Out of the Box - March of the Machine - 1/3
It’s been a while since I wrote one of these! The Phyrexia: All Will Be One precons didn’t seem all that popular to ‘keep in Battlecruiser’ on the server as most people signified wanting to upgrade the Corrupting Influence toxic/poison precon to Low or Mid Power and picking apart the Rebellion Rising precon and using it for parts.
If you’re new to Out of the Box, it’s a series where I talk about how to upgrade these precons while staying within the boundaries of the Battlecruiser (BC) power level on our server. This is not an article about upgrading your deck to Low or Mid Power, and it is not an exhaustive list of ‘cards you must add’ to your deck, rather a small nudge in the right direction for when people are struggling to self limit when making upgrades, without overshooting their power level goal.
March of the Machine Commander (MOC) brings us 5 new Commander precons and each of these has access to three colors. It’ll be interesting to see how they vary the cardpool for purposes of card draw, removal and finishing potential, because a lot of the decks share colors this time.
The first MOC precon article will go over the Growing Threat (White-Black) and Cavalry Charge (White-Blue-Black) decks. The second article which is scheduled to release Friday the 28th of April will go over Divine Convocation (Blue-Red-White) and Call for Backup (Red-Green-White). There will be a third and final article covering Tinker Time (Green-Blue-Red) and doing some comparisons between all the precons to close out the series.
Growing Threat
Face Commanders
Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos cares about casting Phyrexian or artifact creature spells, with a potential to proliferate in your end step. Every creature in the deck is either a Phyrexian, an artifact creature, or both, which makes it so brand new players don’t have to worry about paying more attention than is needed to the creature type line. To make this work a few shapeshifters found their way into the deck. There are several once per turn and repeat sac outlets to ensure Brimaz’s second ability will trigger relatively consistently too.
Moira and Teshar reanimates nonlands from your graveyard whenever you cast a historic spell and with 16 artifact creatures, 16 non-creature artifacts and 3 legendary spells it should have no issues getting enough trigger potential to return permanents back to the field. To ensure you have permanents in your graveyard, a lot of toolkit pieces such as ramp and card draw have a way to sacrifice themselves, though I would have loved to see a little more self-mill cards to make Moira and Teshar just that little bit better.
Brimaz allows the deck to go tall and puts several big tokens on the field, but you have to pay mana to transform those tokens into creatures. Moira and Teshar makes for impactful repeat enters the battlefield (ETB) effects, but you do exile whatever you reanimate in the next end step, so both commanders have their advantages and disadvantages.
Brimaz will require more mana to generate a meaningful board, and Moira and Teshar will have a slower early game due to needing cards in the graveyard to be useful. Both commanders are functionally different enough to make the deck not feel too samey when simply swapping out one for the other, so it’s down to your preference who you put at the helm.
Interesting New Cards
Contrary to other Commander precons, the entire cycle of MOC decks comes with Planechase cards and several cards in the 99 that care about Planechase. Because of this, each precon has several cards in them that care about the planar die. Sadly, these cards were counted in the advertised 10 new cards per precon which means less regular new cards for non-Planechase players in most cases.
In the past I always tried to highlight at least 3 new cards per precon for their EDH potential, but due to the smaller new card pool this might not be the case for every deck. It’s hard to get excited for a card like Ichor Elixir, which is Sisay’s Ring with a cares-about-Planechase mechanic stapled onto it, when Sisay’s Ring is just about one of the last mana rocks I’d put into a deck myself. If you’re not interested in Planechase, be aware that these cards really eat into the new card slots of the decks.
Bitterthorn, Nissa’s Animus is a ‘technically worse’ Sword of the Animist, but finding basic lands and putting them straight on the field in decks without access to Green will always be a desirable effect. In a singleton format, finding redundant effects that do ‘sort of the same’ as other cards you play is one of the easiest ways to make your deck more consistent.
I’ve already highlighted Excise the Imperfect in the Top 10 Cards for March of the Machine article last week, so go read all about it there. In this precon, you could potentially exile your own reanimated creature that would be exiled in the end step anyway to turn it into a sizable Incubator token.
Cuts
Because we don’t have to account for Planechase being relevant in the curated power levels, Ichor Elixir, Fractured Powerstone and Path of the Schemer are easy cuts to make. I also think precons are well past running cards like Orzhov Locket and 38 lands with the ramp present in the deck means you can easily cut two lands too.
Be aware when making these cuts you’re now down 3 mana rocks and 2 lands, so adding better ramp and more card draw is likely a smart thing to do. Shattered Angel without means of capitalizing on your life total as a resource seems like a card that’s just going to make the game needlessly longer than it has to be so I’d likely take that out as well. I’d then make cuts according to who you decide to put in your command zone.
Replacements
If you’re going to play Brimaz, you don’t really care for the historic synergy of of the deck outside of artifacts , so cards you feel lack synergy with the game plan of ‘play Phyrexians and make an Incubator tokens that I can turn into a creatures later’ can be cut easily.
Essence of Orthodoxy from the Standard set seems solid. Just make sure to play it right, an incubator token transforming into a Phyrexian artifact creature does not count as a Phyrexian creature entering your battlefield. Grafted Butcher provides your Phyrexians with menace and having a sacrifice outlet straight from the graveyard seems like a good card to add too.
Aron, Benalia’s Ruin is a Phyrexian and sacrifice outlet. The activated ability is a great way to grow your Incubator tokens all in one card, and a well timed White Sun’s Twilight could help you close out the game more consistently. I was quite surprised to see a token focused deck where Idol of Oblivion wasn’t included so let’s add that one as well. Ghost Lantern, which will put +1/+1 counters on the creature it’s equipped to whenever a creature you control dies seems alright. Given the number of sacrifice effects in the deck, it should have no issues triggering several times per turn.
If you choose to make Moira and Teshar your commander, you can likely do with less incidental Incubator tokens and you probably want most of your creature base to have some form of ETB so you can get double value from reanimating it. Scryfall also has an is:historic filter if you’re looking for the right search term to use and you want to focus more on shifting towards that playstyle.
Add Loran of the Third Path for some extra artifact and enchantment removal, something the deck is currently quite low on. Incarnation Technique makes for a fine replacement of Path of the Schemer and Archon of Cruelty and Sun Titan provide you with some additional repeated value on ETB and attack, meaning you’re getting double the value from your hasted reanimate through Moira and Teshar.
Extractor Demon is an underplayed mill piece which triggers on creatures leaving the battlefield. This includes your own reanimated creatures you exile in your end step with Moira and Teshar, or creatures leaving the battlefield on your opponent’s boards. Note how most my recommendations here are quite up there in mana value, so make sure to make cuts and swaps accordingly and you’re not left with 25 cards that cost 6 mana and up to play.
I’d normally slot Village Rites for some extra draw and put creature in the yard at instant speed but with the new set comes a more on flavor direct 1 for 1 reprint of that card in the form of Corrupted Conviction so let’s add that instead. Deadly Dispute would work too since it can sacrifice artifacts, which in this case means your incubator tokens.
Regardless of who you put at the helm, the deck has no means of putting early game threats or engine pieces on board outside of a few ramp cards. Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim and Vraan, Executioner Thane are solid choices for 2 mana, and they’re both Phyrexians and historic too!
They provide the deck with some life drain effects to chip away at your opponent's life totals, something the deck is currently lacking without requiring a sizable graveyard to reanimate or a large mana pool to transform your Incubator tokens with.
It feels good being able to recommend cards for EDH from the previous few Standard set because we have this ‘block/not a real block’ release schedule happening now. Please return to block expansion sets. Please?
Favorite boxed lines of play
Attack with Phyrexian Triniform, an opponent will refuse to block to not give you the 3/3 Golems and denying you the encore. 9 Damage to someone’s face for free. Second main phase, Meteor Golem your own Phyrexian Triniform. Encore Triniform next turn, a bunch of triggers happen, 9 3/3 Phyrexian Golem artifact creature tokens ETB in your end step, trigger, trigger, trigger.
Another fun one is cast Phyrexian Rebirth, hold priority, activate Soul of New Phyrexia and swing out. Of note, you can activate Soul of New Phyrexia when it’s in your graveyard and do this too. It’s an ability so you can do it at instant speed, which matters for cards like the second chapter of Phyrexian Scriptures or in response to an opponent wiping the board.
Cavalry Charge
Face Commanders
Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir brings eminence back to the table, a mechanic we haven’t seen since Commander 2017! Whenever you attack with one or more knights, loot. When Sidar Jabari deals combat damage to a player, reanimate a knight. Just like with Brimaz, every creature card in the deck abides by the theme so none of your creatures in your graveyard are excluded from being a legal reanimation target.
Elenda and Azor gives you a resilient evasive commander that can draw cards and provide you with a sizable board equal to the amount of cards drawn this turn. In the unedited precon, Elenda and Azor already costing 6, and the activated ability costing a minimum of 4, I felt the deck performed more consistently with Sidar Jabari at the helm.
If you’re however able to cast a well-timed Liliana’s Standard Bearer or manage to get an early game Vanquisher’s Banner on the field, your gameplay is going to improve quite significantly. Vodalian Wave-Knight also performs better with Elenda and Azor than it does with Sidar Jabari at the helm. I was quite disappointed to see this card was white-blue and not just blue. This was probably done to not make it an instant include in the 99 of pretty much each and every merfolk or knight deck. Can we get a version of this card that’s just merfolk without the knight clause and make it mono-blue or Simic? Thanks!
Interesting New Cards
Conjurer’s Mantle will feel right at home in many ‘cares for creature type’ decks. Human, Angel, Cat, Spirit, Cleric, Bird, there should be enough decks with white that will want this effect. Chivalric Alliance seems like a great card draw option in White too, even if you don’t care about the activated ability part of the card. Most go wide decks will find an easy slot for both of these. It’s nice to see more white card draw that that doesn’t rely on your opponents to do something for you to draw a card. I thoroughly enjoy the metal album vibes the art of Chilvaric Alliance gives off, it reminds me about Twilight Force - At the Heart of Wintervale a lot.
Herald of Hoofbeats sees the return of Horsemanship, which to me has always been more fun than flying, even though flying is mechanically the same. ‘My creature is on a horse and yours is not so I just ride over you so you can’t block me’ is so mechanically “early days” Magic: The Gathering.
It’s weird to see this effect on a mono-blue card knowing only 37 cards with at least blue as their color identity exist (excluding changelings). I’d like to believe this was a deliberate design choice, just like with Vodalian Wave-Knight. Now, can we get a reprint of Riding the Dilu Horse already? Without updating the rules text to say ‘until end of turn’ obviously.
Cuts
To nobody’s surprise, I’d take out Fractured Powerstone, Ichor Elixir and Path of the Enigma.
Syr Elenora can get replaced and Knight of the Last Breath is quite mediocre too. I’m not a fan of the Adventure cards and I’d cut all of them, since you’re having to jump through 3 hoops in order to reanimate them.
Assuming you’re going to cast the adventure side, put your card in exile, meaning Sidar Jabari can’t bring it back. Then, cast your creature for its regular mana cost. Now you need to have a way to put that card in the graveyard again. Finally, make sure Sidar Jabari is able to connect for combat damage, and even then comparing them to the rest of the creatures in the deck, these are just about your worst targets to reanimate.
It just seems like a bit much, especially since you now get access to a 1/1 deathtouch, a 2/2 flier that can’t block and a 2/1 lifelink. Unless you have a way to discard Murderous Rider, you can’t even ensure the card will ever be in your graveyard.
Curry Favor also feels like too cheap and easy of an effect to just win the game for one mana if a game goes long and the board hasn’t been wiped for several turns. I’m not opposed to winning a game of Commander, but ‘we’ve been going for a while, everyone has an established board, so for one mana I will now just win’ just doesn’t sit with me well.
I know everybody has an opinion on Temple of the False God, mine is that it should stop getting printed into precons indefinitely and that it should not be here. Yes, this is a hill I will die on. Sleeve it up and you now have a unique coaster for your guests. There’s 39 lands in the deck so you can easily go down a few.
Adds
If you put Sidar Jabari at the helm, you’re going to want to make it easier to trigger his reanimation mechanic, so you have to ensure he can connect. Trailblazer’s Boots, Prowler’s Helm and Mask of Riddles are all solid options that make him harder to block, and if someone removes your commander, the equipment will stay on the battlefield, which is why I prefer these over auras that can serve the same purpose.
Kinsbaile Cavalier and Kwende, Pride of Femeref will give Sidar Jabari double strike, meaning you now get to reanimate two knights per turn if you’re able to get combat damage through. Even if they’re not originally on the field, returning either of these with Sidar Jabari’s ability means you will still get to reanimate two creatures.
Assuming Sidar Jabari connects during first strike damage, target Kinsbaile Cavalier or Kwende in your graveyard with Sidar’s ability. If this resolves, Sidar now has double strike, meaning he’ll connect again during the second combat damage step.
If you want a rule to point to:
702.4d Giving double strike to a creature with first strike after it has already dealt combat damage in the first combat damage step will allow the creature to assign combat damage in the second combat damage step.
Hero’s Heirloom gives Sidar Jabari haste, which is probably more safe for our own BC power level than providing haste for your entire board. The trample means he can connect more easily too. If you’re going to add Kwende, Sword of Vengeance is likely good too, to give other big beatstick a bunch of keywords (and potentially double strike).
I’m aware a lot of my card recommendations are equipment up to this point. People tend to wipe them less often in Battlecruiser than they do creatures, and I feel spreading your threats is usually a good way to rebuild better than your opponents anticipated. Though there was a small uptick in artifact removal with the Urza and Mishra precon from a few months ago.
Cavalier of KNight makes it so you’re able to put other knights with powerful ETBs back into your graveyard, while providing you with some reanimation without needing your commander. Only 5 of your 32 creatures won’t benefit from Glen Elendra Liege and because Sidar Jabari has first strike, your remaining attackers will now get +2/+2 during the second combat damage step, so it’s a neat card to pull out of your graveyard, because your opponents have already assigned blockers, and now your creatures are bigger.
Elenda and Azor feels a little bit harder to balance. I’m going to assume most decks built from scratch are immediately going to load this deck full of cantrips, wheels and spellslinger payoffs, which is probably also the easiest way of making it not BC friendly. I wouldn’t focus on ‘drawing more/double/large amounts’ if you want to keep your precon in BC. If the first cards you can think of when reading Elenda and Azor are Teferi’s Ageless Insight, Consecrated Sphinx, Anointed Procession, Windfall and Cathars’ Crusade, you might be better off building the deck from scratch for a different power level.
Let’s emphasize on the token part of the commander instead. Sanctum Seeker cares about the tokens Elenda and Azor makes, and is a knight too! Intangible Virtue and Inspiring Leader both make your tokens stronger, as does Marshal of Zhalfir from the new Standard set. The reason I’m opting out adding too many all creatures / all Knights boardwide lord effects is because the precon already has several of these, and putting too many ‘everything I have gets bigger’ effects might get out of hand once you synergize more with the go-wide mechanics of the deck. Buffing the tokens and not the regular creatures serves as a way of self-balancing here.
I’d also like to highlight Invasion of New Phyrexia, the first Battle card I ever get to recommend in any article! Six defense counters and Elenda and Azor have 6 power and flying, so you’re able to defeat this battle quite easily. Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir’s +1 allows you to draw cards, which has synergy with your commander, and the -2 gives you an emblem that permanently buffs your knights, which is relevant to both commanders in the precon. Teferi starts at 4 loyalty, so you’re able to get multiple of these emblems out if you’re able to defend him and the game goes long.
Favorite boxed line of play
Attack with Sidar Jabari. If he’s unblocked, activate Valiant Knight. First strike damage, reanimate Acclaimed Contender. With Acclaimed Contender’s ETB on the stack, activate Knight of the Last Breath in response, putting Acclaimed Contender back in the graveyard. Resolve the stack. When Sidar Jabari connects the second time, reanimate the Acclaimed Contender again. Filter through 1/10th the deck. Do a small victory dance, and be disappointed you only found the adventure knight cards with both Acclaimed Contender ETBs ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
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