The wait is finally over! Magic The Gathering’s March of the Machine is finally out! The fourth and final installment of the four-part Phyrexian storyline, March of the Machine was officially launched on 21st April 2023. We are honored to be part of the Media preview to play with the latest cards and man were we blown away.

March of the Machine will see players team up with Legendary creatures and Planeswalkers from all across the Multiverse to battle against the Phyrexian invasion!

Held at the secret enclave of Barouv (Rooftop Bar), fitting for a epic finale. We were transported into the Phyrexian multiverse during the event. I was excited to be here as I had missed the previous launches and I finally had the duel that I was looking for with our EIC (Saleh). It was a battle decades in the making when both of us first played Magic The Gathering in our early teens during the “Weatherlight” days.

You can probably guess our age based on the cards that we played with, so it came as no surprise when we spoke about “mana burn” during the game. According to the trainers, it has been awhile since they heard that term. So “I” had to be retaught the latest rules and mechanics by MTG staffs and there was a hint of glee in my EIC’s eyes. Well, luckily for me Magic The Gathering: March of the Machine also introduced several new mechanics.

The most exciting being a brand new card type – Battle. Battles are a new type of dual-faced card: when you play a Battle, you pick an opponent to protect it. Similarly to Planeswalkers, Battles can be damaged or attacked and when they are defeated, flip into a powerful new card for free! This is the first new card type since the debut of Planeswalkers in 2007 so players can look forward to an exciting new gameplay experience.

Also featured is the creature-based mechanic Backup which allows players to add +1/+1 counters to creatures and gain additional abilities based on the creature giving the counter. Fans of the Phyrexian armada will also get to play with Incubators – artifacts that enter with a number of +1/+1 counters and can be turned into creatures by paying two mana. 

Both Jumpstart and Commander product lines return for March of the Machine with five exciting themes for Commander decks:

  • Phyrexian Cats
  • Zhalfir Knights
  • Shaman Creatures
  • Convoke Angels
  • Gremlin Artifacts

Five new Jumpstart booster themes will also be introduced:

  • Brood
  • Overachiever
  • Expendable
  • Reinforcement
  • Buff

To capture the battles happening all across the Multiverse, March of the Machine will feature the most showcase art styles to date: all showcase frames from recent sets will feature in March of the Machine alongside several brand new frames to represent additional planes. These showcase frames will primarily focus on Multiverse Legends: teams of Legendary creatures who are fighting against the Phyrexian invasion.

Additionally, a new type of foiling process will feature in the set. The new Halo Foil pattern will appear for Multiverse Legends cards in Collector Boosters only. Lastly, the 30th-anniversary celebrations continue for Magic with three more unique promo cards releasing in WPN stores to celebrate the launch of March of the Machine.

March of the Machine will be available as Draft Boosters, Set Boosters, Collector Boosters, Jumpstart Boosters, Welcome Boosters, Commander decks, Bundles and a Secret Lair.

For more information on March of the Machine, visit https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/march-of-the-machine. 

Sky's The Technovore's International Man of Mystery. He travels the world, enjoying the high life but still finds the time to write!