It’s not every day that a new card type is introduced toMagic: The Gathering. In fact, the last time this happened was way back in 2007 when Lorwyn gave us the first set of planeswalker cards, a move that would come to be seen as a paradigm shift for the game’s mechanical design and marketing going forward.
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March of the Machine follows this up by introducing battle cards, a type intended to show off the epic conflicts that define much of Magic’s overall narrative. These all fall under the siege subtype for now, so the full potential of this type is yet unknown, but there are still plenty of bomb-tier battles for you to check out in this debut batch.
10Invasion Of Alara
Invasion of Alara, despite packing a hugely prohibitive five-colour mana cost, may just be one of the best battles in the set. This is down to the effects on both the front and back side creating a veritable whirlwind of value, enough to drown your opponent if you can whittle down its seven defence counters within a reasonable timeframe.
All together, Invasion of Alara represents a +7 in terms of card advantage, providing a huge amount of draw alongside removal, creature buffs, and permanent duplication. The fact that all these effects are delivered at once, unlike the more staggered impacts of most other battles, is a nice bonus that offsets the huge investment necessary to pull this one off.
9Invasion Of Azgol
While it may seem counterintuitive to include battle cards in aggressive decks since they inherently require you to divert your attacks away from your opponent’s life total, in some cases their effects are powerful enough to justify this setback. Invasion of Azgol is one such case.
Not only is it a reasonably-priced Edict effect with some incidental burn on the front half, but it flips into an evasive beater that can easily grow every turn to boot. While we haven’t had a full visit to Azgol as a Plane yet, if this card is anything to go by, we’d best brace ourselves for when we do.
8Invasion Of Fiora
Bringing the world of Conspiracy kicking and screaming into mainstream Magic, Invasion of Fiora is one of the more interesting battles from a balance perspective. While it has a high initial mana cost, it only comes with four defence counters, and it can use its targeted board wipe effects to clear the way for your forces to deplete them in a single turn.
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Once this is done, you’ll receive the latest incarnation of fan-favourite Queen Marchesa, a bulky evasive creature with the power to insta-kill any battle or planeswalker in play whenever she attacks. This helps to fuel future battle plays you make, and comes with a monarch-lite card advantage effect as well, in case you need any further value.
7Invasion Of Zendikar
It’s a good sign when the front half of a battle is a card you’d probably play by itself anyway, and Invasion of Zendikar delivers just that. Explosive Vegetation is a card that has seen play inRamp decks across multiple formats, and this is just that card with additional upside: upside that isn’t even hard to access given the battle’s comically low defence value.
Once you’ve won the Battle for Zendikar, you’ll receive a 4/4 creature and mana source: one you may tap into right away thanks to its innate haste ability. Overall, this takes you from four to seven mana by itself without letting you fall behind on the board, easily enabling a powerhouse late game your opponent will struggle to endure.
6Invasion Of New Phyrexia
The centrepiece conflict of March of the Machine deserved a battle card that matched it in grandeur, and Invasion of New Phyrexia doesn’t disappoint. Coming down any time from turn two onwards, depending on how many Knight tokens you want to add to your army, the card is flexible enough to slot into everything from Aggro to Control.
This flexibility persists on the back side, where we’re given a powerful take on iconic planeswalker Teferi. While not as absurd as his War of the Spark incarnation, this version can provide card advantage, removal, and evenboard-wide Knight buffs, depending on your needs. Both sides provide powerful plays at every point in the game, all but ensuring the card sees play in a range of formats.
5Invasion Of Tarkir
While most at home inDragon-based decks, Invasion of Tarkir is generically powerful enough to see play in a range of Midrange strategies. The front side is a reasonable burn spell at a base level, becoming excellent with just one Dragon in your hand, and scaling beautifully from there. The fact that you can aim its damage at other battles is a nice bonus, and one that makes this card excellent in multiples.
The back half is a very solid 4/4 flample, which lets you dish out Shocks like they’re going out of style whenever a Dragon you control, itself included, attacks. While the five defence counters here may be hard to punch through, the powerful initial effect and the strong reward more than make up for it.
4Invasion Of Theros
Invasion of Theros is a curious case, clearly intended for an Enchantress-style deck, but flexible enough to see play in other strategies as well. The front half is a three-mana tutor effect for Gods, Demigods, and Auras: three very specific card types, but three that work well with the back half of the card, given how it rewards you for playing enchantments.
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The back half is an all-new God card: a fresh take on Ephara that puts the original to shame. While it lacks the innate protection of her past incarnation, that’s balanced out by the low mana cost of the battle itself, as well as the ultra-powerful card draw ability, which will see you cycling through your deck faster than you can play it out if left unchecked.
3Invasion Of Ikoria
What a difference one mana makes. While Invasion of Ikoria costs just one more mana than the notorious Green Sun’s Zenith, it’s highly unlikely that the card will meet the same fate: that is, being banned in Modern. This is purely down to the cost difference, since this card actually outpaces Zenith in every way, being less restrictive and allowing you to grab creatures from your graveyard as well.
And that’s before you factor in the colossal 8/8 Dinosaur lurking on the card’s back half, waiting to end your opponent’s life in a single combat step thanks to its sneaky evasive ability. Even if you don’t flip it though, this is a hugely powerful card that turns your deck and graveyard into a handy toolbox.
2Invasion Of Kaldheim
A battle that’s very much here for the back half, Invasion of Kaldheim unfortunately falls into the category of pricey cards that ‘do nothing’ when you cast them initially. While you may be able to gain some card advantage from the opening Wheel of Fortune-style effect here, the real power comes with the Pyre of the World Tree on the back.
This is an enchantment that turns your excess lands into 0-mana Shocks that also draw you cards. It’s an absolute dream for Burn decks, ensuring you never run out of gas again, and letting you bring things home in otherwise stalled-out matchups.
1Invasion Of Innistrad
Being an instant-speed universal removal spell is a great start for any battle, and Invasion of Innistrad follows this up with an excellent back half as well. After working your way through its five defence counters, you’ll immediately receive two Zombie tokens, as well as a repeatable graveyard hate effect that can consistently produce more.
It’s a card that fits firmly in Midrange, but it could work in Control decks as well, given how you can produce a near-endless supply of threats with Deluge of the Dead. It’s fitting that one ofMagic’s most influential Planesreceives one of the set’s most powerful battles.
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