Magic: The Gathering's latest storyline featured Elesh Norn's apocalyptic invasion of the entire Multiverse, with the war reaching its climax in March of the Machine. Now, the invasion is over and MTG's survivors are picking up the pieces, but players don't like how Wizards of the Coast wrapped up the saga in March of the Machine: The Aftermath.

This 50-card micro-set is the first of its kind; an experimental release intended to tie up loose ends from the previous few expansion sets. There is some merit to the idea, but on the whole, MTG's community is extremely dissatisfied with the new set. March of the Machine: The Aftermath creates more problems than it solves, and it's a sign of a worrying trend.

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March of the Machine: The Aftermath's Story and Cards Were Disappointing

sarkhan vol with blue and red mana

Every expansion set in Magic: The Gathering tells a story, either a one-off plot restricted to one set or a larger story across several sets in unofficial "blocks". Already, MTG's Phyrexian invasion saga is being criticized for having an excellent build-up but weak and underwhelming conclusion. Unfortunately for the fans, it looks like The Aftermath is more of the same.

The micro-set was meant to fill in a few gaps in the lore, following a few characters and planes in the wake of Elesh Norn's invasion -- but the whole set fell flat, and its storytelling just isn't working. The Aftermath only offers brief snippets of characters like Samut and Sarkhan Vol, and it raises more questions than it answers. Fans agree this phase of the lore would have been best left to players' imagination.

The MTG community is also unhappy about how The Aftermath portrays several fan-favorite Planeswalkers. It's an interesting idea to "demote" certain Planeswalkers into legendary creatures after they lost their Spark, but the execution felt bland and underwhelming. Several "de-sparked" Planeswalkers, from Nissa Revane to the Silver Golem Karn, appear as surprisingly generic MTG creature cards that only vaguely allude to what their old Planeswalker selves once did. These legendary creatures feel less special and experimental than ever, and it's a huge letdown to introduce such bland portrayals of ex-Planeswalkers that used to shake up entire games and formats with their loyalty abilities.

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March of the Machine: The Aftermath's Pricing and Overall Design Are Problematic

Wizards of the Coast's Magic: The Gathering March of the Machine: The Aftermath assests.

On top of lackluster writing and card design, players are outraged that March of the Machine: The Aftermath is worsening the trend of MTG's ever-increasing prices. The Epilogue Booster Box costing a hefty $82.45, which simply isn't worth it for some players, and it's prohibitively expensive for others. On average, a card from The Aftermath costs $0.68, just over double the average $0.33 price for cards in March of the Machine. What's worse, The Aftermath's cards are merely adequate in gameplay terms, so there's no clear reason why they should cost so much more.

Sets like Ultimate Masters and Modern Horizons II can justify a higher average price per booster or card with their high-value contents, but not The Aftermath. It doesn't help that The Aftermath isn't playable in all of MTG's formats; the cards are legal in typical formats like Standard and Modern, but not in Booster draft Limited. MTG players love Limited and enjoy drafting new sets, so it's a missed opportunity to not include The Aftermath.

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In fact, as it is now, this set isn't even functional for draft, having just 50 cards and boosters with a mere five cards each. In casual play, players could add The Aftermath boosters to informal drafts with friends alongside March of the Machine boosters, but that's a corner case. Players want to play with new sets at sanctioned draft events at game stores, but The Aftermath won't allow that by design.

Overall, March of the Machine: The Aftermath feels like a strange hybrid of a small expansion set and a Secret Lair Drop, and in most players' eyes, it didn't come together. The basic idea has some potential, like exploring card designs and mechanics that were under-represented in regular expansion sets, but the execution fell short and didn't deliver where it really needed to. It's likely that unless future micro-sets make serious adjustments, like making draft-worthy boosters and lowering the prices, The Aftermath may be the last of its kind, not just the first.