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Magic: The Gathering’sMarch of the Machine set marks the biggest war the multiverse has ever faced. With Phyrexians pouring into every world and corrupting and compleating everything in sight, it takes the combined forced of the multiverse to stop complete annihilation at the hands of Elesh Norn.
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Between the newly introduced battles, backup, and incubate, and returning mechanics like convoke and transformation, March of the Machine is a busy set that could easily overwhelm. Whether you’re drafting on MTG Arena or playing sealed in your local game store, here’s how to make the most of March of the Machine’s limited environment.
If you are playing with a Prerelease Kit, keep in mind the team-up promo cards found in the box,Goro-Goro and Satoru, Katilda And Lier, and Slimefoot And Squeeare not legal in limited play for March of the Machine.
White/Blue: Knights
Leading the charge against the Phyrexians are the combined Knights of the multiverse. The Knights of Zhalfir, Eldraine, Dominaria, and more all came together, and this archetype focuses on playing lots of them for impeccable synergy.
The draft signpost for white and blue isMarshal of Zhalfir, who serves a lord for Knights and gives all other ones +1/+1. With that, you can then use cards likeKnight of the New Coalition, Xerex-Strobe Knightand the bombInvasion of New Phyrexiato make Knight tokens and go wide.
Alternatively, you could use other knights likeZhalfirin Lancer, Swordsword Cavalier,andKithkin Billyrider,which have abilities that make them bigger, harder to block, or simply outright dangerous for your opponent.
It wouldn’t be a white/blue deck without elements of control, though. By using cards likeChange The EquationandNegateto counter spells, and Marshal of Zhalfir andProtocol Knightto tap potential blockers down, you’re able to keep the way open for your army to attack unimpeded.
Blue/Black: Graveyards
While blue and black often care about your graveyard, March of the Machine spreads things out a bit and allows you to play with your opponents’ as well. This archetype is all aboutmilling, discarding, and stealing things from graveyards.
Your draft signpost isHalo Forager, which allows you to cast spells from any graveyard without paying its mana cost. But to get this going, you’ll want to focus on milling with cards likeDisturbing Conversion, Halo-Charged Skaab, Flitting Geurilla, Nezumi Freewheeler,andTenured Oilcaster. Keep an eye out for the bomb cardBreach the Multiversetoo, as it makes each player mill a whopping ten cards.
You don’t just need Halo Forager to play with graveyards, though. Make use ofArchpriest of Shadows, Sword of Once And Future; Realmbreaker, The Invasion Tree;and the transformed side ofInvasion of Amonkhet, Lazotep Convert.
Some cards don’t necessarily let you use cards from graveyards, but count them for different effects. For example,Expedition Lookoutcan attack only if an opponent has eight or more cards in their graveyard, whileSee Doublelets you pick both modes. These likely won’t be the bulk of your deck, but it’s worth packing a few for the extra synergy.
Black/Red: Sacrifice
Of course, some archetypes are old faithfuls. Black and red often cares about sacrificing permanents, and it’s no different for March of the Machine. To fit nicely with all the artifacts we’ve seen in recent previous sets, MOM puts an emphasis onsacrificing both creatures and artifacts.
Stormclaw Rageris your signpost, and is a fantastic sacrifice outlet. Not only is it cheap to activate and make the Rager stronger, it also lets you draw a card to keep you stocked up. Other good sacrifice outlets includeAkki Scrapchomper, Dreg Recycler, Compleated Huntmaster,andVoldaren Thrillseeker.
As to what to actually sacrifice, don’t forget thatIncubator tokens are artifacts. If you don’t fancy paying transforming them into creatures, you can simply incubate with cards likeCompleated Huntmaster, Bloated Processor, Marauding Dredship,andMerciless Repurposingand sacrifice the tokens they create instead.
Paring sacrifice up with death triggers is always a good move. For that, you could surveil withFailed Conversion,drain life withEtched Familiar, or even keep the incubation going withInfector Crocodile.Furnace Gremlinis a potential win condition, if you have enough mana to raise its power high enough before sacrificing to finish your opponent off.
Invasion of Azgolcan be used against yourself to let you sacrifice one of your own creatures, but the far more interesting bit is the transformed side,Ashen Reaper. Provided you keep sacrificing stuff each turn, the Reaper will keep getting bigger and bigger – and could synergise very nicely withVoldaren Thrillseeker’sbackup ability allowing the Reaper to sacrifice itself to deal damage equal to its power to any target.
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Red/Green: Defeating Battles
By far the biggest new mechanic of March of the Machine is the introduction of battles,permanents you may attackdirectly to gain an advantage. In this set, all of these battles are Sieges, which can be recast transformed once they’ve been defeated. Plenty of red and green cards will not just help you flip those battles, but reward you simply for attacking them.
The signpost for red/green isRampaging Geoderm. This is both a good way to get damage through to battles thanks to its haste and trample, and also rewards you by putting a +1/+1 counter on a target creature attacking a battle. You’ll want other aggressive creatures, likeCopper Host Crusher, Doomskar Warrior, Shivan Branch-Burner, Scrappy Bruiser, Rampaging Raptor,andEtali, Primal Conquerer.
This archetype is all about both attacking and defeating battles, with lots of payoffs for both. For instance,Furnace Reinslets you steal a creature and draw a card if you hit a battle with it,Rampaging Raptorlets you hit both an opponent and a battle they’re defending, andWar-Trained Slasherdoubles its power if it’s attacking a battle.
In green, attacking battles tends to give you other rewards, likeDeeproot Wayfinderletting you surveil and put lands from your graveyard onto the battlefield, andDoomskar Warriorfiltering cards from the top of your library for creatures and lands.
Of course, you’ll also want battles – of which red and green have lots available.Invasion of Ergamonis your main one, as its transformed sideTruga Cliffchargercan tutor up battles, and has trample to hit more of them. You can also make use ofInvasion of Zendikar, Shandalar, Ikoria, Regatha, IxalanandMuragandato your advantage.
It’s best to avoid cards likeInvasion of KarsusandInvasion of Tarkir, though, as the former deals damage to your own creatures and could wipe out your attacking forces, while the latter works best with a Dragon-centric deck, which is difficult to pull off in March of the Machine’s limited format.
Green/White: +1/+1 Counters
After a number of sets trying various new things, March of the Machine returns green and white back to one of its hallmark archetypes, +1/+1 counters. Going wide and building up your creatures, or making a handful nice and big is the aim here, supported in part thanks to the new Backup keyword.
Botanical Brawleris the signpost for green/white. While it does have the “first time this turn” clause many people hate, it actually triggers for each permanent you put +1/+1 counters on, which with the right build could make the Brawler get very big, very quickly.
March of the Machine has a ways to increase how many +1/+1 counters are put on your creatures withKami of Whispered Hopes and Ozolith, The Shattered Spire.Considering effects like this have been relatively rare before, this could make green/white an incredibly powerful archetype in limited.
As for putting counters on creatures, it’s incredibly easy thanks to things likeFertilid’s Favor, Ancient Imperiosaur, Placid Rottentail, Storm the Seedcore,andTribute to the World Tree.While backup is red/white’s archetype primarily, you can also make sure of the +1/+1 counters that keyword gives here, with things likeBola Slinger, Enduring Bondwarden, Chomping Kavu, andStreetwise Negotiatorall being good sources of counters.
Your choices for good battle cards is somewhat limited here.Invasion of Moagis the primary green/white battle, and by far the best-suited for this archetype as it gives each creature you control a +1/+1 counter. There’s alsoInvasion of Muraganda, which is harder to defeat and only puts one counter on one creature. However, its reverse sidePrimordial Plasmcould be used creatively for getting dangerous blockers with keywords like deathtouch out of the way.
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White/Black: Phyrexians
Every multiversal invasion needs an invading army, and for that we have the white/black archetype and its focus on the Phyrexians themselves. Support for the Phyrexian creature type has been heavily requested ever since the Grand Creature Type Update of Kaldheim, and finally we have ways to make these nightmares really slap.
The signpost uncommon for this archetype isn’t a creature. Instead, it’sSculpted Perfection, an enchantment that makes you an Incubator token and buffs all your Phyrexians by +1/+1. It isn’t the only ‘Lord’ in this set though, thanks toGrafted Butcheralso giving +1/+1 to other Phyrexians and giving them menace until the end of the turn.
When drafting white and black, you need synergy, which means as many Phyrexians as you’re able to get a hold of, likeAlabaster Host Sanctifier, Phyrexian Censor, Progenitor Exarch.One of the biggest bombs in this set is the Mother of Machines herself,Elesh Norn. Not for her front side, although that is decent: the back side,The Argent Etchings, makes loads of Phyrexian creature tokens straight away, before wiping the board of anything not Phyrexian for you to swing in for the win.
Interestingly, most of the battles in this set don’t work particularly well for the Phyrexians. Perhaps the best isInvasion of New Capennaand its transformed face,Holy Frazzle-Cannon. Considering you’ll have a lot of Phyrexians, the Frazzle-Cannon could be putting a lot of +1/+1 counters onto a creature you control when you attack with it.
Blue/Red: Convoke
With green and white all tied up with +1/+1 counters, the old Selesnya mechanic of convoke has moved over to the spellslinging colours of blue and red. This archetype combines go-wide creature token decks withspells that convoke, or allow you to tap creatures to pay for their mana cost.
Look out for the signpost,Joyful Stormsculptor. It makes tokens that can help you convoke for either blue or red, while also dealing damage to opponents and battles they’re protecting each time you cast a convoke spell – which will be a lot.
To help make convoking easier, you’ll want lots of creature tokens.Preening Champion, Ral’s Reinforcements, Invasion of Segovia,andSee Doubleare good ways to do this, as they make coloured tokens that can convoke for blue or red mana, rather than cards likeInvasion of Kaladeshthat makes less-useful colourless tokens.
As for the actual spells to convoke, there are a ton. Your bombs includeComplete The Circuit,which copies the next non-permanent spell you cast that turn. That could be other convoke spells, likeTranscendant MessageandMeeting of Mindsfor card draw,Temporal Cleansingfor powerful permanent removal, orStoke the Flamesfor some direct damage.
It’s not just instants and sorceries that can be convoked, though. You can cheat out some of your biggest creatures, artifacts, and enchantments through convoke, such asShivan Branch-burner, Thunderhead Squadron,and the damage-triplingCity On Fireto quickly bring the game to an end.
Convoke is one archetype that doesn’t have an obvious battle for it. There are good ones, likeInvasion of Arcavios’ tutor ability, andInvasion of Kaldheimburning through your hand to find the spells you need, but nothing specifically caters to the strategy the way other colours get.Invasion of KarsusandInvasion of Regathaare also potential choices here, as they play nicely with the spellslinging aspect – though be careful Karsus doesn’t wipe out your tokens, or you may be unable to convoke anything else.
Black/Green: Incubation
Finally, black and green get an archetype that isn’t graveyard-focused! This time, the Golgari pair are all about Incubate, the new keyword that creates an Incubator token. By paying two generic mana, you’re able to transform that token into an artifact creature you can attack and block with.
Elvish Vatkeeperis the signpost here, thanks to its ability to both create Incubators, and also forcibly transform them and double the number of +1/+1 counters on it. To make the most of this, find cards with high Incubate numbers, such asCompleated Huntmaster, Converter Beast, Tangled Skyline,and the potentially devastatingGlistening Dawn, as paying five damage to make a measly 1/1 into a 2/2 wouldn’t be worth the effort.
You still want to have smaller sources of Incubate, though, as there are more tools to play with them than just Elvish Vatkeeper. Small, cheap Incubate spells likeIchor DrinkerandGift of Compleationcan still help out.
After all, the bomb you’re wanting to watch out for isGlissa, Herald of Predation. At the beginning of combat on your turn, she allows you to either incubate twice, or, more excitingly,transform every Incubator token you control.If you’ve built up a good cache of Incubator tokens, dropping a Glissa, transforming all your tokens into creatures, and then going in for the kill could be the way to win.
There isn’t a clear winner for battle cards for the Incubate strategy.Invasion of Fioracan wipe the board without hitting your untransformed Incubator tokens, which makes it likely your strongest battle card. Oddly, the green/black Invasion of Lorwyn doesn’t interact with incubating at all, making it something of a dead card in your deck outside of some one-off removal.
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Red/White: Backup
While a brand new card type like battles was always going to be exciting, one of the most powerful new additions in March of the Machine is the backup keyword. With it, you can both buff a creature with a +1/+1 counter and share the abilities of one creature with another until the end of the turn. The red/white archetype is full of backup, allowing your creatures to be unpredictable in what they can pull off.
The signpost for this archetype is a beast, withMirror-Shield Hoplitecopying backup triggers. While you could just put both on the same target to give it an extra +1/+1 counter, the better play is to put each backup on a different creature and focus on sharing the abilities out instead.
There are some fantastic backup abilities available to red and white.Boon-Bringer Valkyriegives things flying, first strike, and lifelink,Bola Slingercan tap down blockers, andVoldaren Thrillseekerlets you effectively fling your creatures to add a little extra damage.
Even creatures that don’t have fancy abilities likeFearless Skald, Redcap Heelslasher,andGolden-Scale Aeronautare worth looking for, as giving a heavy-hitter flying or lifelink can be immense.
The enemy colour pair archetypes have less support from battles than their allied counterparts, which makes finding a good battle to go with backup a little trickier.Invasion of Kylemis red/white and makes creature tokens, but its abilities don’t synergise well with the token-light backup archetype. Instead, ones with decent creatures on the back face, likeInvasion of Dominaria, and Invasion of Tarkirare the way to go.
Green/Blue: Transformation
The final archetype for March of the Machine looks at the double-faced cards of the set, and has lots of payoffs fortransforming any kind.Sagas, battles, Incubator tokens, Phyrexian creatures, everything’s fair game here.
You could argue this archetype actually has two different signposts. The main one isMutagen Connoisseur, as it gets more powerful the more transformed permanents you control. With flying and vigilance, it can be an evasive and potentially devastating threat later in the game.
However, there’s also this archetype’s primary battle,Invasion of Pyrulea.The front face simply provides you card advantage if you have enough double-faced cards, but the back face,Gargantuan Slabhorn, is perfect for protecting your bigger, smashier double-faced creatures.
Keep in mind that both of these cards care about cards that have already transformed. This means that, whileVorinclex and Jin-Gitaxiasare both heavy-hitting cards, their tendency to revert back to the front face after the first few turns makes them less reliable. Instead, focus on permanently-transforming cards like the IncubatorsChrome Host SeedsharkandCorruption of Towashi, creatures likeGnottvold Hermit,or battles likeInvasion of Segovia, Invasion of Kamigawa, Invasion of Shandalar,andInvasion of Zendikar.
This archetype is probably the one most likely to want tosplash into other colours.This will help you avoid paying the life to transform off-colour creatures likeCaptive Weird, Order of the Mirror, Bonded Herdbeast, andHerbology Instructor.
