Eleven days.

That's all the time the qualifying players for the Pro Tour in Chicago get to master Aetherdrift Draft. It's the days separating the set's release on MTG Arena from when competitors will be sitting down in Chicago, opening packs and drafting a deck that could be the first step toward a Top 8 finish or better.

And for me, I'm in a similar position. I'll be in the booth with Paul Cheon covering the games that same Friday morning, and I'm scrambling alongside the competitors to get my head around this format as quickly and thoroughly as I can.

What that really means is that assumptions must be made, heuristics must be leaned on, and time is of the essence. So, today, you get to join me as I work through the initial stages of format analysis and try to come to some reasonable conclusions about the format ahead of the big event.

Signpost Uncommons

The good news is that Aetherdrift is a traditional two-color set, sitting in the comfort zone of most players. Each color pair has a broad strategy associated with it, with some cards spanning archetypes, while other archetypes focus on a specific color pair. Here's a short guide to the archetypes:

The designers were nice enough to give us not one but two multicolor signpost uncommons per color pair. For those uninitiated, signpost uncommons are cards like these:

Gastal Thrillseeker Thundering Broodwagon 690664

If you read Gastal Thrillseeker and use it as a hint to what black-red is doing in the set, you'll get the impression it's focused on start your engines! While that's not guaranteed, it's a safe bet to assume black-red decks should prioritize start your engines! and getting to max speed.

Thundering Broodwagon is a little more subtle. The fact it has a cheap cycling cost implies it's part of a graveyard-matters subtheme, since cycling lets you easily get it into the graveyard. More on that later.

Voyage Home is the most direct, caring about artifacts, drawing cards, and long-term value.

These signpost uncommons give you a reasonable starting point for each archetype, but they're only the beginning of a player's journey to understanding the set.

At the Starting Line

When analyzing a set, you need a starting point. It shouldn't be a fixed point, as your assumptions will change once you start drafting the set, but starting from a clean slate will set you behind.

That said, the default position as far as speed of the format these days would be "very fast." Recent sets are more low-to-the-ground and focused on the early game. That means you should pay attention to one- and two-mana creatures, aggressive color pairs, and cheap removal.

Another reason to start with the aggressive decks is that they are more straightforward to draft than more synergy-based decks. You have to pick your priorities when you're on a timeline, and the more subtle decks are hard to crack in this short window.

The most obvious place to start for the aggressive decks is red-white. Let's take a look at the signpost uncommons for that color pair.

Cloudspire Coordinator Cloudspire Skycycle

Cloudspire Coordinator and Cloudspire Skycycle don't leave much to the imagination. The Coordinator wants you to play a heavy Mount- and Vehicle-based strategy, and the Skycycle is a Vehicle that bolsters your board the turn it comes down while sticking around as a reasonable threat afterward.

I would focus on Mounts, as they are just creatures with an extra ability, and aggressive decks want creatures anyway. Vehicles are a little trickier to work with as they require creatures to crew them, so it's wise to be picky about which Vehicles make it into the deck.

So, what are the common Mounts in these colors?

Brightfield Glider Brightfield Mustang Gilded Ghoda

Interesting. These common Mounts don't look very strong. This doesn't mean that the archetype won't work, but it is a knock on the Mount and Vehicle strategy, as cheap Mounts would be the easiest way to enable it.

Still, there are some strong aggressive cards at the lower mana costs that aren't Mounts.

Dynamite Diver Burner Rocket Endrider Catalyzer Lightning Strike Collision Course Leonin Surveyor

Lightning Strike is usually one of the best commons in any set it's in, and one of the most efficient removal spells you'll see. Collision Course is well suited to both aggressive decks and formats where there are a lot of artifacts around.

Overall, I'm not that impressed by red-white and, based on this analysis, would lean toward this set being slower than originally assumed.

A Sample Size of Two

Since I started writing this article, I have been able to do two drafts on MTG Arena, and I'm going to use that experience to make a bold (and probably reckless) assumption about the archetype that I drafted both times.

This is shaky territory, as making broad assumptions based on only two drafts isn't advisable. But I was really impressed by what I saw, so I'm going to take a shot and analyze the archetype I drafted. The short version: it's amazing.

If I were on a testing team for the Pro Tour, I would put this forth as possibly the most powerful archetype.

But since I'm not, and I'm writing an article about being excited for the new set, I'm just going to declare this as a great archetype and let the chips fall where they may.

Black-Green Reanimator

Ok, that's enough preamble. The deck I drafted twice was Black-Green Reanimator, and it was awesome. I have to say, I'm a bit surprised. Black-green has had a hard time finding its footing in the last few sets, but it felt awesome here.

Reanimation strategies rely on three key pieces:

• Reanimation spells
• Reanimation targets
• Ways to get the targets in the graveyard

In Aetherdrift, there are two uncommon reanimation spells, and both are quite strong.

Broodheart Engine Back on Track

Broodheart Engine is sweet. Surveilling every turn adds up quickly as you can fill up your graveyard with creatures or filter away unwanted draws. But the ability to get back a creature or Vehicle for only four mana means you can get some efficient reanimation effects pretty consistently.

Back on Track has a little bonus that makes a big difference in practice: it comes with a 1/1 Pilot token. The extra body is crucial as it enables extra blocks on a turn when you may find yourself a bit behind on board.

Getting creatures (or Vehicles) into your graveyard is also easy in this set, with some of them putting themselves there on their own. Normally, you'd need to find profitable ways to discard your cards, but here, it's more about self-mill, surveil, and cycling.

Carrion Cruiser Dredger's Insight Pothole Mole Molt Tender Ooze Patrol Wreckage Wickerfolk

You can see that self-mill is the primary means of dumping creatures into the graveyard, and it works well! Pothole Mole is such a powerful common enabler for a deck like this, as it mills three cards, gets you a land most of the time, and is a solid blocker. It fits this archetype perfectly.

Ooze Patrol also plays better than it looks because it's both a payoff and an enabler. The one weakness with it is that it's a 2/2 while the mill trigger is on the stack, so it's vulnerable to cheap instant-speed removal, like Scrap Compactor or Road Rage, during that window. Still, it's often just huge as a 6/6 or 7/7 with very little setup.

As for juicy targets that you'll be reanimating, there are some special ones in this set. The important part is that some of them have cycling, so they put themselves in the graveyard and give you a card back for your trouble.

Thundering Broodwagon Migrating Ketradon Shefet Archfiend

All of these cards have cycling, are uncommons, and are very worthy of reanimating. Imagine getting any of these back on turn four. With Broodheart Engine on turn two, cycling one of these on turn three, and activating the Engine on turn four, that's a very feasible dream. It's incredible to be able to pull off something this powerful in Limited.

And all of this is merely the foundation of the archetype. I only cited commons and uncommons here. Imagine what you could do if you brought back some of the super-sweet rares or mythic rares in the set.

Agonasaur Rex Aatchik, Emerald Radian Afterburner Expert Cursecloth Wrappings Demonic Junker

Just a Taste

This was a quick look at what the initial stages of breaking down a new Limited format might look like, but the reality is that it's an extensive process that involves a lot of drafting, playing, communication, and theory crafting.

I've called my shot with this archetype, but we'll see what really rises to the top by the time the players sit down for the Pro Tour! Maybe it will even be this crazy reanimator deck?

Coverage begins at 12 p.m. EST on Friday, February 21, with Aetherdrift Draft in the morning and Standard Constructed later in the day. You can follow along at home on twitch.tv/magic or the official Magic: The Gathering YouTube channel. Check the viewer's guide for all the details. See you on the stream, or in Chicago, for Pro Tour Aetherdrift!

@Marshall_LR