Our Top 10 Cards for March of the Machine
The invasion of the Multiverse wasn’t exactly a success for the Phyrexians, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy ourselves. Given the significance of this set to Magic’s ongoing story, expectations were definitely very high. With the new battle card type, various legendary team-ups, and glimpses of planes that we haven’t seen in some time, there’s definitely a lot to take in for Magic players of all stripes.
Whenever a Magic set tries something new, there’s always some uncertainty. This is especially true for formats like Commander, because the cards stick around forever. While we’re still absorbing the impact of a new card type and some major story events, it’s not too early to pick out some gems for Commander. In this article, we (Chief, Storming the Seedcore and Exxaxl, Completing the Circuit) will showcase our picks for the most exciting cards in March of the Machine (MOM).
Invasion of Gobakhan // Lightshield Array
Chief: I’ll be the first person to admit that an Elite Spellbinder effect isn’t that impactful in the average Commander game. We’re fortunate that this battle card has an entirely different spell on the back face with a very reasonable 3 defense counters to start. White excels at evasion through abilities such as flying or protection, so it should be pretty easy for you to win this battle and cast the spell on the back of the card.
If you’re playing a go-wide strategy, this card can turn your small creatures into ever-growing threats that need to be dealt with. The fact that it can also be sacrificed to protect your creatures from board wipes or targeted removal is just another thing that most creature-based decks with white will love. I’m especially looking forward to abusing this card with Serra Paragon, a flying angel that happens to have exactly 3 power.
Dance with Calamity
Exxaxl: I like how this card is going to show exactly how much restraint you have, since you may exile the top card of your library as many times as you choose. If you go over 13 mana value, you don’t get to cast the spells you exiled. People will find ways to cast this spell for free, like with Neera, Wild Mage or Tibalt’s Trickery. You could happen to find it as a sorcery with Aminatou’s Augury or recast it with Mizzix’s Mastery, and I’m sure people who run Arcane Bombardment won’t regret adding this 8-drop to their sorcery pile.
Imagine stealing this effect with Etali, Primal Storm or Fallen Shinobi. This feels like a card an opponent might run and then I’ll choose to copy it with Narset’s Reversal instead. I’m sure people will find a way to copy or cheat this out way cheaper than I already listed, exile their entire library, and then drop a Thassa’s Oracle on the field. Someone likely already built a deck where the entire mana value of all the cards in the deck combined is just 13, so it’s impossible for them to overshoot.
Invasion of Ikoria // Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria
Chief: Unlike the previous battle card on the list, this one got my attention because of how good the front side can be. Green tutors that put a creature onto the field are typically pretty powerful, so I expect this card to be something of a staple right out of the gate. While it doesn’t give you the buff and haste that you can get from Finale of Devastation, this card will still make it into lists that have specific tutor targets that win games. The only real downside is that your target can’t be a human.
If you do win this battle, you’ll be able to get a pretty cool dinosaur. This 8/8 comes with reach and provides your entire team—sans humans—with evasion. This creature can easily win games if you have an established board presence but find yourself unable to get through walls of small creatures. The real shame is that we still don’t have the first Zilortha card in paper outside of the Godzilla variant.
Drana and Linvala
Exxaxl: If you’ve read our Streets of New Capenna Top 10 you might remember Scheming Fence made my list there, so it’s only logical that Drana and Linvala would appeal to me too. Disable your opponents’ Bloom Tender, Mother of Runes or Viscera Seer, and give yourself that effect instead. I like the interaction between this card and Dauthi Voidwalker. You now get access to all your opponents cards exiled with void counters on them.
Since a lot of commanders have powerful activated abilities, it seems hilarious to steal effects like Kenrith, the Returned King; Najeela, the Blade-Blossom or Urza, Lord High Artificer and deny your opponents the ability to activate their own. These are just a few examples of commanders that won’t be happy to see this card.
Path of the Pyromancer
Chief: I don’t have anything against Planechase and it’s actually really cool to see them supporting it with some new cards in this set. That said, I firmly believe that this card shines for other reasons. Being able to cycle your entire hand and produce a ton of mana seems pretty busted, especially with such a flexible casting cost. This feels like it will quickly become one of the best ritual spells in red’s already expansive stable.
I already have visions of this card going crazy with Underworld Breach, but it feels like it will be insane even when it’s played fairly. While I definitely don’t think that it’s going to replace Jeska’s Will, it seems likely that lot of decks will play both of these cards. While I’d never use art as a justification for why a card is great, it’s also worth pointing out that Dominik Mayer understood the assignment and absolutely killed it as usual.
Excise the Imperfect
Exxaxl: 3 mana to exile any nonland permanent is clearly strong in our format, Anguished Unmaking wouldn’t see as much play if that wasn’t the case. I feel not enough people are talking about this card. Whatever you exile has to be a whole lot scarier than the Incubater token for you to remove it for 3 mana at instant speed.
I don’t think the token you’re going to give your opponent matters all that much. While the double pip of white mana means this won’t go in every deck, it’s certainly going to replace or complement the decks where I already run Generous Gift.
Phyrexian Censor
Chief: What can I say? I love Rule of Law effects. I love them even more when they have a secondary benefit. While the restrictions on this card have exceptions, they will hit the majority of cards that you’re likely to see in Commander—especially cEDH—and keep your opponents on the back foot. If you’ve built your deck around playing through this type of effect, you won’t have any trouble with it.
This card is a shoe-in for my Heliod, Sun-Crowned deck because it plays well on a single spell per turn and isn’t meaningfully disrupted by creatures entering the battlefield tapped. It remains to be seen whether other creature-based stax decks will find this card too disruptive to their own play patterns, but I’m definitely looking forward to bolstering my stable of Rule of Law effects.
Invasion of Amonkhet // Lazotep Convert
Exxaxl: This is the only battle card that I found truly interesting. 3 mana everyone mill 3, each opponent discard 1 and you draw 1 card seems like insane value for its cost. The transformed side being essentially a The Scarab God token is just the icing on the cake.
My main issue will be fitting this into one of my decks. Most of the ones I currently have assembled in those colors tend not to be swingy in nature, and taking down 4 defense counters might not be an easy task to accomplish on my own. I guess there’s a way to politic my opponents into attacking it if someone has an ETB removal creature in their graveyard.
Sword of Once and Future
Chief: At long last, the cycle is finally complete. I wasn’t sure what this card would do, but I’m pleasantly surprised how unique it turned out to be. Being able to surveil 2 during combat lets you see and access a solid amount of cards, especially if you can utilize your graveyard effectively. Flashing back an instant or sorcery spell from your graveyard for free helps you get more mileage out of targeted removal and other cheap spells.
While I think that you’d want to be running a decent amount of targets to cast out of your graveyard, you definitely don’t need to be playing a full-on spellslinger deck for it to be valuable. Of note, this ability is particularly unique for mono-white decks that don’t usually have many ways to reuse instant and sorcery spells once they’re in the graveyard. I’m looking forward to trying it out in my casual decks.
Omen Hawker
Exxaxl: Any card that generates more mana than it costs to play is strong. While it’s true Omen Hawker has summoning sickness and can only generate mana to be used to activate abilities, there are plenty of ways to capitalize on this.
Pemmin’s Aura and Freed from the Real aren’t strangers to our format, and with those you now have infinite colorless mana, using the blue pip Omen Hawker generates to untap itself. Sink this mana into your command zone outlet like Thrasios, Triton Hero or Urza, Lord High Artificer for infinite commander activations and that’s GG. The fact they printed this on a one drop is insane, I don’t feel the limit of only spending it on activated abilities was enough to make this card cost just a singular mana, especially with the amount of ‘only once per turn’ cards we’ve seen in the last few years.
Multiverse Legends
Chief: There were also some cool reprints this time around too. I was happy to see so many commanders with new artwork. Which one was your favorite?
Exxaxl: I’ve never built a deck with Umori, the Collector, but I’m picking it just for the artwork. It reminds me of something out of Studio Ghibli, Shadow of the Colossus or Dark Souls. I’m happy all ten companions got a similar artstyle print, because I really dislike it when a cycle isn’t compleated, or only completed several years later. I’ve played against several Umori decks, and they were pretty unique every time. Maybe it’s time to finally sit down and brew my own.
Chief: I’m gonna have to go with Aurelia, the Warleader because of that awesome new Ravnica showcase design. During the preview season for Double Masters 2022, I said that I’d like to see her get a fancy version like this. I’m extremely happy with how this card turned out. In fact, I’m even considering building her as my next Commander deck! If they reprint her enough times, maybe she’ll finally stay under $10 too. We can only hope.
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