The release of Aetherdrift is right around the corner, arriving on February 1st (you can preorder now!). Well, I should probably say it’s “just down the road,” because Aetherdrift’s setting is a multiplanar race. That means we should expect to see a whole lot of vehicles. In fact, as I’m writing this we’ve already seen a few.
In Magic’s more than three decades of history, the Vehicle subtype is a relatively new innovation, with them making their debut in 2016’s Kaladesh. As a result, there aren’t a massive number of vehicles out there. While there are only 122 of them, there are some that have had a big impact on Commander.
For example, Shorikai, Genesis Engine (the only full-time Vehicle that can be your Commander) is the 20th most popular Commander on EDHRec, and it’s also fairly heavily played in Azorius decks.
However, while everyone who plays Commander is well aware of the might of Shorikai, there are some Vehicles that are currently being overlooked in the format. And they’re all likely to get even better with the imminent release of Aetherdrift.
SMOLDERING STAGECOACH
Played in .02% of Red Decks on EDHRec
Smoldering Stagecoach is definitely a little bit clunky. Paying 4 mana for a conditional creature with variable power isn’t always where you want to be. However, the Stagecoach’s attack trigger should not be overlooked. It gives Cascade to your spells, meaning you can generate amazing value with them simply by casting them.
Because we so often see the words “instant or sorcery” on Magic cards, it’s easy to misread the Stagecoach. However, unlike most spell payoffs, this one says “instant spell and the next sorcery spell.” In other words, you can get the Cascade boost on two spells every time you attack with the Stagecoach.
It is true you need a nice mix of Instants and Sorceries to consistently get two spells to Cascade, but most spellslinger decks are certainly capable of doing that.
DODGY JALOPY
Played in .007% of Greek Decks on EDHRec
Your goal with Dodgy Jalopy generally shouldn’t be to get it into play and attack with it. I mean, it can do that – but that’s sort of the fail case. After all, as with dodgy vehicles in the real world, you get the most value out of it by turning it into parts.
What you really want to do is get it into your graveyard and then use its Scavenge to offer a huge buff to a creature. It’s a little bit of a win-more card perhaps, but effectively doubling the power of your biggest creature or offering the buff to one of your other creatures can really alter a game. Especially if you’re only planning on spending three mana to do it.
If you’re using an absolutely massive Commander, like Ghalta, Primal Hunger – this can win you the game with Commander damage quite easily. Turning that Dinosaur into a 24/24 for three mana is likely to eliminate at least one player.
However, I think the Jalopy is even more well-suited to a Commander deck that cares about both power and the graveyard. That way, you have lots of incentives for having high power creatures, while also having the ability to easily get the Jalopy into the graveyard for the big payoff. Coram, the Undertaker is probably the best fit for the Jalopy. It helps you mill your deck and loves high power.
GETAWAY CAR
Played in .004% of Decks on EDHRec
Getaway Car is another vehicle whose stat-line doesn’t exactly blow you away, even when it’s this easy to Crew. However, it has some very real utility.
Getaway Car lets you bounce one of the creatures that crewed it to your hand any time it attacks or blocks. It’s great that it triggers in both combat situations, because it means that your opponent has to worry about what creature you might bounce even when they attack.
Bouncing creatures isn’t always worth doing of course, but there are plenty of creatures with great “Enters” triggers that you’re very happy to bounce every single turn. If you’re using any Commander who is very into getting creature abilities to trigger a whole bunch – like Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines or Brago, King Eternal – Getaway Car can become a very real value engine.
LUXURIOUS LOCOMOTIVE
Played in .022% of Decks on EDHRec
As has been a recurring theme in this article, Luxurious Locomotive’s value doesn’t really come from how good it is at attacking or blocking. It’s kind of medium at the very best, but the ceiling on the Locomotive is still incredibly high.
This is because of its attack trigger, which generates a treasure for each creature that crewed it in a turn. It’s easy to look at this card and think that the most you can get in a turn is a single treasure. After all, it only has Crew 1 and it even says you can only activate it once per turn.
However, any time you are crewing a vehicle you’re free to tap any number of creatures you control with total power X or more, where X is the Crew cost. In other words, when you crew the locomotive, you can tap every single creature you have and attack with the Locomotive and get a treasure for every one of them.
If you’re playing any Commander who likes for there to be a ton of Treasure lying around, the Locomotive can thrive. Magda, Brazen Outlaw is probably the best fit for the Locomotive, because tapping her and the rest of your Dwarf army to crew the Locomotive will net you even more treasure. And then you can cash them in to tutor up the most powerful card in your deck and slam it on the battlefield.
DERMOTAXI
Played in .013% of Decks on EDHRec
Dermotaxi is a pretty weird vehicle. For one thing, it’s one of a handful of Vehicles in Magic that doesn’t have Crew. For another, it’s a freaking taxi that is covered in the skin of something dead!
The flavor here is on point too, because when the taxi enters it lets you exile a creature card from a graveyard. Then, you can tap two untapped creatures you control to have it become a copy of the exiled card.
Importantly, it can go after any graveyard, and in a multiplayer format like Commander you don’t even need to try all that hard for this to have a good target.
It can work particularly well in a deck that likes both Vehicles and the graveyard. The best Commander for Dermotaxi is probably Greasefang, Okiba Boss. While that deck mostly occupies itself by reanimating completely insane vehicles, it has to load to the graveyard to do it – making it far more likely you’ll have a good target in your own graveyard for the taxi.
END STEP
I hope I introduced you to some vehicles that you’ll consider next time you’re building your Commander deck. Aetherdrift should breathe new life into vehicle decks, so it’ll be interesting to see whether these pick up some steam.
Jacob has been playing Magic for the better part of 24 years, and he especially loves playing Magic’s Limited formats. He also holds a PhD in history from the University of Oklahoma. In 2015, he started his YouTube channel, “Nizzahon Magic,” where he combines his interests with many videos covering Magic’s competitive history. When he’s not playing Magic or making Magic content, he can be found teaching college-level history courses or caring for a menagerie of pets with his wife.