Heralding back to its roots, the Good Morning Magic! show hosted by MTG creator Gavin Verhey has recently released a bunch of spoilers detailing the Commander preconstructed decks releasing as a part of March of the Machine. There are five decks altogether releasing with MTG’s newest set. On top of this, Planechase, a favored MTG add-on from the past, is also returning with these Commander decks. Much like MTG designer Mark Rosewater’s hints relating to the main set, Gavin Verhey has dropped 14 hints discussing the content of the cards in the Commander portion of March of the Machine. Among these is the return of the overpowered MTG Eminence Commander mechanic that many MTG players never thought would see the light of day a second time. Here are the most interesting talking points!
Some Quick Reminders
Before jumping into these new MTG Commander spoilers, Verhey’s latest video mentioned a few housekeeping details to get players up to speed with general information regarding the Commander product being offered alongside March of the Machine. We will quickly list these in point-form with the same goal in mind:
- There are four new preconstructed decks coming alongside March of the Machine
- The first is named Growing Threat: an Orzhov deck that is themed around Phyrexians
- The second is Calvary Charge, an Esper Knights deck.
- The third is Call for Backup, a Naya +1/+1 counter themed deck
- The fourth is Divine Convocation, a Jeskai deck focusing on the Convoke mechanic
- The last is Tinker Time, a Temur deck based around artifact tokens.
- Planechase is returning alongside these decks. 10 oversized Planechase cards will be available with each Commander deck. Some of these are new while others are reprinted
- The official spoiler season for March of the Machine kicks off this Wednesday on March 29 at 9am PT. Be sure to tune into Magic: the Gathering’s YouTube or Twitch.
The 14 Commander hints teased by Gavin Verhey pertain to new Commander-exclusive cards releasing alongside the March of the Machine set. These include the new cards in the Commander preconstructed decks and the new Commander cards that can be found in Set and Collector Booster packs. Without further ado, let’s take a look!
A New Cycle of Cards with the Ability Word ‘Will of the Planeswalkers’
As Verhey mentions, these hints are extremely cryptic. The YouTube Video, quite literally, notes the hint in question and moves on. That said, many players are speculating that this ability will have a similar effect to the Will of the Council effects seen in Conspiracy. This means that a voting mechanic, like what is seen on Council’s Judgement or Expropriate, may appear on these cards.
Obviously, Will of the Planeswalkers is not Will of the Council, so there must be some difference between the two ability words. Some think that controlling Planeswalkers may grant you additional votes. I personally think that this may have something to do with Planechase since we are technically Planeswalking between Planes.
Parley Returns!
The Parley MTG mechanic is confirmed to be returning in March of the Machine! This mechanic cares about revealing the top card of each player’s library. Depending on the card type revealed through Parley, the player who triggered Parley tends to get an additional payoff before all players draw the card revealed. Since this mechanic cares about the number of cards revealed, Parley is much better in a multiplayer environment.
While Parley was initially created as a part of MTG’s Conspiracy set, the mechanic did make a quick return in Streets of New Capenna via Phabine, Boss’s Confidant. Phabine’s owner creates a 1/1 green and white Citizen token for every land revealed through their Parley trigger. For each nonland card, your creatures get +1/+1. This can create an instant army since Phabine gives your creature tokens Haste, allowing them to attack immediately.
New Merfolk Support?
According to Verhey’s eighth hint, there will be a card that cares about the Merfolk creature type being released in this Commander product. This fan-favorite archetype is powerful enough to remain a competitive option in the Modern format following the release of Voldalian Hexcatcher in Dominaria United.
While this appears to be Merfolk support initially, it may not necessarily be. Verhey only confirmed that the card being released cares about Merfolk. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the card supports the archetype. It could, instead, be surprising targeted hate for the Merfolk tribe.
Read More: Surprisingly Untainted New 3-Mana MTG Planeswalker Spoiled!
A Sought-After Creature Type Returns!
In MTG’s thirty-year history, there are a ton of creature types were created. Many of those have been lost throughout the test of time but are not forgotten. MTG fans who played with these cards growing up ardently request new support for the quirky creature types. A great example of this from Phyrexia: All Will Be One put into action is the ever-popular Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch five-colored Commander, who is a fantastic Myr tribal enabler.
This time around, it seems that a new Rare Kithkin will be coming in March of the Machine’s Commander product. Kithkin are small humanoid creatures that first appeared in the Legends set. These cards are typically aligned with the white color of mana and are very quick in battle. These creatures appeared in the Dominaria and Lorwyn planes.
A Compleated Titan Returns!
One of these titans is returning as a part of March of the Machine, but not in the way many expected. Like the fall of many other characters in the MTG lore, one of these titans will be returning as a Compleated version of its original self. These titans all typically have an ability that triggers when it enters the battlefield and when it attacks. They also tend to have a mana value of six as well as consistent 6/6 stats. Look for these during spoiler season to identify which titan befell this unfortunate fate.
Read More: New MTG Cards Causes Old Staple To Hit $80!
The Insane MTG Eminence Mechanic Returns!
This is perhaps the most impactful of the 14 hints mentioned by Verhey in his teaser video. It seems that one of the most powerful Commander mechanics of all time is returning in March of the Machine. MTG Eminence was printed on the four Commander cards released in the Commander 2017 product. These cards grant your Commander abilities while they are still in the Command Zone. Edgar Markov, currently retailing for $70 (the most expensive of the Eminence cards), allows you to create a 1/1 Black Vampire Creature Token every time you cast a Vampire spell. This triggers if Edgar is on the battlefield or the Command Zone. This insane flexibility in providing value for free (with a slight deckbuilding restriction) is what makes MTG Eminence such a powerful mechanic.
There’s More to See!
While we gave some quick explanations to some of the Commander teasers that intrigued us at first glance, there are more to see. You can check out Good Morning Magic’s YouTube video here to see all of the hints that Verhey provided. That said, Verhey has also shared these hints on Reddit. Here is a quick overview of what he had to say there:
“Hey all! Much like how Mark does a hint teaser for main sets, I like to do them for the Commander sets when there’s more than just 2 decks. So, I put one together for March of the Machine!
The video has a bit more context and also 4 brand new pieces of art – but because I know most of you just want to see the hints, I wanted to share them here too. As a reminder of how this works, these are only about the NEW cards in these Commander decks, and the exclusive new Commander cards found in set and collector boosters. Also, this may not give you all the information – they are cryptic hints after all – so speculate appropriately. 🙂
Hint #1: There is a red card with enchant planeswalker.
Hint #2: There is a card that calls back to a specific group of cards from New Phyrexia.
Hint #3: There is a card that begins, “Whenever you cast a Phyrexian creature or artifact creature spell…”
Hint #4: There is a card with the same ability three times!
Hint #5: There is a cycle of cards that all have the ability words, “Will of the Planeswalkers”.
Hint #6: There is a card with a sentence that begins, “As many times as you choose…”
Hint #7: There is a card with the parley mechanic!
Hint #8: There is a card that cares about Merfolk.
Hint #9: There is a plane that references an iconic creature from Alpha.
Hint #10: Good news for the people always asking me about Kithkin: there is a new rare kithkin in these decks!
Hint #11: There is an Angel Ally!
Hint #12: There is a Phyrexianized M11 Titan in the set.
Hint #13: There is a new card with eminence! Yep, you read that right.
Hint #14: There is FINALLY something that creates a 1/1 butterfly creature token with flying, only previously found in Magic online, in paper. #FreeTheButterfly”
Gavin Verhey
According to Verhey, some of these cards will be revealed as a part of the March of the Machine spoiler season kickoff this Wednesday at 9am PT on YouTube and Twitch. If you’re interested in these cards, don’t miss it!
