Red is the color in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gathering that provides us with damage-dealing spells, aggressive creatures, and, on occasion, some of the quirkiest cards in the game. The red portion of the Magic color pie stands for freedom, aggression, and willfulness – it's impulsive and volatile, but also passionate. With red, you either win quickly, or you don't win at all.
March of the Machine saw red primarily focus on sacrifice, burn, and, in a fresh twist for the color, convoke. With the set, red received a whole host of new toys to play with, whether it be through direct damage, the new battle cards, or hasty creatures. Let's dive into what March of the Machine has to offer.
Updated May 1, 2023: March of the Machine has so many good red cards in it, it was worth updating this list to include one of its hottest Sieges, Invasion of Regatha. This card has made a huge splash in Standard as a powerful burn spell, and is sure to help boost any red deck that uses it.
10 ꦍ Into The Fire
Starting off with a card that's exceedingly difficult to evaluate, Into the Fire is a very unique addition in that it's a damage-based board wipe that hits planeswalkers and battles as well as creatures. Typically, board wipes only ever deal with enemy creatures.
Theꦬ fact that this card can hit the new battle card type, as well as planeswalkers, may just make up for the fact that it only deals a measly two damage. Depending on the meta, this could be a very important card for decks involving red or seeing little to no play.
Ult♎imately, it will come down to the prevalence of planeswalkers and battles as well as how many two toughness or fewer creatures are being played.
9 Lithomantic Barrage 🧸
Players familiar with Rending Volley from Dragons of Tarkir should already be aware of the 𝓡value this card offers. Rending Volley already sees play in sideboards of Pioneer dec🌠ks as an efficient answer to UW (blue/white) threats. Lithomantic Barrage is simply a better version of it.
Notably, Barrage can take care of a Teferi, Hero of Dominaria the same turn it comes down, and this was one of the shortcomings of Rending Volle🐭y. In addition, Barrage may also 💟be useful in niche situations against decks running a handful of creatures with one toughness.
8 Bloodfea𝔉ther Pho🎶enix
This flying threat may have a place in Mono-Red or UR (Blue/Red) decks that carry a decent number of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:burn (direct damage) spells. There is also the potential for ༒this card to shine eve♎n brighter in tandem with the right kinds and a number of battle cards.
Dealing direct damage to battles to bring the Phoenix back could be superior as flipping battles actually progresses your board state in many cases whereas dealing direct life point damage with spells does not. That being said, dealing damage to battles also effectively increases your opponent's life total.
Only time will tell if battles bring enough to the table to become prized targets over an opponent's life.
7 Chandra, Hope's Beacon
This is a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:very powerful planeswalker, but it does come with a relatively high mana cost. Thankfully, some of that cost is offset by the fact that Cha💦ndra gives you two mana upon entering the battlefield and will copy any instant or s🌜orcery spell you cast with that mana immediately.
In other words, that's four mana of value you can gain the same turn she enters the battlefield. UR spell decks are the most likely home for this planeswalker.
Unfortunately, she doesn't work especially well with counterspells. There's also the chance that a big red deck emerges thanks to the sheer burn value Chandra can produce.
6 Urabrask
Here's a near-perfect threat for spell-heavy decks. Urabrask requires an immediate answer from opponents. Otherwise, it's likely to just run away with the game when your opponent untaps, and this is thanks to the fact that Urabrask is a powerful threat, mana roc, and board wipe all in one.
While Urabrask is undoubtedly an extremely powerful threat, it is important to note that it doesn't bring anything to the board in those cases where it does get immediately removed. For this reason, it may end up being better to wait to cast Urabrask until a future turn when you can make immediate use of its ability to produce mana by casting instant spells in response to opposing removal.
5 🌳 Invasion of Regatha 🍌
Invasion of Regatha has become a stand-out card in Standard's mono-red decks. For just three mana you're dealing four damage at an opponent's face, and then the payoff for transforming it improves your other burn spells even more.
Siege cards are generally only good if the front face of them is worth playing, and Invasion of Regatha justifies itself by having some of the highest direct damage a three-mana spell can afford. Combine it with cards like Monastery Swiftspeare to trigger its prowess, or a burn spell to quickly flip it to the other face, and it's obvious why this is so popular in red decks.
4 Volcanic Spite 🍬
This is very close to a Lightning Strike with scry attached to it. While Spite can't target players directly, it hits pretty much everything else (including battles). Some number of these removal spells will likely end up in every Standard deck playing red.
It's nice to see that Lightning Strike is also available for play in Standard at the moment as it will make it easy to decipher just how good the ability to hit battles and scry will be in comparison to going upstairs.
Personally, I'm in the camp that believes you'll want to end up playing some number of both cards in most Red decks. At the very least, you will end up playing copies of the other removal spell on your sideboard.
3 Stoke The Flames ꧑
This card hasn't been in Standard since it was last printed in 2015, talk about a throwback. That being said, players familiar with such an ancient Standard format are already aware of the power Stoke the Flames offers.
The existence of this burn spell in Standard alongside Play with Fire and Lightning Strike provides Mono-Red decks with a ridiculous amount of burn damage𓃲.
The fact that you can tap your creatures to cast this spell also allows for a sort of pseudo-haste when your mana is flooding. While Standard♑ players should always be prepared for Mono-Red decks whenever a new Standard set releases, this rule is especially true with the arri✤val of March of the Machines.
2 ♏ Khenra ཧSpellspear
The likes of Monastery Swiftspear have already proven that prowess on low-mana cost creatures is a very good keyword. Spellspear swaps haste for trample, but that's more of a sidegrade trade than a straight nerf in most cases as far as Standard is concerned.
The fact that Spellspear transforms into an even bigger creature that has Ward 2, trample, and prowess is where things get a little out of control. Opponents who fail to remove this creature on the same turn it enters the battlefield will have a very difficult time getting rid of it, and that's exactly the kind of threat aggressive decks love to play.
1 Ramp🐈aging R🉐aptor
Speaking of Mono-Red, here's yet another hasty four drop for red mages to try out instead of Atsushi, Blazing Sky, or Thundering Raiju. Judging from the similarities this Raptor has with the former Standard monster Questing Beast, it's likely that Rampaging Raptor will become the new four-drop of choice in aggressive red builds.
This Dinosaur will be especially good in the red mirror thanks to its high toughness. However, the existence of Stoke the Flames will now allow red mages an answer to thℱe Raptor in the mainboard.
The Raptor's firebreathing ability is also very real considering that it has trample. All things considered, this is exactly the kind of card that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dinosaur lovers have been waiting to see.