Aether Revolt Review: Red

Blue and Black looked great, and I am still absorbing how good White can be.

Aether Chaser: part of the 'token for Energy' cycle. I like this cycle a lot.
Chandra's Revolution: good in Limited.

Destructive Tampering: very good options in Limited.
Freejam Regent: Free Jam Regent? Is that Dragon about to distribute all that free Jam in that building? I won't be laughing if my opponent casts this for RR, and I am the one who wants to do that. All the cool zero casting cost artifacts are in Vintage.

Embraal Gear-Smasher: solid in Limited.
Enraged Giant: seems reasonable for an uncommon in an artifacts-matter block.

Frontline Rebel: Limited.
Hungry Flames: battlecruiser Lightning Bolt variant.

Gremlin Infestation: The name would have fit better if the card did something that generated a bunch of Gremlins, and not just one. It reads more like a common, but that's just me.
Invigorating Rampage: very useful in combat. This is a great uncommon. Red usually doesn't get uncommons this good.

Indomitable Creativity: Wall of Text red rare or Mythic. I love these. It reminds me of Warp World, my favorite Wall of Text red rare (5RRR Each player shuffles all permanents he or she owns into his or her library, then reveals that many cards from the top of his or her library. Each player puts all artifact, creature, and land cards revealed this way onto the battlefield, then does the same for enchantment cards, then puts all cards revealed this way that weren't put onto the battlefield on the bottom of his or her library.) Reads like a junk Mythic. The exiled card can be a one drop common artifact. If the number of cards that each player can cast was, say, five, then this card would be a ton of fun. All that for one card? OK, if you Scry and you know what you will be casting, then you only destroy X to the card you want.... OK, that can work.
Kari Zev's Expertise: this is an awesome variant of Act of Treason, and definitely worth being a rare. I want to play this.

Kari Zev, Skyship Raider: seems all right, but in the weaker category with the black one.
Lathmu Sailback: Limited.

Lightning Runner: Strong in battlecruiser. Similar to Aurelia, the Warleader from Gatecrash, although easier to cast because it's all Red mana (2RRWW Flying, vigilance, haste Whenever Aurelia, the Warleader attacks for the first time each turn, untap all creatures you control. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.)
Precise Strike: Limited.

Pia's Revolution: I like it a lot. Outside of Standard, you will take the hit for three and move on because the chosen artifact can be a real pain to deal with.
Quicksmith Rebel: fun junk rare. It comes in too late to be a build-around. Still fun.

Scrapper Champion: Comes in a little too late to be really impactful, still a reasonable uncommon in battlecruiser.
Ravenous Intruder: Reads like a Limited common unless I am missing something. You are sacrificing an artifact for all of that, right?

Reckless Racer: seems reasonable. The key is that you discard before you draw. I can see uses for this in Blue/Red.
Release the Gremlins: Destroy three artifacts for a seven mana cast and you get three 2/2 tokens.... junk rare I say. If you have that much mana laying around to get three 2/2 tokens, there are many better ways of winning that game. The title is great. This should have been an epic card for such an awesome title, but it isn't, and that's a missed opportunity.

Sweatworks Brawler: very good common. Minus Improvise, it's a good Limited card with Menace. Plus Improvise I like it even more.
Shock: Hello, old friend. Wizards, please bring the core set back!

Siege Modification: On a regular creature it's not that great, especially with a double Red casting, but when you factor in the Vehicle benefit, then you have a really good card for this block.
Wrangle: faster variant of Act of Treason. A great addition to the Red toolbox. I can't find a card like this one issued to date!

Aether Revolt Review: Black

Blue looks great.

Aether Poisoner: Part of the 'token for energy' cycle that I want to abuse. Great card because it expands the uses of Energy beyond mostly Blue and Green.
Battle at the Bridge: This type of card is very useful for casual players. It can win games. Compare with Consume Spirit-an uncommon in some of the core sets (X1B, Spend only black mana on X.
Consume Spirit deals X damage to target creature or player and you gain X life.)

Alley Strangler: solid common. Any common with Menace or Prowess is solid in my book.
Daring Demolition: as long as Vehicles are only found in this block, this card will see very little play. Every block has cards that are answers only for other cards in that block. As such, it's all right. Naturalize for 1G would have done the job much better, yet it is good for Black to also have an answer.

Fatal Push: The most hyped card of the set. I am glad that it's an uncommon. If the hype proves true, I am planning to crack many packs of this set. If you love cracking packs as I do, the best sets are the ones with great commons and uncommons. Ponder in Magic 2012 comes to mind. Compare with Tragic Slip-a common-from Dark Ascension: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. Morbid — That creature gets -13/-13 until end of turn instead if a creature died this turn.) This one is definitely better since it can deal with some of the strongest creatures in all of Magic and it does not have to wait for you to kill something else before you play this. It can also take out some of the better Walls in the game. I get the hype, and I hope that it proves true.
Cruel Finality: good in Limited and casual play. A variant of Tomb Hex (Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. Landfall — If you had a land enter the battlefield under your control this turn, that creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn instead.) It's a great addition to the Black toolkit.

Defiant Salvager: solid common, especially when you broaden the selection of what you can sacrifice to the Modern and Legacy card pools. Of course, there is Viscera Seer-a common (B Creature — Vampire Wizard, Card Text: Sacrifice a creature: Scry 1.) But this one also allows you to sacrifice an artifact and you get a counter for your troubles.
Fen Hauler: Will this be the Gurmag Angler of Improvise? I certainly hope so, but I think it is easier to discard six cards to the graveyard than it is to play six artifacts.

Foundry Hornet: love the artwork. Solid uncommon. Especially useful against a deck that creates a bunch of 1/1 tokens as a core strategy.
Gifted Aetherborn: Compare with Vampire Nighthawk-an iconic uncommon (1BB, Flying Deathtouch Lifelink). It's a really good uncommon, even without Flying.

Fourth Bridge Prowler: solid common, especially in Limited.
Glint-Sleeve Siphoner: "draw a card" OK, this is just great. Menace is also great. Two Energy to draw a card is great.

Gonti's Machinations: another solid uncommon. In multiplayer, the sacrifice benefit can be really good. If you have something that makes you lose life every turn, you are getting Energy every turn. You just need to make sure the life loss is countered by either a very aggressive strategy or some lifelink in your deck.
Ironclad Revolutionary: more of a casual play at such a high casting cost.

Herald of Anguish: I will have to play it to know how good in can be in the eternal formats. It can be BB 5/5, and that is just crazy good.
Renegade's Getaway: good in Limited.

Midnight Entourage:  The first clause is what we would expect from a battlecruiser lord. The second clause, however, says 'draw a card.' The second clause is very, very good. There are many solid sacrifice outlets in Black, especially outside of Standard.
Perilous Predicament: battlecruiser uncommon.

Night Market Aeronaut: good in Limited.
Secret Salvage: it's too late to use in any other format than battlecruiser Standard, yet it reads like a lot of fun there. I would pick the strongest one and two drops I can think of as candidates and go to town with two or three of one of those out of this play.

Resourceful Return: solid common. I am a huge fan of 'draw a card.'
Yahenni, Undying Partisan: this is one of the weakest of this cycle. Indestructible is great, but not always; and you will need to have a lot of target removal to get those counters.

Sly Requisitioner: I like getting something out of sacrificing an artifact. We shall see how strong and breakable Improvise turns out to be.
Vengeful Rebel: Minus Revolt, it's a Limited common. You will need to trigger revolt and get the ETB bonus for it to feel like an uncommon, and that is OK.

Yahenni's Expertise: A conditional Languish that does less since Languish does -4/-4. Yet, there are some great cards I would love to cast for free at three or less mana in other formats.

Aether Revolt Review: Blue

I am still trying to process the 'left the battlefield' mechanic. It's growing on me.

Aether Swooper: solid common for my casual Blue/Green Energy deck. Also, tokens are great permanents to leave the battlefield.
Aetherwide Whale: Limited bomb and good for Commander. Maybe there's a Commander deck centered on Energy that will be good.

Baral, Chief of Compliance: reads like a strong card indeed. I wonder how well it plays with the worst plainswalker ever issued (and one I often think about making decks with because I want to live the dream of a good deck with Tibalt). You draw before you discard, and that's important in a positive way. This card reads really strong. I can build a many different types of decks around it, and not just mono-blue, or Blue/Red. There are plenty of instants and sorceries in the remaining colors that I would love to cast for one less mana. I must break this card.
Baral's Expertise: Great effect, but not as a five drop if the only effect was the second one. With the second effect, I can do a lot with this card. I can return my own three creatures and trigger three Enter-the-battlefield (ETB) effects. And then I can cast something good for four mana. There are many really good spells in all formats that I would like to cast with this card.

Bastion Inventor: Improvise is even better in the eternal formats. Collect mana rocks, tap them for Improvise, profit. Now I need to come up with a deck that can cast this for U.
Disallow: Yeah, that's a good counterspell. Counter a single activated or triggered ability can be really good in certain situations.

Dispersal Technician: good in Limited. It's a battlecruiser variant of Waterfront Bouncer (1U, Blue, Tap, Discard a card: Return target creature to its owner's hand.)
Hinterland Drake: It would have been much more interesting if it read "can only block artifact creatures." Limited.

Efficient Construction: that's a fun uncommon for sure. If you can cast some one drop artifacts, bounce them back to your hand, and cast them again, this can yield many tokens. This card has a deck with the five Moxen and Hurkyl's Recall in it's future.
Illusionist's Stratagem: Great complement to Ghostly Flicker. I want to play this card.

Ice Over: great in Limited, great period. Yeah... I am cycling through all the artifacts that could be enchanted this way, and the more of them that I go through in my mind, the more I like this card in all formats.
Mechanized Production: reads Mythic all-right. It reminds me of Rite of Replication (Kicker 5 (You may pay an additional 5 as you cast this spell.) Create a token that's a copy of target creature. If Rite of Replication was kicked, create five of those tokens instead.) I like it a lot. I am not sure if it can be a competitive deck in Standard and I am hoping that it isn't because I want to play it and not pay a lot to do so.

Leave in the Dust: An always kicked version of Into the Roil (1U Instant, Kicker 1Blue (You may pay an additional 1U as you cast this spell.) Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. If Into the Roil was kicked, draw a card.)
Negate: Welcome, old friend.

Metallic Rebuke: I am not sure if Improvise can be as broken as Delve, yet deep in my Jhonny heart, I so want it to be, and will try hard to make it so. In the correct deck, this is a one mana Mana Leak. I want to play this in the eternal formats, where I have a much larger selection of artifacts that can be tapped.
Reverse Engineer: Same as Metallic Rebuke. UU, Draw three cards: I must make this happen.

Quicksmith Spy: Ral Zarek +1 says hello. Another Johnny rare for my Johnny heart. I am giddy as a schoolgirl. Oh, and Ral Zarek brought his buddy, Clock of Omens. Now, that would be 12 cards at four mana and that's a terrible start for a mana curve. Now I have to think about what the right mix of these three cards is, and how to fill that mana curve correctly.
Salvage Scuttler: Great effect, but a little too heavy... not sure I can benefit from it at five mana.

Shielded Aether Thief: That is one awesome Johnny uncommon. I would enchant it with something like Eland Umbra (1W, Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +0/+4. Totem armor (If enchanted creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Aura.), or one of the Ordeals from Theros, or ... well, you get the picture.
Skyship Plunderer: another awesome Johnny uncommon. It can be a counter on ANY target permanent. Can it be a poison counter on a player? Can it be a loyalty counter on a planeswalker? I want to play this card in many decks.

Shipwreck's Moray: It earns a lot of energy, and that's good enough for me in Limited.
Take into Custody: aggressively costed, great to have in my opening hand.

Trophy Mage: There are many three mana artifacts that are awesome. Most are not in Standard, and that's OK. More Johnny awesomeness.
Wind-Kin Raiders: Will need lots of artifacts to save on the casting cost. It fits a Blue/Artifacts deck.

Whir of Invention: Another great Johnny rare. I need to figure out how hard it would be for X to be 6, and then I can cast Wurmcoil Engine with this.

Aether Revolt Review: White

Aether Revolt is a small set. I am most interested in more Energy cards and more build-around artifacts.

Aerial Modification: It would have been amazing at a lower casting cost just because it would have saved you all that tapping to activate vehicles. As it is, it comes in mid to late game. This card is a missed opportunity for Vehicles to become a Modern deck.
Aether Inspector: Solid in Limited. With Displace (Eldritch Moon), you can bring it back again to get two more Energy out of it.

Aeronaut Admiral: Mid game effect is good for an uncommon. Another effect that would have been much more impactful at a lower casting cost.
Aethergeode Miner: For two Energy, you can keep it safe after a board wipe attempt, or even a target destruction attempt, which does make up for the low toughness. This will be a great card to satisfy the 'left the battlefield' clause on other cards in this set. This is the chase white non-legendary rare of this set. If only there was a way to enchant it and make it unblockable with a card like Aqueous Form from Theros.

Airdrop Aeronauts: Reasonable in battlecruiser. Flying shouldn't be such a bonus in White and on an uncommon-by this I mean that it could have been a 5 drop 5/4 or 4/5 at uncommon. If you flickered Aethergeode Miner, you had a permanent leave the battlefield.
Audacious Infiltrator: Should be great in Limited. Any card with evasion from artifacts in an artifact block is great in Limited. I am six cards in and three of them are 3/1s.

Alley Evasion: Very good evasion in Limited. I like that evasion is in the title. Now we need a black card with 'Target Removal' in the title.
Bastion Enforcer: Good in Limited. I hope someday there will be strong vanilla-matters cards.

Call for Unity: It reads great, but it is still a 5-drop that cannot on its own win games. I think this card is a junk rare. Compare with Cathar's Crusade from Avacyn Restored, another 5-drop junk rare ("Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.")
Consulate Crackdown: While all those artifacts are temporarily exiled, you could use Devoid cards for effect. It can be a great come-back play when you are down against a field of artifacts and about to lose.

Caught in the Brights: One more mana than Pacifism. It's a solid play when you are playing Vehicles in Limited.
Conviction: Gives one of your creatures a fat butt. I like it. It should be great in Limited, and you can pick it up for one mana if that creature is destroyed.

Countless Gears Renegade: A solid common. You can play it after combat and you get the token.
Dawnfeather Eagle: Another solid common in Limited.

Deadeye Harpooner: Now we are talking. I like the combo. First, flicker one of your critters, then play this during post-combat, and destroy one of your opponent's creatures. Wait... it gets better. If you can flicker it twice, you can destroy two creatures. Solid, very solid. I want to play this card. Displace is still in Standard.
Decommission: Limited. Small life gain that is not part of an overall strategy is a wasted use of resources.

Deft Dismissal: It reads like a red card that costs more mana than it should. It reads like a common.
Felidar Guardian: Flicker help. That's great. At four mana, it will get a lot less use than if it was a two mana creature, even if it was, say, 0/2.

Ghirapur Osprey: solid common in Limited.
Exquisite Archangel: great effect. It does read Mythic, even if it will likely be one of the cheaper Mythics. The Commander players will be very happy with this card.

Restoration Specialist: very, very nice. There are so many great artifacts and enchantments that could be returned in all formats. This is a great uncommon, a great card, period. Something needs to drop a bunch of cards in my graveyard fast, and then for three mana, I can, effectively draw two of those cards. I want to play it bad.
Sram's Expertise: Much better in other formats. In battlecruiser standard there aren't any truly broken and still legal cards to free-cast with this. It's "a card." That card can be anything! It can be Liliana of the Veil, it can be Snapcaster Mage. In white-green Modern with mana dorks, you can cast it turn three and drop something busted for free. Sweet!

Solemn Recruit: Dwarfs is already a fun deck. Nice addition. You can cast it and not do anything with it until it grows. There are enough flicker effects in this set to get this to be a double-strike 4/4 in two turns. Solid in battlecruiser Standard. I am not so sure this card is as strong in Modern.
Sram, Senior Edificer: It reads legendary. It had me at "draw a card." It will be very strong in Standard Constructed. Remember, we are building up to 8-set Standard. This card will get better and better with every set that gets added this year.

Thopter Arrest: A battlecruiser Oblivion Ring. Once it rotates from Standard, it will never see play again, unless there is a need to have a fifth or sixth Oblivion Ring in a deck (that's an interesting deck to think about). Compare this text with "When Oblivion Ring enters the battlefield, exile another target nonland permanent. When Oblivion Ring leaves the battlefield, return the exiled card to the battlefield under its owner's control."