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March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Green

With the full spoiler of Phyrexia: March of the Machine released, DoggertQBones is reviewing the best cards from each color as well as providing sample decklists! Today, he's examining the Green cards!

Hello everyone! With the full spoiler for March of the Machine live, we can finally get into breaking down the cards with constructed applications!

Since I did individual card reviews already, rather than repeat myself, I’ll link the article, but still give the verdict and decklist if that’s what you’re more interested in. For this, I’m going to cover every Mythic, every Rare, and then choice uncommons and commons that have potential. Let’s get into it!

As always, here’s the scale I’ll be using to label the new cards that potentially have constructed applications.

  • 0/5 – Unplayable in every sense.
  • 1/5 – Extremely niche play or very unlikely to see play.
  • 2/5 – Niche to no play, maybe playable in certain conditions.
  • 3/5 – Reasonable playable. Not format breaking, but has the power level to see play in some strategy (or strategies).
  • 4/5 – Very strong card, but not the best the format has to offer. Has the power level to see a lot of play.
  • 5/5 – The very top of the format. This card will create a huge impact going forward on the format.


Vorinclex

At first, I thought this was a six drop and was confused on why this seemed so much weaker than the rest. After being informed it’s actually a 5, that changes a few things! A five mana 6/6 with two keywords is definitely not bad and drawing two cards on entry, even if they’re just Forests, is relatively good. Unfortunately, without a higher impact ETB this is probably not going to see much play, but could be a solid tool for decks looking to keep making land drops into the late game.

Rating: 2.5-3/5


Wrenn and Realmbreaker

Rating: 2.5/5


Invasion of Shandalar

Realistically, I don’t see a five mana card that doesn’t impact the board being good enough for Standard. The last card that was similar to this that was good in Standard was Escape to the Wilds, but that was substantially better than this. That said, I can see a world where midrange decks play this as a one of for a busted draw three in the late game, son it may have some use, but very unlikely to have much use.

Rating: 2/5


Glistening Dawn

This is a weird card. It’s kind of like four mana get two Wrenn and Seven treefolk that you have to spend two extra mana to unlock and they don’t grow, but that’s not completely terrible. I don’t imagine this seeing play, but playing this with 8 lands and threatening to have two 8/8s is definitely interesting.

Rating: 2/5


Ancient Imperiosaur

Big dumb creatures are not good anymore, even with Ward 2 and Convoke. If Tyrannex Rex wasn’t good enough, one that’s bigger, less Ward, and no Haste isn’t going to be.

Rating: 1/5


Deeproot Wayfinder

Connecting with this is going to be difficult, and even if you do, there’s no guarantee you get that good of an effect. If it was guaranteed ramp, this would be a whole different story, but either you need to be lucky with your Surveil or have a different card set this up with lands in your graveyard. Maybe worth building a bit around, but definitely kind of mopey considering this seems worse than Sylvan Advocate which is nearly a 7 year old rare.

Rating: 2/5


Ozolith, the Shattered Spire

I stan Hardened Scales, even if this is weaker. That said, being able to add counters for pretty cheap as well as Cycle when you have multiple is a sick design. Legendary holds it back still, but big fan of this.

Selesnya Counters
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $137.14
Standard
Aggro
best of 1
3 mythic
30 rare
16 uncommon
11 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (3)
Instants (3)
Sorceries (4)
4
Bushwhack
$2.76
Artifacts (4)
Lands (22)
5
Forest
$1.75
3
Plains
$1.05
4
Brushland
$13.96
60 Cards
$205.38

Rating: 3/5


Tribute to the World Tree

This is super Green heavy, but if the game is going long, this seems like a menace. No matter what creature enters, this guarantees its a threat by either making it large or drawing a card to keep the threats going. Pretty niche as I wouldn’t play this main deck and it’s triple Green, but definitely solid.

Rating: 2.5/5


Doomskar Warrior

I can get behind a big Ophidian with better selection. This seems like decent top end in an aggressive Green deck if you can connect with another creature that you backed up, but even if you can’t, a 5/4 is a good stat line in a Sheoldred, the Apocalypse world.

Rating: 2.5/5


Polukranos Reborn

Two GGG cards in the same set? Apparently I paid someone off without remembering! This is very close to Old-Growth Troll in terms of power, and while the front half is a bit weaker, it gives you a mana sink later that makes racing impossible and a death trigger if the opponent can manage to deal with it! Definitely a good card in Mono Green Aggro if that’s a thing.

Mono Green Aggro
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $73.3
Standard
Aggro
best of 1
4 mythic
30 rare
8 uncommon
18 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Sorceries (4)
4
Bushwhack
$2.76
Lands (23)
18
Forest
$6.30
60 Cards
$111.32

Rating: 3.5/5


Invasion of Ikoria

I will always have my eye on Green Sun Zenith adjacent effects, and while the non-Human clause is a little annoying, its hardly a deal breaker. For older formats, I saw players talking about combining it with Vampire Hexmage for a four mana 8/8 which is not particularly good, but definitely cute.

Rating: 2.5/5


Invasion of Ixalan

Once upon a Time was good because it was free some amount of the time where this isn’t. Maybe I’m being too hard on this, but Green card selection is not it most of the time. On the bright side, the back half is somewhat scary, so maybe this will be better than I envision.

Rating: 1.5/5


Sandstalker Moloch

As a Boon Satyr apologist, a three mana 4/2 Flash instantly caught my attention. Furthermore, if the opponent cast a Blue or Black spell, you get a slightly worse Impulse attached to this! While this card is cool, it’s unfortunately not that good considering the body matches up poorly with many popular threats, but this may see play anyway.

Rating: 2/5


Invasion of Zendikar

We haven’t had an Explosive Vegetation in a bit, and while likely only a single deck will be interested in this, it will be quite good in that deck.

Rating: 2.5/5


Kami of Whispered Hope

I love Hardened Scales as you know from the new Ozolith, but not a three mana 1/1 version that adds mana for some reason. I don’t think its even good in the counters deck, but maybe the effect is so strong that it can be. Doubtful, but I’m willing to be wrong.

Rating: 1/5


Atraxa’s Fall

Now this is a Plummet! The sad thing about this is if it destroys a Battle, it’s just gone, but this is definitely the best variant on Plummet and/or Naturalize we’ve seen.

Rating: 2.5/5


Conclusion

Par for the course with modern Standard sets, Green seems pretty mediocre yet again! There are a few decent options like Polukranos and Ozolith, but overall this is a bit disappointing.

Thank you for reading!

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DoggertQBones
DoggertQBones

Robert "DoggertQBones" Lee is the content manager of MTGAZone and a high ranked Arena player. He has one GP Top 8 and pioneered popular archetypes like UB 8 Shark, UB Yorion, and GW Company in Historic. Beyond Magic, his passions are writing and coaching! Join our community on
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