March of the Machine Set Review - White

Surge of Salvation
| Domink Mayer

White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | Artifacts/Lands | Gold I | Gold II | Reprints | cEDH| Battles| Pauper

A Mother's Love

Hey, everyone! Michael Celani here, and I've got good news. My mom's finally back from getting that gallon of milk she promised she'd pick up twenty years ago! Unfortunately, the milk is spoiled and she looks like a robot. Luckily, she also brought back a lot of packs of March of the Machine and also a bunch of Commander decks, so I don't care that my adolescence was ruined anymore! Let's review frankly way too many cards. See you on the other side!

Mythics

Archangel Elspeth

Does your deck want to make Soldier tokens? Maybe you want to buff something and give it flying. Congratulations! Elspeth, Knight-Errant

is for you!

This is the most by-the-numbers card I've ever laid eyes on, and I drafted Core Set 2019. If your deck wants Archangel Elspeth

, chances are it already has it. I haven't snored this loudly since my dad's funeral. I'll admit that the ultimate's unexplored territory, but I don't think anyone's falling over themselves for a couple of Sun Titan

triggers that don't even hit your lonely Terramorphic Expanse

. The only thing I can say about this Madden of a planeswalker is that the -2 also permanently changing type could have some applications; it'll make your non-Angel Angel cards, like Speaker of the Heavens

, a little bit more synergistic, but if we're being honest, Sigarda's Summons

does that job better. On the other hand, I can't wait to change the word "Angel" to "Brushwagg

" with Artificial Evolution

so I can finally create the army of my dreams.

Elesh Norn//The Argent Etchings

Despite me critically panning her previous incarnation

in a move that kicked off a global thermonuclear conflict and turned me back into a virgin, I actually really like the new Elesh Norn

. For once, she's not absurdly broken; this time, she's more of a Darien, King of Kjeldor

for people who leave the house.

Elesh Norn

might look like a purely defensive Praetor; like any given supermarket magazine rack, her ability certainly reads like soft Propaganda

, but you can force enemies to damage your permanents by simply going to the catch-22 step known as combat. Getting blocked means your creatures are taking damage, and if they're not blocked, you get to actually hit your opponents as planned. And she's no slouch in the defensive department, either. White has dozens of ways to mitigate or spread damage amongst its minions, whether it's by blocking multiple creatures

, lowering, but not outright preventing

incoming pain, or redirecting the hurt to a lot of targets

, like that one How They Brew It Enrage deck. This makes vigilance and effects like Reconnaissance

paramount for Elesh Norn

decks because you're really gonna want your creatures to do that double duty of attacking and blocking. This also, hilariously, makes Elesh Norn

the uncontested queen of Banding
, since Banding allows you to assign combat damage amongst the attacking members of the band or the creatures you control blocking something. The downside is you have to know what Banding does, unless you don't even bother because you could literally make up anything and your opponents will believe you.

Oh, and mommy

has quite the behind -- editor says I get one joke, and I'm using it right here. For just , Elesh Norn

transforms into The Argent Etchings

, which, correct me if I'm wrong here, immediately gives you five 2/2s that all share a creature type

with your commander. Then it gives all your creatures double strike. And then it blows up the board. It's a repeatable token-generator, go-wide buff, and board wipe in the command zone, and Elspeth help your opponents if you decide to play with any Proliferate shenanigans to get all of them in one turn.

I don't think I've been so excited for a mono-white commander in a long time; there are just so many ways you can take Elesh, from go-wide, Proliferate, artifact synergies, vigilance themes, or even Banding. A+, guys.

Rares

Boon-Bringer Valkyrie

Now I get to talk about Backup, which is something you should do to your computer right now if you haven't in the past year. Go ahead, I'll wait. You'll thank me later.

When a creature with Backup enters the battlefield, another target creature gets that many +1/+1 counters and all the abilities printed after it until the end of the turn. This means Boon-Bringer Valkyrie

yeets any terrifying monstrosity of your choice, including Gnshhagghkkapphribbit

, into the stratosphere. That's quite fun, but more generally, to make the most out of Backup you'll want to play it in a +1/+1 counters deck that likes running blink effects

, the kind that have a critical mass of Conclave Mentor

-types alongside Cathars' Crusade

, and use Reverent Hoplite

to generate terrifying armies from nowhere. Blinking a Backup creature to use its ability again on a later turn is obviously a great play, but if you blink a Backup creature as soon as it comes in, you can even get multiple copies of the backed-up abilities onto a target simultaneously. That isn't quite relevant for Buff Arms McThrows-You-Into-The-Sky

, here, but it sure is for some of the other creatures

in the set. Note that you don't have to choose a creature you control, either, which makes Boon-Bringer

hilarious if you just happen to be holding a Broken Wings

Chivalric Alliance

This sure is a too-specific two-mana value enchantment. You can tell because it draws you cards, but only if you sign a contract, solve the Sphinx's riddle, and pledge allegiance to the flag. Some other examples of cards in this category are Dawn of Hope

, Season of Growth

, and Firemind's Research

. Today's puzzle is to "attack with two or more creatures," and though that has appeared on a couple blue cards, like Tide Skimmer

, before, I never really found it to be too easy to pull off unless you're in the dedicated tokens deck. Luckily, Chivalric Alliance

fixes that by being the token-generator too, as it lets you pitch garbage you don't want to make 2/2 Knights. Knights are a pretty good aggressive creature type, so it makes sense for those decks to want the card draw to be as cheap as possible. Anywhere elsewhere, you have better options.

Conjurer's Mantle

feels like it's competing with Heirloom Blade

, and when you look at the stats and abilities side by side, you can make a case for either of them. You'll definitely want to slot this into a more combat-focused deck than Heirloom Blade

, though. It's cheaper, it's generally easier to attack with things than it is to sacrifice them, and it provides that underrated keyword, vigilance. I especially love this in Changeling decks, since if you attack with it equipped to something like Morophon, the Boundless

, you can just rip a creature off the top of your library without even needing to worry about the type. That is, unless you're one of the seventeen Morophon decks running Go-Shintai of Life's Origin

. Who's going to be the one to tell them that Shrine ain't a creature type?

Darksteel Splicer

might be my new go-to "I'm in a blink deck, and I need an army-in-a-can" cards. Three 3/3 indestructible Golems is incredible. The only real downsides are that Darksteel Splicer

costs seven and is itself only a 1/1, but you can even spin those as a boon, since it means Fierce Empath

can find it, Vesperlark

can revive it, and Welcoming Vampire

triggers off of it. If you can cheat it out or pull off just one blink, you're already invincible in battle to all but the most combat-focused decks. I'm willing to go so far as to say in most cases I'd rather run this than Myr Battlesphere

. Sorry Mirrodin, it looks like Phyrexia won.

All of that commentary is based on you not being in the Phyrexian or Splicer decks. If your deck is helmed in part by Ich-Tekik, Salvage Splicer

, this becomes an entirely different, way more broken beast. This makes three 3/3s every time you play any Phyrexian, and there's tons of good low-cost abominations out there, like Skrelv, Defector Mite

, Cankerbloom

, or Suture Priest

. Imagine casting this and then following it up with a Semester's End

targeting your board full of Phyrexians. Not even Phyrexian Triniform

could match the level of hell that's about to rain down on your opponents.

Dusk Legion Duelist

If your commander puts +1/+1 counters on your creatures, especially if it can do it multiple times a turn cycle, it's time to d-d-d-d-Dusk Legion Duelist

. Breena, the Demagogue

, Shabraz, the Skyshark

, and Heliod, Sun-Crowned

all strike me as natural fits for this card-clutching, Cloaked Cadet

-copying-conquistador. My dream is a turn-one Soul Warden

, turn two Dusk Legion Duelist

, and a turn three Heliod, Sun-Crowned

, watching and laughing as my opponents feed me cards in a way the Rhystic Study

players can only imagine. The only other notable thing about him is that he's also a Vampire, so if you'd rather go the Cordial Vampire

route, that's an option, too.

Elspeth's Talent

Not content with just having Archangel Elspeth

plagiarize other Elspeth planeswalkers, Wizards is now allowing any planeswalker you have to copy the one thing that made her unique! Luckily, as Jason Felix learned so long ago, plagiarism doesn't pay, since in no world would I play Elspeth's Talent

at four mana. Hell, I might not even play it at two: planeswalkers are already very weak in Commander because you have to defend them against thrice the opponents, and putting an Aura on one is just begging for you to get two-for-one'd. If even the guaranteed threat of the Underworld isn't enough to phase you, though, your reward for your bravery is maybe three 1/1s and a slightly better Inspired Charge

. Honestly, I'd rather just play another Elspeth in place of this.

Essence of Orthodoxy

I'm not extremely high on Incubate. Going all-in on Incubate is kind of like going all-in on Investigate: sure, there may be cards that really mesh with it, like Lonis, Cryptozoologist

, but if you don't find them, you're going to have to pay two mana for each bland, boring vanilla creature token you want. Like with Clues, where you might as well just play a deck that just draws the cards directly, you might as well play a deck that just makes big beefy boys without any extra steps. This is mitigated somewhat by the fact that they're a little more resilient to board wipes and that there are cards that transform all your Incubator tokens, like Elesh Norn

, but it's going to be real depressing when you hit those turns where you feel like you just spent six mana to do nothing of note.

Oh, I'm supposed to be reviewing Essence of Orthodoxy

, huh? He's fine. His Phyrexianfall makes decent artifact tokens that turn into 2/2s. Ooh, Phyrexianfall. I like that. I'm gonna use that from now on.

Excise the Imperfect

Instant staple. Better than Generous Gift

Filigree Vector

Woo boy, are the Modular decks eating well tonight! Everything you could want for your Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp

deck is here, from putting more +1/+1 counters on your Modular creatures, to adding charge counters to your Everflowing Chalice

, to even sacrificing those Modular creatures to Proliferate, which puts even more counters on them and makes them even stronger. I like it when the numbers go up, and boy, does Filigree Vector

make the numbers go up!

Firemane Commando

Okay, so take what I said about the drawing part of Chivalric Alliance

and repeat that here, except there's no additional way to make tokens with this guy. Instead, replace that with the thing that ruins my Thanksgiving every year: politics.

I feel like these effects which try to draw attention from you by incentivizing your opponents to fight amongst themselves are kind of a beginner's trap. Nothing on Firemane Commando

stops your opponents from attacking you, and if you're in a position where you're about to win the game so long as your rival across the table doesn't crack back, saying, "But wait! You get to draw a card if you swing at poor no-permanents Patty over there!" is quite the flaccid excuse. And at four mana, I'm nonplussed. But hey, it's a 4/3 flier, and at least the odds are good this guy goes under the radar and draws you a couple cards before he bites it to a Farewell.

Guardian of Ghirapur

Like Flickerwisp? Here's another one.

Guardian Scalelord

Remember how I was talking about the fact that you could layer multiple copies of Backup abilities onto other creatures with a blink when I was reviewing Boon-Bringer Valkyrie what seems like fifty years ago? Here's where that foreshadowing pays off, because Guardian Scalelord is the poster child for this concept. If it enters the battlefield and you blink it that turn, you'd give a creature +2 power, flying, and the ability to reanimate not just a creature, but any two nonland permanents in your graveyard. Even if you've got total Gideon Jura-brain and decided to stack these onto your Ornithopter of Paradise, you're still getting at least two two-cost permanents just for attacking. And that's not all: what you're left with after doing all this is what's basically a Sun Titan on speed. What a gem of a card!

Heliod, the Radiant Dawn//Heliod, the Warped Eclipse

Heliod, the Radiant Dawn's floor is recovering that False Demise you put on him to make sure he never, ever pays commander tax. Then, he transforms into the best flash commander of all time, bringing "draw, go" to a whole new level. You're obviously running cards like Stinging Lionfish, Brineborn Cutthroat, and Wavebreak Hippocamp, and then doing whatever Azorius control thing you think you're able to get away with without getting punched. Not to mention that anyone who's doing anything stupid, like drawing fifty cards in a turn, will have to think twice about doing anything stupid, because if they do too well all your spells become effectively free.

Oh, God, this is guaranteed to make your counterspells cost one less. Disgusting.

Invasion of Gobakhan//Lightshield Array

Now I get to talk about battles, Wizards of the Coast's ill-fated attempt to copy Star Realms' Base cards.

Battles are permanents you play at sorcery speed. When a battle enters the battlefield, you still control it, but you choose someone that's not you to protect it (which everyone I've talked to agrees is strange). Once that's done, you can attack it, just like a planeswalker, its protector can block for it, and once you deplete all its defense, you get to cast the backside of it for free. This usually means you choose the Voltron player or the combo player that never plays creatures, since they'll be at a distinct disadvantage in the defense department.

We're going to start our analysis of battles with Invasion of Gobakhan//Lightshield Array, which disappoints me, just like the Hayden Christensen of a planeswalker that hails from there. The front side doesn't matter; nobody runs Thoughtseize in Commander, and a strictly worse version isn't appealing. The back side is okay as a defensive tool, and maybe for some light +1/+1 counter generation, but it's not worth the combat steps you have to sink into getting there when something like Selfless Spirit exists.

Invasion of Theros//Ephara, Ever-Sheltering

This has a floor of an Idyllic Tutor at home, but the restrictions of an Idyllic Tutor at home won't matter if you're playing a Voltron deck that's primarily Auras (or maybe Gods, if you're playing the Morophon God deck). The back side becomes an enchantress that is, incredibly, capable of actually engaging in combat, since it's usually going to be indestructible. All things considered, this would be a decent investment for three mana, but unfortunately, it's held back by its Azorius color identity, precluding it from the primarily Selesnya enchantment decks that would want an enchantress in the first place. There's a couple of Azorius+ Voltron decks out there that care about Auras, like Bruna, Light of Alabaster, but in those you really don't have the space to waste on nonenchantment permanents. Oh well.

Knight-Errant of Eos

There's two ways you can play Knight-Errant of Eos: as a free creature that draws you two more creatures, or not at all. Choose wisely.

Nesting Dovehawk

The big-token decks, like Ghired, Conclave Exile, really love this because it's a free Populate for each of your combats. That means another totally free beefy boy to smack an opponent with. Populate at the beginning of a step was previously limited to just Determined Iteration and Growing Ranks, and they've always been decent investments, but Nesting Dovehawk has the special quality of also being a creature itself. That means if you manage to get a token copy of it onto the battlefield, it's as exponential as Scute Swarm is. Pack your Rite of Replication.

Path of the Ghosthunter

I'm going to be honest here: I don't know much about Planechase, which I'm guessing is the vast majority of why you'd consider running this. The fact that the second clause requires a vote probably limits its utility, but I'm not gonna pretend I can make an authoritative judgment on it.

What I can pretend to make an authoritative judgment on is whether or not you should be willing to pay a one-mana premium over something like Secure the Wastes for flying. Well, in a flying theme deck, sure. If you just want sacrifice fodder? Not worth the effort. If you're in the flying theme deck though, you're probably in blue, in which case I'd recommend Stolen by the Fae over this, since that also removes a creature.

Progenitor Exarch

How wealthy a family must you have been born into if you're seriously considering paying for nothing? Sure, Progenitor Exarch lets you transform Incubator tokens for free, but you have much better plays at three, five, or seven mana. If you're deep on Incubation, play this as a one-drop. Otherwise, don't bother.

Sunfall

I once railed against Oversimplify for letting your opponents strike back at you after you removed their creatures, and it got me so beaten up on Reddit I'd pass for a well-tenderized steak at your local Costco. Well, joke's on you guys, because nobody runs Oversimplify, and the fixed version was just a year or so out. Sunfall is a board-wide exile, meaning it's definitely getting rid of that pesky Avacyn, Angel of Hope, and only you get to Incubate X, meaning you've got a headstart, however slight, on your opponents in the combat department. For five-mana board wipes, I think I still like Cleansing Nova a bit more because of the flexibility of hitting artifacts and enchantments, but if your meta is big on creatures, this is great.

By the way, I think it's time for me to unequivocally say that Day of Judgment is bad in Commander now. You really don't need the turn-four board wipe, and if you do, Doomskar fills that niche better. Search for board wipes that give you value, exiles the creatures instead of destroying them, or hits multiple types of permanents. You'll thank yourself for the investment later.

Vulpine Harvester

Vulpine Harvester is great if you're deep into white's artifact reanimation strategies, and that theme has only been getting stronger over the past few years, what with cards like Brilliant Restoration. Don't let the term "Phyrexian" in the card text fool you; you can just treat this foxy friend as a discount Sun Titan, even outside of a compleated deck. I especially like it if you're in one of the fifteen separate Boros Equipment decks that are out there, since you can slap a Sword on it and attack to revive any of your other Equipment that got blown up. Side note, Vulpine Harvester is also great if you're a nightmare fetishist furry, and let me tell you, the Venn diagram of that group and artifact reanimators is a perfect circle.

Wand of the Worldsoul

After the mistake that was Arcane Signet, someone on the internet said that three-drop mana rocks are bad in Commander, and that apparently lit a fire under someone's rump at Wizards of the Coast because they came out with Cursed Mirror, Midnight Clock, Patriar's Seal, Relic of Legends, Infernal Idol, Staff of Compleation, and Decanter of Endless Water. The newest member of this illustrious lineup is Wand of the Worldsoul, which can give a spell that you cast Convoke. Imagine if Cryptolith Rite was a mana rock, and that's about the level of power we're looking at here.

Uncommons & Commons

Invasion of Belenon//Belenon War Anthem

Don't be fooled here: slapping a 2/2 onto Glorious Anthem still doesn't make Invasion of Belenon worth three mana. Even if you were in the market for a 3/3 that gave everything else +1/+1, Benalish Marshal exists, and it doesn't require you to waste a few combats hitting a battle in the face. Pass.

Invasion of Dominaria//Serra Faithkeeper

Some decks love flickering Inspiring Overseer over and over, and if those decks are capable of doing that to noncreature permanents, they'll love Invasion of Dominaria. I wish Wizards had the gall to make the backside real, actual Serra Angel instead of this knock-off version. It might be the only time I want them to be less original.

Phyrexian Censor

What in the everloving @#$%, this thing's an uncommon? In the Phyrexian deck, Phyrexian Censor is a one-sided Rule of Law stapled to half of Thalia, Heretic Cathar. Absolutely unreal; don't sleep on this card.

Surge of Salvation

While it won't save your creatures from board wipes, like a proper God-fearing Heroic Intervention would, Surge of Salvation still allows all your dudes to dodge spot-removal and for some reason acts as a narrow Fog against the game's most aggressive colors. Trust me, you're gonna cause some Rakdos player to scoop once you reveal this in response to their massive alpha strike, and that'll be hilarious.

Enduring Bondwarden

Now this is a plant for those Modular and ability counter decks if I've ever seen them. Imagine playing an Enduring Bondwarden for just one mana right before sacrificing a massive Arcbound Ravager. There's also probably some shenanigans you can do here with Luxior, Giada's Gift or a deck full of Gideons, but that's a Brew for another day.

Kor Halberd

Usually a slightly improved Short Sword isn't worth talking about, but if you've got one of those Sram, Senior Edificer decks that love slamming nothing but unplayable trash like Bone Saw to churn through the deck, put this in since, if nothing else, it's one of the cheapest ways to give him vigilance. It also looks rad as hell. I wish I had a cyber-halberd, but we can't all be Berdly from Deltarune, now can we?

March of the Machine may look like a less broadly applicable set for Commander than, say, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, but I implore you to take a closer look at most of these cards. Wizards has been pretty good at making even the most narrow-sounding spells have depth beyond that, so don't let your eyes glaze over just because you see the word Incubate or Phyrexian in the text box. You may find something that surprises you. You'll also definitely want to check out the rest of the reviews on this set, because it's really dense this time around. But that's my cue to leave; something is telling me to go and kill a bunch of people for the glory of a fully mechanized world. Don't worry, it's not the Phyrexians; I've had those voices for a long time. See you around!

Surge of Salvation | Domink Mayer