Speed

Speed is a trait that players can have. It was introduced in Aetherdrift and is associated with the Start your engines! mechanic.

Description

The first time in a game you control a permanent with "Start your engines!" your speed becomes 1. This happens immediately, so no one can respond and try to remove the permanent before you pick up speed. Once your speed is 1 or greater, you can trigger an ability to increase your speed. That ability is "Whenever one or more opponents lose life during your turn, if your speed is less than 4, increase your speed by 1. This ability triggers only once each turn." This ability isn't tied to any permanent. For the rest of the game, it can be triggered as long as your speed is less than 4, no matter what permanents you control.

Four cards reference your current speed and reward you based on that number.

Max speed

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Max speed
Keyword Ability
Type	Static
Introduced	Aetherdrift
Last used	Aetherdrift
Reminder Text	Max speed (as long as you have max speed, meaning your speed is 4, the permanent has the stated ability)
Statistics	34 cards 17.6% 11.8% 17.6% 17.6% 2.9% 2.9% 5.9% 5.9% 8.8% 8.8%
Scryfall Search
keyword:"Max speed"

Once your speed is 4, you've achieved "max speed," and your speed can't go any higher. Most cards with "Start Your Engines!" have abilities that are active once you have max speed. These abilities are noted with "Max speed — [Ability]." That means that as long as you have max speed, meaning your speed is 4, the permanent has the stated ability.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (April 4, 2025—Tarkir: Dragonstorm)

Speed

Speed is a value that a player can have. See rule 702.179, “Start Your Engines!”

From the Comprehensive Rules (April 4, 2025—Tarkir: Dragonstorm)

• 702.178. Max Speed
  • 702.178a A max speed ability is a special kind of static ability. “Max speed — [Ability]” means “As long as your speed is 4, this object has ‘[Ability].’” See rule 702.179, “Start Your Engines!”
  • 702.178b If an ability granted by a max speed ability states which zones it functions from, the max speed ability that grants that ability functions from those zones. (See rule 113.6c.)

From the Comprehensive Rules (April 4, 2025—Tarkir: Dragonstorm)

• 704.5z If a player controls a permanent with start your engines! and that player has no speed, that player’s speed becomes 1. See rule 702.179, “Start Your Engines!”

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (April 4, 2025—Tarkir: Dragonstorm)

Max Speed

1. A player has max speed if their speed is 4. See rule 702.179, “Start Your Engines!”

2. A keyword ability that grants an ability to the permanent or card it’s on only if that permanent’s controller (or that card’s owner, if it isn’t on the battlefield) has a speed of 4. See rule 702.178, “Max Speed.”

Rulings

• Start your engines! isn't a triggered ability. Increasing your speed to 1 is something that happens as a state-based action as soon as you control a permanent with the ability.
  • This includes gaining control of a permanent with the ability that another player controls.
• Your speed doesn't change until a spell or ability says so, such as the inherent triggered ability that cares about opponents losing life during your turn.
• Losing control of permanents with start your engines! doesn't affect your speed.
• Each player tracks their speed (or lack thereof) separately. Increasing your speed has no effect on whether another player has speed.
• If an effect needs to know what a player's speed is and that player doesn't have a speed, their speed is considered 0.
• A player "has max speed" if their speed is 4.
• "Max speed — [ability]" means "As long as you have max speed, this object has [ability]."
  • If the granted ability functions in a zone other than the battlefield, the max speed ability does too.
  • If a card has a max speed activated ability, and you have max speed, the card will have that activated ability in every zone.
  • Cards that gain activated abilities, like Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, can gain that ability at max speed.

Cards that reduce speed

• Spikeshell Harrier (reduces an opponent's speed by 1 if that player has the highest speed)