MTG March of the Machine spoiler explains new Battle type

An early March of the Machine spoiler dropped today, showcasing the new Magic: The Gathering card type and mechanic called Battle. 

The release of March of the Machine (MOM) will introduce a new gameplay mechanic to the game of Magic: The Gathering. Scheduled to drop into local game stores through prerelease events on April 14, players will experience attacking their own permanent to transform it. The MTG mechanic and card type is called Battle—Siege, and it was revealed today on a MOM spoiler from PressStart. 

What is MTG Battle?

The new card type Battle—Siege is a permanent that upon casting enters the battlefield with some form of enters-the-battlefield effect while assigning an opponent to protect it. The Battle permanent has a loyalty count, similar to planeswalkers, that works in reverse.

Players want to decrease the loyalty count on a Battle card to zero likely in order to transform the permanent to the backside of the card, which can contain a creature or possibly some other type of permanent. But the way the loyalty counter is reduced is by you attacking the Battle card.

Invasion of Zendikar//Awakened Skyclave

The MOM spoiler Invasion of Zendikar//Awakened Skyclave that dropped today features a Mono-Green Battle permanent that transforms into an elemental creature upon having its loyalty defeated. 

The backside of Invasion of Zendikar showcases Awakend Skyclave, a 4/4 elemental with Haste and Vigilance. Haste is an important keyword, as it shows that the transformed card will have summoning sickness upon re-entering the battlefield. 

A description of Battle—Siege on the Invasion of Zendikar//Awakened Skyclave MOM spoiler also tells us something about the card type. It’s likely that WotC has other types of Battle that have been designed. Whether players will see those designs in March of the Machine has yet to be determined. 

Invasion of Zendikar//Awakened Skyclave has an Uncommon rarity, making it slightly powered down from Rare and Mythic Rare Battle cards that are in the MOM set. But it still has value while explaining how the Battle gameplay mechanic works. 

Players can test out the new Battle—Siege mechanic at MOM prerelease events that start on April 14 or when the March of the Machine set launches digitally on April 18.