Aethertide Whale

Aethertide Whale card image

Aethertide Whale: Creature - Whale, Aetherdrift Commander. Flying. When this creature enters, you get six Energy . Prices and printings on Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{4}{U}{U}
Mana value
6
Type
Creature - Whale
Colour identity
Blue (U)
Power / toughness
6/4
Rarity
Rare
Set
Aetherdrift Commander (DRC)
Released
2025-02-14
Collector number
69
Artist
Steven Belledin
Commander rank
8,552 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)
Keywords
Flying

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About Aethertide Whale

Aethertide Whale is a Magic: The Gathering card, a rare blue creature from Aetherdrift Commander (DRC), a Commander product released in February 2025. It is collector number 69 in that set, with art by Steven Belledin. It costs {4}{U}{U} (four generic and two blue mana) to cast, for a mana value of 6. It is a 6/4 creature. Its colour identity is blue. It is legal in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker and Penny Dreadful. It has been printed in 4 sets, from Aether Revolt (2017) to Aetherdrift Commander (2025). The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $0.24 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-12).

Card text

Flying

When this creature enters, you get six {E} (energy counters).

Pay {E}{E}{E}{E}: Return this creature to its owner's hand.

"To survive up here, I've learned when to use my harpoon and when to just enjoy the view." -Kadhu, skywhaler

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $0.24 (as of 2026-11-12).

The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.

Format legality

Legality of Aethertide Whale by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

PioneerLegal
ModernLegal
LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
Penny DreadfulLegal

Other printings of Aethertide Whale

Aethertide Whale has been printed in 4 sets. The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.

PrintingRarityYear
Modern Horizons 3 Commander (M3C) #175Rare2024
Aether Revolt (AER) #27Rare2017
Aether Revolt Promos (PAER) #27sRare2017

Official rulings

The 8 most recent official rulings for Aethertide Whale, newest first.

  • Some spells and abilities that give you {E} may require targets. If each target chosen is an illegal target as that spell or ability tries to resolve, it won't resolve. You won't get any {E}.
  • Energy counters are a kind of counter that a player may have. They're not associated with any specific permanents.
  • Some triggered abilities state that you "may pay" a certain amount of {E}. You can't pay that amount multiple times to multiply the effect. You simply choose whether or not to pay that amount of {E} as the ability resolves.
  • Energy counters aren't mana. They don't go away as steps, phases, and turns end, and effects that add mana "of any type" can't give you energy counters.
  • Some triggered abilities that state that you "may pay" a certain amount of {E} describe an effect that happens "If you do." In that case, no player may take actions to try to stop the ability's effect after you make your choice. If the payment is followed by the phrase "When you do," then you'll choose any targets for that reflexive triggered ability and put it on the stack before players can take actions.
  • Keep track of how many energy counters each player has. Potential ways to track this include writing theme down on paper or using dice, but any method that is clear and mutually agreeable is fine. (At higher levels of tournament play, dice may not be allowed for tracking counters that players have.)
  • {E} is the energy symbol. It represents one energy counter.
  • If a spell or ability with one or more targets states that you "may pay" some amount of {E}, and each permanent that it targets has become an illegal target, the spell or ability won't resolve. You can't pay any {E} even if you want to.

Similar cards

Other creature cards with a blue colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.

In these precons

Aethertide Whale is in the decklist of these preconstructed Commander decks.

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