Kimberly J. Kreines	2016-12-14	Kaladesh	Rashmi, Tezzeret, Sana Ahir, Bhavin Jani, Mitul, Saheeli Rai, Liliana Vess
Revolution Begins	Nik Davidson, Kelly Digges & Kimberly J. Kreines	2017-01-02	Kaladesh	Chandra Nalaar, Pia Nalaar, Gonti, Sram, Rajni, Kambal, Kailash, Rashmi, Mitul, Avaati Vya, Kari Zev
Burn	Chris L'Etoile	2017-01-04	Kaladesh	Dovin Baan, Tezzeret, Dhiren Baral, The Gatewatch, Oviya Pashiri, Ajani Goldmane, Vatti, Dayal, Pia Nalaar, Kari Zev
The Skies over Ghirapur	Ari Levitch	2017-01-11	Kaladesh	Kari Zev, Ragavan, Jace Beleren, Ukti, Depala, Laksha
Breaking Points	Doug Beyer	2017-01-18	Kaladesh	The Gatewatch, Pia Nalaar, Hope of Ghirapur, Saheeli Rai, Rashmi, Ajani Goldmane, Oviya Pashiri, Vatti, Dovin Baan
Puppets	James Wyatt	2017-01-25	Kaladesh	Liliana Vess, Tezzeret, Gideon Jura, Chandra Nalaar
Renewal	Mel Li, Kelly Digges, Alison Luhrs, Doug Beyer, and Chris L'Etoile	2017-02-01	Kaladesh	Pia Nalaar, The Gatewatch, Dhiren Baral, Ajani Goldmane, Padeem, Yahenni, Depala, Crankshaft, Sana Ahir

Marketing

Aether Revolt is sold in 16-card booster packs (one card being a marketing card), two planeswalker decks, and the Aether Revolt bundle. The booster packs feature artwork from Ajani Unyielding, Tezzeret the Schemer, and Maulfist Revolutionary.

Kaladesh Inventions

Kaladesh Inventions are premium foil cards with a special Kaladeshi card frame and a separate expansion symbol. They are not part of the set but can be found in some booster packs. Kaladesh Inventions are all artifacts, include all new art and flavor text set on Kaladesh, and appear slightly more often than premium mythic rares. These cards are playable in any limited format where they are opened and in any constructed format where they are already legal. Thirty Invention cards appeared with Kaladesh and 24 in Aether Revolt.

Prerelease

Prerelease Events took place on January 14, 2017.

Promotional Cards

• Prerelease: a stamped card that can be any rare or mythic rare from the set.
• Launch promo: Quicksmith Rebel
• Game Day: full-art Trophy Mage
• Game Day (Top 8): full-art Yahenni's Expertise
• Buy-a-Box: Scrap Trawler

Tokens/emblem

Aether Revolt features 3 tokens and 1 emblem.

1. 2/2 Gremlin creature for Gremlin Infestation and Release the Gremlins
2. 2/1 Legendary Monkey creature named Ragavan for Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
3. Artifact named Etherium Cell for Tezzeret the Schemer
4. Emblem for Tezzeret the Schemer

Aether Revolt boosters also include cards to place energy counters on.

Themes and mechanics

Vehicles and Energy counters are carried over from the previous set. A theme of mana cost X or less is also present with numerous cards allowing for casting, returning or tutoring such cards.

There are two new named mechanics:

• Improvise — a keyword ability that enables you to pay generic mana cost with the help of your artifacts. Each artifact you tap after you're done activating mana abilities pays for .
• Revolt — an ability word that checks if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn.

Cycles

Aether Revolt has six cycles:

Cycle name
Automatons	Aegis Automaton	Watchful Automaton	Augmenting Automaton	Welder Automaton	Verdant Automaton
	Five common artifact creatures that have a color identity through an activated ability.
Aether Critters	Aether Inspector	Aether Swooper	Aether Poisoner	Aether Chaser	Aether Herder
	Five mono-colored common creatures that give upon entering the battlefield and can spend to create a 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature when attacking.
Experts	Sram, Senior Edificer	Baral, Chief of Compliance	Yahenni, Undying Partisan	Kari Zev, Skyship Raider	Rishkar, Peema Renegade
	Five mono-colored rare legendary creatures that tie to the Expertise cards.
Expertises	Sram's Expertise	Baral's Expertise	Yahenni's Expertise	Kari Zev's Expertise	Rishkar's Expertise
	Five rare sorceries with an on-color effect that also allows for the casting of a free spell of converted mana less than its casting cost.
Implements	Implement of Improvement	Implement of Examination	Implement of Malice	Implement of Combustion	Implement of Ferocity
	Five common artifacts, each of which has a colored activated sacrifice effect and lets you draw a card when put into the graveyard.

Cycle name
Two-colored draft archetypes	Spire Patrol	Tezzeret's Touch	Weldfast Engineer	Outland Boar	Renegade Rallier	Hidden Stockpile	Winding Constrictor	Rogue Refiner	Maverick Thopterist	Renegade Wheelsmith
	Ten uncommon cards which each represent a two-colored draft archetype.

Mega cycle

Cycle name
Rare color artifacts	Peacewalker Colossus (Aether Revolt)	Merchant's Dockhand (Aether Revolt)	Scrapheap Scrounger (Kaladesh )	Bomat Courier (Kaladesh )	Lifecrafter's Bestiary (Aether Revolt)
	Five artifacts that have an activated ability require a color, one for each color.

Pairs

Aether Revolt has five mirrored pairs.

Mirrored Pairs		Description
Call for Unity ()	Aid from the Cowl ()	Rare enchantments for 3MM with Revolt, with artwork of the Consulate Tower under assault.
Quicksmith Spy ()	Quicksmith Rebel ()	Rare Human artificers for 3M with mirrored stats that grant target artifact a tap ability upon entering the battlefield.
Aerial Modification ()	Siege Modification ()	Uncommon auras with "Enchant creature or Vehicle" that turns an enchanted Vehicle into a creature.
Aeronaut Admiral ()	Reckless Racer ()	Uncommon Human Pilots that have keyword abilities, alliterative names, and mirrored flavor text that show citizens recruited into the two sides of the conflict.
Skyship Plunderer ()	Maulfist Revolutionary ()	Uncommon Human revolutionaries that can add counters of any type to a single permanent.

Reprinted cards

• Conviction, first printed in Stronghold
• Negate, first printed in Morningtide, last seen in Conspiracy: Take the Crown.
• Shock, first printed in Stronghold, last seen in Duel Decks: Speed vs. Cunning.
• Prey Upon, first printed in Innistrad, last seen in Conspiracy: Take the Crown.

Common to Uncommon

• Ornithopter, first printed in Antiquities, last seen in Magic 2015.

Uncommon to Common

• Tranquil Expanse (Planeswalker decks), first printed in Oath of the Gatewatch.
• Submerged Boneyard (Planeswalker decks), first printed in Oath of the Gatewatch.

Functional Reprints

• Ghirapur Osprey is a functional reprint of Dawn Gryff, Shadow Glider, and Wild Griffin (except for creature type).
• Ravenous Intruder is a functional reprint of Atog (except for creature type).
• Frontline Rebel is a functional reprint of Bloodrock Cyclops (except for creature type).
• Precise Strike is a functional reprint of Kindled Fury.
• Prizefighter Construct is a functional reprint of Glass Golem (except for creature type).

Notable cards

• Mechanized Production is an alternate-win card.
• Gonti's Aether Heart is a unique extra turn spell on a permanent.
• Exquisite Archangel can prevent its controller from losing the game, similar to other angels like Platinum Angel.
• Fatal Push is a powerful removal that saw tournament play - notably for Modern, which filled the strange gap in which Black had the weakest removal in the format compared to Lightning Bolt and Path to Exile. With fetchlands making Revolt fairly trivial, the ability to remove almost all the powerful two-drop creatures at a mana profit revived Black as a color.
• Indomitable Creativity is a powerful variant of Polymorph style effects that can target artifacts, transmute multiple permanents, and be played at instant speed. This unique power led to it being the key piece in eponymous combo decks in Modern that decks played almost no creatures other than a few instances of the best in the format, like Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, and could use spells like Prismari Command and the land Dwarven Mine to create tokens to transmute. Once Archon of Cruelty was printed, the format began dominating Modern and winning many tournaments. Variants have appeared in formats like Pioneer and Historic that play creatures like Torrential Gearhulk and Velomachus Lorehold.
• Heroic Intervention is a powerful protection spell for decks built around powerful permanents and wide boards of creatures. It sees competitive play in Pioneer and Explorer and is also a heavily played card in the casual Commander format.
• Whir of Invention is an artifact tutor with improvise. It has strong similarities to Chord of Calling in terms of both design and strength and is a key component in Modern decks built around Urza, Lord High Artificer colloquially called "Whirza" decks.
• Disallow was a counterspell of choice for Standard control decks thanks to its flexibility in targeting activated and triggered abilities.
• Hope of Ghirapur has a unique effect similar to Silence and has seen play in Pioneer, particularly in decks built around Ensoul Artifact which can turn the Hope into a 4/4.
• Kari Zev's Expertise is a Threaten style card that saw play in Red Deck Wins in both Standard and Pioneer. In addition to being able to steal many of the dominant Vehicles in those formats like Smugglers' Copter, it also provides significant tempo compared to other Threaten effects.
• Spire of Industry is a powerful multicolored land for artifact decks in Modern, Legacy, and Vintage.
• Scrap Trawler became part of an infamously complicated and powerful combo in Modern alongside Krark-Clan Ironworks and Myr Retriever to near infinitely loop low mana value artifacts and eventually generate enough mana to win the game by looping Pyrite Spellbomb Because the combo was so powerful but also so complicated as to be difficult to understand and take substantial amount of time and clicks to execute, the Ironworks was banned in Modern in 2019.
• Winding Constrictor is a key card in the eponymous deck in Standard and Explorer, Golgari Constrictor, which is built out of ways to use its counter-increasing effect. The deck also makes use of Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, a powerful card advantage engine that gets even better with the Constrictor, as well as Aethersphere Harvester, an aggressive creature that can also stabilize its controller against aggro starts.
• Gifted Aetherborn was one of the best two-drop black creatures for midrange decks in Standard and Pioneer.
• Implement of Combustion sees play in Pauper Burn decks built around artifact synergies. These decks can sacrifice the Implement to effects like Kuldotha Rebirth and use it to enable Galvanic Blast.
• Sram, Senior Edificer is a card advantage engine for Aura-based aggro decks in Pioneer.
• Kari Zev, Skyship Raider is a Red Deck Wins staple for decks in Standard and Pioneer, and her monkey token partner inspired the infamous Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer from Modern Horizons 2.
• Renegade Rallier has seen play in a variety of decks like midrange and creature toolbox decks in Modern and Fires of Invention decks in Pioneer.

Banned and Restricted cards

• Felidar Guardian, as part of the Saheeli Rai combo, received the dubious honor of being the first card in 18 years (since Memory Jar in Urza's Legacy) to be emergency banned, after the release of Amonkhet. Unlike Memory Jar being banned shortly after release, Felidar Guardian received a ban at the end of the week of the regularly scheduled ban window, suggesting a level of public outcry influenced the policy.
• Rogue Refiner was one of the two chosen Energy sources (the other being Attune with Aether) to be banned to weaken the Temur Energy deck after the release of Ixalan, as its midrange shell was stronger than anything else in the format. Being a cantrip, a curve-relevant body, and coming with two energy meant it often converted into two or more cards easily.
• Paradox Engine is a powerful combo piece and value engine that can easily win the game in a deck built around artifacts that tap for mana and other effects. It has seen some competitive play in formats like Modern and Legacy but is most notable for being banned in the casual Commander format in 2019, mostly because it combos so easily with cards like mana rocks and mana dorks that were already played in nearly every deck in the format.
• Walking Ballista was considered a fair midrange card that doubled as a clean infinite-mana win condition, and hence a powerful pivot plan for many decks. It was banned from Pioneer in August 2020 as part of a combo deck cleanup, as it already had a combo with Heliod, Sun-Crowned, forcing ramp and infinite mana decks to work harder to win. Similar concerns likely contributed to it being removed from Kaladesh Remastered, effectively making it also banned from Historic. In addition to its success in Pioneer, it was a staple in aggro decks in Standard and has made a massive impact in Modern, Legacy, and Vintage thanks to artifact synergies and the Heliod combo.
• When the Brawl format was created in 2018, Baral, Chief of Compliance immediately began dominating tournaments on Magic Online with the ability to make every counterspell powerful. After winning six out of the top eight slots in the first two Brawl Challenges, Baral was quickly banned from the format.

Trivia

• Frontline Rebel's flavor text is an oft-misquoted or modified line (using "will you" rather than "who will") from the song "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from the musical "Les Miserables", a notable anthem of the revolution.
• Chandra's Revolution and Pia's Revolution, although unconnected mechanically, share a single art piece by Clint Cearley and have a matching name and flavor text.
• Dark Intimations forshadows a Nicol Bolas planeswalker card in the Amonkhet block.
• Trophy Mage is the second card to reference Trinket Mage, with the second being Treasure Mage.

Preconstructed decks

Aether Revolt has two planeswalker decks:

Planeswalker deck name	Colors Included					Planeswalker
Ajani	W				G	Ajani, Valiant Protector
Tezzeret		U	B			Tezzeret, Master of Metal