Red is the color of Magic: The Gathering, offering damaging spells, aggressive creatures, and sometimes some of the wackiest cards in the game. The red portion of Magic’s color pie represents freedom, aggression, and willfulness.
As a result, a Magic storyline about a Phyrexian invasion of the entire world makes a lot of sense given the fact that the red-aligned characters are part of the last hope to avoid the completion of the entire universe. It is fulfilled. Story aside, let’s dive into what the March of the Machine has to offer.
9 into the fire
Starting with a very difficult card to evaluate, Into the Fire is a very unique addition in that it’s a board wipe that damages not only creatures, but planeswalkers and battles as well. Board wipes usually only deal with enemy creatures.
The fact that this card can hit new Battle card types as well as planeswalkers may make up for the fact that it does only 2 damage. It can be a very important card for decks that are or rarely played.
Ultimately it comes down to the prevalence of planeswalkers and battles and how many creatures with toughness 2 or less are played.
8 Lithomantic Barrage
Players familiar with Dragons of Tarkir’s Rending Volley should already be aware of the value this card offers. Lending Volley is already seen in the sideboard of Pioneer decks as an effective answer to UW (Blue/White) threats. Lithomantic Barrage is simply an improved version of that.
In particular, Barrage can deal with the turn that killed Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, which was one of the drawbacks of Rending Volley. Additionally, Barrage can also be useful in niche situations against decks that run a handful of creatures whose toughness is one of his.
7 blood feather phoenix
This flying threat can be placed in a mono-red or UR (blue/red) deck with a fair number of burn (direct damage) spells. This card has the potential to shine even brighter in conjunction with the right variety and numerous battle cards.
Dealing direct damage to the battle to undo the phoenix can often be better because flipping the battle actually advances the state of the board, but dealing direct life point damage with spells can be great. Dealing is not. That said, dealing damage in battle can also effectively increase your opponent’s life.
Only time will tell if it brings enough combat to the table to be a valuable target for an opponent’s lifetime.
6 Beacon of Hope, Chandra
This is a very powerful planeswalker, but it has a relatively high mana cost. Thankfully, part of that cost is offset by the fact that when Chandra enters the battlefield he gives you 2 mana, and any instant or sorcery you cast with that mana will immediately copy his spell.
In other words, it’s a worthy 4 mana you can get on the same turn she enters the battlefield. The UR spell deck is most likely home to this planeswalker.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t perform particularly well with counterspells. There is also the potential for big red decks to emerge thanks to the sheer burn value Chandra can generate.
Five Urabrask
This is an almost perfect threat for spell-heavy decks. Urabrask needs an immediate answer from his opponent. Otherwise, you may run away with the game when your opponent untap. This is thanks to the fact that Urabrask is a powerful threat, manalock and board his wipe all rolled into one.
Urabrask is undoubtedly a very powerful threat, but it’s important to note that if it’s removed too soon, it doesn’t bring anything to the board. It might be better to wait to cast Urabrask until a future turn when the ability to generate mana for is readily available.
Four Volcanic Spite
This is very close to Lightning Strike with scrying attached. Spite cannot target players directly, but will hit pretty much anything else (including combat). Some of these removal spells could end up in every Standard he deck playing red.
It’s great that Lightning Strike is now playable in Standard as well, as it’s easy to decipher how good it is at fighting and scrying compared to going upstairs.
Personally, I’m in the camp where I want to play some of both cards in most red decks. At the very least, you’ll be playing copies of other removal spells in your sideboard.
3 Stoke the Flames
This card hasn’t been in Standard since it was last printed in 2015. Talk about a throwback. That said, players familiar with such an old Standard his format are already aware of the power Stoke the Flames has to offer.
The presence of this burn spell in Standard alongside Play with Fire and Lightning Strike gives mono-red decks a ridiculous amount of burn damage.
The fact that you can tap a creature to cast this spell allows for a kind of pseudo-haste when mana is overflowing. This rule applies especially to the arrival of the March of the Machines.
2 Ken Ruspel Spear
Something like Monastery Swiftspear has already proven that bravery is a very good keyword for low mana cost creatures. Spellspear trades haste for trample, but as far as Standard is concerned, it’s more of a sidegrade trade than a simple nerf most of the time.
The fact that Spellspear transforms into an even larger creature with Ward 2, trample, and courage is where things get a little out of control. Opponents who don’t get rid of this creature on the same turn it enters the battlefield will have a very hard time getting rid of it. And that’s exactly the kind of threat that aggressive decks love to play.
1 rampaging raptor
Speaking of Mono-Red, it’s another haste 4-drop that Red Mage will try instead of Atsushi, Blazing Sky, and Thundering Lige. Judging by the similarities between this Raptor and the previous Standard his monster, Quest his Beast, the rampaging Raptor could be a new 4-drop choice in aggressive red builds.
This dinosaur is especially good for red mirrors due to its high toughness. However, the presence of Stoke the Flames allows Red Mage to deal with his Raptor on the mainboard.
The Raptor’s fire-breathing ability is also very real considering it has trample. All things considered, this is exactly the kind of card that dinosaur lovers have been waiting for.