We aren’t quite into the spoiler season of the new March of the Machine MTG set, but we’re fast approaching the beginning of it. As is considered tradition at this point, MTG designer Mark Rosewater has taken to blogatog with a few teasers regarding some of the elements of MTG cards being featured in the upcoming set. Players have been asking for some of these for decades since they were first announced. This includes the final conclusion of one of the oldest MTG card cycles in the game. Let’s take a look at some of the most exciting teasers revealed by Rosewater!
The Last Sword
Since the beginning of the cycle, released a decade ago, MTG players have been waiting with bated breath for the final installments of the collection of multicolored swords. Only the Gruul and Dimir Swords had yet to be revealed, and we got the Gruul one in Phyrexia: All Will Be One in the form of Sword of Forge and Frontier. This means that the Dimir sword should present itself in March of the Machine.
These swords are considered a cycle because they all have something in common. The swords are all three-mana colorless equipment spells that have an equip cost of two. They all give the equipped creature protection from two colors and have two abilities that trigger whenever the equipped creature successfully deals damage to an opponent. Of the swords, the best one in competitive play is primarily considered to be Sword of Fire and Ice because it protects against relevant colors in older formats and has heavily impactful abilities that trigger when damage is successfully dealt. In Commander, Sword of Feast and Famine tends to be a favorite because the value it provides over a longer game is arguably the most amongst the sword cycle.
Whatever the last sword ends up being, this will complete one of the oldest cycles in MTG history.
New Legendary Creature Tag Teams!
Of the few cards that have been spoiled to appear in the new MTG March of the Machine set, one of the new themes we have seen are Legendary characters from past sets teaming up to fight off the Phyrexian threat. As such, some wacky new Legendary Creature types have been dropped by Mark Rosewater that has the community speculating en-masse on what crazy character team-ups could be featured:
The spoiler causing the most chatter amongst these is a new Legendary Cyclops Homunculus creature type. There aren’t too many of these Legendary Characters with the Homunculus and Cyclops creature types that exist in MTG, so narrowing it down to two candidates isn’t too difficult. Many expect this teaser to be a Borborygmos and Fblthp team-up, which would be pretty comical.
Borborygmos is primarily considered to be one of the leaders of the Gruul clan. Domri defeated this massive Cyclops while alive, but Borborygmos regained his position as Gruul’s guildmaster after Domri was killed when Nicol Bolas’s grand plan started to come to fruition in War of the Spark.
Fblthp, on the other hand, is a sort of mascot-like character that serves the Azorious Senate. While his story significance is not major (he tended to gardens and was used as bait in capturing a criminal), he is a sort of ‘meme’ throughout the MTG sets. Fblthp constantly finds himself lost, appearing in incredibly bizarre places.
The team-up of one of the most massive boss monsters in the game and a meme-worthy character that ends up lost all the time would be a very charming one.
Other Creature Types
The Legendary Ape Dinosaur creature type also got some speculation, with many believing that this will be Kogla and Yidaro from the plane of Ikoria. We have already seen confirmation that this plane will appear in March of the Machines through a massive story spoiler.
Here are some of the creature types spoiled by Mark Rosewater that will be fighting against the Phyrexians:
- Creature – Moonfolk Ninja
- Creature – Aetherborn Vampire
- Creature – Fungus Rabbit
- Creature – Dwarf Pilot
- Creature – Raccoon Warrior
- Creature – Goblin Spellshaper
- Creature – Wolverine Dinosaur
- Legendary Creature – Elder Giant Dog
- Legendary Creature – Ape Dinosaur Turtle
- Legendary Creature – Cyclops Homunculus
Cards that Care About Phyrexians
One common complaint or request from many MTG players is that they would receive more tribal effects that benefited the Phyrexian creature type. Almost every creature from Phyrexia: All Will Be One was a Phyrexian, so this could have a massive impact on the Standard format.
For those who have been requesting this, Rosewater has teased that there will be “numerous cards that care about Phyrexians.” This could mean we finally get the Phyrexian Lord (a creature that gives stat buffs to all other Phyrexians you control) many players have requested. It also means we could be getting targeted hate for the Phyrexian creature type. Whatever it is, hopefully, we get some unique tribal support for the evil denizens of New Phyrexia.
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Wrenn Returns!
Another one of the many points teased by Rosewater is that Wrenn will return with a new partner. There’s some pretty heavy speculation from players that have been reading the March of the Machine stories released so far that this will likely be The World Tree from Kaldheim. There are also a lot of players who would not be surprised if Wrenn dies to stop the Phyrexian invasion, but only time will tell how this story ends.
Lots of Wacky Card Text
Some incredibly interesting oracle text that MTG players have never seen before will also be coming to March of the Machine. Interestingly, there is a spell that will be available in this set that cannot be copied. There’s a card that cares about things transforming, and a new counter is being introduced called a Defense counter. Heck, there’s even a card that rewards you for not dealing combat damage. Here is a list of some of the wacky new abilities you can expect to find in March of the Machine:
- Numerous cards that mechanically care about Phyrexians
- A double-faced token (one that transforms)
- A card that costs XUUUU
- A variant of a mechanic returns to a premier set for the first time since it originally appeared
- A legendary creature returns not seen since Homelands
- A creature capable of dealing eleven poison countersSome planes show up in card names that have never done so before
- Wrenn returns with a new partner
- Two draft archetypes that have a creature type matters component (one of which is Phyrexians – see above)
- The tenth _____ & _____ sword
- Next, here are some rules text that will be showing up on cards:
- “You may cast spells with flash or flying from the top of your library.”
- “an Aura, God or Demigod card”
- “where X is the excess damage dealt this way.”
- “This spell can’t be copied.”
- “Activate only if you’ve cast two or more spells this turn.”
- “Each player can’t cast more than one non-Phyrexian spell each turn.”
- “X twice, where X is the number of lands you control.”
- “Whenever a permanent you control transforms or a permanent enters the battlefield under your control transformed,”
- “If the opponent protects it, remove a defense counter from it.”
- “At the beginning of your upkeep, if you haven’t been dealt combat damage since your last turn, you draw a card and you lose 1 life.”
While this is almost everything that Rosewater teased over on his blogatog, there’s still more to see. If you’re interested, consider taking a look. Either way, expect to see more March of the Machine spoilers starting on March 29 over on YouTube and Twitch at 9:00am Pacific time.
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