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Wizards of the Coast has given us a massive first look at by far the biggestMagic: The Gatheringset of the last few years, March of the Machine. The Phyrexian invasion of the Multiverse is underway, and with every world at stake, we can expect this to be a set that visits every world and almost every character as they’re plunged into a fight for survival.
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As March of the Machine was shown off in a panel at the Philadelphia MagicCon convention, we had a much more expansive look at it than we normally do in a set’s pre-beat stream. From double-faced cards to returning showcase styles, planechase to even a Ragavan reprints, here is everything we saw.
Story
Magic’s last set, Phyrexia: All Will Be One, ended with the Phyrexians launching their full-scale invasion of the multiverse, having been able tothwart an attack from the ten Planeswalkersthat tried to stop them.
March of the Machine picks up shortly after, with the Phyrexians already pouring into many of Magic’s most famous planes. So far, we’ve seen the leaks of Kaladesh, Kamigawa, Eldraine, and Dominaria, but even more obscure or older ones like Lorwyn, Mercadia, Ikoria, and Alara.
The full story for March of the Machine will be published on the official site starting March 16. Unlike normal stories’ five, this set will have a bumper crop of 12 chapters, chronicling the invasion from its start right up to the conclusion.
Of course, this set also has a follow-up mini-set launching a month later, with March of the Machine. This is being described as a 50-card, lore-heavy release full of spoilers that shows how the multiverse stands after the events of the invasion, however, Wizards is still keeping tight-lipped on what that exactly means.
Double-Faced Cards
Having last been seen in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, March of the Machine is bringing backdouble-faced cardsto represent various aspects of the Phyrexians in an interesting, new way.
All five Phyrexian Praetors are getting a double-faced card that transforms into a Saga representing their own take on Phyrexian philosophy. For instance, Jin-Gitaxias will be able to transform into the Saga, The Great Synthesis. Notably, this Saga transforms back into Jin-Gitaxias once it is complete – whether the other Praetors’ cards do the same thing has yet to be revealed.
It isn’t just Praetors who are getting double-faced cards, though. Many of the multiverse’s famous legendary creatures have also been completed, and March of the Machine is using DFCs to show that transformation.
The main card we’ve seen this for so far is the Therosian god of the Sun, Heliod, with Heliod, the Radiant Dawn and its other face, Heliod, the Warped Eclipse. However, we did also see art for Eldraine’s Ayara, with Ayara, Widow of the Realm and Ayara, Furnace Queen.
Both of these raise interesting points for the story. First, Theros’ gods aren’t corporeal, but instead built from the faith of the people of Theros. For Heliod to compleated, the people of theros had to be first, with his form reflecting their Phyrexian beliefs. Meanwhile, Ayara looks to be a red-aligned Phyrexian, suggesting she chose her new form willingly, as Urabrask does not forcibly compleat people the same way the other Praetors do.
Character Team Ups
March of the Machine isn’t just about Phyrexians, though. It is also about the survivors still fighting back against the invasion, and the unlikely alliances they need to form to stand a chance.
With that in mind, the set is introducing ‘team up’ legendary creatures. While they’re treated as just one creature game-wise, they feature two established characters and aim to combine elements of both of their older cards into one.
For example, we saw Zendikar’s Vampire Drana and Angel Linvala. Drana and Linvala combine Linvala’s classic ability to turn off your opponent’s activated abilities with Drana’s penchant for stealing stuff, and therefore has every activated ability of all of your opponent’s creatures.
Other names include Innistra’d Thalia and the Gitrog Monster, Dominaria’s Yargle and Multani, and Ixilan’s Ghalta and Mavren – the latter of which is also the set’s Bundle promo card.
Some won’t be found in the main March of the Machine set, but instead as Commander-legal promo cards for attending the set’s prerelease events. These include Katilda and Lier from Innistrad, Goro Goro and Satoru from Kamigawa, and Slimefoot and Squee from Dominaria.
Gain Lands
Gain lands are a staple of Standard and have been for years. They’re not amazingly powerful lands, but their two colours and the fact they each give you one life when played has made them great for lower-power games. They’re often among the first multicolour lands new players encounter, and March of the Machine is reprinting all ten back into the Standard format.
Perhaps more importantly than their gameplay ramifications, each card is showing off the Phyrexian invasion of a different plane that may or may not show up elsewhere in the set. Ikoria, Theros, Ixalan, Kamigawa, Eldraine, and New Capenna all get cameos with story-packed flavour text.
Planeswalkers
We didn’t see too much about the Planeswalkers of this set. It was confirmed that this set will have “at least three”, but it will also definitely be less than the ten we just saw in Phyrexia: All Will Be One.
The only Planeswalker we’ve seen so far is Chandra, Hope’s Beacon. This is one of the most versatile Chandra cards printed so far, doing pretty much every one of Chandra’s hallmarks: producing red mana, dealing direct damage, impulsive draw, and, just to add to her repertoire, copying the spells you cast as well.
Multiverse Legends Bonus Sheet
Bonus sheets are one of the most exciting innovations Magic’s made in recent years, with both Strixhaven: School of Mages and The Brothers’ War including a mini-set of powerful and lucrative reprints. While Strixhaven focused on instants and sorceries, and The Brothers’ War on artifacts, March of the Machine is instead giving us reprints of those standing against Phyrexia – the legendary creatures.
These cards,collectively known as the Multiverse Legends, are not in the main March of the Machine set, and therefore aren’t Standard-legal. However, if they follow the same format as the last two bonus sheets, these will be legal in your draft environment, and will be added to digital formats like Historic.
So far, only two of the cards from the bonus sheet have been revealed, but they are bangers. The menaces of Modern and Commander respectively, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Atraxa, Praetor’s Voice immediately kick off the reveals for this sheet with an immense amount of power.
Booster Fun
One of the biggest things Wizards usually reveals in this sneak preview events are the set’s showcase frame alt-art styles. However, March of the Machine doesn’t have its own, unique style. Instead, it brings back almost every one we’ve seen before.
For example, Heliod, The Radiant Dawn is available in the constellation frame we last saw in Theros: Beyond Death. Katilda and Lier pop up in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt’s Equinox frame, and Omnath, Locus of all gets Zendikar Rising’s travel poster style.
Interestingly, Ghalta and Mavren are from Ixalan, a setting that has yet to receive its own showcase frame. This means March of the Machine is debuting a brand-new alt-art style for it that will be revisited in Lost Caverns of Ixalan later this year. Known as the Treasure frame, this embosses coins with the character’s faces, giving it a very lost world-y feel.
Commander Decks
As March of the Machine is this year’s Sprint set, it is also being heavily tied into the year’s major Commander release, like New Capenna, Strixhaven, and Ikoria before it. This means March of the Machine will have five preconstructed Commander decks, instead of the usual two.
We weren’t given a look at the commanders themselves, but we did learn about the playstyle of each of them:
Best of all, these decks allmark the return of Planechase, eleven years after we last saw new cards for it.
Planechase is a format that augments existing games of Magic with a secondary deck of Plane cards. These each have their own effects on them, like Towashi’s card giving modified creatures you control trample and the ability to draw you cards.
By rolling a special dice, you can then either move onto another plane, or ‘chaos ensues’ to trigger a different, often incredibly powerful effect. In Towashi’s case, it’s putting +1/+1 counters on up to three creatures you control, in order to make them modified.
Planechase is an incredibly popular format, especially at in-person events. However, it hasn’t received a new product since 2012. Each deck will include five brand-new plane cards, four reprints, and one Phenomenon, which add more layers of effects for you to profit from.
March of the Machine’s spoiler season begins in earnest on March 29 , ahead of its prerelease events on April 14-20. The set officially releases on April 21.
