March Of The Machine closes out Elesh Norn’s frightful blitzkrieg into the various planes Magic The Gathering. While I thought that the last release in Phyrexia: All Will Be One was grim and grotesque, this final showdown features all manner of dismemberment and richly nightmarish fare.
A crossover for the ages, the epic finale to this outstanding Magic set was treated to a warm reception at the pre-release event hosted by Wizards at Fortress Melbourne last Wednesday. Your boy even cracked into his first sealed draft duel, building my first successful deck from a smorgasbord of deadly battlefields and transformed beings.
Battles make up one of my two favourite new mechanics to emerge from this set, alongside incubators. The battle cards display immensely detailed fields of warfare, that can be planted onto the enemy’s side of the table. When certain conditions are met, a powerful being will rise from the ashes and join your menagerie. If you are looking to quickly overwhelm your opponents, then it is a good idea to get around the filthy new incubate mechanic. Laying egg tokens cheaply throughout your field, sacrificing your chaff can hatch these eggs into nasty spawn that will please combo-heavy players and litter the field with nasty parasitic beings.
Despite sounding like a broken record, the art continues to outdo itself. While I am a chump and a novice when it comes to understanding this multiverse and it’s lore, the uninitiated will be treated to densely thematic card art that weaves a tangible storyline. As I understood it, Norn’s nasties have come to ground down the forces native to the various planes, and the battle cards go a long way to illustrating how this is playing out.
To get a taste of the endgame at play with this tightly woven, theme-heavy set of malevolent machines and gruesome beings, check out the cinematic launch trailer here. Once you’ve done that, you can head over to your local EB Games or JB Hi-Fi to make your mark among the smouldering ashes that are sure to be left in the wake of Norn’s madness. Pulling no punches when it comes to attracting that dollar, Wizards are offering this epic tour-de-force in every format a prospective player could desire, from Draft Boosters, Set Boosters, Collector Boosters, Jumpstart Boosters, Welcome Boosters, Commander decks, Bundles, and a Secret Lair.
Shandies before the storm
Like myself, is this your first time dipping into one of Magic’s big event sagas. If not, how do you rate this behemoth of a run? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
