The 50-card epilogue
The Aftermath is a 50-card micro-set released three weeks after March of the Machine, sold in five-card Epilogue Boosters rather than draft boosters. Its job was to show where the multiverse landed once the invasion ended.
It is worth knowing mostly for what happened next. The epilogue format drew enough criticism, largely over selling a small set of Standard-legal cards in a product you could not draft, that Wizards did not repeat it. When a similar batch of cards was ready a year later they were folded into Outlaws of Thunder Junction as The Big Score instead of shipped separately.
Mechanically it is the quietest set of the year. There are no new keywords, only returning ones, which is a deliberate consequence of it being an epilogue rather than an expansion.
Themes
No new mechanics
The set introduces no new keyword. It reuses existing ones, transform and ward among them, because 50 cards is not enough space to teach something new and the set's purpose was narrative rather than mechanical.
Transform
Double-faced cards carry several of the story's resolutions, showing characters after the invasion changed them.
Where You Can Play It
The Aftermath shipped under a single code. It was Standard-legal on release and has since rotated, which is the whole of its legality story.
The Aftermath 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
The Aftermath was sold in five-card Epilogue Boosters, not draft boosters, so it has no draft archetypes to speak of.
Not a draftable set
Epilogue product
Fifty cards in five-card packs. This is the part of the product that drew the most criticism, and the reason the epilogue experiment was not repeated.
FAQ
A 50-card micro-set released three weeks after March of the Machine, sold in five-card Epilogue Boosters rather than draft boosters. Its job was to show where the multiverse landed after the Phyrexian invasion ended.
The format drew enough criticism, largely over selling a small set of Standard-legal cards in a product you could not draft, that Wizards did not repeat it. When a similar batch of cards was ready a year later they were folded into Outlaws of Thunder Junction as The Big Score instead.
No. It was sold in five-card Epilogue Boosters, so there is no draft format and no draft archetypes.
No. It was Standard-legal on release and rotated out with the rest of the pre-Eldraine sets. MAT cards are still legal in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander.
No. It reuses existing keywords such as transform and ward. Fifty cards is not enough room to teach something new, and the set's purpose was narrative rather than mechanical.
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. March of the Machine: The Aftermath released on May 12, 2023; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
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