If you’ve been paying attention to MTG news over the past few days, one YouTuber has been running the show. YouTuber oldschoolmtg has been releasing multiple videos of him opening boxes of unreleased MTG products for a set whose spoiler season hasn’t even started yet. After two videos opening March of the Machine: The Aftermath product, almost all of the 50 new cards have been revealed before the start of the set’s spoiler season! We’ve already covered many cards that players are excited about, including a long list of desparked Planeswalkers. Still, one of the most interesting cards revealed for Commander may be a common from the set – a new Tutor that will likely see heavy Commander play!
Before we jump into discussions, the source of all of these new cards is unofficial, which means there is a slight chance that it’s not real. At this point, there is an overwhelmingly likely chance that the cards discussed are real, but there is still a slim possibility that this is a brilliantly constructed hoax. Otherwise, if you want to wait for the official reveal of these MTG cards, treat this as a spoiler warning. Let’s take a look at Reckless Handling!
An Insane Enabler?
Reckless Handling is an incredibly unique tool that will see Commander play, but might even see some Constructed interest. This two-mana sorcery is, essentially, a Gamble that can only find artifact cards. The text is a bit tough to read, so written below is the card’s ability:
“Search your library for an artifact card, reveal it, put it into your hand, shuffle, then discard a card at random. If an artifact was discarded this way, Reckless Handling deals 2 damage to each opponent.”
This should obviously see play in a singleton format like Commander, especially when having artifacts in graveyards is something that interests your deck, but it could even see constructed play. Standard, Pioneer, and Modern do not currently have effects like this, and the card could see some fringe play there, but it is unlikely to change the metagame. Having a two-mana tutor in Standard that’s somewhat playable is incredibly rare, and could have huge impacts on the format. It could, alternatively, do nothing if it cannot reliably fuel a strong-enough game plan.
Having the small caveat of converting a discarded artifact into damage is great for a heavy artifact deck. Still, it may also be intended to lessen the sting of discarding the card you spent your turn trying to find.
Reckless Handling in Commander
Many MTG players discussing the newly leaked cards have already identified Reckless Handing as a great Commander tool at any level of play:
“Reckless Handling. 2 mana gamble seems really strong” – gemmen99
“90% of the time, Gamble is me tutoring Jeweled Lotus anyways, so yeah, I’ll take it.” – Jarlino
Mana rocks are a big part of Commander at every level, thanks to how widely available Sol Ring is after a series of reprints. As a result, even at lower-budget tables that do not have any high-ticket cards like Jeweled Lotus or Mana Crypt, this could be a sensible option, especially if you have graveyard synergies.
Obviously, this is a fantastic upgrade to a deck like the preconstructed Mishra’s Burnished Banner from The Brothers’ War or, even better, the Lorehold Legacies deck from Strixhaven’s preconstructed offerings. If you have a mediocre number of artifact synergies, or want a filler card that can convert to a Sol Ring more often than not, this should be a strong inclusion. Obviously, as the power level of your pod rises, so should the synergistic value of this card.
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Reckless Handling In Constructed
While the deck phased out of popularity as the metagame developed, there is a Standard deck that Reckless Handling should fit quite well with – a Portal to Phyrexia reanimator deck. At the time, this archetype mainly saw play as a three-colored deck, but, if players are brave enough, this could easily evolve into a five-colored list that abuses the new Invasion of Alara. The five-colored Battle already offers a staggering amount of benefits, but one of the many things that a flipped Invasion of Alara can do is cheat an artifact into play from your hand, then copy it. Imagine having two Portal to Phyrexias appear out of nowhere!
Otherwise, the card is a risky include in an artifact reanimator deck since there is a chance that Reckless Handling could discard the reanimation spell. For that reason, the downside may be too scary in the Standard format – but the card has a ton of potential regardless.
Modern may have a more realistic reason to include a card like this. Reckless Handling can help find some artifacts that don’t already have relevant tutors in the format but pales in comparison to a more reliable option. The card, for example, is unlikely to impact Colossus Hammer decks since they already have Urza’s Saga and Stoneforge Mystic.
Where this card may work best is in an artifact combo deck that has a need for a card that offers utility. Profane Tutor does see play in the format, but only as a tool to find cards that will often win the game on the spot when searched for. Unfortunately, most artifacts in this format that accomplish that already have better tutors: Stoneforge Mystic for anything equipment-related and Goblin Engineer for anything graveyard-bound.
Pioneer could have space for this, but it would likely be as a part of a deck that does not currently exist. Using this card to dump a Parhelion for Greasefang looks pretty inefficient in the context of the format. Still, once again, it could be used as a utility tool in a deck that wants various artifact cards.
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A Unique Card to Consider
Having an easily accessible two-mana tutor effect for Standard, Modern, and Pioneer is very exciting. While this may be too specific to actually do anything, it is still a cool card to consider. As long as March of the Machine: The Aftermath sees a good amount of openings, Reckless Handling should be a fantastic budget option for many Commander players. The card is arguably playable in a lot of decks that run Sol Ring alone, but the card should, ideally, see play in decks that want to search for more than just mana rocks. Either way, this should be a fantastic new card for many MTG players to try!
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