Jan 15, 2025 — Aetherdrift, In-Store Play, Events
Buckle up for a death race across the multiverse—get prepped for the high-octane action by reviewing incoming promotional materials and upcoming events.
Jan 15, 2025 — Aetherdrift, In-Store Play, Events
Buckle up for a death race across the multiverse—get prepped for the high-octane action by reviewing incoming promotional materials and upcoming events.
Are your players feeling the need for speed? Buckle up for the high-octane, action-packed death race across the multiverse: Aetherdrift Prerelease is coming up on February 7. As you prepare your best checkered racing flags to kick off the event, take a moment to review what's coming in your promo kit. Plus, dive into events you'll want on your calendar to keep momentum going all season long.
*The player data collected by registering players who receive Welcome Decks as participants in a Magic Academy: Learn to Play event is used to help indicate how useful Welcome Decks are and will support future production.
**Commander Party play aids and faction cards are sent in English. Local-language versions of these materials for your event will be added to the marketing materials page at a later date.
For Magic Academy events, please continue to use the Darksteel Colossus promos you received in your Foundations promotional material kit, as gift-with-purchase of starter products including the Foundations Beginner Box, Starter Collection, or 6 Foundations Play Boosters, as well as for participation in the Magic Academy: Deck Building event.
Hit the gas right at Prerelease with the Prerelease Early Sales period for WPN stores, where you continue to get every product right into players' hands starting at Prerelease in any quantity, from singles to full display boxes.
Encourage players to go for gold and pick up Play Booster displays, Collector Booster displays, or the Finish Line Bundle to get their hands on 2-card First-Place Box Toppers. The First-Place Box Topper contains one rare or mythic rare card in a new gold foil treatment and one full-art Basic Land.
First-Place Box Toppers are only available in Play Booster displays, Collector Booster displays, and the Finish Line Bundle.
For players who pick up Play and Collector Booster displays at your store, be sure to give them a copy of the Buy-a-Box promo, Lifecraft Engine, while supplies last. Buy-a-Box promos cannot be included in shipped orders at any time.
Aetherdrift is all gas, no brakes, and Prerelease repeat play pins are joining the race at Prerelease! For players who participate in two or more Prerelease events at your store using their Wizards Account, you can reward them with a pin from Pinfinity AR, showcasing the one-of-a-kind Aetherspark.
Please keep in mind, this repeat play incentive is only for players who register for your event with a Wizards Account. Setting up an account takes minutes—so be sure to let your players know ahead of time so they can pre-register with their account in advance of the event.
With Aetherdrift, Magic Academy becomes part of our evergreen event lineup—this means the scheduling template in Wizards EventLink will not have seasonal nomenclature attached, and that Magic Academy will be available to run for future Magic sets for the foreseeable future.
New players and Magic tutors alike are welcome at Magic Academy events all season long. Be sure to review our previous overview article for all the details, and don't miss your opportunity to review the videos we've made that kick off the start of each event.
For the Aetherdrift play season, you'll continue using the Darksteel Colossus promo as a gift-with-purchase for any Starter product or 6 Play Boosters across either event. English-language stores will be sent additional Welcome Decks to support their events.
Grow and maintain a weekly Standard presence at your store with Standard Showdown, where each week, players test their mettle with Standard constructed decks, and the winner walks away with a special promo card. For Aetherdrift, the weekly winner promo is the Cowboy Bebop collaboration version of Lightning Strike, the fourth of five Cowboy Bebop collaboration promos provided for this program.
Standard Showdown encourages competitive play but does not feed into competitive play events like the Pro Tour.
As players explore everything Aetherdrift has to offer, invite them to bring their souped-up Standard decks to your Store Championship events!
Store Championship events are a great way to get players excited about the new cards a set brings to the Standard format. To allow your community to develop their decks and hone their skills, run additional Standard Showdown events, leading up to Store Championship as the grand finale.
Commander Party events invite players to gather and play Commander with special rules, designed to immerse them in the Aetherdrift story and settings. These events are great for newer players and Commander aficionados looking for a new way to experience the format.
For Aetherdrift, players will zoom around the racetrack, boosting their speed and triggering abilities that will help them leave their enemies in the dust.
Don't forget to schedule Commander Party events in both event windows, and encourage players to bring friends, or even try the event using the pre-constructed Commander Decks available at your store.
For participating players, hand out the promo Rishkar's Expertise while supplies last. The quantity of promos you receive is meant to cover both Commander Party event windows, so please plan accordingly.
For consistent weekly play of your community's favorite formats, your players can count on Friday Night Magic. Run as many of these events as you like in the format your community prefers. Use your promo packs to support your events and continue to grow your player base.
You'll be off to the races in no time with our new downloadable marketing materials. Once you've got what you need, check in on EventLink to make sure your calendar is stocked with Aetherdrift events and start advertising this race for the ages to your community.