Hello everyone! I hope that you are having a most bounteously awesome day today! Today I want to finish my deep dive into the best cards from March of the Machine the most recent set, for kitchen table play. This list cares about casual formats like Commander, other Highlander formats, Type Four, Five Color, multiplayer and more!

I have two previous weeks of Top Tens with 3 Honorable Mentions each to give you 13 total cards each which you can find here (Top Ten Cards from March of the Machine for Casual Formats | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)) for my first one and here (Top Ten Cards from March of the Machine #2 | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)) for my second. As you can see, the lists are back-to-back, so the second begins at 14 and ends at 26. This will knock out 10 more, and then I'll do 4 Honorable Mentions to give us an even Top 40.

Ready to begin this thing? Let's kick things off with a banana kick!

Honorable Mention #4 (#40 Overall) - Kor Halberd AND Bladed Battle-Fan

Check out this pair of common Orzhov equipment! They aren't really running anything in common, but I wanted them both in today's article as a shout out, so here you go! The one drop gives a nice +1/+1 size and vigilance or just one equip costs. Vigilance is great in multiplayer and Commander where you have multiple opponents since you can attack the open player and then stay back to block. It's a solid addition. This 1 to drop, 1 to equip with a boost to size are called "Short Swords" after that card. They are commonly played in decks with cheap Commanders that have equipment cast triggers or ETB ones like Sram, Senior Edificer that draws a card each equipment you cast. There you can cast a Short Sword like this for just a mana, draw, and then equip for just one later for the swinging when that's needed. It's also ideal for Boros Equipment Commanders with advantages with each equipment on them like Bruenor Battlehammer where your stuff gets +2/+0 for each equipment on them, so you'll likely maximize your Short Swords there with cheap play and equip costs.

Then the two-drop has flash, equips for free on arrival, and then gives it a +1 boost to power permanently and indestructible that turn. That means you can play this as a combat trick to save a dork of yours with indestructible and a free equip now with a power boost and then you can equip it later for just one mana. You can use this to save a chump blocker, or a dork from combat damage attacking. You can also save it from destruction-based removal that's targeted (Murder) or mass (Wrath of God). Or burn removal that's those too! Like Lightning Bolt or Blasphemous Act. Saving a key creature from removal is great in Commander where your decks are built around him and the power boost can speed up a Commander Damage kill by a turn. For example, a 5-power Commander kills in five turns to deal 21. But a 6 power Commander kills in 4, 24 damage. Run this there, and you'll save it from key removal and win faster too. Good common pair here!

Honorable Mention #2 (#39 Overall) - Errant and Giada

Our first gold card and legendary dork for the Command Zone is this three-drop Azorius colored 2/3 with flying and flash too, so it'll trade with 2/2 Wind Drakes that attack you or keep them away as a Commander with the mana available. Then you can cast the top spell of your deck if it has flash or flying, so this can lead an Azorius Flying Matters deck, which already exists. Or it could lead a Flash-Matters brew in those colors, which doesn't. There was a pair of Dimir flash enablers called Cunning Nightbonder and Slitherwisp from Ikoria that dropped your casting cost of flash things and drew you cards, but I don't think a Commander ever existed with it. Nice! We are adding a new archetype to Azorius for sure, and then maybe to Commander generally. And you can toss in flyers as your winners and also get that boost to cast them for free as well from your library without drawing them. You'll always wanna do that rather than your hand to make sure that you are "drawing" cards, and netting card advantage. Although she doesn't mention or enable flash, you might consider Nymris, Oona's Trickster as a Flash Matters Commander in Dimir. Good stuff!

Honorable Mention #3 (#38 Overall) - Sheoldred // The True Scriptures

For five Black mana on the front side you net a reasonable 4/5 with menace body. On arrival to the battlefield, this will force everyone else to sacrifice a non-token critter or 'walker. That's very strong in any multilayer format since it'll be card advantage, and if you build around her as a Commander that's a reliable removal spell from your Command Zone. Then for 5 more mana you can transform her to the True Scriptures at sorcery speed and only if a foe has an eight or higher card count in their graveyard.

Note there is no tax there, this is the same as the 5-mana casting cost. On doing so, you can force your foes to destroy one creature or planeswalker they control. Note that this is "target" language so they cannot choose something like shroud or protection from black. It's destroy not sacrifice, so they can regenerate or save with indestructible so it's answerable. Then in Chapter II next turn you can force your foes to each discard three and mill three, so it's nasty card flow against them. Then the next turn you get a free Liliana Vess's ultimate, put all creatures from all graveyards onto your battlefield, and transform. That'll win games. I love how easy the transform is. Someone else always has threshold. This is also doable in a Milling brew like Dimir where this is removal, milling, discarding, and then a win con all in one! It's my fourth-hitting Praetor of the set. Enjoy your Sheoldred-ding!

Honorable Mention #4 (#37 Overall) - Akki Scrapchomber

Our final card on the Honorable Mention in our final list is this one-drop mono-Red common. This is our only scoring Red common on my three lists, by the by. Then you can tap this 1/1 with two mana. Sacrifice an artifact or land for a card! Sacrificing artifacts for cards is great fun on a one-drop that avoids counters. Ideally, they'll be tokens like Treasure, Food, Blood or this set's Incubators. Then you can swap them with two mana for a card - kind of like turning them into a Clue token. This will also work with creature tokens that are also artifacts like Servos and Thoptors. You can block and then sac them. Artifacts are the most played archetype in Commander according to EDHREC.com, and this is cool there. Also note that this can sacrifice lands for cards too, and that's new. That'll fit Jund Sacrifice decks around leaders like Korvold, Fae-Cursed King. See why this humble common made my list? I hope so!

#10. (#36 Overall) - Archpriest of Shadows with a Shout Out to Doomsskar Warrior

This five-drop 4/4 deathtouch is our next card. This has backup 1, so you can drop this pre-combat, give an attacker +1/+1 and then it gets deathtouch and the combat damage trick that turn. Nasty when no one is expecting it! Then you can combat damage trigger to return a creature to your battlefield from your graveyard. For free? That's nasty here! And then you can get the recursive ability on itself for later beatings. The Warrior also has backup 1 and a combat damage trigger in green. This time it'll dig equal to the combat damage dealt for a dork or land and put it into your hand. It's also on an evasive trampling 4/3 four-drop. See why the Archpriest is my main choice here and it's just a shout out?

#9. (#35 Overall) - Guardian of Ghirapur

Three to pay for a 3/3 with flying is worth it. Then you have the ETB to blink out an artifact or creature you control and it returns at the end of the next end step. That's what I call a slow blink. Fast ones happen then. This is better against mass removal like Wrath of God, but it's on a sorcery speed dork that cannot be played at instant speed. Compare this to the previous blink standard three-drop Flickerwisp. This cost three, but it was a harder three. Sure, it flew, with a three-power as well, but just one toughness. Then it could flicker your foe's stuff, and any permanent, so it's more flexible. Getting another option that's better in some ways and worse in others is great for Highlander and Commander as a redundancy. According to EDHREC.com, Flickerwisp is in 26974 decks, so another one to supplement seems pretty strong from where I am sitting.

#8. (#34 Overall) - Complete the Circuit

Six mana (at most) is spent for this fun convoking instant! You can cast sorceries this turn with flash, nice! And then you can copy your next instant or sorcery twice. Nasty fun commences! That's great when you have enough to drop the casting cost to a few with convoke. A double copy is card advantage, unlike a normal "future copy once" spell. Consider this with something simple like Fact or Fiction. Now you get three Facts! That means a card neutral card like Murder will kill three creatures, not one. I love this at your foes EOT step, tap a few to get this cheap, and then cast a sorcery, like Vindicate or Tidings. Or how about with Pyroclasm or Infest to clear the board?

I also love this with a Simic Ramp deck with mana that has dorks to tap this out with to drop its cost and then an X-spell like Stroke of Genius or Mind Spring. You could draw a ton of cards. Mind Spring at 7 is 21 cards at instant speed fully tapping out EOT, and then untapping and using your three grips. How about X damage spells in Jeskai or Izzet like Comet Storm or Jaya's Immolating Inferno? See why this thing made my list? But it's on my third list because it's six mana entry price is rough, even with convoke.

#7. (#33 Overall) - Tribute to the World Tree

Hitting halfway in our final list is this three-drop mono-Green enchantment with all of the Green mana symbols. That's good for devotion or chroma decks. Then when a dork with a power 3 or more ETBs under your control you draw that card! Then when a smaller dork does, it arrives with a pair of +1/+1 counters! Either way that works quite well, with small cards or bigger stuff no matter what. Tokens like this since they'll get perma-boosted twice and cannot have their Glorious Anthem disenchanted.

Big creature decks like this better than other options since they usually get card flow off of 4 power or more, like Garruk's Uprising or Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner. It's better in both archetypes as well as just generally in Green-heavy creature brews where you can do either. I love this in mono-Green with a cheap 3 power Commander you can cast and recast, like Kodama of the West Tree or Titania, Voice of Gaea that can afford the cost. Note that this is an ETB trigger not a cast one, so mass large token makers like Call of the Herd which makes 3/3 or Garruk Wildspeaker will draw you cards in gross.

#6. (#32 Overall) - See Double

This four-cost mono-Blue instant was in last week's article, but I pulled it after sleeping on it, so it's here instead. This fun thing has two options when you cast it, but if a foe has at least 8 cards in their graveyard, you get both! As we've discussed, that's quite likely in multiplayer formats. Then your two options are to copy a spell and/or copy a creature. At worst it's an instant speed Clone for the same four mana. Not bad! That alone is a combat trick, as you can play it after being attacked to make a blocker instantly and keep it if it survives combat. Getting a four mana Twincast isn't hot. But a four mana Twincast and Clone in one spell is awesome!

This has enhanced value in decks that care about the casting of instants and sorceries with triggers like Guttersnipe and Young Pyromancer called "Spellslinger" that is the eighth-most played Commander Archetypes, but it's also good in any control deck that includes this color. It's also good in Clone Matters decks that Clone the Commander with legendary being turned off like Mirror Gallery.

#5. (#31 Overall) - Hidetsugu and Kairi

Our penultimate gold card is this five-drop 5/4 with flying. And it's legendary for that format called Commander. Then when it ETBs, you Brainstorm. Draw three, put two on top of your library. Free Brainstorming each time this ETBs is great with the five drop on curve 5/4 flyer especially coming from the Command Zone. Then you have a death trigger. When it dies, you exile the top card of your library and then your (targeted) foe loses its mana value in life, and then you can cast it for free if it's an instant or sorcery. Free card flow and player removal is strong there!

That obviously suggests a high mana value instant or sorcery count. Might I suggest high cost but cheap things like convoke or delve, like Treasure Cruise? Also might I suggest that you have top of deck sorting cards like Sensei's Divining Top or Scroll Rack or Soothsaying? Then you can also just run this in the 99 of a Commander deck that shares it's Dimir color identity or other formats too. It's also a Dragon for that deck. It's very strong as a beater that Brainstorms, flies, then death trigger to get a potential life loss and free card. Remember that this death trigger only hurts one foe, not them all, so it's less valuable in multiplayer, hence making my third list overall. Ready for the happy joyous fun times to commence?

#4. (#30 Overall) - Borborygmos and Fblthp

Wow, that's a hard combo to spell! This is our final gold card! This costs just five in three colors, and then gives you a sizeable 6/5. Commander potential too as a legendary dork. Then when this ETBs (or attacks too) you draw a card, like Fblthp. Then you can discard any number of lands and deal that damage times two to a creature. Discard one to deal two or two to deal four, but just to creatures, not to players or planeswalkers (or battles either). Then you can spend two to put it on their library third from the top. This is good if this pair is about to die to mass or targeted removal or damage. Then you can draw it again a few times later. In Commander you might just want to recast it from your Command Zone with the Tax now rather than waiting a few turns to get it cheaper, but your mileage there may vary. Love this thing loads, but I cannot spell it.

And then there were three!

#3. (#29 Overall) - Realmbreaker, the Invasion Tree

Sure, it's a colorless artifact, but it's another legendary card back-to-back-to-back! Its legendary status is not a problem in Highlander formats like Commander. This three-drop taps for 2 to have their foe mill three, better than Millstone's 2 mill for that cost. Then you can toss a land onto your battlefield for free from their graveyard. It will be exiled instead when it dies so your foe cannot kill it and then replay it. Then you can tap this with a massive ten mana and a sac to search your library for any number of Praetors and put it into your battlefield. You don't need to be running any for this card to have value since its milling tap will net you lands over time and is card advantage in land form. This is very strong in milling decks or against someone with self-milling in your metagame where this is just downright bonkers, but it's great in most decks since they have fetchlands for you to get that were cracked prior to turn 4 when this is tapped as well as what was milled. See why it made my list? My third highest card on my third highest list is this fun artifact!

#2. (#28 Overall) - Urabrask // The Great Work

Our final charting legendary, mythic or rare, Red card, and Praetor is this transform card, my middle scoring Praetor. This four-drop 4/4 with first strike is on curve! Then when you cast an instant or sorcery you'll ting one opponent for damage and make a R mana. Remember what I said earlier about the Spellslinger deck? This fits right on into the 99 of that, although it doesn't scale up with a multiplayer deck with the pinging, but it does add mana so you can keep on going.

It's great with cheap instants and sorceries like Faithless Looting. Then you can transform Urabrask at sorcery speed if you've cast at least three instants or sorceries this turn, easy to do in a dedicated Spellslinger brew. And you just need a single mana left to transform it, then on Chapter 1 you'll shoot one opponent and each dork they control for three damage. Creature and player removal in one. Then next turn you'll get to make a trio of Treasures, and on the next turn you can cast instants and sorceries from your graveyard for the turn and exile them and this is basically Yawgmoth's Will on a mono-Red dork. Use your Treasures to cast them. Great fun here, and it's Commander eligible for a mono-Red Spellslinger brew as well as strong in its 99.

#1. (#27 Overall) - Phyrexian Censor

Our top-scoring card in my final list is this uncommon mono-White drop that costs 3. You harvest a 3/3 on-curve dork for your three mana sown. Then you have two abilities that affect everyone, you as well. The first? No one can cast more than one non-Phyrexian each turn. That means that only Phyrexian stuff can be cast more than once per turn by anyone. That's basically a Rule of Law on the same turn but on a stick, and you can build around it.

Here you can build around it in a Phyrexian deck or just drop it in other decks without worrying about it. Then all non-Phyrexian dorks arrive tapped, so that's tapping for everyone's stuff that, again, you can build around, but even without it's strong. Combining both on one three-drop 3/3 stick is very strong, so it's here at the top of my third list. There is a genre of deck in Commander called "Hatebears" that runs dorks that hose all of your foes on 1- 3 drops that either you can build to ignore or don't affect you like Esper Sentinel or Aven Mindcensor that impact just your foes. Things like Rhystic Study, Rule of Law, Gaddock Teeg, Thalia, Heretic Cathar, and loads more are out there. This is minor on EDHREC.com, but I have heard that tempo and Hatebears are more common in tournament EDH, where this slots in nicely.

And there we go! I hope that you enjoyed my final top ten list from March of the Machine! Join me next week when I do my Top Ten from the Commander set that debuted with it.