Commander Set Review - March of the Machine: The Aftermath

March of the Machine: The Aftermath is the first Magic's mini set, featuring only uncommons, rares, and mythics. Even the products are "smaller", with booster packs containing fewer cards.

It's the set that will reveal to us how many of Magic's iconic planeswalkers lost their spark, and what that resulted in. Apparently, this resulted in turning them into legendary creatures, and when we talk about it, there's only one thing we can think of these days: Commander.

March of the Machine's newest "DLC" is a full plate for Commander players, both for new, interesting and fun deck building ideas with new and flashy commanders, and for staples that will see play in the format for their utility.

We'll briefly comment on the cards so that Commander players stay tuned, and that in the future they can guarantee the best creatures and spells for their decks

Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir

Basically, the first legendary creature revealed from March of the Machines: The Aftermath was Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir. Almost an improved Tatyova, Steward of Tides - both cards go in each other's deck and complement each other very well.

Their list builds are extremely similar, with the exception that Jolrael will provide more card draws and only transform one land per turn, while Tatyova will offer more creatures. The line to follow is at the player's discretion.

A good deck idea considering cards like Sylvan Advocate and Earth Surge.

Nissa, Resurgent Animist

Despite only looking like a Lotus Cobra, Nissa, Resurgent Animist has a lot more to explore for her second Landfall trigger.

With her ability, Tireless Provisioner and Oracle of Mul Daya are possible cards that work in the same deck with Nissa.

Omnath, Locus of Rage doesn't stay out of this either, along with other useful elementals like Risen Reef for example. Definitely a card that may not see play in the command zone, but as one of the 99, and very useful by the way.

Nahiri, Forged in Fury

Nahiri, Forged in Fury is yet another variation of the Boros equipment archetype. Its ability triggers for each attacking equipped creature, so Scroll Rack and Sensei's Divining Top are interesting options for this build.

Despite the high cost, her affinity for equipment makes it possible to keep Nahiri as long as possible on the board, just casting her again and again.

Her deck would be totally similar to Bruenor Battlehammer, Wyleth, Soul of Steel and derivatives, even serving as a staple to complement these commanders.

Tazri, Stalwart Survivor

Tazri is a wronged card. As an Ally, General Tazri is a great card and commander for the tribe. In its next version, Tazri, Beacon of Unity, it is no longer so interesting because the Party mechanic is not very explored in Commander.

Now, in this version, they managed to make it very specific. The number of factors you need to take value from the card is absurdly large, considering the creature's color, summoning sickness, top control, and mainly choosing creatures with activated ability.

And what's worse is that its own activated ability puts the creatures in the hand. It's a card that will most likely be forgotten, but since we're talking about Commander, it may be that in the future there will be a list elaborate enough to make this work. But right now, of the three versions of Tazri, it's by far the most difficult to get working.

Nashi, Moon's Legacy

Nashi, Moon's Legacy arrives as a great alternative for those who wanted to add green to their tribal deck of Relentless Rats or Rat Colony to finally be able to use Bloodbond March.

And as a bonus, they even got the blue color as great support. Tamiyo's adopted son will definitely bring plenty of deck builds in the future, be it a rat tribal or a legend tribal.

Sarkhan, Soul Aflame

Sarkhan, Soul Aflame has a cool mechanic to explore in Commander, either as a commander or in addition to decks like The Ur-Dragon or Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm.

A new cost reducer is always welcome, especially with a creature copy effect that evades the legend rule. Many legendary dragons are quite problematic if copied, so it can be expected that Sarkhan will be an almost definitive addition to this tribe in the format.

Niv-Mizzet, Supreme

Niv-Mizzet, Supreme doesn't generate as much value as Niv-Mizzet Reborn, but it's worth considering. Perhaps more as an addition to the 99 than as a commander, as it is unknown how much you can extract from spells of exactly two colors, as mentioned in the card, let alone the cost of discarding a card from your hand, in addition to paying the cost to cast, and only works on instants and sorceries as well.

Let's wait to see if he deserves the throne in the command zone, if he enters the 99 or if he will just be another specific and not very used card.

Danitha, New Benalia's Light

Danitha, New Benalia's Light returns this time in Selesnya color combination, and with great abilities for a voltron deck build: Low cost, vigilance to ensure blocking, trample to guarantee spare damage, and lifelink to guarantee time.

All this, not to mention that it allows you to cast an aura or equipment from the graveyard. Danitha may not be as popular in the future, but she is certainly a very respectable card and commander.

Samut, Vizier of Naktamun

Three mana for a creature that can attack when it enters the battlefield, defends well with first strike, and also becomes a blocker due to vigilance and can also provide card draw is simply excellent, especially in the Gruul color combination.

The value that can be generated by Samut, Vizier of Naktamun in decks that are max aggressive like Xenagos, God of Revels or Ognis, the Dragon's Lash is quite considerable.

Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival

Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival can be a pretty fun commander. The Boros color combination is not the most favorable for drawing cards without any consequences: white tends to have conditional draws or draws that benefit the opponent, and red tends to need discards for the draw to occur.

However, with cards like Wrenn's Resolve, Ignite the Future, Commune with Lava and derivatives, it is possible to "draw cards" with the exile effect. And they would fit perfectly in a Pia Naalar deck, granting thopter tokens with each land played or spell cast, being able to go on a more defensive line guaranteeing blockers, or even on an offensive stance with cards like Tempered Steel, or generating more tokens with Anointed Procession and Mondrak, Glory Dominus. That's not counting the ability to use Wild-Magic Sorcerer and other cascade options.

Rocco, Street Chef

Rocco, Street Chef is another one that takes advantage of the same cards mentioned above, and also builds that involve the cascade ability. Pia Naalar herself is an addition to a possible Rocco deck.

Academy Manufactor and Inspiring Statuary are indispensable to generate more utility and value for food tokens. I look forward to seeing Rocco's functional and fun lists in the future.

Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep

One of the strongest legendary creatures released in this mini set, you couldn't expect less from Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep. A creature very similar to the recently released Kenessos, Priest of Thassa in terms of sea creatures, with one small big difference: a Sunbird's Invocation built into the spells of giant sea creatures.

This implies in casting a Stormtide Leviathan to find a Nexus of Fate, already allowing the creature to hit on the extra turn. A build of massive creatures with plenty of extra turns looks pretty fun for the pilot and pretty scary for opponents. Other than how well she defends herself, with Ward 3.

Plargg and Nassari

Plargg and Nassari are very similar to an Etali, Primal Storm deck. It's another deck that manages to use Wild-Magic Sorcerer and Scroll Rack well, to better control the top and have the possibility to cast some bombs, like Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.

This is a commander who could have some really fun builds and interesting interactions in the future.

Arni Metalbrow

Arni Metalbrow is a great new addition to the format, as its ability can trigger over and over again as long as you have mana and creatures that meet the ability's requirement in your hand.

Both as a commander and as one of the 99, in the building in which it is used it can scare many opponents with surprise attacks, as, for example, in Goro-Goro and Satoru.

Tyvar the Bellicose

As a strong competitor or even substitute for Lathril, Blade of the Elves, we have Tyvar the Bellicose. In a Golgari elf build, and if we grant them the combination of deathtouch and trample, it can be quite interesting.

It's worth mentioning that Trample and Deathtouch have a great interaction: since Trample does all damage that is higher than the blocker's toughness pass, and Deathtouch makes any unit of damage lethal, if a blocker is assigned against a creature with both of these abilities, only 1 of damage will be enough to kill the blocker, and all the spare damage hits the opponent.

Tyvar also makes elves like Priest of Titania, Elvish Archdruid, Canopy Tactician and derivatives get power and huge toughness due to its other ability, Tyvar has great potential to be very famous among Elf decks from now on.

Sigarda, Font of Blessings

Sigarda gains another version in The Aftermath and is now Sigarda, Font of Blessings. As if a creature with flying 4/4 for 4 mana wasn't enough, it gives all other permanents hexproof and lets you cast humans or angels from the top.

Kyler, Sigardian Emissary gained another excellent support that allows you to filter your top and still grow your field by casting a creature from the top whenever possible. This Sigarda itself can be commander and has good synergy with its older versions, like Sigarda, Champion of Light and Sigarda, Heron's Grace.

Calix, Guided by Fate

Calix, Guided by Fate features an interesting mechanic that is new to enchantment decks in Selesnya color matching: copying enchantments. Usually, this is characteristic of blue in decks like Estrid the Masked with Estrid's Invocation.

This allows enchantments such as Ghostly Prison, Mirari's Wake, Smothering Tithe, Bear Umbra, Darksteel Mutation and other trouble-causing enchantments to have one more copy on the board.

The only real problem is being able to fit the damage, since when not built for auras, decks of the enchantress archetype do not usually gain with combat damage, but remember that this is not a rule: Nylea's Colossus proves the opposite. We can expect to see Calix in several Enchantment decks going forward.

Karn, Legacy Reforged

Karn, Legacy Reforged is basically a Blinkmoth Urn that only counts for its controller. A great colorless commander alternative that has 5/5 base power and the ability to grow even bigger with higher cost artifacts like Darksteel Forge, making it an indestructible 9/9.

And thanks to its ability to generate mana, big costs won't be a problem, so artifacts like Spine of Ish Sah, Akroma's Memorial and the like are welcome.

Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin

Capenna's crime king, Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin couldn't be left out of The Aftermath. This iconic demon has flying and trample, and in addition to growing its power and toughness, it offers its card advantage by exiling its top.

Pestilence and Pyrohemia needs no comment on how well they work here, especially with Ob Nixilis growing with each activation. If well piloted, such a deck can easily drain all opponents and finish with commander damage.

That's when you don't decide to end the game once and for all with All Will Be One, which on the first activation, guarantees infinite counters and infinite damage to your opponents, being another great finisher option.

Narset, Enlightened Exile

One of, if not the strongest commander released here: Narset, Enlightened Exile. Narset has finally realized the long-awaited dream of a creature that bestows prowess on all others.

Twinning Staff works great here, even more so if the deck building has some aspects of its old version, Narset, Enlightened Master: extra turns and extra combats. This, combined with cards like Young Pyromancer, Monastery Mentor, Third Path Iconoclast and derivatives, and all of them gaining Prowess, grants the potential to deal massive damage.

Not to mention that her triggered ability on attack can target any graveyard, and can also use your opponents' spells. Invasion of Segovia is almost a must-have, considering the two tokens also have Trample.

Here we will only comment on the cards that can be really relevant in Commander, not just targeting niche or tribal builds. Remembering that deck archetypes count in this case.

The Kenriths' Royal Funeral

One of the first cards revealed, The Kenriths' Royal Funeral is an enchantment with a lot of potential, considering that for 4 mana you can draw many cards (relative according to the mana cost of the creature exiled from your graveyard) and still decrease the cost of legendary spells you cast by 2 generic mana.

Just offering at least a few cards and "paying" the cost once your commander has already gone to the command zone makes it interesting enough to use.

Open the Way

A spell that at its maximum power on a regular table (i.e. with 4 players) is a 6 mana sorcery that will give you 4 lands. Whereas if you count the full mana cost, it's closer to a Skyshroud Claim plus a Farseek, seeking one more land for the same mana cost.

It's also comparable with Cultivate and Kodama's Reach added together, which gives you 2 basic lands on the battlefield and 2 in your hand. Gate decks can see this as a great ramp, even more so if Gond Gate is on the battlefield: if it hits 4 gates, it can be said that the spell cost 2.

Reckless Handling

I was impressed to see that Reckless Handling was an uncommon: an artifact tutor for 2 mana that, if you discard an artifact on its resolution, deals 6 summed damage to 3 opponents.

Feldon of the Third Path or Daretti, Scrap Savant can make use of this addition. Even more combo-focused decks like Magda, Brazen Outlaw or Jolene, the Plunder Queen can consider this addition to try and finish the game.

A card with very high potential and definitely worth having in your Commander pool.

Spark Rupture

Many underestimate The Immortal Sun on Commander until someone plays it, especially if there is a planeswalker on the table. The same will happen from now on with Spark Rupture: the card disables all planeswalkers and makes them vulnerable to possible sweepers, like Blasphemous Act or Damnation.

Stax decks or even fully creature-focused decks appreciate this addition, not least because it also provides a card draw means it replaces itself if there is no response. Nothing more satisfying than a fully disarmed Narset, Parter of Veils, for example. A great card to use, depending on the build.

Deification

Deification is almost the opposite of the aforementioned card, the difference is that while they don't deal with these enchantments, they can only deal with your Planeswalkers with direct damage or with combat damage. In a superfriends build, it can protect the most recurring Planeswalker type.

Rebuild the City

The Jund color combination usually has sacrifice traits and/or lands, and this wasn't much different. In decks like Lord Windgrace and Soul of Windgrace it can work very well, targeting a Cabal Coffers, for example.

Copying Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle is also an option, as long as it's built for it. It's good to select the lands carefully so that it's a target that really becomes useful, and not just some small mana generator.

Leyline Immersion

Leyline Immersion already has a combo scent in it. In an Inga and Esika deck with Beast Whisperer, Temur Sabertooth and Intruder Alarm, it can generate a lot of value.

4 mana to generate 5 and on top of that, fixing the spell casting curve correction the way you want helps a lot. Apart from the ward 2 protection that the creature receives.

Nahiri's Resolve

Certainly, a double-edged sword, Nahiri's Resolve can also be read as "the greed that drives you is the same that kills you".

Your creatures having haste and +1/+0 make you want to hit and then in the end just exile everything to trigger enter-the-battlefield effects again, like with a Combustible Gearhulk or a Stoneforge Mystic entering the board again.

You have to choose well and wisely, so that you are not completely unprotected until your next turn.

Harnessed Snubhorn

Despite being a dinosaur and for that reason, it seems niche, Harnessed Snubhorn has room for many decks as it reanimates an artifact or enchantment by dealing damage.

In the right build, we can get as much value out of it as possible, with some tutor like Entomb in the graveyard in response to combat damage, putting an Omniscience there and reanimating with the dinosaur.

It's a hypothetical situation, but this is Commander we're talking about, where anything is possible, right?

Cosmic Rebirth

Despite looking weak, Cosmic Rebirth is a great card in many decks. 3 mana to return a permanent to the hand if it costs 4 or more, or reanimate a permanent that costs 3 or less, and still give you 3 life is definitely something.

It only becomes a bad card if your graveyard is empty or the target is exiled in response. Otherwise, it's a great recursion card.

Gold-Forged Thopteryx

Definitely Super friends or legendary creatures decks, like Jodah, Archmage Eternal or Sisay, Weatherlight Captain, will find a slot to put this simple creature, Gold-Forged Thopteryx.

Not only creatures, but lands also have ward 2, allowing to protect lands like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Baldur's Gate among other possible targets.

Blot Out

A "spot removal" that can be very useful if played at the right time, and even if the time isn't, it's still a good cost to exile a problematic permanent from an opponent. Either from a Voltron deck that usually only has one creature on the battlefield, or against an opponent that has only one dangerous planeswalker.

Exiling that permanent makes the card interesting: it's almost guaranteed that that card won't come back to cause you problems.

Feast of the Victorious Dead

Aristocrat decks will love Feast of the Victorious Dead.

Teysa Karlov, Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim, Athreos, God of Passage and others are quite likely to use this enchantment both for life gain and to buff their aristocrats: Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat among others.

Campus Renovation

Although its cost seems relatively high for a recursion card, if you consider that for 5 mana you are "putting" three cards in your hand, it's not so bad, even more so if the deck is limited to only the Boros color combination.

Campus Renovation is a nice addition to the archetype, and would work great in a Pia Naalar deck, as mentioned earlier.

Filter Out

Last but not least, Filter Out. Probably the most important uncommon in the set, being a mini Cyclonic Rift.

For 3 mana and at instant-speed, Pillow fort enchantment decks will have Filter Out as one of their biggest nightmares if they don't get an immediate answer. The same goes for voltrons with a lot of equipment, or opponents who have many mana rocks on the battlefield.

Not to mention its own use and not to harm opponents, like in a Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain deck. Definitely a card to have in your Commander card pool.

One or two cards weren't shown here, but I hope I've lived up to expectations by explaining the ones that appeared here. Lots of new and iconic Commanders await us in these coming months, with fun mechanics and plenty of potential to explore.

And you, would you build any of these commanders? Are you going to use any of the staples shown here? Comment what you think!