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.

With the Consulate imprisoning inventors and confiscating their devices following the Fair, tensions between the populace and the government reach a boiling point, as depicted in Aether Revolt.

[5] Orsini wrote, "the Kaladesh artbook fills us in on the rich history of the plane, and why today’s political struggles are directly tied to events a hundred years ago.

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.

[7][8] Eric Hillery, for Bleeding Cool, wrote that "featuring selected reprints from Kaladesh and Aether Revolt — with each card being new to Arena — this set brings back three planeswalkers who've been on hiatus since War of the Spark, three other active members of the Gatewatch, and, of course, a litany of new mechanics and interactions.

The Magic: The Gathering Arena team has long stated that it hoped to eventually return those lost beta sets to the game, and this year they're making good on that idea".

[...] 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).

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".

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.

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.