March of the Machine introduced a card type toMagic: The Gathering. As fortune would have it, many of the double-faced battle cards transform into enchantments. This makes the enchantments from March of the Machine more difficult to analyze properly as they are stapled onto a different card type.
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Nonetheless, it’s generally agreed that the front face of battle cards needs to be good enough to see constructed play on their own before considering their backsides. Thankfully, many of the battle enchantments printed meet this metric, and some of their backsides are powerful enough to win a game outright.
8Stasis Field
While unlikely to see play in any kind of constructed format, Stasis Field is worth mentioning as agreat removal spellin limited formats. The fact that this enchantment strips creatures of all other abilities is really what makes it notable.
Previous blue enchantment removal has always been sketchy due to its inability to cancel creature abilities. While Stasis Field isn’t premium removal since it leaves your opponent with a blocker, it’s still a trend in the right direction for blue.
7Astral Wingspan
Speaking of limited, Astral Wingspan is sure to be a powerful player in March of the Machine limited formats. This card instantly replaces itself while also turning an otherwise innocuous creature into a potentially game-ending threat.
The fact that you can cast Wingspan with convoke makes it even sweeter, allowing you to cheat it out for a low mana cost as long as you’ve got a couple of creatures on the battlefield. Wingspan will be a key sign that blue is open in March of the Machine draft, so keep your eyes peeled for them.
The front side of this battle/enchantment isn’t stellar, but it is a fine removal spell to include in many constructed decks. It also lends itself to a deck with an aggressive curve that could potentially flip the battle the same turn it comes down.
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Casting Invasion of Innistrad removes an opposing blocker, clearing the way for a previously played two drop and three drop to instantly destroy the battle and add two Zombie tokens to your board. On top of all that, Deluge of the Dead provides a late game mana sink, and graveyard hate all in one, although it is a tad expensive.
5Seal From Existence
White has become well-known for its enchantment based removal spells, and Seal from Existence is one more card that proves the point. The presence of ward three on this enchantment makes it very costly for opponents to answer, likely meaning that anything you target with Seal is exiled for the rest of the game.
That being said, the ever-popular Invoke Despair doesn’t actually target Seal from Existence and may prevent this card from seeing its full Standard glory until rotation occurs in September. Nonetheless, this is a powerful removal spell that can even answer the new battle type cards coming into circulation. That versatility may see Seal from Existence become a huge player in both Standard and Pioneer, especially if battles prove to be popular.
4Sheoldred / The True Scriptures
Sheoldred is an okay creature thanks to her enter the battlefield trigger and menace, but the real power of this card lies in The True Scriptures. Once flipped, this saga provides removal, discard, graveyard filler, and a final chapter that will likely provide you with a game ending force of creatures.
Granted, The True Scriptures' final chapter is susceptible to board wipe effects. While this may be the case, forcing your opponent to discard three cards is fairly likely to strip them of enough value to make answering The True Scriptures with a board wipe largely ineffective.
The big problem with this card is the sorcery speed mana cost to flip Sheoldred in the first place. Unfortunately, it may just be a big enough problem that the card fails to see play in constructed.
3Urabrask / The Great Work
This is the printing of Urabrask that red mages have been waiting for. Urabrask’s stat line is on par for its mana cost, and it also comes with the powerful first strike keyword and a method to generate mana and deal direct repetitive damage to opponents.
And that’s all before we even get into the backside enchantment. As opposed to Sheoldred, the cost of transforming Urabrask is much more acceptable, thanks to all of the additional value the card presents while attempting to transform it and the fact it only costs a single red mana.
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Once transformed, The Great Work willclean up any small creaturesyour opponent has while providing even more mana in the form of treasures. The final chapter of this saga is perfect for a UR (blue/red) deck or any other build that has draw effects and removal in the form of instants and sorceries.
2Invasion Of Tolvada / The Broken Sky
Invasion of Tolvadaprovides a reanimation effectwith the bonus that you may target any nonbattle permanent instead of just creatures. This allows Tolvada to return planeswalkers, enchantments, and artifacts to the battlefield in addition to good old creature reanimation. That’s a frontside well-worth playing.
Once flipped, The Broken Sky is a simply incredible boon to any deck playing a fair amount of creature tokens. This enchantment makes it so that your opponent has little to no chance of reducing your life to zero as long as you have a handful of creature tokens. In addition, it also spits out flying Spirit tokens at the end of each of your turns.
Cards with great synergy that also fuel themselves almost always end up overperforming. Standard and Pioneer have no shortage of ways to generate tokens, so it’s hard to see a world where this battle doesn’t see constructed play.
1Invasion Of Gobakhan / Lightshield Array
While it may cost two mana, Invasion of Gobakhan is actually a card that you want to play on a later turn in the game if possible. This is because the battle’s low life lends itself to being defeated by a single attacker, and its backside provides an immediate boon if you succeed in flipping it.
Providing counters to your entire board is no small bonus, especially when it only costs two mana. The tax Gobakhan places on a card in your opponent’s hand is almost like icing on the cake when you consider that Lightshield Array already insulates your battlefield against board wipes and removal.
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