Table of Contents
- Article List
- Kroxa and Kuronos
- Zurgo and Ojutai
- Thalia and The Gitrog Monster
- Borborygmos and Fblthp
- Zimone and Dina
- Invasion of New Phyrexia
- Djeru and Hazoret
- Invasion of Alara
- Kogla and Yidaro
- Inga and Esika
- Errant and Giada
- Hidetsugu and Kairi
- Baral and Kari Zev
- Rankle and Torbran
- Invasion of Tolvada
- Glissa, Herald of Predation
- Quintorius, Loremaster
- Drana and Linvala
- Yargle and Multani
- Ghalta and Mavren
- Omnath, Locus of All
- Marshal of Zhalfir
- Invasion of New Capenna
- Botanical Brawler
- Halo Forager
- Invasion of Ravnica
- Sword of Once and Future
- Realmbreaker, the Invasion Tree
- Conclusion
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.
Article List
- Many Faces of Monastery Mentor With March of the Machine
- Seven Battle Decks With March of the Machine
- Eight Team Up Decks With March of the Machine
- Seven Praetor Decks With March of the Machine
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: White
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Blue
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Black
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Red
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Green
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Multicolor and Colorless
Kroxa and Kuronos
Mardu Midrange
by DoggertQBones
Standard
Midrange
best of 1
9 mythic
36 rare
13 uncommon
2 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (2)
Creatures (14)
Enchantments (9)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$617.56
Rating: 3.5/5
Zurgo and Ojutai
I’m always down with a five mana 4/4 Hasty dragon, but one that has Hexproof on entry and will draw you a card when it connects? Sheesh. This card is definitely pretty strong despite being in three colors as functionally forcing through an attack and getting an Anticipate out of it is quite nasty. Furthermore, if you think the opponent can kill it, you can just keep bouncing it! I doubt this will come up often, but it’ll feel invaluable when it does.
Jeskai Control
by DoggertQBones
Standard
Control
best of 1
7 mythic
40 rare
1 uncommon
12 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (3)
Instants (13)
Sorceries (4)
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (27)
60 Cards
$364.94
Rating: 3.5/5
Thalia and The Gitrog Monster
This has a lot of text that kind of brings you all over the place. So you have a First Strike Deathtouch body like Glissa Sunslayer, you get to play additional lands which you sacrifice to draw cards when you attack, and your opponent’s creatures and nonbasics enter tapped. All in all, this is just midrange soup the card as none of these abilities are something you build around, they’re all just solid. I don’t know if its enough of a draw to play three colors, but it’s definitely a strong card.
Abzan Legends
by DoggertQBones
Standard
Midrange
best of 1
10 mythic
47 rare
3 uncommon
0 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (30)
Instants (3)
Lands (27)
60 Cards
$699.1
Rating: 3/5
Borborygmos and Fblthp
As much as I love the card and the pairing, this is a tough sell for me. A three color 5 mana 6/5 that draws a card on ETB and attack is ok, and pitching lands to deal damage is nice, but that’s kind of it. It’s a decent card all around, but not terribly exciting for three colors. If you have a lot of excess lands in hand, this is probably going to feel great, and if not, this is going to feel solid. Nothing crazy here.
Rating: 2.5/5
Zimone and Dina
The final three color pairing and this one is a doozy. You get to drain 2 when you draw your second card, and if you tap to sacrifice a creature you get minimum one Growth Spiral. This seems good to me, but I’m lost on how you would build with this in mind. This seems like a build around that doesn’t reward you that much for building around it which is kind of weird, but I do think the power level is there.
Rating: 2.5/5
Invasion of New Phyrexia
Yuck. The first half of this card is super underwhelming unless you’re looking to put a lot of mana into it, because if you’re not, you’re just playing a draft common. Who doesn’t love Observant Alseid without the part that made it remotely playable,
Rating: 1/5
Djeru and Hazoret
This is a wacky card. So you need to clear a few bars for this card to be good: first you need a deck that can play with zero or one card in hand regularly to get the Vigilance and Haste as while that isn’t a requirement for the card to do anything, it is a requirement for the card to be good. Second, you need a high enough volume of Legends that you hit off the trigger often enough to make this worthwhile. So in theory, you would want around 10 Legends other than this to make this at all viable, and realistically, you probably want more. I personally think this is too many hoops to jump through, but anything that gives you free spells should always be examined and then reexamined.
Rating: 2.5/5
Invasion of Alara
I love 5 color cards, but when you’re casting a 5 color card, the power level needs to match. Look at The Kami War – now that’s a 5 color payoff. You have to remember that your mana is going to be clunky to make this work, so if you’re playing mid-late game cards, they need to do something big immediately. Letting you play and draw a cheap spell simply does not cut it. While this does have a bunch of fun text if you flip it, 7 damage to win the battle is a lot. That does neatly coincide with Atraxa, Grand Unifier, but if you’re attacking with an Atraxa, I doubt you’re losing at that point anyway.
Rating: 1/5
Kogla and Yidaro
As I keep saying, the bar for 6 drops is very, very high, and this one doesn’t clear it. Six mana for a 7/7 that can either be Hasty or fight something is definitely solid and the Naturalize draw a card is also fine, but it’s going to take more than that to convince me to play this in most decks. I will say that if there is some sort of Gruul(x) ramp deck, this should probably be included to help stabilize, but I’m unsure if this is even better than Tovolar's Huntmaster which sees literally zero play.
Rating: 2.5/5
Inga and Esika
Cryptolith Rite is good on turn two as that’s when you need the mana, not so much turn 4+. While drawing a card off of creature mana is cool, needing to tap three creatures to do it is quite the tall price to pay. This begs too much for a build around without providing an adequate payoff.
Rating: 1.5/5
Errant and Giada
Now this is a dope card. A three mana 2/3 Flying Flash that can let you functionally draw cards? I’m very in with that. You do have to build around this, but this is the type of payoff I’m looking for where you get to cast spells off the top without sacrificing too much in the process. I doubt there’s enough Flash cards to make a deck out of, but there may be enough Angels now!
Azorius Angels
by DoggertQBones
Standard
Tribal
best of 1
4 mythic
36 rare
4 uncommon
16 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (30)
Instants (2)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$182.04
Rating: 4/5
Hidetsugu and Kairi
Grixis Hidetsugu Combo
by DoggertQBones
Standard
Combo
best of 1
10 mythic
32 rare
14 uncommon
4 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (4)
Creatures (14)
Sorceries (3)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$490.74
Rating: 3.5/5
Baral and Kari Zev
This is an interesting spells matter card as you get to cast spells for free or you get a Ragavan. Neither of which are bad, but neither is too exciting either, and considering the 2/4 stat line, the base body is also pretty whatever. I don’t hate it as free spells and value is always good, but considering you’re likely playing this in a deck with cheap spells, I think it’s going to play out even a bit worse than it looks.
Rating: 2.5/5
Rankle and Torbran
Maybe I’m crazy, but this card seems quite good. Rankle, Master of Pranks was a sleeper hit in one of the most overpowered Standard sets of all time, so having one that has even stronger effects piques my interest. Flying and Haste is always a good combination, and while three power on a five drop is a little low, the abilities help make up for it. While the symmetrical Treasure is not great, the forced edict is still definitely strong and the redone
Rakdos Aggro
by DoggertQBones
Standard
Aggro
best of 1
5 mythic
28 rare
11 uncommon
16 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (21)
Instants (3)
Enchantments (12)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$444.7
Rating: 4/5
Invasion of Tolvada
I’m rating this card purely on the front half – being able to reanimate any nonbattle is really strong and was generally reserved for just Invoke Justice. The back half is alright, but if you’re reanimating a permanent, it’s likely going to be one that wins the game very quickly. This will open up new doors in how reanimator can be built in Standard.
Rating: 3.5/5
Glissa, Herald of Predation
Five mana 3/5? Ew. This stat line is very disappointing, and while Gliisa provides value each turn, it feels kind of marginal. The best mode is obviously the double incubate, and if left alone for awhile can definitely win the game by itself, but that’s not new for any five drop. Maybe I’m undervaluing the grindy nature of this card, but I don’t see this being played over other options in the same slot.
Rating: 2/5
Quintorius, Loremaster
Five mana 3/5? Ew. …wait, that sounds familiar. This and Glissa feel very samey to me, but the one difference I will say is that getting to cast spells you exile for three mana can definitely be appealing if you build around this. Overall though, this feels like a mirror of Glissa where you need a lot of time for this to do something, and unlike Glissa, you need to build around this to some capacity, so I’m not impressed.
Rating: 2/5
Drana and Linvala
Linvala, Keeper of Silence was a big deal back in the day and this is just a two color marginally stronger version. Unfortunately, I think the original Linvala hasn’t been good in quite some time, so I doubt a marginally stronger version will be. That said, a four mana 3/4 Flying Vigilance with upside is not too bad of a rate.
Rating: 2.5/5
Yargle and Multani
I appreciate the biggest, dumbest creature on earth, but I’m going out on a limb to say this isn’t good. However, this and Voldaren Thrillseeker is a win in most cases, so gotta keep the dream alive.
Rating: 1/5
Ghalta and Mavren
I gave this a pure asterisk as how good this card is will completely rely on whether or not it’s good in Vampires alongside Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord. If it isn’t, it’ll never see play more than likely, but if it is, then it’ll see play in just that deck.
Rating: */5
Omnath, Locus of All
At first, I thought this started drawing cards at the beginning of combat, not your first main phase, and I thought this card was excellent. Now that I read it again, it’s just fine. Getting to use unspent mana and getting potentially multiple cards is definitely nice, but not doing anything on entry is always a scary proposition, especially for a card that demands so much from you to cast. I think the 5 color decks will still want this, even if it takes a turn to get going.
Rating: 3/5
Marshal of Zhalfir
Two mana lords are always good, and one that can tap down blockers? In. The downside is that there aren’t enough good Knights to build around this, but if there are, this is a deceptively good lord.
Rating: 3.5/5
Invasion of New Capenna
Rite of Oblivion is an alright card, but I think that’s mostly because of the Flashback. While you can get value out of this because its a battle, the flipped side is pretty weak so it’s likely not worth it. Good to know that this is around for when Rite of Oblivion leaves Standard, but probably not good enough to see play.
Rating: 1.5/5
Botanical Brawler
This is obviously just for the +1/+1 counters matter deck, but this is a solid payoff for it! Getting additional counters when your creatures do is good, and better yet, this has counters inherently so if you have an Ozolith, this will already be bigger.
Rating: 2.5/5
Halo Forager
Snapcaster Mage this is not, but it’s definitely interesting. While the jury is still out on whether or not it works this way, as it reads, you can cast spells with no mana cost for free which can be a really powerful interaction in Modern. However, for our Arena purposes, this is a weak Snapcaster that’s not too bad considering the stat line.
Rating: 2/5
Invasion of Ravnica
I’m kind of torn on this card as it seems pretty good in a Niv-Mizzet Reborn deck, but does that deck really need another five drop? I doubt this is strong enough to be a build around in Standard, but I would love to be wrong as this card is pretty cool and reasonably strong when built around.
Rating: 2.5/5
Sword of Once and Future
Having a sword with protection from Black is definitely quite good where protection from Blue is likely the worse, so this falls right in the middle in terms of that. For abilities, this is the lone sword you actually have to build around as you want to have a lot of cheap instants and sorceries in order to make use of both triggers. Personally, I think this effect is pretty weak for a Sword, but it’s still reasonable and having pro Black is always good.
Rating: 3/5
Realmbreaker, the Invasion Tree
I know people are going to build around this trying to get to ten mana and cheat in a bunch of Praetors, but this is not good. It’s clunky, the first ability sucks, it’s just not it. That said, there’s going to be a gigachad who does that in EDH with every iteration of the praetors and they have my blessing to do so.
Rating: 0/5
Conclusion
Per usual, Multicolor and colorless is always a mixed bag, but you’re almost always going to find some real gems in the mix as well like we did here!
Thank you for reading!
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