March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: White

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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.

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Elesh Norn

Being the marquee card of the set, you would hope Elesh Norn is at least a solid card, and it definitely is! The front side is fine and quite strong against aggro as a 3/5 Vigilance is definitely annoying and then the opponent being burned every time they hurt you or a creature you control unless they pay the tax is quite annoying. However, the real prize is the back half of Elesh Norn. While flipping Elesh Norn is quite the chore as you need a bunch of creatures on board and mana, if you do, the opponent is in for a world of hurt. Getting five 2/2s, giving them all +1/+1 and double strike the next turn, and then getting a functional Plague Wind is a pretty messed up series of abilities. It’s not going to be easy to make use of this considering it needs to be in some tokens strategy, but if you build around it, it seems quite strong.

Rating: 3.5/5

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Archangel Elspeth

Is Archangel Elspeth As Powerful As It Looks?

Rating: 3.5/5

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Monastery Mentor

Vintage Restricted Card Returns In March Of The Machine! – Analyzing Monastery Mentor

Rating: 3/5

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Progenitor Exarch

This is an interesting card as it has multiple different modes to it functionally. The one mana version is pretty much unplayable so we don’t worry about that, but the three and five mana modes are definitely a bit more interesting. For three mana you get a 1/2 and a 3/3 (in a turn) and for five mana you get a 1/2 and two 3/3s. The issue of course is that you don’t get these 3/3s immediately which really bars the power level of this card, but it’s not terrible.

Rating: 1.5/5

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Invasion of Theros

For starters, the front half of the card is incredibly narrow. I like tutoring as much as the next guy, but only getting a God when there’s very few to choose from is not great. Then if you manage to flip the Battle, you get an enchantment matters 4/4? It seems like the decks that would want this and the decks that could play it aren’t the same leading this to be a really awkward design. For what it’s worth, if you can build around it, it does seem relatively powerful, so I don’t think it has zero functionality.

Rating: 2/5

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Invasion of Gobakhan

This is an interesting take on Elite Spellbinder as you get the effect earlier, but not the body to go along with it. Obviously the body was the best part of Spellbinder, so its definitely awkward that it’s left off. However, if you flip the battle, you get a buff to your creatures every time they attack as well as a Heroic Intervention on a stick, so its a pretty nice reward. This probably isn’t a card I would main deck, but could be a nice sideboard option for aggressive white decks.

Rating: 2.5/5

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Sunfall

Is Sunfall the Best Standard Board Wipe Ever?

Rating: 4/5

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Dusk Legion Duelist

It currently seems a bit tenuous on how easily you could put +1/+1 counters on this for a good rate, but if you can, this is a pretty nasty card. While you can only get one card a turn, if you build around this, you can get some pretty serious value from this.

Rating: 3/5

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Knight-Errant of Eos

This card is cool as hell. It very much reminds me of Venerated Loxodon as the decks that’ll play this and the effect of it coming in will be very similar. Imagine facing down a start of one drop, two one drops, two drop Convoke into this, get another creature or two in your hand? While not as immediately impactful as Venerated Loxodon was, the fact that its similar tells me all I need to know.

Rating: 3/5

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Guardian of Ghirapur

A three mana 3/3 Flier is already quite the solid rate, but to get another ETB trigger as well? That’s just gravy! This card is quite strong and will only get better with the amount of good ETB triggers available on the creatures you could play with it.

Rating: 4/5

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Boon-Bringer Valkyrie

So a non-Legendary Lyra Dawnbringer that can make another creature a mini Lyra for a turn? Yeesh. It’s awkward as this effect isn’t as good as it used to be since the aggressive decks have become much more efficient at removing threats like this and this is embarrassing against a midrange deck, but you know this is going to absolutely obliterate many players in Limited. None the less, this is going to be very good against aggro decks if you need an effect like that, but these huge anti-aggro threats have lost a lot of stock with time. Maybe this can make Angels more tenable.

Rating: 3/5

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Heliod, the Radiant Dawn

Much in the same vein as Invasion of Theros, this card is definitely not bad, but doesn’t have a great deck to go into. The Enchantment decks are quite low to the ground, so getting a four mana 4/4 that just rebuys an Enchantment feels a bit weak for the deck. The bar for four drops is quite high in present day so I think this isn’t quite there, but I wouldn’t be stunned if this saw play in some Battle deck.

Rating: 2/5

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Phyrexian Censor

These effects are rarely main deckable, but being able to slow down a deck looking to cast a bunch of spells a turn is a powerful ability. Unfortunately for Censor, this is definitely weaker than other options like Archon of Emeria or Rule of Law, but this is still very acceptable.

Rating: 2/5

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Surge of Salvation

This is no Veil of Autumn, but it’s definitely interesting! Giving yourself and your team hexproof is very interesting against anything from Thoughtseize to Invoke Despair, but having the clause to avoid damage done by Red or Black sources to creatures you control is definitely cool against the Red wrath effects. I’m sure there are decks that would want this, and while I’m not sure which, this will definitely see play.

Rating: 3/5

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Angelic Intervention

Literally just better Feat of Resistance. Considering there are +1/+1 counters matter cards, I’m pretty interested in putting this with those cards.

Rating: 2.5/5

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End Step

While White doesn’t have an excess of powerful cards, it has a lot of middling options which makes it a pretty balanced color overall.

Thank you for reading!