Start Your Engines MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Sorcery
Released	2016-09-30
Set symbol
Set name	Kaladesh
Set code	KLD
Number	135
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Darek Zabrocki

Key Takeaways

Start Your Engines immediately animates all vehicles, turning them into unexpected, hasty threats.
Efficient at resource acceleration, it ensures your vehicles can attack without delay.
Its impact on gameplay is significant, akin to instant-speed spells in crucial situations.

Text of card

Vehicles you control become artifact creatures until end of turn. Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn.

Inventors from around the world have come to the Fair hoping their creations will fly, drive, or sail their way to a top prize.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: When Start Your Engines is played, it immediately affects all Vehicles you control, transforming them into creatures without the need to tap other creatures to crew them. This efficient use of your board turns every artifact car into a potential threat, netting you a considerable advantage in the heat of a match.

Resource Acceleration: Start Your Engines jumpstarts your combat phase by giving your Vehicles not only life but also haste, allowing them to swing the moment they hit the battlefield. This swift mobilization of resources can lead to an accelerated pace of play, helping you to outpace the opponent with a surge of unexpected power.

Instant Speed: Though this card operates at sorcery speed, its impact on the game is comparable to that of an instant. By affecting all Vehicles simultaneously, Start Your Engines significantly amplifies the potential damage in a single turn, akin to the suddenness and flexibility that an instant provides during critical moments of gameplay.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One of the hurdles when playing Start Your Engines is that to make the most of its effect, you often need to have a decent number of vehicles on the board. Without these, the utility of the card diminishes, and it can end up merely taking up space in your hand when you need other resources.

Specific Mana Cost: Start Your Engines requires a specific blend of mana — two generic and one red. This requirement confines the card to decks that can reliably produce red mana, potentially limiting its versatility and hindering its inclusion in multicolor vehicle decks not heavily focused on red.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With an asking price of three mana, it’s on the pricey side, which can slow down your tempo, especially in the early game. Given that there are other cards available which can either mobilize vehicles at a lower cost or provide additional benefits, Start Your Engines could be considered as an inefficient choice in fast-paced or tightly curated decks.

Reasons to Include Start Your Engines in Your Collection

Versatility: Start Your Engines is a multifaceted card that can be seamlessly integrated into various vehicle-based decks. It not only activates all vehicles on the battlefield, but it also gives them a significant boost in power, making it a game-changer in the right setup.

Combo Potential: The ability to instantly transform all your vehicles into creatures and give them an attack bonus opens up numerous combo possibilities. Pair this with cards that benefit from attacking with numerous creatures or artifacts, and you can create some explosive plays.

Meta-Relevance: Given the dynamic nature of the MTG meta, Start Your Engines can be an unexpected yet impactful sideboard card for matches where vehicles feature prominently, potentially outmaneuvering opponent’s strategies that aren’t prepared for a full-on vehicular assault.

How to Beat Start Your Engines

In the realm of Magic: The Gathering, the card Start Your Engines can shift the flow of the game rapidly. When facing this card, it’s crucial to disrupt the strategy of your opponent before they can take full advantage of it. This card accelerates vehicles, turning them into formidable creatures, but it requires those vehicles to be on the field. To effectively counter this, look towards removal spells or strategies that can manage or minimize an opponent’s artifacts and creatures.

Artifact destruction cards like Shatter or Abrade offer a direct method to handle vehicles. Alternatively, board wipes, such as Wrath of God, can clear the battlefield of all creatures, including animated vehicles. If you’re playing in a format where such cards are available, countering Start Your Engines with a spell like Negate can nip the threat in the bud. It’s about being proactive in managing the board state and staying ahead of your opponent’s plays. Being reactive once Start Your Engines resolves can be far more challenging, so plan your moves wisely and maintain control over the game.

Overall, while Start Your Engines can be a game-changer, having a strategy to counter an opponent’s vehicles will ensure you’re prepared. Stay one step ahead, and don’t let this card’s potential speed past your defenses.

Cards like Start Your Engines

Start Your Engines is an action-packed sorcery that fuels the aggressive strategies of vehicle-based decks in Magic: The Gathering. In its niche, it finds company with cards like Siege Modification, which also accelerates the impact of vehicles by allowing them to bypass crew requirements, transforming them into relentless attackers. While Siege Modification may seem superior at first glance, it notably lacks the breadth of Start Your Engines, which affects all vehicles on the battlefield rather than a single one.

Analogous to Start Your Engines is Aeronaut Admiral, a creature that grants your vehicles flying, thereby offering a more permanent advantage over multiple turns. However, this benefit comes without the immediate burst of speed and power that Start Your Engines provides. Another parallel card is Peacewalker Colossus, which grants you the ability to animate any vehicle for a cost, but does not inherently give them the temporary stat boost or doesn’t forego the crewing process like Start Your Engines does.

Ultimately, Start Your Engines occupies a unique pit stop in the realm of vehicle support cards in MTG. It excels by offering a one-turn fleet mobilization, which can be a deciding factor in a game’s outcome, especially when timed for maximum impact during a crucial turn.

Peacewalker Colossus - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Start Your Engines by color, type and mana cost

Draconic Intervention - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Start Your Engines MTG card by a specific set like Kaladesh, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Start Your Engines and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Start Your Engines has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Pioneer	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Start Your Engines card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2016-09-20	The set of Vehicles and creatures affected by Start Your Engines is determined as the spell resolves. Creatures you begin to control later in the turn won't get +2/+0, and Vehicles you begin to control later in the turn won't automatically become creatures and won't get +2/+0.
2016-09-20	Vehicles you control become artifact creatures and then also get +2/+0.