March of the Machine is coming and the second standard Magic the Gathering set of 2023 is going to be epic, featuring the biggest battle in Magic’s history. Centring on the final fight between the Phyrexians and the rest of multiverse, March of the Machine is the culmination of a story that began in earnest three sets ago with Dominaria Untied, but has roots all the way back in Kaldheim, when the Praetor Vorinclex mysteriously appeared to steal sap from The World Tree. That sap was used to create Realmbreaker; Phyrexia’s very own twisted Invasion Tree that’s opening portals across the multiverse to invade almost every plane we’ve ever seen, under the command of the fearsome Mother of Machines, Elesh Norn.

But what may be an existential threat to the multiverse is game-changing for us players – bringing together beloved characters and locations from Magic’s vivid worlds in a single set, arriving in our world on April 21 2023. And what it’ll herald will not only be world defining, but game defining. MTG Head Designer Mark Rosewater has said March of the Machine will introduce huge changes that will shape both Magic the Gathering’s story and mechanics. History is about to be made.

Here’s what we know so far:

We’re already into spoiler season, with the complete (or perhaps ‘compleat’, depending how the Phyrexians get on) gallery going live April 5th. In-store pre-release events are happening April 14-20, then the digital release on MTG Area and Magic Online arrives April 18. April 21 is the global tabletop release.

If Phyrexia: All Will Be One was Empire Strikes Back, March of the Machine is Return of the Jedi. The story picks up with the planeswalker strike force failing in their mission to destroy Realmbreaker. Jace, Nissa, Vraska, Nahiri and Lukka were all compleated and joined Phyrexia in their invasion, while Elspeth planes-walked into the blind eternities with the exploding Sylex to stop it destroying the multiverse, almost certainly to her doom.  

Now Realmbreaker – the Phyrexian’s own version of the World Tree – is active, and opening portals to planes across the multiverse to enable the Phyrexian invasion, led by Elesh Norn. From Innistrad to Eldraine, Ixalan to Ikoria, residents of each plane are taking up arms and forming unlikely alliances to defend against the metallic horrors of Phyrexia. Will Atraxa be successful in tearing New Capenna apart? Will Lukka be able to compleat the fiercest behemoths of Ikora? Can Ajani really turn Theros’ Gods into Phyrexians?! March of the Marchine has the answers!

Now it’s time for other heroes to enter the fray. The fires of anger burn bright in Chandra, what will happen when she’s forced to confront her beloved, and now Phyrexian, Nissa? Can Wrenn enact her plan to bring Teferi back with his home plane of Zalfir to launch a counter-invasion of New Phyrexia? Will Elspeth make a triumphant return to save the day? Can Elesh Norn keep her other rebellious Praetors in line and realise her vision of all being one? We’re about to find out…

Spoiler season is underway, and the cards are some of the most exciting in recent memory – shining a spotlight on the epic final battle and providing new staples for Standard, Commander and beyond:

While I don’t want to spoil the story, there’s no getting away from the fact Elspeth – the queen of cheating death – has escaped the grave once more and is back to join the fight; she’s in the set’s epic new cinematic trailer! Now an angel, the new Elspeth is remarkably similar to her very first iteration, which was a constructed all-star back in the day. Shout out also to the card Moment of Trust, which gave us our first clue to the Planeswalker’s feathered fate…

Perhaps don’t look at the glorious art if you want to read the story before any spoilers (the story is live in its entirety now if you want to check it out), but this new removal spell surely will be a constructed and Commander staple. A single black mana for an instant that destroys any creature dealt damage this turn, AND draws a card? I’m ready to avenge Mirrodin! In case you didn’t know, Mirrodin was an artificial plane created by Karn, which the planeswalker unwittingly brought Phyrexian oil too, leading to it eventually becoming New Phyrexia – and he’s clearly still upset about it.

This is another card name that is a little spoilery, but you’d have to be living under a rock to have missed it previewed. Wrenn is one of my favourite planeswalkers, and this latest form is not only a powerhouse (fixing, milling, recursion), but what an incredible story moment. The borderless version is particularly stunning. There’s a lot of chatter about the huge impact this card can have, and for very good reason.

Team-ups are a key theme of the set, with very different legendary creatures who share a home plane putting their differences aside and forming an unlikely alliance to fight the Phyrexians. Thalia and the Gitrog monster has to be one of the best; two formidable cards in their own rights that have come together to create an Abzan 4/4 for four mana that has the lethal combination of first strike and deathtouch (yes – it works just as you’d hope it would), while setting your opponent back with tapped lands and creatures, AND providing a card-drawing/sacrifice engine. I’m in love!

These team ups feature across the planes, with Borborygmos and Fblthp, Drana and Linvala, and Yargle and Multani some other fun examples.

The heroes aren’t having it all their own way, and some iconic characters are falling to Phyrexian compleation. I’ve no idea to what extent Omnath’s final form was planned, but it truly is a work of art. Starting off as a mono green creature all the way back in Worldwake, Omnath has slowly been gaining extra colours over the past few years, with only black remaining…. until now!

Giving the legendary elemental black mana as part of his Phyrexian compleation is perfect, and the fact it’s a black phyrexian mana symbol is the icing on the cake. It’s also a super interesting commander, making three-mana-symbols matter and opening some interesting deck design options outside of the typical ‘5 colour good stuff’.

The perfect way to jump straight into the final showdown with the Phyrexians has to be the four new preconstructed Commander decks arriving with March of the Machine, perfect to play out of the box, customise, or add to existing decks. You have your choice of heroes; for example Esper knights, or Naya ‘backup’ featuring a brand-new mechanic. Or you could succumb to the glory of Phyrexia and command the invaders to victory!

The decks are as follows:

• Phyrexians and the ‘Incubate’ mechanic – White/Black
• Knights – Blue/Black/White
• Convoke – Red/Blue/White
• Artifact Tokens – Red/Blue/Green
• +1/+1 Counters with the new ‘Backup’ mechanic – Red/Green/White

In addition, the commander decks will also feature a return to Planechase; a super fun mechanic that involves moving from plane to plane as you do battle, which can have a big impact on the game, with the locations you arrive on impacting on everything from making artifacts cheaper to cast, to giving modified creatures trample. Not only does it add a lot of wonderful chaos to the game, but it’s amazingly flavorful and immersive for a set based on a multiplanar war.

March of the Machine brings three new Mechanics, and an update to an existing one:

• Battle – Battles are a new double-faced card type, teased with Atraxa in Phyrexia: All Will Be One. They are permanents, and you cast the front side with some kind of effect (e.g. search your library for two basic lands). Then it sits on your opponent’s side of the battlefield with a number ‘defence counters’ on it according to the number stated in the bottom right corner. From there, you can attack it/deal damage to it much like an opposing planeswalker, and when the counters are all removed, you can cast the flipped side without paying its mana cost. So far we’ve seen all sorts on the other face, including creatures and even a Teferi planeswalker! The value looks solid and the game play fantastic as players literally battle over the card to make it, or stop it, flipping
• Backup – Backup is a new +1/+1 counter variant. As a creature with back up enters the battlefield, you can add a +1/+1 counter to it, or another creature. If you pick another creature, that creature also gains the abilities of the first creature until end of turn, whether that be flying, trample, first strike, or anything else. So it’s up to you whether you make your threat even bigger, or spread the power to also create some surprise attacks
• Incubate – Incubate is the new Phyrexian mechanic that creates a double-faced token, much like a food or clue. For two mana you can flip the Incubator token into a 0/0 creature, which will also have some number of +1/+1 counters on it from the card that created the token in the first place. Incubate looks both powerful and flavourful as you make an endless supply of invaders
• Chaos ensues – One for the Commander decks, Chaos Ensues is the new name for the trigger that occurs from rolling the planar dice in Planechase. Looking at the new plane cards, chaos really does ensue when you move from plane to plane, and it adds whole new dimensions of chaotic fun to the most popular format.

As if there weren’t already enough amazing characters in the set, there’s something else special coming to Set and Draft boosters… Multiverse Legends! Each March of the Machine Set and Draft booster will contain an iconic legendary creature, in the showcase frame associated with their home plane. 16 planes are featured in total, which means this set is debuting several showcase frames for the first time, covering Ravnica, Ixalan and Tarkir.

While not Standard legal, they can be played in Draft and Sealed, which is going to lead to some awesome fun and big surprises. There are 65 Multiverse Legends in total: 20 uncommons, 30 rares, and 15 mythic rares.

One thing we know is that there’s no ‘it was all a dream’ or ‘let’s go back in time and fix it!’ to undo the invasion – there will be consequences to March of the Machine. These will be demonstrated in March of the Machine: the Aftermath, a micro-set coming 12 May, with epilogue boosters that contain just five cards. We know little more than that at this stage, and the fact the set has no commons, and that the repercussions will be dramatic; the one card revealed so far shows us the Kenrith’s Royal Funeral.

There’s no way to underplay it, March of the Machine is one of the most exciting sets ever – whether it’s the lore of the epic final battle against Magic’s oldest villains, the stunning cards of some of the game’s most beloved characters, or the story/game defining impact.

We’re even completing the ‘Sword of…’ cycle! And with the multiverse-stretching showcase treatments, March of the Machine is going to be just as fun to open and collect as it will be to play.