Every new MTG set always seems to have an unexpected breakout card. With Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, the entire MTG community slept on Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. In Streets of New Capenna, it was Ledger Shredder. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse went above and beyond expectations from Dominaria United and Skrelv, while not particularly slept on, ended up being worth more than many players expected. There were some obviously powerful cards being released in March of the Machine, but the best card of the set, once again, may have been slept on in its early infancy. It turns out the smallest plane to be featured in March of the Machine may well end up having the largest impact.
Invasion of Segovia
Invasion of Segovia is a Convoke player’s dream, which already marks it for potential Commander interest since it’s a fantastic upgrade to the Divine Convocation preconstructed deck. The Battle is quite simple – when it enters, it creates two 1/1 Kraken tokens with Trample. This is fantastic for a Convoke deck since, for any Convoke spells, it basically creates two additional blue mana – which is fantastic for a three-mana spell. Of course, this is only the case for Convoke spells… at least it would be if it weren’t for the other side of Invasion of Segovia.
Should you defeat this Battle, you can re-cast Caetus, Sea Tyrant of Segovia! This creature has two absolutely terrifying abilities that went unnoticed by many. Firstly, Caetus allows you to cast all of your non-creature spells as if they had Convoke! Suddenly, the two tokens created by the front side of this card can now function as mana for any noncreature spell. Secondly, Caetus features an ability that replicates one of the most terrifying cards to ever appear in Magic’s competitive scene: Wilderness Reclamation.
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The Return of Wilderness Reclamation?
Wilderness Reclamation is banned in Pioneer, and for a good reason. This card was an absolute menace in the competitive scene when it was Standard legal: completely dominating a post-Oko world. This also happened to be the archetype that got me my first, and only, Pro Tour appearance.
Wilderness Reclamation was extraordinarily difficult to fight because the deck always had mana to respond to effects. Actually casting Wilderness Reclamation was not a commitment unless the card could be removed, since it would untap all of your lands at the end step. This allows the deck to consistently present interaction for your opponent’s gameplan until, ultimately, you save up a ton of mana for a gigantic Expansion // Explosion to end the game. This was done by stacking mana from multiple Wilderness Reclamation triggers in the end step.
Prominent players are already beginning to recognize a link between Wilderness Reclamation and Caetus, Tyrant of Segovia. Like the four-mana enchantment, Caetus can untap mana at your end step. This is because, thanks to the creature’s ability to grant all of your noncreature spells Convoke, you can use the four creatures that Caetus untaps to cast noncreature spells. While this is still significantly less impactful than Wildness Reclamation, it is an immediate net plus in terms of mana. Invasion of Segovia only costs three mana to cast. If you flip the battle on the same turn you cast it, you should, generally, have five untapped creatures at your untap step – which should serve as five mana for noncreature spells.
This has not gone unnoticed by some MTG players, as the deck is already beginning to pop up in some Young Pyromancer-themed decks in the Pioneer format. MTG streamer Burnt_Taco shared this shocking screenshot detailing an absolutely terrifying board as early as turn four.
Financial Movements
TCGplayer had Invasion of Segovia’s Prerelease pricing at around $5.70, but, in typical fashion, the card plummeted to about $1.30 once Prerelease weekend hit. However, the card quickly began to bounce back, as copies of the card are selling for $5 even. This all occurred in just five days.
In addition to price, interest is also soaring for the Battle, which means there is a very likely possibility that this card will continue to spike shortly. This card requires a little more build-around to abuse than Wilderness Reclamation did, but Invasion of Segovia certainly looks like a Pioneer, Standard, and Commander powerhouse. The card isn’t likely to impact older formats since Wilderness Reclamation already fails to do this, but the card definitely is one of the biggest contenders for a ‘format breaker’ in the March of the Machine set.
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