Even setting aside the hyperbole that often comes with recency bias, March of the Machine might be the best set for Commander ever. Throughout the entire preview season, every time I saw a new card, I blurted out something along the lines of, “Ooh, I’d play that!” The hits just kept coming.
We’ve seen it all now, and I know that, in addition to simply being a very popular end to the Phyrexian story arc with amazing art and thrilling themes, the individual cards are going to end up in a host of Commander decks—both those we already have and the new ones we’ll build. I can feel the buzz of excitement just wondering how many cards are going to jockey for position in my various Top 5s, Honorable Mentions, and “Jeez, how’d I forget about that one?” lists.
This is a set review for Commander only, although I’ll point out that it looks great to draft. I’ll find out next week at CommandFest Orlando, as the first thing I’m doing Friday morning is tearing some of these packs alongside some of the other Special Guests. I’ll let you know how it goes. Remember also that I generally splash around in a particular section of the Commander pool, so that’s how I’ll talk about cards’ relative value. If a card has high-powered implications which are noteworthy enough, I’ll mention them.
Also remember that there’s a new card type, battle, in the set. Some of them are quite spicy, and you can count on a few making a list. Although the Wizards of the Coast (WotC) Card Image Gallery lists DFCs and battles in a separate section, I’ll include them where they belong in their color.
I’ll break down the set by color, list Honorable Mentions and Top Five, as well as my favorite commons and uncommons that didn’t otherwise make the list. I’ll offer a grade for the color as a whole as well, based on both the ceiling of the best cards and the density of quality throughout the color. There aren’t enough artifacts or lands to do a whole scoop on, so I’ll just point out anything really noteworthy. We’re going to run into overtime with this one no matter what we do, so let’s get cracking.
White
Honorable Mention
Favorite Common
Favorite Uncommon
Top 5
An Oblivion Ring that’s harder to get rid of easily makes the list. Ward 3 isn’t insurmountable, so if we really want that sealed-away thing, we’ll be able to get it. Alternately, we can think about enchantment sweepers like Bane of Progress or Fracturing Gust.
I love the mini-game of battles. They certainly slow the game down a little, directing attacks away from opponents, much in the same way planeswalkers might—although one could argue that the benefits the battle offers will help wrap the game more quickly down the road. In this case, we’re slowing down ourselves for greater benefit. The resulting lifelink creature, Ephara, Ever-Sheltering, is also an Enchantress, drawing us a card whenever another enchantment enters the battlefield. Cards will definitely get us to the finish line.
I’m okay with—actually a fan of—some light Stax pieces in a deck. I’m not in on just shutting down everything a player wants to do, but making things a little more awkward is reasonable. The best part for me with Phyrexian Censor, like a favorite such as Blind Obedience, is that creatures enter the battlefield tapped. This means that haste, a real killer, is rendered inert.
The enters-the-battlefield trigger to return an enchantment is good, not great. It’s when Heliod transforms into Heliod, the Warped Eclipse that things get saucy. Now we have an effective Vedalken Orrery on the battlefield, and spells cost one less to cast for each card our opponents have drawn this turn. We can help our own cause a great deal by helping them draw, whether that’s a little bit with Temple Bell or a great deal with Windfall. The cards that we draw are then going to be way cheaper, likely casting all our artifacts and colorless spells for free.
1. Elesh Norn
Come on, you expected this one, right? The Mother of Machines is going to hurt us if we damage its controller, but like Heliod, it’s in the transformed guise, as a Saga, will she do some damage. She’ll arrive, incubate 2 five times, then transform all Incubator tokens we control. That’s a good start for an army. In Chapter II, our team gets a +1/+1 Anthem until end of turn, but the bigger part is everyone also getting double strike. Any of our larger creatures will wreck house. Then, in Chapter III, everything except artifacts, lands, and Phyrexians gets blown up, and we start over with Elesh Norn’s front face. Scary stuff. Beautifully-designed card. This is the Elesh Norn I had hoped for a few months back.
Grade: A. Starting off right with strong top end cards and excellent density.
Blue
Honorable Mention
Favorite Common
Favorite Uncommon
Top 5
It’s a subtle thing, but we’re going to get a fair number of Incubator tokens here. We like to cast noncreature spells in blue, especially since that also includes artifacts. Blue also likes artifacts. See where I’m going?
What gives me pause about this card is the relatively high defense value of seven. After that, it rolls, finding an instant or sorcery in our library or graveyard to put in our hand. Due to Commander Rule 10, the outside the game part doesn’t function within the rules. Still, it’s good. Once we’ve defeated Arcavios, we’ll have an enchantment called Invocation of the Founders, which will copy every one of our instant and sorcery spells.
3. See Double
An extremely cleverly designed card. We know to wait until we get both modes, unless we’re really desperate. And while can’t be copied, we’ll get enough value out of it the first time around. See Double copies a spell and creates a token that’s a copy of a creature already on the battlefield. Nothing fancy, but I guarantee this card will lead to some explosive game states.
I suspect the Azami, Lady of Scrolls decks will love Transcendent Message, which will get a little spendy to make worthwhile, even if we’re doing some convoking. Again, it’s not fancy, but it gives a weapon to decks that like to swarm with creatures that it might not have had before.
1. Jin-Gitaxias
I’m sensing a trend in which the Praetor is the understandably best card in the color. I’m loving that he rewards us for playing three-mana-value rocks. And ward 2. The transform cost is easily payable at 3U, transforming Jin-Gitaxias into The Great Synthesis. First thing is best thing, as we double our hand size and won’t have a maximum as long as The Great Synthesis is around. In Chapter II, we bounce all non-Phyrexians back to their owners’ hands, clearing the way for our invasion. If we haven’t killed everyone then, we get to Chapter III, in which we can cast whatever we want from our hand without paying the mana cost. That should be fine, right?
Grade: A. Pushing into A+ territory. Honorable Mentions could have all been in the Top 5.
Black
Honorable Mention
Favorite Common
Favorite Uncommon
Top 5
I absolutely have to list the card which turns into Marchesa, Resolute Monarch (like we didn’t already know). Her attack trigger removes all the counters from a single permanent, so it could kill quite a few planeswalkers or send to the grave some creatures with base power and toughness of 0/0 (which generally come in with counters on them, like Spike Feeder). Her upkeep triggered ability effectively rewards us early (and extra) for staying the monarch. It’s a situation that lots of Marchesa decks like to find themselves in.
I’ve enjoyed playing out of other peoples’ graveyards since before my first Sepulchral Primordial. Breach the Multiverse continues that obsession in a big way. Everyone (even us) mills ten, then we get to reanimate something from each graveyard. That’s well worth the seven bones.
In addition to other peoples’ graveyards, I enjoy messing around with my own. Archpriest of Shadows is what I’ve been missing. The Archpriest has to deal combat damage for the last ability. Deathtouch doesn’t mean much in this situation, since it’s the blocker will likely be smaller than 4/4. The backup ability on this card is quite compelling (and not just on this card), since it gives the same reanimation.
The Commander Rules Committee (RC) preview card, probably the spiciest one we’ve ever gotten. She starts out by being able to sacrifice an artifact just for the cost of tapping. She then deals that damage to an opponent or a battle (which could be extremely useful) equal to the mana value of the sacrificed artifact’s mana cost, and we gain that much life. I suspect Spine of Ish Sah and Wurmcoil Engine to be prime candidates. Once she’s transformed in Ayara, Furnace Queen, she’ll start reanimating artifacts and creatures from our graveyard. They get exiled at end of turn, so having a sacrifice outlet for them is a good idea.
1. Sheoldred
A 4/5 with menace for just five mana, we don’t have to transform Sheoldred for it to be quite strong. After the creature/planeswalker sacrifice, it can just start bashing. Transformed into The True Scriptures, Chapter I is quite Phyrexian, destroying up to one creature or planeswalker. Chapter II is a Boss Monster action. We really want to get to Chapter III, since it takes all creatures in all graveyards and puts them onto the battlefield under our control. Then we get to start it all over again.
Grade: A+. There so many hot things in there that it’s hard to choose a favorite. The love continues.
Red
Honorable Mention
Favorite Common
Favorite Uncommon
Top 5
Being a little spendy on the mana cost drives it down the list a little, but we can recoup two of those mana right away by using the first ability. The second ability is the one with a great deal of value, since it plusses her up and it gives us access to a few cards for a long time—until the end of our next turn. If there’s something spicy in there, we’ll have the time to generate the mana in order to cast it.
4. City on Fire
Fiery Emacipation but with convoke? Sign me up to play both, thanks. Any commander with seven power is now lethal as a one-shot, as is any six we’ve already hit someone with. Fair Magic.
I’m really enjoying the battle sub-game and I think with some of the cards in red, it’ll be one of the colors to play in our battle suite. Invasion of Karsus starts by doing a mini-battlefield wipe on creatures and planeswalkers. On the other side, it just provides two damage to each opponent whenever we cast a spell. It won’t be long until those life totals are low (especially if we’re tripling the damage?).
The short version of this is Etali, doing Etali things. This one is on entering the battlefield, not attacking, but it’s pretty much the same after that. And it’s a 7/7 trampler. The transform cost is high at nine and a Phyrexian blue (wonder where that came from). What it offers us is worth it, though. We get an 11/11 with trample and indestructible, plus, when it deals combat damage to a player, they get that many poison counters. Yikes!
1. Urabrask
Some people have derided this as Urabrask still being the worst Praetor. They might be making fun of one of the best cards in the set. The extra damage for instants and sorceries is already good; adding a mana makes things happen as well. The absurd thing is that we can transform it for just one red mana, something that I verified a bunch of times when I first saw the card.
The Great Work Saga is another mini-battlefield wipe of three damage that we can get into right away if we had the four to cast Urabrask and mana for any instant or sorcery. Then there’s a breath in Chapter II in which we get just three Treasure tokens. That’s all well and good.
Then we get to Chapter III, better known as “off the rails.” Until end of turn, we can cast any instants and sorceries from any graveyard. The timing on this is very important. It opens the window for after the last part of Chapter III happens, which is getting back Urabrask in front face form. From there, every instant or sorcery is effectively one cheaper and deals an extra point of damage. Alternatively, we can go right back to dealing three more damage to everything. Or we can keep casting stuff and adding mana. This card is bonkers.
Grade: A. The hits keep coming.
Green
Honorable Mention
Favorite Common
Favorite Uncommon
Top 5
Nothing special other than a 4/5 with reach for three mana. Sure, it’s all green pips, but I’m pretty sure lots of folks will say whatever to that. On the transformed side, it’s aptly named as Engine of Ruin, as it’s now a 6/6 with reach and lifelink. When it or another nontoken Hydra dies (so we’re moving into a theme deck), we get a 3/3 Hydra with reach and a 3/3 Hydra with lifelink, a la Wurmcoil Engine. It’ll push our Hydra deck out of red and into Abzan due to the back side’s color identity. There aren’t really many black or white Hydras (although Polukranos, Unchained applies, as does Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager), so they become the support colors—both of which know how to return permanents from the graveyard to the battlefield.
Conservatively, if we’ve convoked three creatures to help pay for Ancient Imperiosaur, we’ll have paid four mana for a 12/12 with trample and ward 2. Someone is spending two extra mana to kill it, I think. There are situations in which it’ll be a 20/20. Imagine this in one of those insane Druid decks.
A nice addition to our card draw suite with Garruk’s Packleader and Garruk’s Uprising, Tribute to the World Tree making those small creatures larger won’t trigger the power-related stuff because the window on them has already closed by the time they enter the battlefield. Still, utility creatures become a little more buff and Puppeteer Clique will always come back ready for action, since one of the +1/+1 counters will wipe out the -1/-1 from persist.
I love cards that scale to where the game is, so there’s a great deal of value in knowing what we really want to get out of Invasion of Ikoria’s enters-the-battlefield trigger. The defense is a bit high at six, but we’re playing beefy stuff already. After that, Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria just means our damage will always get through to the opponent. We’ll need some damage triggers, like off Sword of Feast and Famine, to really start the rockets.
So what you’re telling me is that I can grab the three best permanents from my graveyard and put them back in my hand, only to just put one onto the battlefield for free each upkeep? Very much yes, please, and, thank you very much.
Grade: A. At this point, we’re like “yeah, green is okay,” when if these cards were in another set, we’d be screaming at how good the color is. Good enough, in fact, that the Praetor didn’t even rank Honorable Mention. Streak’s over.
Multicolor
Honorable Mention
Honorable Honorable Mention to all the rest of the creature pairs not already mentioned here or below. What an inspired piece of design that turned out ridiculously well. Some of them are kind of busted, but it’s time to delight a little in some bustedness. Just play your Fogs, please.
Favorite Uncommon
Top 5
First, we have a 12/12 trampler for seven. Already heavy—although there’s some argument that the higher life totals in Commander warrant an uptick in power-to-mana-value ratio. Then, when we attack, we either get a token that’s just as big as our biggest creature and has trample or a number of 1/1 lifelink Vampires for the number of attacking creatures. For me playing this card, it’s almost always likely to be the former. What can I say? I’m a fan of stomping.
In Commander, exiling things is powerful. Invasion of New Capenna is in colors that don’t mind sacrificing things, since it can get them back in various ways. This goes straight into one of my Karador, Ghost Chieftain decks. We’re not done, though. Once we’ve defeated the battle, we get a cool Equipment called Holy Frazzle-Cannon, which is cheap to attach. When the equipped creature attacks, we put a +1/+1 counter on it and each other creature that shares a type with it. It could be an Inkling!
Speaking of reanimation, we can have any non-battle permanent back. When we’ve transformed to The Broken Sky, our creature tokens get +1/+0 and lifelink. Now hear me out, what if those tokens were Inklings??? Also, at end of turn, we create a lousy 1/1 Spirit token, although at least it flies. Gotta go dig up a copy of Blot Out the Sky. BRB.
Again, some light Stax pieces are fair game in my book. This one presses the line a little, although it’s not one that I feel like I’d need to make specific mention of in a pregame conversation unless it’s the commander. It’s in my favorite guild pair, and not only does it rob creatures of their activated abilities, Drana and Linvala take them. It has flying and vigilance, so it’s combat-ready. Vigilance is there, so we can tap it to activate something. Like maybe someone had a Skrelv they weren’t doing anything with.
1. Thalia and The Gitrog Monster
Best card in the set? Maybe. My favorite? A strong candidate. The strongest part for me is the ability that has creatures and nonbasic lands our opponents control enter the battlefield tapped. The other host of abilities? Just delicious topping on one of the best desserts ever. The extra land drop will never get old, especially since we’re also playing OG The Gitrog Monster, which will help fill our hands when we draw from the combat trigger. I continue to revel in some of the brokenness.
Grade: A. We continue to be just remarkable.
Colorless
We can appreciate the first ability on Realmbreaker, the Invasion Tree, especially when we see someone has a fetchland in their graveyard. This card would be good if the text ended there. But why not tack on a stretch goal? For ten mana, we’ll just go get all our Praetors and have them make an appearance. We have lots of choices now in whatever colors we’re playing. All of them are good enough that even if we only get two of them, we’ve exceeded value. We’re getting more than two.
People are a little cool on the last of the Sword of cycle, but what I’m seeing on Sword of Once and Future is that surveil ability to put cards into my graveyard. Whether that’s one of the Karador decks, Old Stickfingers, or any of a number of other decks in which I like to mess with the graveyard, Sword of Once and Future will star. Protection from black and blue isn’t to be scoffed at, either. It takes two-thirds of the best removal off the table. The chilliness towards this card is unwarranted.
I said it at the outset: March of the Machine is an A+. The designers have blended things both old and new into a coherent collection of cards that don’t just interact mechanically but work flavorfully together and in the same spaces. The story of the set is clear in the cards; we don’t need to read any of the associated stories (although definitely do, they’re excellent) to get the narrative.
I’m happy that the first thing that I’m doing at CommandFest Orlando is drafting with March of the Machine. Maybe I’ll have a thing or two to put into my deck suite by the afternoon. If you’re at CommandFest Orlando, please come on by and say hello. I’ll be easy to find. I’ll be the one talking about vegetables, school, and Fogs.
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