Wizards of the Coast is rolling out the new Magic: The Gathering Battle mechanic through March of the Machine, showcasing the Invasion of New Phyrexia that transforms into Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir.
Scheduled to digitally release on April 18, the March of the Machine (MOM) set will include cards with the Battle—Siege type. These permanents offer players value upon entering the battlefield, along with additional value on the backside of the card, as was seen through yesterday’s debut MOM spoiler of Invasion of Zendikar//Awakened Skyclave. And revealed today during the March of the Machine spoiler debut stream was Invasion of New Phyrexia//Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir, introducing a new way to cast and play MTG planeswalkers.Â
Invasion of New Phyrexia//Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir
The MOM spoiler Invasion of New Phyrexia//Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir is in the MTG colors White and Blue, also known as Azorius. The Battle permanent that enters the battlefield can create an “X” number of 2/2 knight tokens with Vigilance and, upon the six loyalty getting defeated, transforms into the March of Machine Teferi planeswalker card.Â
Invasion of New Phyrexia
- Casting cost: XWU
- Type: Battle—Siege
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Loyalty: Six
- Siege: As a Siege enters, choose an opponent to protect it. You and others can attack it. When it’s defeated, exile it, then cast it transformed
- ETB effect: Create “X” 2/2 White and Blue knight creature tokens with Vigilance where X is the mana spent in casting Invasion of New Phyrexia
Gaining tokens upon entering the battlefield that can get used to defeat the Invasion of New Phyrexia is decent but they will have summoning sickness. These tokens can provide a board presence that attacks to win or as a means to defeat the Battle permanently.
Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir
Upon defeating the Battle Invasion of New Phyrexia card, it transforms into Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir, a legendary planeswalker with a starting loyalty of four that creates an emblem with his minus-two ability and card advantage through the plus-one ability.
- Casting cost: Defeating Battle
- Type: Legendary Planeswalker—Teferi
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Loyalty: Four
- Plus-one: Draw two cards. Then discard two cards unless you discard a creature card.
- Minus-two: You get an emblem with knights you control get +1/+0 and have Ward one
- Minus-three: Tap X creatures you control. When you do, shuffle target nonland permanent an opponent controls with mana value X or less into its owner’s library.
It may take a few turns to flip Invasion of New Phyrexia into Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir, but in specific MTG decks, it’s worth it. The planeswalker was designed to fit into creature-heavy decks with the knight subtype. It’s hard to say if knights are the next soldier deck in Standard at time of writing, however, Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir is a solid planeswalker to support the build.
Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir can pump all knights immediately or draw cards, which is often necessary for a creature-heavy build that can run out of gas. The minus-three ultimate is another nice touch, showcasing an ability that is typically associated with Teferi. It can stall an opponent’s board or remove a key blocker for when you attack with your pumped-up knights.
There are a total of 30 Battle cards in the March of the Machine set. At least one Battle will appear in Draft booster packs.
Players can check out Invasion of New Phyrexia//Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir at MOM prerelease events that start on April 14 or through the global release of the set on April 21.
