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Kaladesh is a expansion block consisting of the sets Kaladesh and Aether Revolt. The block debuted with the release of Kaladesh on September 30, 2016. The block is set on the plane of Kaladesh (later renamed Avishkar), the original home of planeswalker Chandra Nalaar, and features an emphasis on artifacts, their creators and the magical aether which powers them.
Cameron Kunzelman, for Paste, highlighted that "from a practical perspective, the work that the Magic Creative team does is pretty spectacular. They begin with a set of material preconceptions about the world, like Kaladesh’s natural resource of aether, and then build out from there in order to understand what kinds of historical conditions might exist within those confines. ... There’s something wonderful about the inventors of Kaladesh living in the Venn diagram space of where Silicon Valley libertarians and hardcore Marxists both want us to be: people interacting with the world on their own terms and finding their own fulfillment while helping out others implicitly. There’s a bit of solarpunk optimism in there that I find refreshing after coming off of two Magic stories where entire worlds were wrecked by Lovecraftian horrors".
Kyle Chapman, reviewing the Kaladesh set for Ars Technica, wrote "Even without looking at any of the cards from this new set, the packaging and promotional material makes a tone shift very clear; colour, celebration, and creation jump out at you immediately. ... The designers have blended classic steampunk elements (protruding, brutal machinery) with fantasy tropes (elves, gremlins, and the first Magic dwarves in just under a decade). ... Compared to last year's weird Eldrazi cards, the mechanics may seem straightforward, but there are enough puzzles in both deckbuilding and play to keep experienced players engaged, whilst being less intimidating to newer players. This is pushed further by the synergies in the block that go unnamed (mainly around artifacts), adding yet another layer to consider". Chapman also highlighted that the set must balance story development for both the plane of Kaladesh and for the Gatewatch members; so given the random nature of booster packs and the limited flavor text on cards, "one of the problems that has always plagued Magic is the difficulty of communicating the full narrative of the set. To help address this, a new 'Story Spotlight' marker appears on five cards in Kaladesh that depict some of the major events, each with a link to a website with short stories that Wizards of the Coast have been publishing in the lead-up to the set's release".
Cameron Kunzelman, reviewing the Kaladesh block for Paste, commented that it is an "artifact block" with a focus on artifact cards and themes of machinery. As a result, Kunzelman highlighted that "deck builders flocked" to specific artifact cards during the Kaladesh set "in order to generate very fast, very efficient and very splashy win conditions for their decks" with the various strategies boiling down to: "Get your artifact on the battlefield and execute your plan quickly. These strategies were dominant in casual and competitive play, and many of them won so quickly that a slight misplay on the part of an opponent would mean that they had no chance of recovering. It was not, as they say, 'fun.' Aether Revolt, the newly-released second half of the Kaladesh block, is an answer to Kaladesh in many ways. ... However, due to various problems, each of these ways of playing the game are impacted in a negative way with Aether Revolt. Playing constructed Magic leaves you playing against powerful artifacts in some games, hyper-synergistic giant creatures, or a literal infinite combo in others. Playing any kind of limited game, which encompasses Sealed and Draft play, means that you are always at the mercy of a player who opens a more powerful artifact than you". Kunzelman would not recommend this block to new or returning players given the swingy nature of play and "lack of clear synergies".
Kyle Chapman, reviewing the Aether Revolt set for Ars Technica, commented that while there are swingy cards in this set, they're also "very risky" to use. Chapman wrote that " AER takes Kaladesh’s strengths and pushes them even further, with deep strategy available in both deck construction and in-game decisions, and an especially promising Limited environment. The complexity is at breaking point, but it’s so well-managed it still works—the mechanics are easy to explain and grasp, the basics have already been taught in Kaladesh, and there are seed cards for teaching newer players how to use cards together for potent combos. ... Kaladesh has been one of the most fun drafting formats in recent years, and we expect AER Limited to be similar, whilst putting a new spin on how to approach the Kaladesh cards". Chapman also highlighted that Story Spotlights have continued for this set and "after a 2016 for Magic that was generally darker and edgier in tone, it’s good to see that this world hasn’t gone grimdark. AER manages to focus on conflict whilst still hitting the bright themes of Kaladesh: colour, ornateness, and most uniquely, the passion of invention and creation. ... The split between Magic’s player base is something to be embraced—long-form fluff for those that are interested, thematic reinforcement of mood for the less interested—but over the course of the Kaladesh block, it’s fallen a little short of the right balance".
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