cEDH: Top 10 March of the Machine cards for Competitive Commander

Before I start talking about the strongest and most interesting cards in the format, I would like to let you know that March of the Machine brought some interesting cards to the format, but I don't see them breaking it, but maybe giving it a good shake.

Battle, the new card type

Also remembering that, within this set, a new card type has arrived: Battle.

Battles are permanent and can only be cast any time you could play a sorcery when the stack is empty. That is, at the same time a player normally casts a creature, artifact, enchantment, or planeswalker.

They come into play with a predetermined number of defense counters, as shown in the bottom corner of the card. These defense counters determine how much damage a Battle needs to take to be defeated. For more information about them, just read this article, where Romeu further explains how these cards work and how they interact with other spells.

Honorable Mention

Stoke the Flames

Stoke the Flames is a reprint, and it's here for two reasons.

The first is that it's a 4 damage removal to any target and that's good against Kraum, Ludevic's Opus and other creatures, planeswalkers, and even battles with 4 defense or loyalty.

But its decisive factor is that it has convoke, and this makes it possible for it to be used in any deck that fills the board with many creatures, enabling it to be cast for free.

Phyrexian Censor

Phyrexian Censor can effectively impede combos and hinder your opponent's tempo. Its secondary ability can prove useful in countering certain combos that rely on generating infinite tokens for a sudden attack or utilizing creature abilities to search for or untap other creatures (such as pod combos or Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker). Even though such combos don't rely on casting spells, they can still be effectively countered by Phyrexian Censor.

10 - Transcendent Message

Spells with X cost to draw cards aren't the best way to draw cards, and there are others that don't cost 4 blue mana and X to draw X cards.

However, what sets this card apart is having convoke, allowing you to reduce its cost and significantly increase the number of cards drawn, depending on the deck in which you will run it.

Of course, to achieve this, you must use it on a deck that already fills the board and Transcendent Message can allow you to recover gas for an explosive turn.

9 - Urabrask

Another interesting Storm support, along with Birgi, God of Storytelling and Storm-Kiln Artist. Urabrask also generates mana as you cast spells, and can clean some creatures when transformed, in addition to guaranteeing you countless resources after that with the other chapters of the saga.

You can see a review about Urabrask in other competitive formats here.

8 - Rona, Herald of Invasion

A one-card combo with Wishclaw Talisman, allowing you to fetch Retraction Helix to start returning Wishclaw and recast it to fetch a legendary 0-cost mana rock (either Mox Opal or Mox Amber), having infinite mana and means to tutor any card in the deck. You decide how to finish the games.

7 - Shalai and Hallar

Just like in the previous set, All Will Be One was a combo with 3 other cards, Shalai and Hallar is the same thing, but with 3 colors and in the Command Zone, dealing infinite damage alongside War Elemental, The Red Terror, or Heliod, Sun-Crowned, having it and one of them on the battlefield and a card that inflicts damage to an opponent.

For Heliod, you can lifelink Shalai and hit with it, This will trigger their abilities infinitely, leading you to victory.

6 - Invasion of Ikoria

This is an X cost tutor for creatures, basically a second copy of Finale of Devastation. Of course, it doesn't search for humans, and doesn't grant a power boost and haste to your creatures. But, as a tutor, Invasion of Ikoria is just as efficient and should have a friendlier price.

However, Invasion of Ikoria is still a Battle and its other side is competitively irrelevant unless you want to end games through combat.

5 - Drana and Linvala

I'm not a big fan of Orzhov legends, but I really enjoyed this one. Firstly, because they did an impressive job putting two opposites together, building an improved version of Linvala, Keeper of Silence, which now also steals those abilities for themselves, allowing you to lock your opponents and still take advantage of it.

4 - Hoarding Broodlord

As a Tasigur, the Golden Fang player, I'm quite interested in this card, as it is one Eldritch Evolution away from entering the battlefield, and it tutors a card and grants convoke for it.

It works as a one-card combo, as you can tutor a Saw in Half, tap it and find a way to pay two colorless mana and use Saw in Half on it, and look for two more cards that will have convoke, then just look for the most beloved combo of the format and pay for Thassa's Oracle and, in response, tap one of the copies to pay for Demonic Consultation.

As Tasigur already runs other 7 drops like Toxrill, the Corrosive, Koma, Cosmos Serpent and Hullbreaker Horror you can also start from one of them to reach Hoarding Broodlord with Neoform or Birthing Pod.

3 - Omnath, Locus of All

Mana fixing is not a problem in cEDH. With the amount of lands and mana rocks we have for it, the new Omnath, Locus of All is very strong, starting with the fact that it has 5 colors, allowing you to use any card in the format, turning your deck into a Goodstuff pile.

Also, all of your unspent mana becomes black mana, and that's an absurd advantage. And if that wasn't enough, it can still give you a card advantage, with an extra card per turn, or grant you more mana if you reveal a card with three or more colors.

2 - Faerie Mastermind

This card has potential: two mana for a flying threat who grants a draw when an opponent draws their second card of the turn. It's not as strong as Mystic Remora or Rhystic Study, but it's another excellent draw engine.

And as a bonus, it still serves for you to spend your infinite mana making all players draw a card - of course, for that, you need to have means to put cards back in your deck, like Turn the Earth and Memory's Journey, to avoid losing the game in the process.

1 - Invasion of Segovia

In the first place, we have a Battle that I consider quite broken. Invasion of Segovia costs 3 mana and its first side has the effect of creating two 1/1 tokens. That's in addition to having 4 defense, which is pretty low in the format, as it shares colors with Kraum, Ludevic's Opus which can transform it right away.

When transformed, it becomes a 3/3 creature that grants convoke to your noncreature spells, and even untaps up to 4 of your creatures on your end step.

That is, for 3 mana you have 3 bodies, a cost reduction on your spells by tapping your creatures, and it also untaps them to be able to cast spells on the other player's turn. It is good in Midrange and Control decks, as a tool that grants you a lot of mana for cheap.

Well, this set was quite surprising. There were many creative and interesting cards, which are definitely worth the test! I hope you enjoyed the article.

Until next time!