The set that added a card type
March of the Machine is the payoff to the Phyrexian arc, and it carries the single biggest rules addition of the year: battle, the first new card type since planeswalkers. All thirty-six of them are Sieges.
A Siege enters under your control but you choose an opponent to protect it. It has defense counters, anyone can attack it, and if you remove the last counter you get to cast the card on its back face. Damage dealt to it is not damage dealt to a player, which is what keeps it from simply being a second life total.
Themes
Battle (Siege)
A new card type. You cast a Siege and pick an opponent to protect it; it enters with defense counters and can be attacked like a planeswalker. Strip the counters and you cast its back face for free. The protector is the reason it plays as a race rather than a free spell.
Backup
An enters-the-battlefield trigger. Put a +1/+1 counter on a target creature, and if that is a different creature it also gains this one's other abilities until end of turn. Handing an evasive body a keyword for a turn is usually worth more than the counter.
Incubate
Incubate N makes a colourless Incubator artifact token with N +1/+1 counters on it. Pay two generic mana to transform it into a 0/0 Phyrexian artifact creature that those counters then size. A creature you buy in two instalments.
Convoke
Tap any number of untapped creatures you control as you cast a spell, each paying for one generic mana or one mana of that creature's colour. Pairs with incubate and the set's token production almost too well.
Where You Can Play It
March of the Machine has left Standard, but that is the only format it left. Here's where each code is legal now.
A bonus-sheet printing doesn't change a card's legality, so each card is legal wherever that card already was. The sheet itself is a Commander, Legacy and Vintage product.
March of the Machine has already left Standard. It belonged to the rotation year that ended when Wilds of Eldraine arrived in September 2023, which is why the two later 2023 sets are still legal and this one isn't. A rotation only ever removes cards from Standard, so everything here is still playable in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander. Commons from any set are Pauper-legal; that isn't listed per set here.
Limited
A full ten-pair format, and an unusually multicolour one. The set is built on two-colour legendary pairs, so the mana supports splashing further than most.
All ten two-colour pairs
Full ten-pair format
Battles sit across the whole format rather than in two or three pairs, because every colour got Sieges. Backup concentrates in the aggressive pairs and incubate in the slower ones.
Commander
One per major faction of the invasion, and the largest precon slate of the year.
Call for Backup
Commander precon
Built on the set's backup mechanic.
Cavalry Charge
Commander precon
Aggressive and go-wide.
Divine Convocation
Commander precon
Leans on convoke and token production.
Growing Threat
Commander precon
Incubate and Phyrexian threats.
Tinker Time
Commander precon
Artifacts and the set's machine theme.
Building one of these into something of your own? The precon buying guide covers how to judge a deck, and the Commander deck template is the shape to build toward.
FAQ
Battle is a card type introduced in March of the Machine. Every battle in the set is a Siege: you cast it and choose an opponent to protect it, it enters with defense counters, and anyone can attack it. Remove the last counter and you cast the card on its back face for free.
No. It rotated out of Standard along with the rest of the sets released before Wilds of Eldraine. MOM cards remain legal in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander.
It is an enters-the-battlefield trigger. Put a +1/+1 counter on a target creature, and if that is a different creature it also gains the backup creature's other abilities until end of turn. Giving an evasive creature a keyword for a turn is usually the stronger half.
Incubate N creates a colourless Incubator artifact token with N +1/+1 counters. Pay two generic mana to transform it into a 0/0 Phyrexian artifact creature, which those counters then size. You are buying a creature in two instalments.
No. Multiverse Legends is a bonus sheet, and a bonus-sheet printing does not change a card's legality. Each card stays legal wherever it already was, and the sheet itself is a Commander, Legacy and Vintage product.
Five, the largest slate of the year: Call for Backup, Cavalry Charge, Divine Convocation, Growing Threat and Tinker Time.
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. March of the Machine released on Apr 21, 2023; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
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