As often happens in design, two teams trying to solve a similar problem with the same tools come up with solutions that look a lot alike. Interestingly, I don't think the development team was aware that this cycle previously existed.

The cycle ended up having to be removed when we added fabricate to Kaladesh, as we wanted the mechanic to be the major focus of artifact creature production. Wanting to find a flavorful way to make artifact creature tokens, we also tied it to the energy mechanic. This design was made in development, but it paralleled a cycle we had originally made in Kaladesh. That meant that Aether Revolt would have to find a flavorful way to create its own artifact creature tokens. One of the ways Kaladesh made its 'artifacts matter' theme work was creating a lot of artifact creature tokens. Aether Revolt has a strong 'artifacts matter' theme, especially with the mechanic improvise, which requires a threshold of artifacts to be efficient. Once the decision was made to not use Fabricate in Aether Revolt, there was a problem. This matters not just for Limited where you won't always have Vehicles to play, but also in Constructed games where your Vehicles stubbornly won't show up.Īether Inspector / Swooper / Poisoner / Chaser / Herder

If you don't happen to have a Vehicle, the Modifications can just be used like a normal Aura on a creature. Note that the cards say 'Enchant creature or Vehicle' because we wanted to make the cards as flexible as possible. We had actually talked about this in Kaladesh design, but decided it was better left as a tweak for the second set than something to offer up right away. Instead of crewing a Vehicle, you can enchant it with a Modification, which will both turn it into a creature full-time (as long as it stays enchanted) and also give it a boost of some kind. These two cards offer up a new way to turn on your Vehicles: enchanting them. In Kaladesh, red and white were the two colors most tied to Vehicles. As is often the case with cycles, we use a naming convention (in this case the word 'Automaton') to help draw players' attention to the connection.Īerial Modification and Siege Modification Note that each card in the cycle costs three mana or less to help fill out low-end creature curves. White, for example, lets you bounce your own creatures to help enable revolt, while green adds +1/+1 counters to help its own +1/+1 counter–boosting theme.

Note that the effects chosen for each creature tie into the themes of that color. Cycles like this are important for helping Limited work while also helping guide players when building a casual artifact deck. This cycle is designed so that each card is more attractive to players in that color, but still useable in a pinch if you need extra artifacts in your deck. In Limited, where you only get so many noncreature slots, artifact creatures do a good job of helping you increase your artifact count. First, Aether Revolt has a slightly stronger 'artifacts matter' theme than Kaladesh, and as such there are more reasons for wanting to get more artifacts into your deck. Each is an artifact creature able to be cast with generic mana that has an activated ability which requires colored mana and does an effect within that color's part of the color pie. This is an artifact creature cycle in Aether Revolt. There are a lot of stories to tell, so let's dive in. Aether Revolt previews are over, which means it's time to start telling some card-by-card design stories.

Creatures of aether codes