March of the Machine takes you across tons of planes from across Magic: The Gathering’s history and watching as they unite against the oppressive threat of the Phyrexian Invasion. The people and creatures of these planes have united against the Phyrexian forces, or have succumbed to Elesh Norn and her glistening oil.
Related:Magic: The Gathering - The Best Planeswalkers For Your First Oathbreaker Deck
Between team-up cards, Compleated creatures, and transforming Praetors, March of the Machine has some of the most powerful creatures Magic has ever seen. The set has even more powerful creatures, though some are more specialized than others, making these some of the best creatures from March of the Machine.
10Polukranos Reborn // Polukranos, Engine Of Ruin
Theros took a heavy hit from the Phyrexian Invasion, with many creatures falling to the glorious whispers of Phyresis. Among the fallen is Polukranos, the many-headed Hydra that Elspeth once cast down has escaped from the Underworld again.
Polukranos Reborn is already an impressive 4/5 with reach for only three mana, making it one of the most aggressively cost rares in recent years. Once transformed, it becomes the Engine or Ruin, gaining lifelink and creating two 3/3 Hydra tokens when it or another nontoken Hydra dies.
9Omnath, Locus Of All
Poor Omnath, Magic players have been waiting for years forthe final iteration of the Zendikarian Elemental, only to have it succumb to the glory of Phyrexia. Like its earlier versions, mana you don’t spend isn’t lost but is now all converted to black mana.
The Compleated Omnath also lets you take a peek at the top card of your library and reveal it if it has three or more colors in its mana cost, then adding three mana to your mana pool and put it in your hand. Even if you don’t want to reveal it, you get to draw that card anyway, helping you hide cards you don’t want your opponents to see.
8Kroxa And Kunoros
Another Theros duo, Kroxa and Kunoros is an incredibly powerful reanimation effect, attacker, and combo card. From Kunoros, this team-up card gains vigilance, menace, and lifelink, making a formidable attacking creature.
Related:Magic: The Gathering – Ways To Make Phyrexia: All Will Be One Go From Good To Great
When you attack with this card, you return a creature from your graveyard back to the battlefield for the low cost of exiling five other cards from your graveyard. There’s already a sneaky little self-mill combo with Altar of Dementia out. Sacrificing Kroxa and Kunoros to the Altar will have you mill six cards, but since it only requires five exiled cards to return it to play, you can repeat the combo over and over again until you win.
7Zimone And Dina
Magic seems to love printing green, blue, and black legendary creatures that have all sorts of wild abilities. The two students of Zimone and Dina drain an opponent of your choice of two life whenever you draw your second card each turn, not just your own.
Zimone and Dina help you draw extra cards, all for the low cost of sacrificing another creature. When you do so you get to draw and put a land into play tapped. Once you hit eight lands, you may repeat this process another time. There are a few ways to combo off if you’re looking to make tons of value, with the easiest using Field of the Dead to create bonus Zombie tokens to sacrifice to their ability.
6Etali, Primal Conqueror // Etali, Primal Sickness
The devastating power of the Phyrexianized Etali, Primal Conqueror cannot be understated. Both sides of this transforming card can close out a game extremely quickly but the tradeoff is a high mana cost. On its front as Etali, Primal Conqueror lets you cast the top card of each player’s deck for free.
Once flipped, Etali, Primal Sicknessbecomes an infecting machine with trampleand indestructible. Any combat damage done by the transformed Etali to a player also deals out that many poison counters, providing a possible one-hit KO if not blocked or dealt with immediately.
5Urabrask // The Great Work
The ultimate reward for casting your instant and sorceries is the new red Phyrexian Preator, Urabrask and its transformed side, The Great Work. When you cast an instant or sorcery spell, Urabrask returns you one red mana and deals one damage to an opponent.
Related:Magic: The Gathering – The Best Commanders For A Phyrexian Deck
Once flipped, The Great Work can be a mini-board wipe, dealing three damage to an opponent and each creature they control. At the second chapter, you create three Treasure tokens, and then finally, you can cast as many instant and sorcery spells from any graveyard the turn it resolves, stealing your opponent’s best spells or giving your spent ones a second round.
4Thalia And The Gitrog Monster
A deadly combination of one of the strongest humans on Innistrad and a giant frog, Thalia and The Gitrog Monster brings together the best of each of their abilities. Thalia and The Gitrog Monster provides pure value, helping accelerate you up in lands and then letting you sacrifice a creature or land to draw a card whenever it attacks.
It also acts as a Stax card, forcing your opponent’s creatures and nonbasic lands to enter the battlefield tapped. As if that wasn’t enough, this team-up card comes with the rare ability combination of first strike and deathtouch, letting you take out your opponent’s creatures with deathtouch before they can kill Thalia and The Gitrog Monster.
3Faerie Mastermind
Featuring 2021 World Champion Yuta Takahashi, Faerie Mastermind is a powerful draw engine, capitalizing on your opponent’s draw effects by drawing cards yourself. you may force Faerie Mastermind’s draw trigger by paying four mana to make each player draw a card, resulting in you drawing two.
Draw-Go style control decks will want to play at least a few copies of Faerie Mastermind in Standard and potentially in other formats too.Since it has flash, you’re able to keep mana up to counter your opponent’s spells or flash Faerie Mastermind into play if your opponent doesn’t make a play.
2Drana And Linvala
Rarely do you see Angels and Vampires partnering up together but with the team-up card Drana and Linvala you’ll see the two legendary creatures together. These two Zendikarian creatures come together to make a powerful Stax card, shutting down your opponent’s creatures just by being in play.
Not only does Drana and Linvala prevent your opponent’s creatures from activating their abilities, but the two then gain all activated abilities from your opponent’s creatures. This reversal of abilities lets you use mana of any color to use them, so you are not restricted by mana costs to use them.
1Elesh Norn // The Argent Etchings
An immensely powerful creature on the front, and a creature generator and board wipe on the back, Elesh Norn remains one of the most powerful creatures in Magic with this latest iteration. On the front, Elesh Norn forces your opponent to lose two life when a source they control would damage you or a permanent you control.
By sacrificing three creatures you can flip Elesh Norn into The Argent Etchings. This saga gives you five Incubate tokens with two +1/+1 counters on it, then automatically flips them all to creatures. On your next turn, those tokens become 3/3s with double strike, giving each one the potential to deal six damage that turn. Then, you blow up the battlefield, save for artifacts, lands, and all Phyrexian permanent cards.
