MTG’s Modern Horizons 3 set has done a lot of work to modernize and refresh the Energy mechanic first used in the Kaladesh block. It’s only fitting then that Kaladesh’s Aether Revolt should be memorialized on a card of the same name, which is an intriguing combination of Energy payoff and burn damage.
Each Horizons set so far has featured one card that takes its name directly from one of MTG’s past sets, with Modern Horizons printing Mirrodin Beseiged and Modern Horizons 2 calling back to Urza’s Saga. Aether Revolt is the latest card in that legacy.
A wide array of Modern Horizons 3 cards that make use of Energy counters come with both a payoff for spending the counters and a way to generate them. Aether Revolt, on the other hand, has no inherent way of gaining energy, instead providing an additional effect to its controller whenever it gains one or more Energy counters.
The card provides a boost to other burn spells and an additional source of burn damage when Energy counters are gained. When a permanent you control has left the battlefield this turn, all of your noncombat damage is increased by two.
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For its second effect, whenever Aether Revolt’s controller gets one or more Energy counters, they may deal damage equal to the number of counters gained to any target.
MTG players have quickly brainstormed ways of putting Aether Revolt to work. As explained by Reddit user TCGeneral: “So if you fetchland, any source of Energy gain also becomes Lightning Bolt or better for the turn.”
Red decks’ burn damage has seen a substantial boost in formats like Modern and Commander recently thanks to cards like The Lost Caverns of Ixalan’s Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might. Aether Revolt continues that trend and is sure to see play in burn strategies even without any Energy component.
