Farewell, March of the Machine: The Aftermath

 Rounding out standard rotation month, today I look at March of the Machine: The Aftermath.

Released in May 2023, March of the Machines:the Aftermath (MAT) is exactly what the name indicates: the conclusion of the battle started in ONE and continued in MOM. This micro-set has only 50 cards and came in smaller booster packs (called 'epilogue' boosters, they had only 5 cards), though each card had various versions (frames) which swelled the total set to 230.

With such a small card base, there weren't any real themes other than 'legendary matters'; this was considered an extension of the March of the Machines set.

Favorites

Most are multi-colored legendary characters that either saw use in my legendary deck or are fun commanders.

Good Riddance

Here, only Nissa annoyed me, and she heralded landfall shenanigans that got out of hand fast if you didn't deal with her promptly.

General rule: when Wizards releases a micro-set, don't bother buying packs. Buy the singles you want. There is nothing here of sizable value that warrants the blind buy.

Farewell, Phyrexia: All Will Be One

Continuing rotation month, today I look at Phyrexia: All Will Be One.

I knew something was off . . . I skipped this one and went right to March of the Machines last time (which foreshadows how I felt about this set). Anyway . . .

Released in February 2023, Phyrexia: All Will Be One (ONE) is the invasion by everyone's favorite bad guys . . . told from their point of view.

The mechanics in this set revolve around the bad guys:

- poison counters, which is an alternate win/lose condition (you lose the game if you get 10 poison counters)

- proliferate, a returning mechanic, where you add a counter to a creature (or opponent/etc.) of a type they already have on them (here, usually poison or oil counters)

- toxic, which is related to poison counters

- corrupted, which heralds an ability that triggers based on an opponent's number of poison counters

Favorites

I don't care for the Phyrexians, which is why I forgot about this set. And yet, there are a handful of cards I used and will miss. Vanish into Eternity is a nice removal spell. Karumonix is a cool rat. I used Phyrexian Arena, Phyrexian Obliterator, and Sheoldred's Edict in a fun black tempo deck I ran. Cacophony Scamp is great in red burn decks. Glissa was good in my legendary deck, and Darkslick Shores is an example of the useful non-basic lands featured in this set.

Good Riddance

All of the cards I will not miss all center around control decks that lengthened games.

I don't mind poison counters, but for whatever reason, this set is (yet another) that didn't do it for me.

Farewell, March of the Machine

Continuing rotation month, today I look at March of the Machine.

Released in April 2023, March of the Machine (MOM) continues the story arc begun in Dominaria United. After the Brothers' War, the Phyrexians come and shake things up with their machine; the multiverse opposes them as everyone bands together.

This set features a new card type: battle. A battle is kind of like an enchantment that is played on your opponent's side of the table. It has an initial value, and when you attack, you can choose to attack it rather than the other player (or a planeswalker they control). If your attack succeeds, you remove that much damage from the battle, and when it hits zero, it transforms and comes over to your side. See below example.

The mechanics in this set included:
- Incubate, which allows you to place and grow tokens on the battlefield
- Convoke, where you can tap creatures to help pay for spells 

- Backup, which adds +1/+1 tokens to another creature when a creature with backup enters

The main themes in this set are Phyrexians (61 cards) and "team up" legends, featuring two classic legendary creatures on one card (18 cards). This set also featured a supplemental collection called "Multiverse Legends," which had 65 variant-frame creature cards from Magic's history. (And, as before, there were also different frames for these, making for 261 cards total. Sheesh.)

Favorites

As with last time, this set didn't do much for me. Faerie Mastermind was nice; Etali was popular. Four green cards (two of which were battles) were intriguing. I did like the two hero cards; two examples below.

Good Riddance

Only one card jumps out: Sunfall. Exile all creatures and then incubate X, potentially granting you a big creature, was very annoying.

Yet another forgettable set (for me).

Farewell, Brothers' War

Continuing rotation month, today I look at Brothers' War.

Released in November 2022, Brothers' War (BRO) continued Magic's 30-year celebration by looking at past classics. Here, the focus was on the brothers Urza and Mishra and their artifact armies.

The mechanics in this set included:

- Prototype, which allows you to cast an artifact creature card for cheaper cost (and lower power/toughness).

- Unearth, which allows you to cast a creature from your graveyard for its unearth cost. It gains haste and is then exiled at the end of turn.

- Meld, which allows you to take two cards on the battlefield and merge them into one

- Powerstone tokens, which tap to add one colorless mana (which can be used only to cast artifact spells).

The main theme in this set is artifacts. There were 77 artifact cards in this release, from the 'traditional' colorless artifacts to colored artifacts (and some that were either, if they had the prototype ability). This set also featured a supplemental collection of retro frame artifacts—63 artifact cards with the old frame that drew from Magic's history. (Even these retro artifact cards had three variant frames, making for 189 cards total. Sheesh.)

Favorites

I don't have a ton of favorites from this set, and oddly, no artifacts caught my eye. That aside, Lay Down Arms is a nice removal spell (if playing mono-white), Loran's Escape a great evasion spell, and Recruitment Officer and Siege Veteran were good in soldier decks (I ran both a white/blue and white/red soldier deck based on this release). Gix was great in my black tempo deck. Go for the Throat is a staple removal spell. I loved Mechanized Warfare in my burn deck. Awaken the Woods is fun in my casual dryad deck. And Bushwhack is a flexible staple.

Good Riddance

Not a lot here, honestly. I had to dig deep. Union of the Third Parth was annoying only because it showed up in control decks that made for a long game. Phyrexian Fleshgorger pointed to the same. And I had a love/hate relationship with Monastery Swiftspear, running it myself in my burn deck while loathing when I saw it in others'. 

In sum, this set didn't do much for me, and wasn't as memorable as I wished. I think the retro artifacts were the best part.

Farewell, Dominaria United

It's rotation month! Well, almost. On 1 August, the four oldest Magic sets will rotate out of Standard (I explain the concept here). As is my custom, I look at these 'expiring' sets in turn and reflect on their attributes, positives, and negatives. Today: Dominaria United.

Released in September 2022, Dominaria United (DMU) was another return to the Dominaria plane (the location for most of the original Magic expansions). And it kicked off the 30th anniversary of the game; as such, it focused on paying homage to the game's past while also looking to the future.

The mechanics in this set included:

- kicker, a longstanding favorite. Pay an extra cost upon casting to gain an extra effect.

- domain, an ability that grew more powerful based on the different basic lands you controlled, encouraging multi-colored strategies

- enlist, a clunky ability [in my opinion] that allowed you to tap another creature you controlled to add to an attacking creature's power

- stun counters, a cool ability with the following effect: "(If a permanent with a stun counter would become untapped, remove one from it instead.)"

The theme in this set revolved around legendary creatures. As a nod to the past, many of Magic's most (in)famous charcters showed up in this set. An astonishing 49 cards—out of 281 in the base set—are legendary. It also had 20 "Legends Retold" cards, focusing on old favorites (from the original Legends set) in 'new skins,' so to speak. Finally, you had a small chance of getting a card from the original Legends set, as Wizards found a pallet of the old cards from 1994 [seriously; read about that here] and randomly inserted them in packs. I got this one in a pack; it's worth nothing, but was still fun to pull:

DMU had two preconstructed Commander decks—one based on legendary creatures, and the other based on the domain concept [having all 5 basic lands for maximum benefit].

Favorites

I love tribal decks, and DMU had some nice cards for soldiers (Resolute Reinforcements, Valiant Veteran), goblins (Rundveldt Hordemaster, Squee), and elves (Leaf-Crowned Visionary). Leyline Binding is an auto-include in any domain deck. Jodah, the Unifier, was fun to build around (both in Standard and Commander). I had a fun blue deck that featured Haughty Djinn, Tolarian Terror, and a ton of cheap instants/sorceries to make them powerful (or cheap to cast). Aether Channeler has three nice ETB abilities. Cut Down is a key black spell. Evolved Sleeper had nice buff and card draw abilities. And Defiler of Vigor could make things go crazy in a 'stompy' deck. Finally, DMU had ten common lands with two basic land types (Wooded Ridgeline below is representative). That was cool.

Good Riddance

I had a hard time picking cards here, as nothing truly stood out as always annoying. But there were a few that could needle me: Cult Conscript generally heralded some sort of recursive graveyard engine that (generally) made for long games. Liliana was often annoying. Sheoldred was so powerful; fun to play and annoying to play against. And Ivy was a pesky faerie that featured in combo decks I found bothersome.

In sum, I really enjoyed this set; I like both legendary creatures and the domain concept. I didn't care for the enlist ability, but everything else was fun.