March of the Machine: the Aftermath is a non-draftable, Standard-legal micro-set that releases on May 12. Although many cards seem tailor-made for Commander, sometimes even referencing the number of players in the game, there’s an abundance of cards that can impact 60-card competitive formats. For this article, I’ve selected 10 of my favorites and brewed decks with them. The decks are mostly made for Standard and Pioneer, but I have a Legacy brew as well. Let’s check them out!
Markov Baron is the first lord with both convoke and madness, which can enable powerful lines of play. For example, you could start with a one-drop on turn one and two one-drops on turn two, allowing you to convoke Markov Baron and present a formidable clock. Alternatively, you can discard Markov Baron to a Blood token mid-combat and use it as a combat trick, generating card advantage in the process. Given that there are plenty of good Vampires in Standard, I can see the makings of a solid deck.
4 Falkenrath Pit Fighter 4 Voldaren Epicure 2 Ichor Drinker 4 Bloodtithe Harvester 4 Bloodthirsty Adversary 2 Florian, Voldaren Scion 4 Markov Baron 3 Anje, Maid of Dishonor 2 Go for the Throat 2 Cut Down 2 Lightning Strike 2 Play with Fire 4 Voldaren Estate 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 4 Sulfurous Springs 3 Haunted Ridge 5 Mountain 3 Swamp
My decks are just early sketches at this point, perhaps most suitable for Best-of-One on Arena, so I don’t have sideboards yet. But this list features a good curve, powerful cards and some reach to close out games. To be completely fair, I fear it will be hard to compete with Rakdos Midrange in terms of raw card quality, but if the metagame swings to a point where aggro decks are not respected enough, then Rakdos Vampires could become a Standard contender. And against other aggro decks, you could line up blocks, then discard Markov Baron to a Blood token and convoke it out by tapping your blockers. There’s definite potential here.
