The big Commander release of 2023 is slowly, but surely approaching. With that in mind, we’ve gathered all current information about the March of the Machine Commander decks. Since there are five of them, they’re also known as Commander 2023 decks. Currently, we know the decks names, colors, and, most importantly – the main commanders.
We’ll talk about all that in a second, but before that, let’s first take a look at the quick overview of the decks, and what comes within each one.
March of the Machine Commander Decks – Contents
As we’ve said before, there will be five March of the Machine Commander decks:
| Deck name | Colors | |
|---|---|---|
 | Growing Threat | |
 | Cavalry Charge | |
 | Call for Backup | |
 | Divine Convocation | |
 | Tinker Time |
Each March of the Machine (Commander 2023) deck contains:
- 100-card ready-to-play commander deck (including 2 foil commanders)
- 10 Planechase cards
- 10 double-sided tokens
- 1 sample Collector booster sample pack (with 2 cards)
- 1 foil-etched display commander
- 1 life tracker
- 1 planar die
From 100 cards, 90 are reprints and 10 cards appear for the very first time in this product. Most of the cards are non-foil, except for main and secondary commander, which come with traditional foil treatment.
All of this is now pretty standard stuff. However, on this time around, there’s something else included. That would be the 10 Planechase cards, and the planar die. This means that you’ll be able to play with the Planechase rules, if that’s something you enjoy.
Of course, if you don’t like that game mode, you can pretty much ignore it. The MoM Commander decks didn’t come with a price increase, so you’re getting the Planechase cards on top of everything you’d regularly get.
All five decks are already available for preorder on Amazon. In the next sections, we’ll take a look at each deck, and discuss what each deck is bringing to the table. While we don’t know the full decklists yet, the decks’ themes have been confirmed on the March of the Machine first look panel.
We’ll make some further predictions based on these facts, and we might be wrong in some small detail, but the decks’ themes are 100% correct. This means that you can make a safe choice when deciding which Commander 2023 deck to buy.
Growing Threat
- Theme: Phyrexian tribal, incubate
- Colors: White, Black
- Main Commander: Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos
- Growing Threat Upgrade Guide
Cats in the Multiverse can’t catch a break. First, Ajani got compleated and became Ajani, Sleeper Agent, and now it the same fate befell Brimaz, King of Oreskos. Quite soon, Phyrexians will have a Cat army of their own.
March of the Machine set’s main story line are Phyrexians invading different planes of the Multiverse. That’s why the five main commanders are from five different planes. Brimaz for example, represents Theros, the Greek inspired MTG world.
We’ve seen a lot of Phyrexians over the last two sets, but there weren’t any dedicated Phyrexian tribal commanders. After the March of the Machine set, it will be a while before we see Phyrexians again, so this was the perfect time to make one, and Wizards did so.
This deck will contain a lot of Phyrexian creatures, and payoffs for them. There will also be a small incubate subtheme, which is a new mechanic. When you incubate X, you create an artifact Incubator token with X +1/+1 counters on it. You can pay two mana to make it a creature.
It looks like Growing Threat is going to be quite a unique deck.
Growing Threat Decklist
Some cards weren’t added to the database yet. You can find them below.
Growing Threat New Cards
Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos Review
3/4 for four mana is nothing special, but as always with commanders, we’re more interested in the text box. Brimaz is an unusual tribal commander. Typically, you’d get a buff of some sorts for Phyrexian creatures. With Brimaz, you get a delayed token, which is as big as the mana value of the Phyrexian creature (or just a random artifact creature) you cast.
Finally, you also get to proliferate in your end step, if a Phyrexian died under your control. This is certainly a powerful effect, and plays nicely with the first ability.
All things considered, Brimaz probably isn’t the strongest commander out there. It has to stick around for a while, in order for you to get value out of it. However, it does bring something unusual to the table – both in being a Phyrexian tribal commander, and doing it in an unusual way. As such, it’s probably going to be a fun commander to play and build decks around.
Cavalry Charge
- Theme: Knight tribal
- Colors: White, Blue, Black
- Main Commander: Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir
- Cavalry Charge Upgrade Guide
Next up, we have a deck that’s piloted by Sidar Jabari, a knight from Dominaria. Cavalry Charge is also a tribal deck, and it’s centered around Knights. White-blue-black is an unusual combo for Knights, but you’ll still have access to a lot of them, as there are almost 300 Knight creatures that you can play in this color identity.
On top of that, you can probably expect new Knights coming within this precon, so if you’re a fan of Knight tribal, this is going to be a great deck for you.
Cavalry Charge Decklist
Some cards weren’t added to the database yet. You can find them below.
Cavalry Charge New Cards
Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir Review
Eminence returns! This ability is insanely powerful, as you’ll always have access to it. Even if you don’t cast Sidar. Getting to loot whenever you attack with at least a single Knight is a great reward, is it consistently improves the quality of your hand. On top of that, you can also build around this ability to take even more advantage of it. (For example with cards that want to be discarded, like cards with madness.)
On top of that, Sidar has built in evasion with flying, which will help you activate its last ability. You don’t get the Knight in your hand but directly to the battlefield.
So, while Sidar Jabari requires that you build around it, it certainly rewards you for it. It’s potentially the most powerful commander of all five March of the Machine Commander decks.
Call for Backup
- Theme: +1/+1 counters, backup
- Colors: White, Red, Green
- Main Commander: Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener
- Call for Backup Upgrade Guide
We’ve talked about +1/+1 counters before, but this is the deck that will actually be heavily focused on them. We’ve seen this kind of decks before, and Wizards keep using the theme periodically. There’s a good reason for that – there are many players that like putting lots and lots of counters on their creatures. If you’re one of them, you’re probably going to like Call for Backup deck.
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of twist this deck will bring with it. Although there were many +1/+1 counters precons in the past, each one had a bit different take to it, and no doubt this will be the case here. One thing that this deck could is to rely on the new backup mechanic, which also appear on Bright-Palm.
Call for Backup Decklist
Some cards weren’t added to the database yet. You can find them below.
Call for Backup New Cards
Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener Review
Birght-Palm is a +1/+1 counter commander, but it has some new twists to it. It’s perhaps not as obvious how to build a deck around it, as it works in unorthodox ways.
First, there’s the new backup mechanic. It can give some number (in this case a single one) of +1/+1 counters and its abilities to one of your other creatures.
Its second ability (the one that another creature can get) triggers when the creature attacks. It doubles the amount of +1/+1 counters on it, and it can’t be chump blocked.
So, you’ll want to put a lot of counters on a single creature, in order to get the most value out of the doubling ability. Of course, you could also use Bright-Palm as a Voltron commander. This means that you’ll want to give it protection of some sorts, then buff it up and maybe win with Commander damage.
Divine Convocation
- Theme: Convoke
- Colors: White, Blue, Red
- Main Commander: Kasla, the Broken Halo
- Divine Convocation Upgrade Guide
Divine Convocation deck is centered around an older mechanic, called convoke. If a spell has convoke, your creatures can help you pay for it. (Just like a mana dork would.) While the convoke ability can be found on cards of all colors, it’s heavily centered in White and Green. That’s why it was a big surprise when the theme for a Jeskai colored Commander deck was revealed to be convoke.
The deck will certainly be a fresh take on the White-Blue-Red color combination, and we can’t wait to see its decklist. If you like amassing a big army of small creatures, and then casting big spells, this deck will be a great pick up for you.
Divine Convocation Decklist
Some cards weren’t added to the database yet. You can find them below.
Divine Convocation New Cards
Kasla, the Broken Halo Review
At six mana, Kasla is the most expensive of the five March of the Machine commanders. However, the convoke ability makes it look pretty cheap. Since the theme of the deck is convoke, you’re typically going to have a bunch of smaller creatures in play, which will be able to help you pay for Kasla.
The convoke theme is supported by its last ability, which provides you with some serious card advantage. Whenever you cast a spell with convoke, you get to scry 2, and draw a card. Contrary to some other modern day abilities, this one can trigger multiple times per turn.
As you can see, Kasla has strong abilities, and supports an rarely supported mechanic. Because it has convoke (which works with Commander tax) this will probably end up among the more powerful commanders from these five precons.
Tinker Time
- Theme: Artifact tokens
- Colors: Blue, Red, Green
- Main Commander: Gimbal, Gremlin Prodigy
Last but not least, here’s a deck commandeered by… a Kaladesh Gremlin? That’s quite an unusual creature type. This deck doesn’t have tribal synergies, though. Fans of Gremlin tribal will have to wait a bit longer to have something instead of Morophon, the Boundless as their commander.
Anyway, the deck focuses on artifact tokens of all things. That’s interesting, for a couple of reasons. First, we just recently had two artifact themed decks with Brothers’ War Commander decks. Second, lore-wise Gremlins hate artifacts, as can be seen from Ruinous Gremlins. But, perhaps, this is a hint of what we can expect from this deck.
However, Temur artifact tokens is certainly an unexpected deck, and fans of unusual strategies will likely enjoy it.
Tinker Time Decklist
Some cards weren’t added to the database yet. You can find them below.
Tinker Time New Cards
Gimbal, Gremlin Prodigy Review
For five mana, you get a 4/4. A bit unexciting stats for a Temur commander, but as we’ve said, we’re more interested in the text box.
First, your artifact creatures have trample, if you have Gimbal in play. That’s a fine ability, as it can help you push damage through, although it’s not something to write home about.
The second ability triggers at the begging of your end step, and gives you a 0/0 Gremlin token with X +1/+1 counters, where X is the number of your artifact tokens with different names. This is an unusual ability, albeit not the strongest one.
So, Gimbal is one of those commanders that aren’t the strongest, but give you a very interesting deck building challenge. If you’re looking for something that will wreck your opponents, this probably isn’t it. However, if you want to try a very unique strategy and build an interesting deck, this is certainly a viable option.
Commander 2023 Deck – FAQ
Before we wrap up, here are some commonly asked questions that players have about March of the Machine Commander decks.
There will be five different decks.
These will be regular Commander decks. This means they are fully powered and contain multiple new cards. The lite precons nowadays are only used for Starter Commander decks.
Yes, each deck contains a 2-card Sample Collector booster pack.
There are two cards in each one of them. Based on the past releases, one card is a rare or mythic rare with special art treatment (foil, borderless, or extended-art card). The second card also has a special art, but it can be of any rarity.
This time around, the five colors aren’t represented evenly. There’s one two color deck (WB), and four three color decks (Esper-WUB, Naya-WRG, Jeskai-WUR, Temur-URG).
While it’s a bit early to say for sure, you can expect them to be. Wizards try to balance the precons that are released together. Even when they don’t succeed completely, that’s often mitigated by the variety that comes from a 100-card singleton format.
Full March of the Machine Commander decklists will be previewed at the end of March 2023. (Exact date TBD)
Planechase or Plane cards are oversized Magic cards, that can (with the addition of the Planar die) allow you to play a special variant of Magic called Planchase. It’s a great way to add a bit more chaos or just an additional dimension to your multiplayer games.
No. While each March of the Machine Commander precon comes with 10 Planechase cards, the decks aren’t centered around them. If Planchase isn’t your cup of tea, you can simply set the Planechase cards aside, ignore them, and use the deck like you would any other Commander precon.
Commander 2023 Decks – Conclusion
Anyway, that’s all for today. Once more information becomes available, we’ll update this article, so make sure to check back soon. In the meantime, here are some articles that might interest you:
- March of the Machine Spoilers
- How to Improve Your Commander Deck
- List of All Commander Precons
- Upcoming MTG Sets
Until next time, have fun, and may your favorite theory about Commander 2023 deck come true.
Speculation on the Divine Convocation Deck:
It seems like there is a hedron behind the Angel… In the left corner. So I think Zendikar it is. In addition, Zendikar Angels have usually more than 2 wings like Linvala. The deck is called Divine Convocation, I hope we get a strong Angel subtheme in the deck. Maybe the face card or the alternative commander is a Jeskai Angel tribal commander.
Speculation on Cavalry Charge:
The color combination is a little odd. My first thought was Eldraine, too. But I am not sure he doesn’t look like an Eldraine Knight to me. He could be from Zhalfir (Dominaria). This would explain the blue a little. Zhalfir has the Order of Askari.
It’s definitely Zhalfir, you can tell that by the armour. There’s no question about it.