Magic: The Gathering - Aether Revolt Spoilers 01/02

January 02, 2017 marks the first day of an abbreviated preview season for Magic: The Gathering's newest expansion set, Aether Revolt; usually Wizards of the Coast releases preview cards over the course of two weeks, but for this set they've chosen to use an accelerated schedule that puts information on all of the cards into the hands of players by January 06, 2017.

Today's first set of spoilers are from Wizards of the Coast's article on the mechanics of Aether Revolt; a total of seven cards were spoiled this way, the first four of which can be seen below.

• Decommission: Instant, casting cost of two generic and one white mana. Destroys target artifact or enchantment; additionally has new "Revolt" mechanic, which lets you gain three life if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn.
• Night Market Aeronaut: Creature (Aetherborn Warrior), casting cost of three generic and one black mana, 2/2. Has Flying and the new Revolt mechanic, which gives it a +1/+1 counter as it enters the battlefield if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn.
• Silkweaver Elite: Creature (Elf Archer), casting cost of two generic and one green mana, 2/2. Has Reach and the new Revolt mechanic, which lets you draw a card when Silkweaver Elite enters the battlefield if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn.
• Shipwreck Moray: Creature (Fish), casting cost of three generic and one blue mana, 0/5. When it enters the battlefield, you get four energy counters. By paying one energy counter, it gets +2/-2 until the end of turn.

The next three spoilers from this Wizards of the Coast article are as follows.

• Sweatworks Brawler: Creature (Human Artificer), casting cost of three generic and one red mana, 3/3. Has Menace and the new Improvise mechanic, which functions very similar to Convoke; after mana abilities have been activated, each of your artifacts that you tap pays for one generic mana in Sweatworks Brawler's casting cost.
• Foundry Assembler: Artifact Creature (Assembly Worker), casting cost of five generic mana, 3/3. Has Improvise, which allows you to tap artifacts that you control to help pay for Foundry Assembler's casting cost, each artifact paying for one generic mana.
• Consulate Dreadnought: Artifact (Vehicle), casting cost of one generic mana. It has Crew 6, requiring you to tap any number of creatures you control with total power of six or more to turn Consulate Dreadnought into an Artifact Creature until end of turn. When you do so, it becomes a 7/11 Artifact Creature.

Up next are three spoiler cards from two different Wizards of the Coast articles; the first and third are from a character feature article, and the other is from the first article on Aether Revolt's development and design.

• Sram, Senior Edificer: Legendary Creature (Dwarf Advisor), casting cost of one generic and one white mana, 2/2. Whenever you cast an Aura, Equipment, or Vehicle spell, draw a card.
• Whir of Invention: Instant, casting cost of X generic mana and three blue mana. Whir of Invention has the new Improvise mechanic, which allows you to tap your artifacts to help pay for the casting cost, each artifact paying for one generic mana. Search your library for an artifact card with converted mana cost of X or less, put it onto the battlefield, and then shuffle your library.
• Sram's Expertise: Sorcery, casting cost of two generic and two white mana. Create three 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature tokens; you may cast a card with converted mana cost of three or less from your hand without paying its mana cost.

The next batch of preview cards all come from Magic: The Gathering content creators, the various people, and groups who devote countless hours to creating videos, podcasts, and articles detailing various aspects of Magic: The Gathering. This includes Tolarian Community College, the Masters of Modern podcast group, and Chinese website bilibili.com.

• Gonti's Aether Heart: Legendary Artifact, casting cost of six generic mana. Whenever it or another artifact enters the battlefield under your control, you get two energy counters. By paying eight energy counters and exiling Gonti's Aether Heart, you get to take an extra turn after this one.
• Fatal Push: Instant, casting cost of one black mana. Fatal Push destroys target creature if it has converted mana cost of two or less. It also has the new Revolt mechanic, which lets you destroy target creature with converted mana cost of four or less if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn.
• Peacekeeper Colossus: Artifact (Vehicle), casting cost of three generic mana. For one generic and one white mana, another target Vehicle that you control turns into an Artifact Creature until the end of turn. Peacekeeper Colossus also has Crew 4, requiring you to tap any number of creatures you control with total power of four or more to turn Peacekeeper Colussus into an Artifact Creature until end of turn. When you do so, it becomes a 6/6 Artifact Creature. Credit for card translation goes to reddit user bbbbbbbbba and MTGSalvation user Yandere Sliver.

Another Magic: The Gathering content creator, TCGPlayer.com, and three Wizards of the Coast employees (Trick Jarrett, Jules Robins, and Blake Rasmussen), have revealed more Aether Revolt preview cards. The card Jarrett previewed is one of the final two Aether Revolt Inventions which were revealed on December 28, 2016, confirming the legitimacy of those cards.

• Greenwheel Liberator: Creature (Elf Warrior), casting cost of one generic and one green mana, 2/1. Greenwheel Liberator has the new Revolt mechanic, which gives it two +1/+1 counters when it enters the battlefield if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn.
• Planar Bridge: Legendary Artifact, casting cost of six generic mana. By paying eight generic mana and tapping Planar Bridge, you can search your library for a permanent card, put it onto the battlefield, and then shuffle your library.
• Greenbelt Rampager: Creature (Elephant), casting cost of one green mana, 3/4. When Greenbelt Rampager enters the battlefield, you must pay two energy counters; if you can't, Greenbelt Rampager is returned to your hand and you get one energy counter.
• Metallic Mimic: Artifact Creature (Shapeshifter), casting cost of two generic mana, 2/1. As it enters the battlefield, chose a creature type; Metallic Mimic is the chosen type in addition to its other types. Each other creature you control of the chosen type enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it.

Content creators and podcasts Magic: The Amateuring, Limited Resources, and Top Level Podcast all had interesting cards to share with the Magic: The Gathering community today.

• Freejam Regent: Creature (Dragon), casting cost of four generic and two red mana, 4/4. Freejam Regent has Flying and the new Improvise mechanic, which allows you to tap your artifacts to help pay for the casting cost, each artifact paying for one generic mana.. In addition, by paying one generic and one red mana, you can give Freejam Regent +2/+0 until the end of turn.
• Winding Constrictor: Creature (Snake), casting cost of one black and one green mana, 2/3. If one or more counters would be placed on an artifact or creature you control, that many of those counters plus one are placed on that permanent instead. In addition, if you would get one or more counters, you get that many of those counters plus one instead.
• Siege Modification: Enchantment (Aura), casting cost of one generic and two red mana, enchanting creature or vehicle. As long as enchanted permanent is a vehicle, it's a creature in addition to its other types, and gets +3/+0 and First Strike.
• Rishkar, Peema Renegade: Legendary Creature (Elf Druid), casting cost of two generic and one green mana, 2/2. When Rishkar, Peema Renegade enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to two target creatures; each creature you control with a counter on it has "Tap: Add one green mana to your mana pool".

Three more Aether Revolt spoiler cards are made available by accounts associated with Wizards of the Coast - Wizards of the Coast's Magic: The Gathering Twitter account (here and here) and the Korean Magic: The Gathering Facebook account.

• Aeronaut Admiral: Creature (Human Pilot), casting cost of three generic and one white mana, 3/1. Aeronaut Admiral has Flying, and vehicles that you control have Flying as well.
• Untethered Express: Artifact (Vehicle), casting cost of four generic mana. Untethered Express has Trample and Crew 1, requiring you to tap any number of creatures you control with total power of one or more to turn Untethered Express into an Artifact Creature until end of turn. When you do so, it becomes a 4/4 Artifact Creature. In addition, whenever Untethered Express attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
• Ornithopter: Artifact Creature (Thopter), casting cost of zero mana, 0/2. Has Flying.

January 02, 2017's final spoilers are from PureMTGO, Windmill Slam, and Cardshop Hamaya.

• Hungry Flames: Instant, casting cost of two generic and one red mana. Deals three damage to target creature and two damage to target player.
• Pacification Army: Artifact, casting cost of one generic mana. Paying two generic mana and tapping Pacification Army allows you to tap target artifact or creature.
• Merchant's Porter: Artifact Creature (Construct), casting cost of one generic mana, 1/2. Paying three generic and one blue mana and tapping Merchant's Porter lets you tap X artifacts you control. You then look at the top X cards of your library and put one into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. Credit for card translation goes to reddit user PangoriaFallstar and MTGSalvation user Ryperior74.

Our previous coverage of previews and leaks for Aether Revolt cards can be found in our coverage from November 29, December 4, December 5, December 6, December 12, December 15, December 18, December 24, and December 28, 2016.

Aether Revolt is set to release on January 20, 2017, with pre-release events happening on January 14 and January 15, 2017.

Stay tuned to TechRaptor for further coverage on Aether Revolt and all things Magic: The Gathering.

What are your thoughts on today's Aether Revolt preview cards?  The Magic: The Gathering cards spoiled up until today? Let us know in the comment section below.