Aether Revolt - Black

Today, we'll be taking a look at all the Black cards from Aether Revolt.

Aether Poisoner

One of the cheaper creature with this energy related effect, Aether Poisoner will do very good at hold the board in the early turns due to its Deathtouch ability. It will sit nicely in your deck in limited as its splashable and effective, useless in constructed though.

Alley Strangler

Three mana 2/3 creature with menace. Pretty simple really, comes down early and it will get some damage in. When your opponent can finally find two creatures to block Alley Strangle, it will happily sit back and soak up some attacks with its 3 toughness.


Cruel Finality

A much more limited removal spell in Cruel Finality. Sometimes it will get rid of a creature, sometimes it will weaken it as a combat trick. The Scry 1 is a nice addition but even if it didn't have it you would still play this in limited all day long.

Daring Demolition


This may be the third best removal spell in Aether Revolt. The four mana might seem like a lot, and the fact that its a sorcery might turn you off as well, but Daring Demolition can deal with any creature or any vehicle which is very powerful. Always in limited, probably not in constructed.

 Defiant Salvager

Defiant Salvager, as a 2/2 for three mana is alright. The fact that's its ability not only grows its power and toughness permanently but also turns on Revolt, unfortunately only at sorcery speed though so no Revolt combat tricks in your opponents turn. The choice of sacrificing a creature or an artifact could be very useful in limited as you don't have to sacrifice the majority of your attacking power to make this guy massive, however the sorcery speed clause will probably keep Defiant Salvager out of constructed.

Fatal Push

We've looked at the number one and number three removal spell in Aether Revolt, now its time to look at the second best. There is an argument for Fatal Push being the best removal spell in the set but its more conditional than Battle at the Bridge. A one mana removal spell is very powerful in limited and constructed, as it is it already deals with creatures like Grim Flayer and an early Servant of the Conduit. If you can trigger the Revolt ability this one mana instant spell can deal with Mindwrack Demon and Thalia, Heretic Cathar. If you're playing black and not playing this, you probably should be.

Fen Hauler

Pretty straight forward here. A big swingy creature that has small evasion for seven mana with Improvise. If you can power this out earlier than turn seven it will do work holding down the board for a while until it can swing through for a whopping 25% of your opponents starting life total. Nothing for constructed though.

Foundry Hornet


Foundry Hornet is a great card for messing up combat math. Yeah you could drop it early to have a 2/3 flyer, but if you can wait off on this a bit and build up some creatures with +1/+1 counters, Foundry Hornet can cripple your opponents defenses immensely. As good as it may look its confined to limited as the effect isn't as impactful in constructed.

Fourth Bridge Prowler

Another straight forward creature that we've seen many times before. Playing black in limited means you will always play this as it can just be a 1/1 for one on turn one, or be an early removal spell on a small opposing creature.

Gifted Aetherborn

Remember Vampire Nighthawk? Well Gifted Aetherborn is Nighthawk without flying and it comes down a turn earlier. Always powerful in limited, I can also see this making its way into constructed in a mid-range deck as a way to stave off any creatures will gaining you a little bit of life each time.

Glint-Sleeve Siphoner

Another creature I could see making its way into a mid-range deck in constructed. Its going to net you one Energy at least and with its menace ability could easily net you that second Energy which, provided Siphoner lives until your next turn, allows you to get that extra card. Multiple Glint-Sleeve Siphoner's could churn out a lot of value but in exchange for some life so go careful.

Gonti's Machinations

Gonti's Machinations may look weird and wonderful, but I'm here to say its terrible for limited and standard constructed. In Commander however is where this card lives, the give away is the "Each Opponent" in the effect of paying two Energy. For the low price of two Energy you could gain a lot of life from this one mana enchantment depending on the amount of players in your commander game, but that's as far as it goes at the moment. Don't play this in limited unless you really have no more cards to chose from. Constructed has no need for this either.

Herald of Anguish

The big splashy demon creature of Aether Revolt, Herald of Anguish could very well win you the game once it hits the battlefield, especially if you can cast it earlier than turn seven with the Improvise mechanic. In addition to that, for two mana it can start taking creatures apart, providing you have the odd artifact lying around, oh and it slowly takes your opponents hand apart for as long as its in play. This is all in limited however as Herald of Anguish doesn't have any immediate impact on the game and could end up just being too slow.

Ironclad Revolutionary

Another limited all-star, Ironclad Revolutionary will do all sorts of work and gain all sort of value for you. Yes its six mana, but for a 6/6 that shoots your opponent for two damage for the low cost of sacrificing one artifact is very good. Like I said, a little steep but you will play this even as a 4/4 for six.

Midnight Entourage

This is a build around me card. A card that gives you a solid theme, in this case the creature type Aetherborn, and lets you go as far as you want with it. Not only is this an Aetherborn lord, it gives you added benefit when it or another Aetherborn dies. Aside from all of that, its a solid 3/3 creature for four mana, but this could be an innocuous creature that could have a good showing in an Aetherborn aggro deck in constructed, and could sometimes give that added something for your Aetherborn creatures in limited.

Night Market Aeronaut

A pretty run of the mill creature to show off a new mechanic. Night Market Aeronaut is always the type of creature you would like to see in a four drop slot in limited. It could just be a 2/2 flyer for four mana which is fine, but that extra power and toughness can make a big difference.

Perilous Predicament

Edict effects, or sacrifice effects, are common throughout most sets and usually costing one or two mana. Perilous Predicament goes a little bit further by creating two edict effects on one card. Best case scenario this will hit an artifact creature and a non-artifact creature, but more realistically it will act as a five mana instant removal spell for one non-artifact creature, and one that you don't even get to choose. Great for limited but way to costly for constructed.

Renegade's Getaway

A nice little effect here. Renegade's Getaway makes for a great combat trick that gives you an extra creature. There isn't much more to say about it, you will always play it in limited and never in constructed.

Resourceful Return

Everyone likes a Gravedigger ability, usually because its attached to a 2/2 creature. Resourceful Return is'nt on a body but it is cheaper and comes with an added card if you control an artifact, which in Aether Revolt will probably happen quite often. This will play in limited but, depending on the kind of decks in the standard meta-game, Resourceful Return could make its way into constructed.

Secret Salvage

This card confuses me. On the one hand it looks like a do nothing card, a five mana draw three essentially. But on the other hand, this could be a great combo card in modern, allowing you to exile one of your "ritual" spells, spells that give you extra mana as the effect, to find the other three giving you extra spells and mana for whatever combo you have in mind. The only problem with that plann is Secret Salvage's mana cost, five mana for three of the same card, even if those cards can progress what combo you have going may not be that effective, just because it has the same mana cost as Ad-Nauseum doesn't make it as good.

Sly Requisitioner

Five mana 2/2 does'nt look to appealing even with Improvise, but being able to create an army of 1/1 artifact creatures could turn out to be quite powerful in limited, multiples will become hard to answer if you can consistently put non-token artifacts into the graveyard to convert any one into two 1/1 artifact creatures or more. No impact on constructed though.

Vengeful Rebel

Its almost Nekrataal just with a little trimmed off in places. First you have to trigger the Revolt, and second it wont always destroy the creature. More often than not in limited it will though as the toughness average feels around three-four, and have this on turn three with Revolt could put you ahead. Even without Revolt, this is still a 3/2 creature for three which is nothing to laugh at.

Yahenni, Undying Partisan

A limited bomb and a constructed all-star, Yahenni is an incredibly powerful creature. It seems to do everything an aggro player could ask for, haste, it gets bigger with use of removal and protects itself. Its also very splashable  because of its single black mana, meaning it can fit into your limited decks quite easily and constructed even easier. Keep an eye on this because I think it will be in constructed for a while to come.

And that concludes our look at all the Black cards from Aether Revolt, next up is the Red cards but until then, keep checking back to Game Changers for more news and updates.