Holy cow, March of the Machine has a lot going on!

Aside from the fact that this is probably the most cataclysmic event the game has ever seen story-wise, it's also the first set in an extremely long time to introduce a new card type, as well as just generally being jam packed full of crazy legends, double sided cards, new mechanics, and more. Frankly, there's a lot to take in, which means it's likely that many of our early impressions and evaluations will need to be recalibrated and adjusted as time goes on.

Still, I'm here and ready to be up to the task!

Today I will bring you my usual Love/Hate article for March of the Machine, where I will give my first impressions on the set! Note that these are not just static rankings; The point of this series is to shed light on cards I think are being over or undervalued based on first impressions. The point of my Love/Hate article is not just to call cards good or bad, but to view cards based on the first impressions people have been having or are likely to have. The goal is to dispel undue hype or to draw attention to cards that are being overlooked.

So, let's get started!

Love - Kogla and Yidaro

One of the main features of March of the Machine is the team-up Legendary creatures, where we see (sometimes very surprising) legendary team-ups as each plane tries to defend itself from the Phyrexian invasion. Well, one things for sure - maybe trying to invade Ikoria, the land of ridiculously large Kaiju monsters was not a good idea.

Kogla and Yidaro were both monsters on their own plane individually, but together they come together to form one of the biggest sleeper cards in the whole set.

Six mana gets us a 7/7 creature, which is nice, but Kogla and Yidaro comes one of two ways. You can have them enter the battlefield with haste and trample, which provides a huge and immediate threat that can swing a race, kill quickly, or surprise attack a planeswalker or battle. Your other option is also excellent, which is to fight with one of your opponent's creatures, which is one the 7/7 monsters will almost always win. This flexibility of being a two for one removal spell and win condition, or just getting in hard and fast with haste is excellent.

Cue Billy Mays... "but wait, there's more!"

If that was all Kogla and Yidaro did it would honestly be a fine card, but there's also an excellent ability stapled on there as well.

For four mana you can discard Kogla and Yidaro to destroy an artifact or enchantment uncounterably and at instant speed. Then you shuffle it back into your deck for later, and even draw a card for your trouble.

This makes playing many copies of your finisher super reasonable, as there are a ton of excellent artifacts and enchantments in the format to hit making this an extremely well-rounded answer and threat.

My money is on the table stating that Kogla and Yidaro is one of the best cards in the set.

Hate - Monastery Mentor

Hello sacred cow.

Look, I understand that Monastery Mentor is a beloved Magic card that has made serious moves in older formats. The card is literally on the restricted list in Vintage alongside Black Lotus and Ancestral Recall! It has also seen a lot of play in Legacy as the primary win condition for old Miracles decks and more.

There's just one problem when a card like this gets reprinted in a modern day set - Standard isn't a format with Brainstorm, Mox Pearl, Lotus Petal, Force of Will, Lightning Bolt, Swords to Plowshares, Daze, etc. What makes Monastery Mentor so powerful in these older formats is the insane density of stellar zero and one-mana spells which allow you to trigger it early and often.

What does Standard offer us? Consider? Play with Fire? Cut Down? The list falls off pretty sharply after these decent options, all of which are spread out over three non-White colors. There also isn't a card like Treasure Cruise or some other high velocity and cheap card draw spell in the format either.

It's not that Monastery Mentor is a bad Magic card, but the only format it's new to here is Standard and Standard just doesn't have the tools for it to succeed.

Love - Zephyr Singer

Contextually, Zephyr Singer is an odd card. We don't think of Blue being the aggressive "go wide" color where convoke shines, as this is more traditionally seen in White with cards like Venerated Loxodon and Red with cards like Stoke the Flames.

However, Zephyr Singer is pretty wild on rate. A 1-drop on turn one, a 2-drop on turn two, and a one and 2-drop on turn three and you can just tap them all and cast this very well sized offensive and defensive creature, while also augmenting every creature you have in play. While that's an ideal scenario, even just playing this for one or 2 mana is excellent, and casting it for the full four isn't completely embarrassing.

Both Azorius Soldiers as well as Knights are potential archetypes in the new format, and while Zephyr Singer lacks these creature types it still plays great with the other cards regardless. It's also excellent alongside various token effects which are numerous in the format.

At the end of the day Zephyr Singer just attacks and blocks, but rate this good is hard to come by.

Hate - Urabrask

Perhaps the most maligned of the five Praetors, poor Urabrask just hasn't really gotten a fair shake. While the other Praetors have all have cards that have seen play in Constructed, Cube, and Commander, Urabrask's cards just have never really gotten there.

Unfortunately, Urabrask proper doesn't really buck this trend.

At face value Urabrask looks pretty exciting. A 4/4 first strike creature for four mana is a reasonable rate, and the ability harkens back to Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty as a way to sort of combo off by making mana with each spell. The issue is that Urabrask is far clunkier than the already clunky Birgi, while not being a very good aggressive or midrange card either. And even if you safely untap with Urabrask and manage to chain together three spells and flip him, the payoff isn't even that good for the cost of losing your creature temporarily as well.

So, what kind of deck wants Urabrask exactly?

If you're a prowess sort of spell slinger deck, you want your threats to be cheap so you can cast them early and then start chaining together a bunch of spells. Having to wait until turn five to do so is just too long. If you're just Mono-Red Aggro, you're unlikely to be able to chain together enough spells or utilize the mana production to really get anything done beyond just playing a 4/4.

Compared to his older versions Urabrask looks somewhat appealing, but the upside just isn't really there.

Love - Omen Hawker

If you squint real hard, you'll see a Sol Ring!

Omen Hawker is a bizarre and unexpected Magic card. Mana creatures are very uncommon in Blue, and 1-drop mana creatures are very uncommon in general, which makes Omen Hawker stand out like a sore thumb. Two mana is a wild amount of mana for a one-drop to make, but of course only being limited to abilities makes it very limited.

But is it really that limited?

Activated abilities are a huge part of the game across all colors and card types, so the question simply becomes "what can I do with two extra mana each turn?" It could be something as simple as activating Reckoner Bankbuster or an incubation token, or maybe something else entirely.

I don't exactly what Omen Hawker is going to do, but there's a lot of power here in a very small and efficient package.

Love - Djeru and Hazoret

I had to read Djeru and Hazoret a few times to fully grasp it, but its pretty wild what this card can do.

Djeru and Hazoret's triggered ability is out of this world, bringing to mind shades of Winota, Joiner of Forces, a card currently banned in Pioneer because of how easily it could cheat cards into play. While Djeru and Hazoret doesn't have the uncapped potential of triggering a bunch of times in one turn, only needing to hit a legend as a requirement is a fairly easy one, and actually casting it has its benefits as well too.

The only real trick here is that in order to get that all important haste and sneak that first attack in, you need to be almost empty handed, which can be challenging if you're putting a lot of big legends in your deck!

However, like Winota I expect this puzzle to be solved and this card to do some pretty wild things.

So Much More

March of the Machine is one of the densest and wildest sets we've seen in a long time, and it's going to take a while to figure out what to do with all of these crazy legends and battles.

Unfortunately, the bad news is that I'm going to have to wait a little longer to play with the set, as Wizards of the Coast scheduled the Early Access Event right up against the upcoming CommandFest which I'll be traveling to.

Of course, that means the good news is I'll be at the CoolStuffInc.com Orlando CommandFest next weekend hanging out and having a blast!

Look for Ten New Brews the following week!

- Jim