Hello and welcome to A Seat at the Table, the column where I pick a commander and talk about what I’d include in the 99. This week, a mythic pair up Commander from March of the Machine, which is finally out!
Kroxa and Kunoros are bonkers and there’s already chatter about how powerful they are. While Kroxa is well represented on this card, Kunoros’ original card would be ashamed to see so many creatures coming out of the graveyard. I tried my hand at brewing Kroxa and Kunoros and I’m hoping to share some ideas and thoughts from this process.
Let’s start with the card!
Kroxa and Kunoros cost 3RWB for a Mardu 6/6 with a textbox that has great keywords and an ability that makes brewers excited.
“Vigilance, menace, lifelink
Whenever Kroxa and Kunoros enters the battlefield or attacks, you may exile five cards from your graveyard. When you do, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.”
A few things to note:
Let’s get into the 99.
To be able to reanimate a creature from your graveyard, you need six cards in there in the first place. That’s five to exile and one creature to bring back. That’s why I think Fabled Passage, Terramorphic Expanse, and Evolving Wilds all deserve a slot alongside the dual fetch lands.
That said, there’s a few ways to fill your graveyard and having had experience with Araumi of the Dead Tide, I have a few cards that pummel your library into your graveyard. Mesmeric Orb is the big one that mills each player for every card they untap. Your untap step could mill you ten cards pretty easily.
Perpetual Timepiece can tap to mill two but also shuffle a few key pieces back into your library. Cemetery Tampering mills three per your upkeep and likely gives you an extra free card. Millikin taps for a generic mana and mills you a card when it does.
Angel of Suffering turns all damage you take into double that much mill instead, while Doom Whisperer lets you surveil 2 for two life (make that mill 2 for two life, really).
Stitcher’s Supplier is the perfect self-mill card that mills three on the way in and on the way out. Flickering or doubling this ETB in this deck sets you up incredibly.
However, the most important mill piece is Altar of Dementia. Altar of Dementia allows you to sacrifice Kroxa and Kunoros in response to their trigger to mill six cards, then you can exile five cards to bring them back. Eventually, you’ll have more cards in your graveyard and you’ll be sculpting the perfect graveyard for reanimating.
Having targets to bring back means having expensive creatures that you want to cheat out. I’m talking Etali, Primal Storm. I’m talking Archon of Cruelty. I’m talking Ashen Rider. I’m talking Avacyn, Angel of Hope. Being able to loop Dockside Extortionist over and over is a solid move, too. Obviously. How about the Kamigawa Dragons of old and new? Atsushi, the Blazing Sky, Ao, the Dawn Sky, and Junji, the Midnight Sky perform very well along side Kokusho, the Evening Star and Yosei, the Morning Star. Vilis, Broker of Blood can get you a full grip that you later get to discard so you can reanimate more creatures!
Even creatures as simple as Solemn Simulacrum and Loran of the Third Path can make a huge difference at the right time.
You’ve got your value, but what about your game-ending beatings? With the amount of creatures going into and out of your graveyard, Syr Konrad, the Grim and Dreadhound are perfect for pinging your opponents. Tormod, the Desecrator can make a couple of Zombies whenever K&K trigger their ability. Those guys add up!
Looping Ashen Rider can be debilitating for your opponents, but sacrificing Kokusho, the Evening Star over and over spells game over on its own, just like Gray Merchant of Asphodel.
Flayer of the Hatebound combine with Kroxa and Kunoros, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, or any way to reanimate beefy bad boys and you’ve got a cannon. Pair this with Warstorm Surge and Stalking Vengeance and damn, it’s probably game over.
This is a classic category here on A Seat at the Table. Phyrexian Altar, Ashnod’s Altar, Phyrexian Tower, Altar of Dementia, all are great for this deck, but I would recommend more creature based sacrifice outlets. Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder, Ayara, Widow of the Realm // Ayara, Furnace Queen, Sadistic Hypnotist, and Undercity Informer (which also can mill you, by the way). Gotta double dip!
You need to have a backup plan. If Kroxa and Kunoros get shut down too many times, play Breach the Multiverse and Incarnation Technique which mill you and bring creatures back. Chainer, Nightmare Adept is a discard outlet and reanimator in one. Jaxis, the Troublemaker can put in some work as a discard outlet and value engine when targeting even just your commander. Body Launderer, my favourite card of 2022, connives when nontoken creatures you control die and then reanimates based on power. Junji, the Midnight Sky, Karmic Guide, and Sister Hospitaller just get your creatures out of the grave and into play already!
I recommend the obvious inclusions, but I think it’s worth noting them here. Smothering Tithe and Dockside Extortionist are heavy hitters for a reason. Black Market Connections is one of the best cards in recent years. You’ve got to use all your rocks: Arcane Signet, Boros/Orzhov/Rakdos Signet, all the Talismans you can grab. Gilded Lotus? Why not! Wayfarer’s Bauble, yes! Solemn Simulacrum, yes! Get this deck packed with some basics. I know it’s not ramp exactly, but get yourself a copy of Sneak Attack, you know, as a little treat!
That’ll do it for this edition of A Seat at the Table! Let me know which commander you’d like covered next time. Check me out on Instagram and Twitter @mikecarrozza!
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Hello! Welcome to my set review of March of the Machine Commander where I pick my favourite 10 cards from the MOM Commander set. I’ll also chat a little bit about some other cards that deserve a shout in the honourable mentions, specifically the commanders because I will likely be writing an A Seat at the Table for some of them down the line. I think they’re all pretty cool!
Without further ado, here are my favourite cards from the Commander set.
This is my favourite mana rock in a little while. Is this in a cycle with Cursed Mirror? A three mana coloured mana rock for 2N seems like a cycle to me.
For 2W, you get a tapped mana rock that only taps for white. Not a good start. Why do I like it so much then? Because I have been waiting for a card that gives other cards Convoke in non-green colours. Even green gives creatures mana abilities with Cryptolith Rite and that’s not really Convoke. Finally, Boros swarm decks can tap Wand of the Worldsoul and cast a Sun Titan on turn four or something. If you want fancier, then Gisela or Aurelia, but either way, you can use your creatures to cast spells! It ostensibly just costs you one mana to tap your creatures instead of lands. Kykar, Wind’s Fury decks get to double dip with this one. I’m excited to use this in my The Ever-Changing ‘Dane deck to keep upping to the next level since it’s a high mana value creature deck.
I think Mirror-Style Master asks so little of you to pay you off with one of the quickest extra combat escalators. If you have an extra combat outlet and the Master is modified, you’re getting more Backup triggers and when they attack, they trigger for each modified creature on their own. So if you have Anger in the graveyard and something like Cathars’ Crusade, play Mirror-Style Master, Backup another creature, attack with both – you get your whole board twice, and your Crusade goes off big time. That’s without the extra combat. I think this card rules and is going to be a big story card someday. I hope you play it with friends who want to see crazy stuff happen.
I love Treasure creation and hate on the same card. This guy punishes your opponents for sending artifacts to the yard from play but tells everybody that each turn, their first spell costs one less retroactively.
A group slug deck that is great in Prosper, Tome-Bound decks and great against them. Give your Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer playing friends hell when you slam this and board wipe. This being a three mana 2/3 with menace also means it’s probably getting through and procking Professional Face-Breaker and Grim Hireling. This lil guy rips!
All the decks that Pain Distributor would be good against, Hedron Detonator would be good in. This isn’t quite Reckless Fireweaver as it only targets a single opponent, but it makes up for that with a buffer body and an outlet to turn those artifacts into new cards. Prosper, Tome-Bound, yada yada, of course he loves this card. It requires two artifacts to sacrifice, but ultimately red is the artifact reanimation card. Goblin Welder and Goblin Engineer will be happy to see Hedron Detonator, a fellow Goblin Artificer, join them in their quest to hurt some opponents and get some more scraps.
Cutthroat Negotiator feels like it could have been legendary. Parley on a Pirate card? Good flavour! Ostensibly, this reads “2UR for a 4/3 Orc Pirate. When this attacks, draw a card and create up to four Treasure tokens.” This is a great direction for Izzet and it’s cool and interesting. This goes in all your favourite Pirate decks. It goes into decks that want more card draw and Treasures! Group Hug? Sure! You’re giving everybody cards! Why not?
Cutthroat Negotiator is such value for the table that some players might not even remove it, but ultimately this is a really powerful card for you.
As far as self-wheels go, this is on the expensive side like Khorvath’s Fury. While Valakut Awakening is probably the better card on rate just for filtering through cards, Khorvath’s Fury and Path of the Pyromancer both have other upsides. Fury hurts your foes while Path gives you mana equal to cards discarded. Think about it this way: The Locust God draws a ton of cards, plays this, draws tons more, makes little bugs, and has enough red mana to slam down a big haymaker.
The fact that this can enable a big windmill slam is very cool and enough to play it over Khorvath’s Fury. Let’s not even talk about the planeswalking ability that is only relevant if you’re playing with Planechase cards.
Henzie “Toolbox” Torre, your new Wurm is here. For a single green pip, you can probably Blitz this out for four mid-game for a 4/4 hasting creature that digs for a permanent card with mana value four or less (so you can always at least ramp) while putting three +1/+1 counters on another creature to do the same. Hell, you could make this a 7/7 and get a beefcake from your library, but I’m advocating for the double dip. Backup is such a cool mechanic, but unfortunately that precon is the least supported of the bunch.
White got a lot of goodies this set and this card is just the bee’s knees. Two mana enchantment that draws you a card when you attack with two or more creatures. So simple, so effective. But you can spend two to dump a card and make a 2/2 with vigilance. Excuse me? I can fuel my graveyard for reanimate shenanigans and set up to draw another card next turn? Genuinely shocked that people haven’t been freaking out over this more!
This is the card that’s been pounding people’s wallets in the prerelease season. It’s a better Generous Gift in every way but that extra white pip in its cost. It exiles a non land permanent and gives its controller an Incubate token with +1/+1 counters equal to the exiled thing’s mana value. They still have to pay two mana to flip over the thing, otherwise it’s almost as useless as a Scrap token.
Another card mentioned because of its high price tag, Uncivil Unrest is Rhythm of the Wild for decks that don’t run green. Not to mention, it’s a Gratuitous Violence for your creatures with +1/+1 counters on them. That’s all for the same price and less mana colour restrictions of Gratuitous Violence. It’s a very good card! It’s pretty damn strong and that’s why people are flocking to pick it up! But personally, I think it’s a little boring! Sorry!
I won’t be mentioning every card here, so I hope you see things you like.
That does it for March of the Machine. Let me know what commander you want me to cover! Message me @mikecarrozza on Twitter or Instagram!
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Hello! Welcome to my set review of March of the Machine, where I will pick five cards of each colour and discuss my favourite cards from them.
Given that March of the Machine (aka MOM) also comes out with a set of preconstructed Commander decks, I’ll also be covering my favourite new cards from there in another article.
This article is going to be heavier on the honourable mentions because they all have their own applications. There are only two artifacts worth mentioning and most of these cards are battles. I will give more thoughts in the mentions than usual, but will have a little less to say about my top picks.
Without further ado, here are my favourite artifact and non-legendary multicolour cards!
Non-green decks that struggle with ramp have a way to target a graveyard full of lands to push onward! With Realmbreaker, the upfront cost of 3 is quickly forgotten when every turn, you just need to tap a Sol Ring to go get an opponent’s fetch land. You’re also milling them so hello mill decks, enjoy a new toy.
The second ability costs 10 and a tap to get all the Praetors in your deck and put them into play directly. When combined with Maskwood Nexus/Conspiracy/Arcane Adaptation, this reads “get all your creatures from your deck into play. Have fun!” You’ll probably only ever pull it off once before your playgroup gets wise, but it’ll be a thrill regardless.
This is the splashiest of the battles and I wanted to highlight it because it is very cool and flavourful. When this enters, you pseudo-cascade into two cards with four or less mana value, casting one for free and drawing one to hand. This is on ETB, not cast! Get your blink on, baby. Yes, seven defence is a lot to get through, but then you get a five colour spell with basically a bit of everything. I think this is the kind of fun I want to have when I play Commander.
Are we surprised that I love the Invasion of Kaya’s home? I love Kaya so much and this plane seems nuts. It’s a permanent reanimation battle on ETB. I am in love. Give me Brago, King Eternal, give me Abdel Adrian, Gorion’s Ward, give me Flickerwisp, give me Yorion, Sky Nomad… Blink city, baby. The front side is the best part. Easily. It can’t reanimate battles, but whatever! The backside is a great boon to creature tokens, giving them a boost and lifelink while making you a 1/1 flying Spirit at your end step. Solid, solid, solid.
This isn’t Snapcaster, per se. There’s no flash. It’s two colours. It costs three. But it is all esolved in one ETB ability. And it’s not limited to your own graveyard. This is truly a wild uncommon. It should be a rare, if I am being honest. This is a really powerful creature with a crazy ability, 3/1 with relevant creature types – Faerie Rogue. I cannot get over how cool this is.
This is just solid at its rate. Everybody mills three and then you draw one while opponents discard one. That’s like a Disinformation Campaign. But this one can get defeated and turn into a Body Double that stays a 4/4. It’s a reference to The Scarab God’s activated ability for sure. As someone who loves clones and reanimation, I really appreciate this design.
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Hello! Welcome to my set review of March of the Machine, where I will pick five cards of each colour and discuss my favourite cards from them.
Given that March of the Machine (aka MOM) also comes out with a set of preconstructed Commander decks, I’ll also be covering my favourite new cards from there in another article.
I will not be counting the legends I’ve already written about in A Seat at the Table toward the top 5 despite Ayara, Thalia and The Gitrog Monster, and Zimone and Dina are definitely at the top of my list, personally. I know the internet agrees about Z&D and Froggy Thalia, but Ayara is my Queen and I can’t wait for her!
Without further ado, here are my favourite legendary multicolour cards from the main set!
I am very into Quintorius, Loremaster. Whether as a themed spell commander like instant or sorcery or enchantment or artifact or planeswalker… or battle! Quint does it all! Expensive spells cost three and a Spirit now. There are lots of ways to make Spirits in white and being able to bottom the spell instead of exile it is also an upside. Also no timing restriction!
With Magewright’s Stone and Thousand-Year Elixir there are ways to untap Quintorius and get some extra value before the big boy gets sniped. Vigilance also means that you don’t have to spare him from the red zone. Loving this version of him before he’s a planeswalker! Will this be my next Boros commander? Very possible.
Omnath is finally five colours. We’ve seen mono green Omnath, Locus of Mana, red green Omnath, Locus of Rage, red green blue Omnath, Locus of the Roil, red green blue white Omnath, Locus of Creation, and finally five colour Omnath, Locus of All.
Five colour Omnath is really cool but seems a little directionless, which is not a trend I’ve missed in five colour commanders. You can basically build it however you want, but to truly optimize it, you should build with cards that have three or more coloured pips in their casting cost. This is the first Omnath that is not lands focused but it does have a mana retention ability that is a sort of mana sink as well. I am excited to see how people build this.
Acting as a restricted Cryptolith Rite in the command zone, Inga and Esika has the capability to be a total snowball commander. I would personally pack a ton of flash creatures or a Leyline of Anticipation / Vedalken Orrery since your creatures have vigilance and can swing, hold back on defence and then slam a Hornet Queen, an already great card that now replaces itself and now is ramp. Tendershoot Dryad and other token strategies that cost three or more are great additions to this deck. Maybe this is a Trinisphere deck to make even your two mana creatures cantrippers.
In the 99, Inga and Esika can be in a ton of decks and add to it without even trying. Keep an eye on your creature’s mana costs because you’re going to miss a lot more draw triggers than you think!
I love Kroxa and I love reanimating. I think that exiling five cards is tough, but to trigger reanimation on ETB and attack, that perks up my ears!
There’s already an infinite combo with Kroxa on ETB where you can use Altar of Dementia to mill yourself six cards, then exile five of them to bring back K&K and repeat the loop. This basically can empty your deck into your graveyard and pair that with Warstorm Surge or Stalking Vengeance and you’ve got a win going. They’re such a big beater that can make a difference in the red zone. Panharmonicon and Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, let’s go.
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Hello! Welcome to my set review of March of the Machine, where I will pick five cards of each colour and discuss my favourite cards from them.
Given that March of the Machine (aka MOM) also comes out with a set of preconstructed Commander decks, I’ll also be covering my favourite new cards from there in another article.
Without further ado, here are my favourite Red cards!
This is one of the most busted cards in the set. Three green pips keeps it solidly in green, but wow what a card. Tendershoot Dryad with the city’s blessing gives you a card every turn. There are already infinite combos with this and persist creatures. The most egregious of these combos is Kitchen Finks, Tribute to the World Tree, and a sacrifice outlet like Phyrexian Altar, Altar of Dementia, or Ashnod’s Altar.
With Finks entering, you draw a card and gain 2 life. Sacrifice it to Phyrexian or Ashnod’s Altar for mana. Persist triggers. Kitchen Finks returns as a 2/2 triggering Tribute to the World Tree, adding +1/+1 counters, thus removing the -1/-1 counter and allowing for Persist again. You gain two life. Sacrifice to an altar of your choice to repeat the cycle. Infinite mana, infinite mill. This works with persist creatures with power 3 or less. Just a crazy card that’s going to do a lot of wild stuff. Keep a copy in a binder, you might need it.
Hello, new Chromatic Lantern! I love the mana fixing on this card, but the real fun comes from its abilities. The +1 doesn’t untap the land, notably, but a 3/3 with vigilance, hexproof, and haste is a fine attacker or defender. The -2 fills your graveyard for a Muldrotha deck and pops a permanent among them to hand. The real spice is the restriction free emblem of playing lands and permanent spells from your graveyard. Wowee, this makes me want to build something green for the first time in a long time. Yes, it’s silly to evaluate based on an ultimate, but come on, live a little!
Ogre Battledriver is a solid card in red. For green to get a similar card in the command zone that changes the two point buff to a counter when green has plenty of Hardened Scales effects, that’s crazy powerful. Giving board wide trample to your creatures is also very strong on a beefy 6/5 body. In terms of in the 99, Surrak and Goreclaw just care about you playing non token creatures and similar to Tribute to the World Tree play really well with Persist. Cauldron of Souls, a sacrifice outlet, and an ETB creature that uncaps an artifact will create loops for days!
Kami of Whispered Hopes is one of two Hardened Scales effects in the set, but this one is a mana dork too. Ozolith plays nice with its second ability and if you need to cycle it away, that’s a great option to have. Ozolith’s a far cry from its first appearance, that’s for sure, but knowing how strong Hardened Scales is, these two cards are more value on a single card. They also cascade in mana value. These are worth highlighting for the simple fact that this effect is powerful but also extremely popular.
Fine. He made it to the top. Does Vorinclex fully deserve to be in the top cards of the set, maybe. ETB tutor for two Forests to hand on a five drop is… underwhelming. Having a 6/6 trample, reach body can deter attacks or allow you to get through and that’s nice. The flip side is where it’s at and truly, that first chapter is what’s worth repeating so get your Hex Parasites ready because we’re going hunting. Mill ten and pick up to two creatures from the pile to pop into play right away? Yeah, bud, it’s a narrow and less powerful Tooth and Nail, but it adds some excitement. Will they whiff? Will them get the perfect combo? Flip the ten!
Second chapter is fine especially with Doubling Season or the aforementioned Hardened Scales effects. The final chapter is kind of… hmm. It’s not quite a board wipe. It allows you to be strategic about using your creatures to fight threats and you’ll have a 6/6 to sling around at least. My least fave Praetor of the bunch and knowing my luck, I’m going to open several and none of the ones I like.
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Hello! Welcome to my set review of March of the Machine, where I will pick five cards of each colour and discuss my favourite cards from them.
Given that March of the Machine (aka MOM) also comes out with a set of preconstructed Commander decks, I’ll also be covering my favourite new cards from there in another article.
Without further ado, here are my favourite Red cards!
Surprising absolutely no one, Urabrask is at the top of this list. It’s a Birgi, God of Storytelling for instants and sorceries and half a Guttersnipe in damage and targets on one four mana 4/4 first striker. Build a burn deck around this and go absolutely ham. Toss in Fiery Emancipation and every Faithless Looting is also a Bolt!
Plus after just three instants and sorceries in a turn, you can pay A SINGLE RED MANA to flip Urabrask into The Great Work which can absolutely wreck an opponent’s board and hit them for three to the face. Next chapter leaves you three Treasures to prepare you for the ULTIMATE Past in Flames that allows you to cast instants and sorceries from ANY graveyard. I’m calling this the best Praetor of the bunch. Easily. It’ll have to be in spellslinger shells only but my god, what a pay off.
A Vampire that knows how to have fun. Toss this in a Jund deck with Yargle and Multani. For three mana, you can make this a 3/3 that becomes a Lightning Bolt as its sacrifice ability, or you can give another creature +2/+2 and give it that same ability.
+1/+1 counter decks are going to like this. Vampire decks will like this. Brion Stoutarm decks if there are still around, let’s get you a back up plan. I think this card is a lot of fun. It’s fun and goofy!
One of the best Dragons ever printed is on the back of a battle. An Amplify-able Shock for two that becomes a Tarkir inspired Dragon like the Dragonlords with triggered abilities for when Dragons attack turning each attack into a Shock of their own. The Ur-Dragon, any red Dragon deck, they all want this. Maybe not Scion of the Ur-Dragon because this can’t be tutored, but I’m sure players who have a Scion deck are still gonna jam this.
As a passive ability alone, Chandra, Hope’s Beacon is a Double Vision, which is already an insane start. The -X on a 5 loyalty planeswalker is dealing that much damage to up to two targets. You can +2 for two mana of whatever combo you need and the +1 helps you dig for that instant or sorcery you need right now.
The +1 is tough because you can only cast a single instant or sorcery from among them, but with the other abilities, Chandra is a heavyweight that will make a splash in spellslinger decks no doubt. Or big mana decks that need the fixing. Man, the alt art version is so sick.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is the OG creature cloning as token legend. Jaxis, the Troublemaker and Rionya, Fire Dancer both have been extremely popular. Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink brings a different wrinkle to the playstyle by allowing you to cash in on big mana and making FIVE tokens. A repeatable kicked Rite of Replication on an ability is fantastic. Dockside Extortionist is busted enough, but there are cards like Red Dragon that read “nug the table for 20 a piece” when Orthion makes copies of it. Hell, you could target Wrathful Red Dragon and then play Blasphemous Act to send six instances of 13 damage around or finish someone off with 78 damage
Orthion and Jaxis share similar space for me and I’ll be using them interchangeably with the other in the 99 for a while. It’s a lot of fun and I highly recommend this kind of commander!
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Hello! Welcome to my set review of March of the Machine, where I will pick five cards of each colour and discuss my favourite cards from them.
Given that March of the Machine (aka MOM) also comes out with a set of preconstructed Commander decks, I’ll also be covering my favourite new cards from there in another article.
Without further ado, here are my favourite Black cards!
Sheoldred is like a Chain Devil that hits planeswalkers too on its front side. A 4/5 menace won’t come into play much though because there’s a great chance you’ll be flipping this Praetor as much as possible in any reanimation or mill shells.
First chapter just snipes a creature or planeswalker for each of your opponents, second chapter is asymmetrical mass discard three and mill three, making sure that when you hit chapter three, you’re going to Rise of the Dark Realms a hefty amount of creatures. A lot of set up is going into this, but my god, that pay off! Dimir mill never lived so hard! Rakdos aristocrats and Ever-Changing ‘Dane decks will be jamming Sheoldred, easily. I am so excited for her return so soon after Dominaria United.
This removal spell is top notch. Is it free in the way that Deadly Rollick is? No. But if you’re running creatures, it might as well be. Destroying a target creature or planeswalker at instant speed with Convoke would have been enough for me on a card, but that Surveil 2 could very well be relevant. I know when I play Araumi of the Dead Tide, there are times I Encore creatures out that I don’t necessarily need to attack with. The solution? Tap them for mana and Pile On. This is sweet!
Breach the Multiverse is the type of card the format was built on. Is it your turn? Is this a big mana late game spell? You’re damn right. Everybody mills ten and you get four of the best creatures spanning all graveyards. They’re also Phyrexians which has implications in Phyrexian creature themed decks with the new Brimaz for example, or with say Elesh Norn’s backside board wipe. A very fun card I hope to see a lot! Played by me specifically.
Alright, okay. Prosper, Tome-Bound is the most popular Rakdos commander of all time. This card is going to be seeing play in the Prosper decks that are not tuned toward cEDH. This is such a fun card. Convoke it out, now everything Prosper exiles can be discounted. Not just that, but you get to tutor up and exile a card face down! Keeping everybody on their toes against your Rakdos prince. This might be the only tutor I run in the deck. I really love this dorky looking dragon.
A modal board wipe on a permanent that can be blinked? Whose idea was this? It’s an absolute house for decks like Aminatou, the Fateshifter planeswalkers – in which I’ll find room for this for sure. New Jodah, the Unifier can choose to destroy non-legendary creatures and keep his board. Then the backside is Marchesa (long may she reign) as a 3/6 menacing deathtoucher who can kill battles or planeswalkers on attack. Beware, Hydra decks! And if you go a turn cycle without being attacked, you get a Phrexian Arena trigger.
What is not to love about this card? I mean, besides it being played against you.
The first of the colours to have a sixth card getting called the best of the set is of course Invasion of Innistrad. While the battle side is not that impressive since it’s a four-mana Tragic Slip, it still is a permanent and can be blinked potentially. But that back side is where you want to be. Get two Zombies out of the deal, but most importantly, you get graveyard hate that can make a 2/2 untapped Zombie for cheap and if you’ve got hella mana, you can make a lot of them at once before your turn in, say, The Scarab God, where you’re already holding up mana for the activated ability. I think this is stronger in 60 cards, but this is fun and cool!
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Hello! Welcome to my set review of March of the Machine, where I will pick five cards of each colour and discuss my favourite cards from them.
Given that March of the Machine (aka MOM) also comes out with a set of preconstructed Commander decks, I’ll also be covering my favourite new cards from there in another article.
I’m not going to lie, I’m a little low on the blue cards this set. There are a few that are pretty stellar, but the amount blue cards that I’m going to include in decks is lower than I initially thought and hoped. Without further ado, here are my favourite Blue cards!
Again, the Praetors are all pretty fantastic with maybe Vorinclex being the most disappointing. Jin-Gitaxias has protection built in and rewards you by making all 3-plus mana value noncreature spells cantrips. Adding Teferi’s Ageless Insight and Alhammarret’s Archive to a deck helmed by Jin makes the transformation much more likely. The first Saga chapter doubles your hand size which is already amazing. Bouncing all non-Phyrexian creatures almost makes me want to not play other Phyrexians in this deck because the third chapter lets you cast them all over again. The third chapter being a turn long Omniscience and then flipping to Jin-Gitaxias again means that your hand is going to keep filling up as long as you’re casting 3-plus mana value noncreature spells. I really like Jin for my clones list and spellslnger lists. Maybe even a wheels list. This card is pretty wild.
Yuta Takahashi’s World Champion invitational card design is pretty solid. I know he wanted it to be a 1/3, but he has a killer card to his name. Two mana with flash in a format where players often draw multiple cards, you’ll be drawing a ton of cards. In a wheel deck, you’ll draw an extra three cards. For 3U, you can give a group hug deck a try. Making this maybe even a wincon. I love this card! It’s going to see tons of play in the format.
Are you playing a noncreature spell-focused strategy that makes creature tokens here or there? Maybe an Izzet burn deck that loves making Dragon Fodder? Or an enchantress list that wants to turn your Mesa Enchantress into a mana dork?
Caetus, Sea Tyrant of Segovia is a card I’ve been hoping gets made for a long time. Untapping four creatures at your end step doesn’t mean that you have to have them for convoke! Maybe you’ve already got a Circle of Dreams Druid or a Mike, the Dungeon Master. There’s lots to like about this card. I’m going to mess with it in a few lists like Zaffai, Thunder Conductor.
This is the first time we’ve seen “This spell can’t be copied” on a card. We’ve finally hit critical mass of copying effects that require this.
This is also a copy spell that copies spells on the stack as well as creatures. I think it’s incredible. Eight or more cards in a graveyard is not difficult at all. Getting to copy a spell and then a creature is huge. There’s not much to say about this card beyond “hey, this is good and applies to many situations.” Put this everywhere.
The Locust God just pulled up and said “Get in, we’re going tapping.” You’ll be able to not only draw a ton of a cards but create more flying Insects to keep the pummelling going.
Do you have a Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver deck? Congrats on your new favourite draw spell. You’ll need four blue mana to pay the UUUU, but turning all your Zombies into card draw at instant speed is fantastic. Distant Melody is stronger in tribal decks for sure, but this is a solid draw spell. Decks focused on X spells like Magus Lucea Kane or Zaxara, the Exemplary are also getting a nice addition to the their draw suite.
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