The best commanders from March of the Machine
March of the Machine is full of cheap and powerful legendary creatures. Some of them are already getting played in tournaments and have been getting some good results. This is my ranking based on the results and my bold predictions about the metagame...
Honorable mention- Slimefoot and Squee
My first and only honorable mention is Slimefoot and Squee. This card is strong but only in EDH, not duel commander. It is the good colours and I have seen a build of the deck work and reach top 8, but a single exile effect just destroys your entire gameplan. There are just better and more reliable midrange and reanimator commanders to play in the format. I doubt it will see consistent play but you can certainly have success with it in EDH.
5. Urabrask // The Great Work
This spellslinging mono red commander does a lot of things on a single card. It is capable of winning the game on it's own when unanswered. The only thing holding it back from being broken is that mana cost of 2RR. Even with this restriction, Urabrask has recently finished in the top 8 of 75 person tournament in France. This commander could be a unique twist on mono red decks or just a solid inclusion in Ghyrson Starn decks. Only time will tell...
4. Errant and Giada
Errant and Giada doesn't seem as strong of a commander as the other cards on the list but it's still a cool azorius build-around. I would put it higher on the list but we currently have better tempo commanders in the azorius colours such as Dennick and Raffine. Still, I could see Errant and Giada be an okay choice if you want to try a tempo list.
3. Thalia and The Gitrog Monster
Thalia and The Gitrog Monster is definitely my favourite card from this set. Even tho it has a lot of abilities, the card seems a bit too slow in my opinion. Abzan is not the best colour combination in duel commander and you have more powerful midrange/tempo commanders in the format. Despite this, a decklist has recently won a smaller tournament in China. I don't think that this card will be meta but it certainly is a fun commander to build around...
2. Goro-Goro and Satoru
Goro-Goro and Satoru is one strong aggresive commander. This being in probably the best colour combination certaintly helps it quite a lot. The deck is basicly an aggresive izzet list with black for demonic tutor and removal. The deck is powerful even without it's commander with a ton of burn spells and hasty creatures at its disposal. The deck recently finished in the top 8 of another tournament in France and I could see it being a solid choice for a grixis aggro list.
1. Baral and Kari Zev
On the top of the list is an izzet control deck- Baral and Kari Zev. If this commander survives even a single turn it will unleash devastation on your board. It's also hard to block thanks to first strike and menace, and even if you don't have any instants/sorceries to cast for free, you will still get a 2/1 Ragavan token with haste to attack your opponent with. Baral and Kari Zev can control the board really well and crush those pesky aggro decks. This card just screams value to me and I would be surprised if it doesn't find success in the future whether it be in the command zone or the 99.
Author: Tomas Solovic
Prices are from the 4th of May 2023