First printed in Aetherdrift (2025)
Creature — Zombie
Start your engines! (If you have no speed, it starts at 1. It increases once on each of your turns when an opponent loses life. Max speed is 4.)
When this creature enters, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
Max speed — Whenever a creature you control dies, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
1/2
- Illustrated by
- Edgar Sánchez Hidalgo
Legality
- Legal in
- Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Future Standard, Historic, Timeless, Alchemy, Gladiator, Commander, Duel Commander, Tiny Leaders, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Standard Brawl, Competitive Brawl
- Not legal in
- Pauper, Penny Dreadful, Premodern, Old School 93/94, Pauper Commander, PreDH
Rulings (6)
- “Max speed — [ability]” means “As long as you have max speed, this object has [ability].” If the granted ability functions in a zone other than the battlefield, the max speed ability does too.
- Start your engines! isn’t a triggered ability. Increasing your speed to 1 is something that happens as a state-based action as soon as you control a permanent with the ability. Notably, this includes gaining control of a permanent with the ability that another player controls.
- If an effect needs to know what a player’s speed is and that player doesn’t have a speed, their speed is considered 0.
- Your speed doesn’t change until a spell or ability says so, such as the inherent triggered ability that cares about opponents losing life during your turn. Notably, losing control of permanents with start your engines! doesn’t affect your speed.
- A player “has max speed” if their speed is 4.
- Each player tracks their speed (or lack thereof) separately. Increasing your speed has no effect on whether another player has speed.
Prices
MTGO price: 0.003 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 1 Nov 2026).
In Limited on MTG Arena
Win rates in Arena drafts and sealed, retrieved from 17Lands (CC BY 4.0).
| Set | GIH WR | vs set | IWD | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aetherdrift (DFT), Premier Draft | 58.5% | +3.6 | +6.3 | 25272 |
| Aetherdrift (DFT), Sealed | 58.9% | +1.8 | +6.3 | 796 |
- GIH WR
- win rate of the games in which the card was in the opening hand or drawn
- vs set
- points above or below the average win rate of all decks in the set
- IWD
- improvement when drawn: GIH WR minus the win rate when the card stayed in the library
- Games
- games in which the card was seen
Combos
128 combos, the most popular first:
- Infinite creature ETB, Infinite creature LTB…: Embalmed Ascendant + Gravecrawler + Warren Soultrader
- Infinite artifact ETB, Infinite artifact LTB…: Embalmed Ascendant + Pitiless Plunderer + Reassembling Skeleton + Warren Soultrader
- Infinite card draw, Infinite draw triggers…: Embalmed Ascendant + Yawgmoth, Thran Physician + Zahur, Glory's Past (+ 1 other requirement)
- Infinite card draw, Infinite draw triggers…: Embalmed Ascendant + Pawn of Ulamog + Yawgmoth, Thran Physician (+ 1 other requirement)
- Infinite lifegain triggers, Infinite creature LTB…: Embalmed Ascendant + Junji, the Midnight Sky + Karmic Guide + Yahenni, Undying Partisan
- Infinite card draw, Infinite draw triggers…: Embalmed Ascendant + Sifter of Skulls + Yawgmoth, Thran Physician (+ 1 other requirement)
- Infinite creature LTB, Infinite creature ETB…: Embalmed Ascendant + Havengul Lich + Rooftop Storm + Warren Soultrader (+ 1 other requirement)
- Infinite artifact ETB, Infinite artifact LTB…: Cult Conscript + Embalmed Ascendant + Pitiless Plunderer + Warren Soultrader
- Infinite artifact ETB, Infinite artifact LTB…: Bloodsoaked Champion + Embalmed Ascendant + Pitiless Plunderer + Warren Soultrader
- Infinite lifegain triggers, Infinite creature LTB…: Embalmed Ascendant + Junji, the Midnight Sky + Karmic Guide + Viscera Seer
