There’s something beautiful about the start of spring. In some countries, it marks the end of the cold, the blooming of flowers and the shelving of seasonal depression in favor of the standard variety. However, some of us live on the equator, and that reference means nothing to us.

Instead, there’s a spring tradition that everyone can get behind: the spring release for Magic: The Gathering. We were brought down to Kings Hall in Petaling Jaya for the pre release of March of the Machine– the epic conclusion to the Phyrexian saga. With lots of returning characters, new mechanics and more, my will to betray any number of races to be turned into a robot zombie was renewed.

The event itself was amazingly well-themed- a klaxon went off, warning of a Phyrexian invasion which had us evacuate to the next plane, which looked surprisingly like an event room at the Kings Hall.

While waiting for the Phyrexians to leave, we were given a special presentation by Kenneth Ong, Regional Brand Manager for Wizards of the Coast SEA. It’s always great to see how much effort goes into these big releases- there were CG trailers alongside a huge map showing just how many planes had already fallen to the Phyrexians.

Considering this is the final part of the Phyrexian saga, it feels just right how dire everything is. Planes are falling, the Multiverse is in peril, my favorite dinosaur is now a walking skeleton- everything’s coming up Phrexia.

After one last attempt to not have me side with the forces of Elesh Norn, we were off for a nice Phyrexian-themed game of Pandemic- a special ice breaker where we had to work together in teams of three to save the different planes from being destroyed.

Here, we had to move between the different planes of MTG- looking for Sylexes to bring back to the portal while also making sure to minimize damage to the various planes. Lose too many planes, and it’s game over.

We made it out by the skin of our teeth- though not without losing a few planes. Eh, something about omelettes and and the destruction of Ixalan.

Hands On With March of The Machine

Now that Ice Breaking and set introductions were done, my betrayal of the flesh-things could finally be underway. It’s honestly not hard to go full-on Phyrexian in March of the Machine- so many cards either transform into Phyrexian versions of themselves or use the Incubate ability, spawning more Phyrexians to flood your board.

Naturally, I made sure to make a red-green deck for optimum beatdown. I’d lucked out and got several cards I really wanted from the set- such as the new Etali, Primal Conqueror as well as Urabrask and Vorinclex.

While luck wasn’t on my side to try out the new Siege cards, I channeled my inner gorilla and got a good red/green deck going. Unsurprisingly, the cards in March of the Machine are really good for that overwhelming playstyle- I won my drawn out battle with the help of the enchantment City On Fire, which triples incoming damage and using Tangled Skyline to make sure all the Phyrexian tokens I was generating from Incubate could block pesky flyers.

These pre release sessions are so much fun explicitly because everyone’s on equal footing- unlike your typical walk to your local game store, there’s no need to fear running into a guy who might have a deck he’s been perfecting for months on end now. It’s you, a few strangers, all workshopping how to make fun decks in a limited amount of time while testing out new mechanics.

March Of The Machine launches in Malaysia on April 21st, 2023 with a host of new Commander Decks, as well as normal and collector boosters available for purchase from your friendly local game stores. Our thanks to Wizards of the Coast SEA for the great event!