The 30 Most Expensive and Must-Have Cards in Aetherdrift

Last updated on September 3, 2025

March of the World Ooze | Illustration by Helge C. Balzer

Aetherdrift is almost here, and when you’re cracking open that DFT Prerelease kit, you want to know which cards will make your decks and your wallet sing! What are the priciest cards that you want to see in your packs, the chase-iest of chase cards, the blingiest of the bling?

Let’s take a look at everything in the main set and the Aetherdrift Commander precons to see what’s preordering for a big number, and if it’s likely to stay there!

For the list I’m mainly looking at the “base” versions of the card. For the cards that come in foil in the Commander set, I’m taking that as the base version as it will be more abundant. If you’re interested in the shinier things in life, wait until the end because that’s where we’ll be discussing those lovely alt-arts!

Note: The prices listed here reflect TCGplayer pre-sale prices and fluctuate significantly after the full set release.

#30. Brightglass Gearhulk – $10.14

Let’s start off with a card from the highlight cycle of the set, the Gearhulks. Brightglass Gearhulk certainly has the stats. A 4-mana 4/4 creature with first strike and trample is a good beater, and it tutors up not one, but two other pieces. The mana value is what holds it back, which will be the case for all of these, but at least one of these Gearhulks feels like it should be breakable. Might it be this one?

#29. March of the World Ooze – $10.30

Oozes have felt like they were almost supported for a few years now, and March of the World Ooze will fit that deck if it ever shows up. That said, it doesn’t do too much for oozes specifically, but making more oozes certainly helps. I expect this to drop significantly unless it sees play in Constructed, or even better, if that 5-color ooze commander is eventually printed!

#28. Oildeep Gearhulk – $10.32

I told you there’d be more Gearhulks. Oildeep Gearhulk is very evocative of Vendilion Clique, and that was played heavily when it was first around. On top of that, you get a big body that can bring you back from the brink, and it can also help you close out the game quickly. This Gearhulk isn’t a slam dunk, and it isn’t guaranteed to see play. It does have the potential to make it into decks, though, and that’ll keep it at a solid price.

#27. Nissa, Worldsoul Speaker – $10.36

Energy isn’t in the main Aetherdrift set, but Nissa, Worldsoul Speaker comes in the Living Energy precon and is a good energy generator and energy sink. It has the potential to see play in land-ramp decks without any other energy support, although there are probably better effects to cheat out permanents in green. If it’s almost good enough for that, it’ll be a slam dunk in a deck built around energy. We’ve seen three energy precons since Fallout’s Science! precon, so what’s the odds of seeing another soon?

#26. Salvation Engine – $10.45

Salvation Engine has all the right words on it, except one: haste. If this vehicle did something when it came in or could attack right away, I could see it doing something. As is, I don’t see why the price is as high as it is and I’d be shocked if this held above $5, never mind $10. Feel free to prove me wrong, though, maybe Tempered Steel on the front end is enough to justify the cost!

#25. Aetherflux Conduit – $10.59

Aetherflux Conduit is evocative of Aetherflux Reservoir, which is a very popular card in both storm decks and lifegain decks. It’s not as good as that card, though, because it relies on energy and can’t (easily) activate multiple times in a turn. It’s cool, and it’ll be played, but you probably just want Reservoir instead. Aetherflux Conduit is less interesting to me, and I can’t see it holding the price.

#24. The Scarab God – $10.99

The Scarab God is a card that always holds a good price. It’s never been below $7, and even if this printing breaks that all time low, I don’t see this Dimir card () dropping too much lower than that. It’ll also likely creep up over the next couple of years before another eventual reprint. If you’re looking to pick one up and missed out on the precon, grabbing a Scarab God a couple of weeks after release is likely a good idea.

#23. Gonti, Night Minister – $11.02

Gonti, Night Minister is another clear callback to a previous card, Gonti, Lord of Luxury. Old Gonti is incredibly popular, and it’s seen as a good leveler for power levels. You always match your opponents because you’re playing their deck. New Gonti is quite different, but it adds an element of chaos for all players. I don’t think it’ll hold a premium price, but it’ll probably be interesting in games.

#22. Unholy Grotto – $11.08

Unholy Grotto is a utility land from Onslaught that’s never had a substantial reprint in the past (relegated to Secret Lair and The List, which rarely affect prices much). Although this card has been up to $30 before, I can see the extra supply of this card dropping the price to at least $5. If it were printed in the main set, I’d say it could have gone down to bulk prices, at least for now. But the precons have a smaller print run, so I don’t expect this land to be completely worthless after this.

#21. Unstoppable Plan – $11.18

Unstoppable Plan has some danger around it. Wilderness Reclamation did something very similar, but for lands, not non-lands, so this new version needs a little more buildaround to really break. Putting mana rocks in your deck isn’t difficult, though, and that’s before we talk about things like Basalt Monolith.

Failing that, blue decks want to have untapped mana on their opponents’ turn, and this lets you do that. I expect this blue enchantment to see some play somewhere. It has a good chance to get silly, in which case it could even see the price go up rather than simply hold!

#20. Aetheric Amplifier – $11.41

Plan A of Aetheric Amplifier is clearly to double the energy counters you have. It can do more than that, and if you’re playing with counters in general it’s an appealing Manalith. A wide variety of decks could want this as a role-playing mana rock, even at 3 mana. It’s one for the casual tables, but that means that it'll still cost a few bucks to get your hands on one.

#19. The Speed Demon – $11.46

The Speed Demon has a lot of words on it, but a 5-mana creature that doesn’t do anything as it comes down needs a lot to cut it these days. I really can’t see this demon doing much in any format, so expect the price to plummet… rather like this flier will without protection.

#18. Mu Yanling, Wind Rider – $11.49

Mu Yanling, Wind Rider has a lot more going for it. This wizard still isn’t a slam dunk, but it only costs 4 mana, it creates a body as it enters, and it makes your board much more scary if you have other vehicles the turn it comes down. If a vehicle deck that touches blue comes about, this probably just goes in. It also fits a fliers theme and is a fun buildaround. Someone will want this card. It’s just a case of how many, and therefore how high a price it commands.

#17. Saheeli, Radiant Creator – $11.61

Saheeli, Radiant Creator is the face card for the Creative Energy precon, so this price is for the foil version that comes with the deck. It’s a fine enough card, but it’s hugely inflated in price for preorder season. I’d be surprised if this survives bulk status.

#16. Riptide Gearhulk – $11.62

Riptide Gearhulk is a difficult one to evaluate, but it has potential. Prowess and double strike are a pair of keywords that aren’t combined very often, but they work well together. Tucking something on ETB is incredibly strong, especially in the blink colors of blue and white, and doing it to each opponent is going to be at least passably good in EDH. There’s a chance this Gearhulk sees serious play in 60-card formats, and if it does it could stick around $10, or potentially even higher!

#15. Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied – $11.84

Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied is the first of the new suite of gods, and it has a really unique ability that “turns it on” half of the time, with another callback to an existing card, this time Bounty of the Luxa. It’s a Simic card () doing Simic things, though, and we’ve got plenty of those around already. Something particular about this mythic will need to come through for it to really hold any value.

#14. Monument to Endurance – $12.01

Self-discard is a bit of a theme in the set, and Monument to Endurance plays into that. Cards that turn downsides into upsides are interesting and powerful, and this one brings plenty of options with it. Imagine looting with this in play and drawing an extra card (or any of the other modes). You’re already happy discarding the card at that point, and getting upside is great. This artifact has potential to have a good amount of value, and it’s got a good chance of finding a home.

#13. Temmet, Naktamun's Will – $12.21

Temmet, Naktamun's Will is another precon foil, and therefore the price you see is the precon price. The whole of the Eternal Might precon is in demand, so it might hold a slightly higher price than other face cards. A 3-color lord for zombies is still rare enough, and it’ll allow you to buff your board pretty easily. The key here is that it isn’t limited to its own deck, so it could be worth a couple of bucks when the dust settles.

#12. Vnwxt, Verbose Host – $13.62

Players like drawing cards, so doubling up on your card draw is very appealing, especially on a 2-drop creature. The 0/4 body is solid, too, providing a bit of a roadblock in the early game. The final value on this card falls to how easy it’ll be to get max speed, but if it’s pretty easy to do that, this is going to be a good one.

#11. Oviya, Automech Artisan – $13.79

Oviya, Automech Artisan is a pretty stellar Elvish Piper. Subtly, it doesn’t just give your creatures trample, but this artificer grants trample to anything attacking an opponent other than you (including the rest of the players at the table). A single green mana to activate this ability is nothing, too, so this has the potential to go up if enough EDH players want to cheat stuff in…. It’s not like they don’t like doing that!

#10. Stridehangar Automaton – $13.92

Creating a 2/2 flier whenever you create an artifact token is pretty solid, and Stridehangar Automaton isn’t restricted to once per turn, either. Many decks can create artifact tokens multiple times a turn, and this construct is super easy to slot in. It gets silly quickly, and even if it’s taken out by targeted removal the Thopter tokens stick around as 1/1s. It doesn’t quite fit the precon, so I can see these being sold off by people upgrading that deck. It might have an initial dip and rise again later on as its supply dries up.

#9. Rot Hulk – $14.85

Rot Hulk is a reprint that many are going to be happy to see. It’s been worth a fair amount for some time now, and I’d be shocked if this reprint had much of a long-term effect on the price. As with other high demand reprints it’ll be a good time to grab one in a few weeks. But it’s not going to be bulk, especially not by slotting into the very popular Esper precon ().

#8. Academy Ruins – $15.37

Academy Ruins is another super solid reprint from the Commander decks. It’s had a handful of reprints in the past and held its price nicely. I don’t expect too much of a dip here, but without the reprint it’d have crept up over time.

#7. Webstrike Elite – $16.61

Webstrike Elite is a hell of a body for 2 mana, and it can double as a strange Disenchant in a pinch. It’s good for green decks that are low to the ground, even in a format with Llanowar Elves. It’ll probably see some play in Standard, especially if there’s a green shell to play it in.

#6. Loot, the Pathfinder – $19.75

Loot, the Pathfinder is a more playable version of Magic’s newest mascot. All the exhaust abilities seem powerful, and the ability to activate them on the turn Loot comes down is great, provided you have a spare mana. Vigilance is just gravy here, and Loot is a great tempo piece. It needs a shell, but I think it’ll find one in Standard, or create one! We might not play this beast a lot out of the gate, but over three years we will. You’ll want to pick up a copy or two if it drops in price.

#5. Hashaton, Scarab's Fist – $21.12

Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist can be found in foil in the Eternal Might precon, and it’s causing a bit of a stir. With talk of turn 1 combos, it could see cEDH play. Time will tell, but it’s certainly powerful, and something that you'll likely see at higher power tables. Hashaton will command a decent price.

#4. Ketramose, the New Dawn – $23.21

Ketramose, the New Dawn has people brewing in multiple formats, which is a good sign for value early. Exiling things from graveyards is something you just want to do in Magic, as it can often disrupt your opponents’ gameplan. On top of that, it has a feeling of Syr Konrad, the Grim, which is eternally popular in EDH. People also have their eyes on Ketramose for 60-card formats including Modern.

#3. Renewed Solidarity – $29.91

Renewed Solidarity is something of a Parallel Lives in a typal deck. It’s not that, of course, but token doublers are super popular, and this does more than just the doubling mode. It’ll never double tokens like Treasures or Clues, but these cards have proven popular and expensive in the past, and I’d be shocked if this one didn’t follow suit.

#2. Radiant Lotus – $36.40

Radiant Lotus has a lot of people excited. It can create so much mana, and it has the potential to be a problem in older formats. You probably want to cheat it out, but it’ll be problematic if you can find the right engine. It feels like it should fit into some existing shell, and if this lotus sees extensive play, it has a chance to end up more expensive than this already bloated price.

#1. The Aetherspark – $39.79

The Aetherspark is the set’s Headliner card, and people seem to be buying into the hype. It’s incredibly difficult to predict how good this equipment planeswalker is, but if Wizards has put their force behind it to make it a headliner, expect it to perform well. Adding 10 mana is no small matter, but even drawing two extra cards a turn is pretty good. I can’t see where it’ll see play yet, but I trust Wizards on this one. It might not end up the most expensive card in the set, but it’ll still be well out of bulk range. At least, the base version shouldn’t stay the most expensive card, but I expect the serialized version will be.

Promos, Alternate Art and More

The main alt-art you’re looking for is the Headliner card, The Aetherspark. It comes in a variety of printings, the biggest of which is the 500 double rainbow foil serialized versions. It will go for hundreds of dollars, potentially thousands if the card ends up being good, and it’s the one thing you really want to open in the set.

Outside of the Headliner, there are other things to be aware of. There are “First-Place Foils” which are a golden color, and I’ve been told they look better in real life! There are box toppers, too, so if you’re thinking of grabbing a booster box (which are now smaller and cheaper now, with 30 packs instead of 36), this is a great bonus to go on top of the rest!

Collector boosters can also feature Japanese Showcase cards. These are 10 cards that come in anime-esque art, and they can be found in traditional foil or fracture foil treatments. In the past, fracture foils have fetched a good premium, so it’s likely these are worth cheering about when they creep up in your pack.

Finally, there’s the Special Guest cards. As ever, these have a real mix of playability and therefore value, but the really good one in the set is Chrome Mox. It comes with incredible artwork, so it’ll likely be worth a decent chunk more than the roughly $100 the normal printings come in.

Victory Lap

Brightglass Gearhulk | Illustration by Jose Parodi

There’s clearly a lot to be looking out for in Aetherdrift packs, even once we have the inevitable price drop as we leave preorder season. I’m especially pleased to see the return of box toppers, and I love seeing them included as store prizes for Draft.

What are you looking forward to opening? Are you excited for any of the alt-arts and special treatments? Do you think The Aetherspark is going to make it into decks, and if so how high do you think it’ll get? Be sure to let me know all your thoughts in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, happy cracking!