After a tumultuous reveal, March of the Machine: Aftermath is all here. While there are only 50 cards in the whole mini-set, there are still a bunch of cool ones to read. Aftermath takes place after the Invasion of New Phyrexia, which saw much of the multiverse connected in ways never thought possible. As a result, many planeswalkers lost their sparks in one way or another, resulting in a huge influx of familiar legendary creatures in the set.
While there are only 50 cards in Aftermath, there are no common cards. We have only mythic rares, rares, and uncommons. Let’s dive into some of the best the miniset has to offer.
Coppercoat Vanguard
This little uncommon is about to be a nightmare in Human-based creature decks. Not only does it come with a small lord effect, granting a boost to the power of all your Human creatures, it also taxes your opponents if they want to try and remove it by giving all your Humans ard 1.
Combined with other all-star Humans like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben which also increases the cost of noncreature spells, your opponents will be paying tons of extra mana to remove your creatures. With multiple copies of it out, you can tax your opponents into stagnation with your army of Humans.
Reckless Handling
Red is notoriously bad at tutors in Magic but at least Reckless Handling is a funny take on the effect. For two mana, Reckless Handling lets you search up an artifact card, put it in your hand, and then randomly discard a card. If the discarded card is an artifact, you deal two damage to each opponent.
There are tons of ways to recur artifacts from your graveyard to your hand or even the battlefield, so even if you discard the artifact you searched up, you can bring it back with cards like Daretti, Scrap Savant and Refurbish.
Spark Rupture
It might be a little narrow in its effect, Spark Rupture can absolutely shut down any planeswalker strategies your opponents might be setting up. This three-mana enchantment turns all planeswalkers in play into creatures with power and toughness equal to their loyalty counters. Spark Rupture removes all their loyalty abilities so they can’t keep ticking their stats up once they’re creatures.
The wording on Spark Rupture is interesting since it only affects planeswalkers with one or more loyalty counters on them, which could leave open the possibility of a planeswalker remaining a planeswalker despite not having any loyalty counters. While not likely, the unique phrasing of Spark Rupture could hint at something new coming soon.
The Kenriths’ Royal Funeral
This legendary enchantment has been spoiled for a while now, but The Kenriths’ Royal Funeral remains a powerful way to accrue tons of value from creatures already in the graveyard. When it enters the battlefield, you can exile up to two legendary creatures from your graveyard, drawing cards and losing life equal to the larger of the two cards’ mana values.
Your other legendary spells then cost one less for each card exiled with The Kenriths’ Royal Funereal, giving you a reduction of up to two generic mana from your legendary spells. It can help you power out higher-cost commanders, or even dodge the first round of Commander Tax if they’ve died once already.
Gold-Forged Thopteryx
This little Dinosaur Thopter has the possibility to become a mainstay in legendary-themed decks. For just two mana, Gold-Forged Thopteryx grants all your legendary cards ward 2, taxing your opponents for an extra two mana if they want to blow up everything from a planeswalker to your commander.
Gold-Forged Thopteryx is all but guaranteed to slot into decks with lots of legendary cards, since taxing your opponents for all their targeted removal spells can be a huge drain on their resources. Copying it a few times can effectively guarantee your opponents will never target your cards again.
Nahiri, Forged in Fury
Another powerful Boros equipment Commander, Nahiri, Forged in Fury has the potential to give you some extremely explosive turns. For each attacking equipped creature you control, you get to exile the top card of your library. You can play that card this turn and if it’s an equipment card, you can cast it for free.
Nahiri also has affinity for equipment, letting you cast her several turns earlier with just a few pieces of equipment out. You can also use this effect to dodge a high Commander Tax with enough pieces of equipment out.
Tyvar the Bellicose
There are already several very good black-green elf commanders, and Tyvar might just topple them all. Tyvar turns all your attacking Elves into deathtouching creatures when they attack, turning even the smallest Elf token into a threat.
He also gives all your creatures, not just Elves, the ability to gain +1/+1 counters equal to the amount of mana it produces if you were to tap it for mana. While this ability will trigger only once a turn for each creature, with cards like Marwyn, the Nurturer, you can generate tons of mana very quickly.
Nissa, Resurgent Animist
If there’s one thing green decks are good at, it’s pumping as many lands into play as possible. Nissa, Resurgent Animist rewards all your hard work with extra mana and a goofy version of cascade for just Elves and Elementals.
Each land that enters the battlefield will give you one extra mana. The second time this ability triggers, you get to reveal the top card of your library until you hit an Elf or Elemental card, which goes into your hand. Drawing a creature in exchange for drawing a land is a pretty good deal, not to mention you’ll be generating at least two mana this way, helping you cast that creature.
Narset, Enlightened Exile
A pseudo-lord for all your creatures, Narset, Enlightened Exile grants all your creatures prowess, giving them +1/+1 until the end of the turn every time you cast an instant or sorcery. Narset can be a spellslinger commander that actually wants you to go wide with your creatures so you can buff them with every spell you cast.
Even if your hand is empty, Narset can still keep casting spells for you by exiling noncreature and nonland cards from any graveyard so long as its mana value is less than Narset’s power. You get to copy that card and cast it for free. If you’ve run out of removal or draw spells, use your opponent’s instead.
Ryan Hay (he/him) has been writing about Magic: The Gathering and video games for years, and loves absolutely terrible games. Send him your bad game takes over on Twitter where he won’t stop talking about Lord of the Rings.