Powered/High artifact density cube only. Probably too narrow given how thick the competition is at 6 cmc+.
BUT, this card strikes me as very very powerful in the right shell. In the right deck 4 artifacts aren't hard to assemble,
and a 5/6 hexproof flier that can draw multiple cards per turn is absurdly powerful for 6 mana.
Thought it was worth creating a thread for. If decent cheap artifacts (food?) are a thing, I'd be surprised if this wasn't a reason to play an artifact deck in standard.
Like (I believe) most people, I currently run Consecrated Sphinx, AEtherling, and Torrential Gearhulk. But, I've had a huge number of changes in the works, and I've been convincing myself to depart from kinda generic good cards for those which reward building your deck around a particular theme.
I'm considering bumping out AEtherling for this. I have some fond memories of playing it, it's good, but think the Dragon is just more interesting. I don't think my control decks really need the nigh invulnerability of AEtherling, anyhow; I'd rather give more signals about artifact decks, and it also might make me re-examine some older cards that are theme-adjacent (clue tokens spring to mind, treasure tokens too).
Four artifacts is a lot, even for a dedicated artifact deck. Assuming you're casting this right when you hit 6-mana by ramping, you'll probably only have 2 artifacts.
AEtherling >>> Shimmer Dragon. Being able to draw cards with Shimmer Dragon is cute, but AEtherling literally ignores all interaction, plus is super easy set-up into Upheaval.
Four artifacts is a lot, even for a dedicated artifact deck. Assuming you're casting this right when you hit 6-mana by ramping, you'll probably only have 2 artifacts.
AEtherling >>> Shimmer Dragon. Being able to draw cards with Shimmer Dragon is cute, but AEtherling literally ignores all interaction, plus is super easy set-up into Upheaval.
I think 2 artifacts is really the sweet spot, as long as you can tap them. If this card eats removal but you get to draw, that's probably ok, and once you do hit 4 you're going ham.
I don't think I'm playing this over sphinx or gearhulk, but if my list was a little bigger I'd look at testing this since I support the artifact deck. I also would be a lot more interested if we hadn't just gotten Urza, who I think is a better payoff card anyway so I'm not as desperate for them as I was a few months ago when I was still running Tezz 1.0.
Edit - I should say, I became unimpressed with Aetherling a few years ago, cut it and never looked back. I don't think it's a super important card for any of the U decks anymore.
Powered/High artifact density cube only. Probably too narrow given how thick the competition is at 6 cmc+.
BUT, this card strikes me as very very powerful in the right shell. In the right deck 4 artifacts aren't hard to assemble,
and a 5/6 hexproof flier that can draw multiple cards per turn is absurdly powerful for 6 mana.
Thought it was worth creating a thread for. If decent cheap artifacts (food?) are a thing, I'd be surprised if this wasn't a reason to play an artifact deck in standard.
Last Updated 02/07/24
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I'm considering bumping out AEtherling for this. I have some fond memories of playing it, it's good, but think the Dragon is just more interesting. I don't think my control decks really need the nigh invulnerability of AEtherling, anyhow; I'd rather give more signals about artifact decks, and it also might make me re-examine some older cards that are theme-adjacent (clue tokens spring to mind, treasure tokens too).
AEtherling >>> Shimmer Dragon. Being able to draw cards with Shimmer Dragon is cute, but AEtherling literally ignores all interaction, plus is super easy set-up into Upheaval.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
I think 2 artifacts is really the sweet spot, as long as you can tap them. If this card eats removal but you get to draw, that's probably ok, and once you do hit 4 you're going ham.
I don't think I'm playing this over sphinx or gearhulk, but if my list was a little bigger I'd look at testing this since I support the artifact deck. I also would be a lot more interested if we hadn't just gotten Urza, who I think is a better payoff card anyway so I'm not as desperate for them as I was a few months ago when I was still running Tezz 1.0.
Edit - I should say, I became unimpressed with Aetherling a few years ago, cut it and never looked back. I don't think it's a super important card for any of the U decks anymore.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588