Metagame: March of the Machine's first week

With its official release last week, March of the Machine finally makes its way to competitive Magic. After a week of testing, and new strategies emerging, the set has passed its test of fire with the first batch of Magic Online Challenges.

In this article, we're going to explore which cards stood out in this weekend's events, and how the Metagame can evolve from the upcoming tournaments!

As you'd expect with every release, Standard was the format where the new set's cards made the biggest impact on the competitive scene.

This week's most notable addition is Chrome Host Seedshark, which seems to have revitalized blue decks to the point where it won the Sunday's Challenge, Jeskai Control.

Seedshark has shown great potential in lists where it turns every spell into a late-game threat. In a strategy focused on extending the game and exhausting the opponent's resources, this creature helps to press while its controller deals with opposing threats with other cards.

Additionally, Incubator tokens are artifacts. Therefore, they actively interact with cards that care about this type, such as Disruption Protocol, or Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh.

And among the other strategies in this week's Top 8, Dimir Midrange stands out for the enhanced value that Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh offers alongside Chrome Host Seedshark. The Planeswalker, on its own, transforms one of your tokens for free, while its -2 ability allows it to turn another Incubator into a 4/4 creature, which will be even bigger with the +1/+1 counters.

I played with that list a few times over the weekend. To my surprise, the game plan for this strategy is very solid and manages to keep up with what the main decks of the format. Once Seedshark and Tezzeret are in play, this strategy becomes almost unfair, dominating the game in a few turns.

Along with Archangel Elspeth and Sunfall - both powerful on their own - Chrome Host Seedshark also brought Azorius Control back into the spotlight in Challenges this week. This list even bets on a notorious number of cards from the new set, both on maindeck and sideboard.

A few other MOM cards have also gained prominence in Standard: Chandra, Hope's Beacon has been featured in some Rakdos and Grixis lists, where it provides even more efficient 2-for-1 trades, in addition to practically winning the game if it copies an Invoke Despair.

Invasion of New Phyrexia was present in the Five Color Domain that won the Challenge on the 22nd. This is a strategy that doesn't show up as much in competitive tournaments, and perhaps, the inclusion of an effect that produces an absurd amount of late-game tokens offers another efficient finisher, which is also found by Atraxa, Grand Unifier.

Rona, Herald of Invasion has found space on several Esper Legends lists. As this archetype runs around 30 legendary creatures, the Phyrexian invader becomes an excellent way to filter your hand for every spell you cast, while becoming a threat in her own right when transformed.

Several Reanimator decks are betting on Etali, Primal Conqueror instead of Atraxa, Grand Unifier, as its impact on the game, despite accumulating fewer resources, is more immediate, and turning Etali into a Phyrexian basically wins the game.

Additionally, Mono White Midrange lists have returned with the splash to red to cast Etali. Another important addition to these strategies is Guardian of Ghirapur, which allows you to reuse any ETB effect you own.

It seems that the strategy that received the most support in Standard was Mono Red Aggro, whose strategy is now complemented by Khenra Spellspear and Bloodfeather Phoenix as high-impact threats, as well as Nahiri's Warcrafting as an excellent removal against Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, which offers card advantage against smaller creatures.

The highlight of these new versions is the inclusion of Sword of Once and Future. Not only does equipment increase the power of your creatures, it also provides much-needed protection against the main color in the Metagame today. In addition, Mono Red has several spells that can benefit from the sword's effect to increase its clock or widen its board.

Finally, we have this daring Gruul Ramp deck, whose goal is to cast Chandra, Hope's Beacon and use Glistening Dawn as its main wincondition. I think this strategy would do better trying to ramp into Etali, but Chandra does enough stuff to be good on her own, and interacts well with Glistening Dawn.

A notable detail on the list is that it was the deck with the most Battles in this week's Challenges, with a total of eight copies between Invasion of Zendikar and Invasion of Ergamon.

The notorious Pioneer winner with March of the Machine was a very popular strategy on Standard during the pandemic, but which has been forgotten in the competitive scene ever since: Dimir Rogues.

Rogues is in a tricky position in the Pioneer Metagame. On the one hand, it is an efficient Tempo strategy, with access to some of the best cards in the format like Fatal Push and Thoughtseize, alongside a shell of efficient creatures, which manage to impose a fast and synergistic clock

On the other hand, its greatest strength is also its Achilles' heel: when betting on Mill to amplify the power of its creatures, Rogues is a vulnerable strategy against cards that feed from the graveyard, such as Treasure Cruise and Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger, in addition to speeding up decks like Abzan Greasefang, which forces them to be aware of a possible combo on the next turn.

To improve this strategy, Rogues need to lessen their reliance on Mill by gaining access to more powerful creatures, and Faerie Mastermind is this category of card, in addition to having synergy with the rest of the deck as a 2/ 1 Flying with a useful late-game ability.

Added to the format's current state, where Izzet Phoenix is low and Kroxa is little present in the competitive scene, the deck only needs to worry about preventing Greasefang, Okiba Boss from becoming a problem, which it manages to do greatly thanks to Drown in the Loch, as well as Ray of Enfeeblement on the Sideboard.

And speaking of Greasefang, we've had timid additions to other established Pioneer decks. For example, Wrenn and Realmbreaker were featured on one of Abzan Greasefang's Sunday Top 8 lists, in the slots that used to belong to Liliana of the Veil.

Polukranos Reborn and some Battles were tested in Mono Green Devotion this weekend, including on Saturday's Challenge winning list.

Another notable addition from this weekend was Ancient Imperiosaur in Gruul Midrange. With Esika's Chariot and Lovestruck Beast to spawn two bodies with a single card, it doesn't seem to have a hard time casting the dinosaur for its Convoke cost, and it seems lethal in low-interactive matchups, where you need a fast clock.

Lastly, Invasion of Gobakhan and Knight-Errant of Eos appeared on Humans this weekend. Despite the unimpressive result, both cards seem to fit this proposal well when we need to be more disruptive.

Knight-Errant of Eos might even deserve a spot on Mono White variants due to its large body and ability to offer decent card advantage.

One notable exclusion from this weekend was the Rona, Herald of Invasion's combo with Retraction Helix and Mox Amber, which had a lot of hype during spoiler season. Perhaps, the combo still needs to be refined to enter the competitive format, or players need more experience with their lists to deal with the current Metagame.

March of the Machine didn't bring any major highlights to Modern this week, but some lists made had some cards on the Sideboard.

The most important of which was the addition of four copies of Change the Equation on Sunday's Four-Color Creativity winning list.

Despite the ease of having access to all colors, Creativity decks have serious problems adding cheap answers with a lot of colored mana costs, such as Counterspell, since it already makes too many concessions to cast Indomitable Creativity, while supporting a Goodstuff shell.

Change the Equation is a versatile answer against a lot of the Metagame, including the Mirror Match and several decks with low-cost threats or answers, and one that fits on Creativity lists as it only requires a single colored mana.

Surge of Salvation appeared on Hammer Time this weekend. However, none of them had a significant result, and the only variant in the Top 8 this weekend still bets on Blacksmith's Skill, perhaps for its ability to "counter"Indomitable Creativity.

As expected since the preview season, Wrenn's Resolve has become Mono Red Aggro's new staple on Pauper, and has made it onto every Challenges' Top 16 lists for this weekend:

Kuldotha Burn is one of Pauper's strongest strategies today due to its mix of a fast and efficient clock - to the point of playing under Affinity, the other best deck in the format - in addition to card advantage engines that allow it to maintain the gas even when the game extends.

Now, with eight "draw 2" effects, red Aggro has even more resilience, which can lead to a Metagame even more prepared to face it with this new acquisition.

Another recent addition was Meeting of Minds on Familiars. Since it's a list with several creatures that attack badly but block well, Meeting of Minds manages to stand out in this archetype as a draw spell that doesn't need mana to be cast.

Its inclusion also adds a lot to the consistency of the list, and to keeping mana open to possible threats, in addition to being a less hostile option than Deep Analysis in a format where Mono Red is the current best deck.

March of the Machine's most impactful addition to Legacy this weekend is the creature that appears to have been designed to impact the format: Faerie Mastermind brought a new approach to UWx Control!

Yuta Takahashi's card opens up a new proactive play for Azorius/Jeskai Control, with an aggressive two-drop, which in addition to being a pitch for Force of Will and Force of Negation, punishes the strategies that seek to build a setup with cheap cantrips, which are abundant in the Legacy Metagame.

The fact that it is a 2/1 with Flash and Flying gives its controller immense versatility in terms of when is the most opportune time to cast it. Since Control decks also have other important threats, Faerie Mastermind serves as a complement that speeds up the clock and forces the opponent to play around to avoid granting too much long-term value.

Its inclusion also looks beneficial should Stoneblade decks one day return to their origins, with a blue and white core, complemented by flying creatures.

Some other cards also appeared in the Top 32, such as Invasion of Tarkir in this Izzet Aggro variant, with Sprite Dragon and Murktide Regent to amplify the damage dealt by the Battle, in addition to transforming your dragons into recurring removals.

One of the Golgari Depths lists tested Deeproot Wayfinder, a cheap and efficient threat which, in a list aimed at closing combos with lands, increases its consistency by allowing resort to Dark Depths and/or Thespian's Stage whenever necessary. The new merfolk is also nasty when it creates a pseudo-lock alongside Wasteland.

March of the Machine left its mark on all competitive formats this weekend. While some additions seem timid and just one-off tests, other cards have already demonstrated their potential as Metagame staples.

Over the next few weeks, we'll see players continue to adapt to the new cards, and a variety of strategies may yet emerge. Ahead of The Aftermath's release, we'll provide an overview of March of the Machine's long-term impact on competitive formats.

Thanks for reading!