(Lord Commander is a format where each player uses a "Lord" creature as a commander similar to edh, however there are some extra rules and conditions that are different to traditional EDH.)

*Each new card mentioned here is listed in the Main Deck attached to this write up, and each new Lord Commander is listed in the Sideboard.

Hello and welcome, I'm going to start doing something a little different whenever a new set or mtg product drops and go over new Lord Commanders and their potential in the format as well as potential deckbuilding avenues for each of them. 

Some sets are quite sparse when it comes to new Lord Commanders but March of the Machine has a few focus tribes in Phyrexians and Knights. Overall there are four new Lord Commanders that are available to play with, these are:

Darksteel Splicer

Lets start with Darksteel Splicer, for a pretty huge seven mana in mono white is it any good? I think as far as using it as a Phyrexian commander in mono-white it's definitely the highest value option, although Blade Splicer, Master Splicer, and Sensor Splicer are much cheaper to play which is important in an aggressive format like Lord Commander. However, thanks to the introduction of some very powerful cards in March of the Machine, I think a white phyrexians centric deck definitely have a chance to stall until you can drop Darksteel Splicer. First up Elesh Norn // The Argent Etchings is an easy inclusion in this deck, as both a deterent on the frontside and as a finisher on the backside either through double striking with a wide board or wiping away most of your opponent's boards, as a win condition in a deck that is interested in flooding the board with golems and other phyrexian tokens Norn is extremely potent. With a minor stax theme for this kind of deck the new Phyrexian Censor is fantastic, slowing down your opponent's non-phyrexian creatures and limiting their spells per turn is exactly what you want to be doing with a deck that naturally has an array of high mana high value cards. Although Darksteel Splicer is going to prefer golems thanks to its lord effect, there is a selection of Incubation and general Phyrexian tribal support cards that empower the deck, here are a few of these cards:

 I think Incubation is a secondary focus in a Darksteel Splicer deck, especially since Anointed Procession and Mondrak, Glory Dominus don't synergise great with Incubation as a mechanic but do like the golems, moving more towards utility Phyrexians or Artificers is the better strategy, especially when you have access to Loran of the Third Path, Losheel, Clockwork Scholar, and Stoneforge Mystic. Overall I think Darksteel Splicer and the new March of the Machine phyrexian support in white really open up the Phyrexian/Artificer/Golem space alongside the pre-existing builds, I think out of these new Lord Commanders it has a really interesting and versatile deck building space. 

 Grafted Butcher

Next up we have Grafted Butcher, and wow what a card, a two mana mono-black Phyrexian and Samurai lord that gives menace to all Phyrexians on entering the battlefield and can reanimate itself. There's so much to unpack here, but first I'd like to address Samurai as inclusions in a Grafted Butcher deck, there is really only two real mono-black samurai worth including in this deck, and those are Toshiro Umezawa and Life of Toshiro Umezawa // Memory of Toshiro. The Life of Toshiro Umezawa // Memory of Toshiro saga on the frontside of Memory is extremely flexible and transforms into a mana generator for instants and sorceries, while Toshiro Umezawa himself is extremely useful in recurring instants from your graveyard, somthing black doesn't have many tools to accomplish. These two Samurai provide some really interesting utility, and are definitely worth considering as an inclusion in a Grafter Butcher deck as support. Now onto Phyrexia, I think All Will Be One has the better suite of mono-black Phyrexians but there are a few worthwhile inclusions from March, the most prominent I think is Sheoldred // The True Scriptures. She fits into a similar space to Elesh Norn // The Argent Etchings but in Black, where she acts as both a control tool and a finisher, including her etb trigger and saga side she is capable of getting rid of up to six creatures and up to three planeswalkers, as well as forcing opponents to discard and mill three cards, finishing up with a Rise of the Dark Realms before getting another etb sacrifice trigger on transforming. Sheoldred // The True Scriptures is an auto include in this deck no arguments, and alongside some other new tools I think Grafted Butcher really likes a reanimation aristocrats strategy, especially thanks to the following cards:

Surveilling as a death trigger on Gift of Compleation and Seer of Stolen Sight is extremely powerful, especially in mono-black where you're never wanting for recursion, it's especially good with Drivnod, Carnage Dominus who doubles that trigger, and of note also sees and doubles the Bloated Processor death trigger as well. This deck is capable of assembling a powerful graveyard and sacrifice engine that can very easily take over a game, I think out of the two new Phyrexian tribal decks it definitely has the more aggressive build although both decks have extremely brutal win conditions. Considering Grafted Butcher is really the first useful Phyrexian Lord Commander in mono-black (no we don't stan Hand of the Praetors in this household), I'm interesting in seeing how the deck works out. 

 Herald of Hoofbeats

Now move onto the Knights, first up we have Herald of Hoofbeats, and I am so excited about this card, I adore Three Kingdoms and I desperately hope that we get a Wuxia crossed Three Kingdoms inspired set in the future (I have personally made up a fan plane around this theme, which I won't get to into here because it's very cringe.) Herald is interesting because there really aren't alot of good mono-blue Knights, even with the White-Blue focus in March of the Machine on the tribe, I think the only worthwhile addition to the mono-blue Knight pool is Xerex Strobe-Knight. Even the older cards are very sparse with Cavalier of Gales and Sister of Silence really being the only two good inclusions in a deck like this, because of this I think Herald of Hoofbeats requires a pretty unique kind of deck for this format, a Voltron deck. Thanks to Herald's Human typing there are a lot of extremely useful creatures in blue that enable a Voltron kind of deck, such as the Trophy Mage cycle for equipment, or if you want to go for Auras you can look to cards like Rayne, Academy Chancellor. Personally I think equipment are the way to go in this deck, as mono-blue has an overwhelming amount of artifact centric utility, and because Herald is pretty much completely unblockable as the only Lord Commander with Horsemanship, I think stacking a deck with Swords is going to be very powerful, especially with something like the new Sword of Once and Future. Although there's a very limited selection of Battles for this particular deck, it works well with Invasion of Vryn // Overloaded Mage-Ring as Horsemanship pretty much guarantees a Battle flip, allowing you to create a copy of a powerful equipment with Invasion of Vryn // Overloaded Mage-Ring, or get around a potentially pesky counter spell. See Double may also be very handy, as it can not only copy any spell from any side of the table but can also give you another copy of your commander or a utility creature for extra value. Invasion of Arcavios // Invocation of the Founders is also something I'd consider including in this deck, as I said before, Herald flips Battles very easily, and in blue there are a lot of tutors and handy instants and sorceries you very much want to double up on, especially in a format that has a wishboard the frontside of this Invasion can get you extra value from outside your deck. There is one more new addition I think is worth considering with Herald of Hoofbeats, and that is Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus, as blue doesn't really have a lot of natural ramp outside of generic card draw, having another way to get Islands onto the battlefield and thin out your deck aside from Sword of the Animist is very useful, it also doesn't hurt that Bitterthorn gets around type restrictions by immediately coming into play as a Germ, giving you an immediate creature. I think every Living Weapon is going to be useful in this deck due to the low amount of useful and relevant creatures you have to realistically work with. So Herald of Hoofbeats is an interesting build around, and definitely one of the most powerful Voltron options in Lord Commander thanks to Horsemanship, I personally will be building a deck around this card so look forward to seeing that deck around here in the future, I'll probably do a deep dive into as well because it's a very different challenge for a Lord Commander deck. 

Marshal of Zhalfir

Finally we have Marshal of Zhalfir, nothing too much to write home about here but it is the second ever option for Knights in Blue-White, and its very cheap cost means it may be a better option of the more expensive Thistledown Liege. The big deal here is the massive amount of Knight support in March of the Machine that primarily falls into Marhsal's colour identity, here are a few highlights for me when it comes to new cards:

*honourable mention to Kithkin Billyrider for being extremely cute and having some of the best flavour text in the set + Lorwyn, here's hoping she becomes a legend one day. 

Chivalric Alliance is some premier card draw especially in an aggressive and low to the ground deck like this, it can also turn your useless lands into Knights. Invasion of New Phyrexia // Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir is a massive card, both for the token generation on the front side, and Teferi on the backside, it can completely swing a game into your favour and provides a veritable amount of Knight matters support. Knight-Errant of Eos is great creature selection and can be an essentially free cast if your board is big enough. Vodalian Wave-Knight is straight up value, essentially a Cathars' Crusade but on card draw for Knights and Merfolk, if you drop this at the right time you can just straight up win in the game, think Windfall. I personally like Order of the Mirror // Order of the Alabaster Host for its Flanking call back, but I'm not sure its good enough to take a slot from another more useful Knight tribal card. Herald of Hoofbeats obviously makes itself welcome in this deck, especially as a finisher for a Wave-Knight buffed board state. I think Marshal of Zhalfir is a fairly mediocre Lord Commander, but the huge amount of support for Knights in White-Blue in this set makes it a serious option between the two Knight Lord Commanders in these colours. 

So that's the run down of the new Lord Commanders, all of them definitely add something to the format's space, so we'll see how they end up playing, stay tuned for the Herald of Hoofbeats deck tech in the future.

New Cards in Lord Commander

Before I finish up here I'd like to mention a note a few new cards that I think will find homes among already existing archetypes, they are:

White

Archangel Elspeth as an excellent addition to any Soldier centric deck. 

Conjurer's Mantle I didn't mention above because it's straight up an auto include in every tribal white deck, it is fantastic and probably going to be a staple in this format considering its effect and relatively mana cheap cost.

Dusk Legion Duelist as another fantastic draw card in Vampire and Soldier decks.

Elspeth's Talent is especially good for a soldiers deck, especially when running multiple planeswalkers, because that triggered ability alongside the plus loyalty ability is exceptionally powerful. White soldiers have got a surprising amount of support in this set. 

Guardian Scalelord actually has a place in Lord Commander under Dragon's Disciple, the more White Dragons that get released the more realistic Disciple becomes as a deck, and I'm very excited to see if I can build a deck around it. 

Invasion of Gobakhan // Lightshield Array the frontside is decent for disruption and information gathering, and the backside is another great way to protect your board in White.

Nesting Dovehawk is a nice new addition to Bird decks, and Populate is always going to be a great mechanic to utilise in Lord Commander. 

Wand of the Worldsoul wow what a card, probably my favourite design in the whole set, a really clever way of giving White direct ramp without breaking out of its burdensome identity. As a creature heavy format, this is probably one of the best forms of ramp in Lord Commander. 

Surge of Salvation is an amazing new White protection spell that can absolutely blow out Red and Black decks.

Cut Short in a format that is very creature heavy, this is a free kill spell, and in decks running Blind Obedience or the mentioned above Phyrexian Censor will love it as fantastic and budget friendly removal. (Imo this is probably the best common in the entire set)

Blue

Faerie Mastermind seems like an auto include in any Faerie decks.  

Interdisciplinary Mascot and Zephyr Winder will be interesting additions to Blue Elemental Decks, though I'm not too sure if Mascot perform too well due to its cost.

Schema Thief is a Vedalken, a Rogue, and an Artificer, its effect definitely helps it slot into a wide array of decks, a very versatile new tool for its aforementioned types. 

Zephyr Singer in any Blue Pirate builds.

Halo-Charged Skaab seems like a nice include in Zombie decks looking to Instants and Sorceries plus Self Mill, another tool for mono-blue zombies which is always welcome. 

Black 

Invasion of Innistrad // Deluge of the Dead is a cool new card, it gets around Indestructible as removal on the frontside and turns into a graveyard hating Zombie generator, it seems like a nice addition to any Black Zombie decks.

Archpriest of Shadows seems like a very handy addition to a variety of Black decks, Human and Warlock sets it in the view of a few different decks including some Zombie centric Lord Commanders, and Zombies love reanimation. 

Invasion of Fiora // Marchesa, Resolute Monarch is a pretty powerful removal piece that turns into a very annoying back side as Marchesa, funnily enough she actually slots into the Black Necron deck under Skorpekh Lord due to her Noble type as well as Tomb Tyrant for Zombies, saying nothing of the various Human decks she easily fits into. I think this might be one of the best Battles in Lord Commander, not only as removal and disruption, but as a versatile tool that fits into a variety of decks. 

Pile On is quite similar to Lethal Scheme, I think situationally you might want one or the other, but both are very useful kill spells thanks to their Convoke cost.

Collective Nightmare seems like very passable removal, especially against high impact low toughness Lord Commanders like Darksteel Splicer.

Exsanguinator Cavalry and Locthwain Lancer are great additions to Black Knight decks for card selection and advantage, and the Cavalry can even slot into Vampire tribal thanks to the large amount of Vampire Knights.

Final Flourish is a very nice piece of budget removal, especially in aristocrats decks or reanimator decks. 

Mirrodin Avenged being removal and card draw for a budget price and cheap mana cost seems really good, especially since it doesn't care who dealt the damage, only that it was dealt. 

Red

Invasion of Tarkir // Defiant Thundermaw may turn out to be a pretty nice card, I'm currently considering whether or not Blast-Furnace Hellkite should be a legal card in the format, I'm leaning towards yes but its effect is fairly unique in how its worded. I'd encourage anyone picking up Lord Commander to give it a test out, because this Invasion would work really well alongside Hellkite as the Lord. 

Invasion of Karsus // Refraction Elemental is a great piece of removal for Red Elemental Decks, with the backside turning into a potentially game ending creature if you can storm or cascade off.  

Mirror-Style Master is a great finisher in Red Human and Warrior Decks, simple as. 

Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink is a great value generator for Red Human and Soldier decks, genuinely massive is you get to the point where activating his second ability is possible, imagine swinging in with six of Mirror-Style Master, phew. 

Rampaging Raptors is Questing Beast Lite, although its ability to hit Battles as well as Planeswalkers seems great, Dinosaurs in Lord Commander is always going to appreciate more utility to complement their raw power. 

Uncivil Unrest seems great in any decks with Red, especially for Red-White or Red-Green decks that have alot +1/+1 counter generation.

Voldaren Thrillseeker I think may be more interesting in a Warrior centric build than a Vampire one, it's a great piece of burn or removal regardless.

Axgard Artisan is pretty respectible Red ramp for Artificers.

Invasion of Mercadia // Kyren Flamewright if nothing else is okay in a Goblin Deck, personally it's just really cool to see Mercadia and a Spellshaper after so long. 

Beamtown Beatstick Very respectible Red ramp, especially good with Double Strike Creatures. 

Green

Invasion of Shandalar // Leyline Surge is fantastic value, as a Shandalar enjoyer I'm putting this in all my green decks. 

Ancient Imperiosaur is another powerful Dino, I think its competitive enough to beat out other options in Regisaur Alpha.

Conclave Sledge-Captain, Emergent Woodwurm, and Sandsteppe War Riders are all new cards from the Commander precons, and all support fringe decks or strategies especially in the case of the Captain and the Wurm. 

Deeproot Wayfinder is a Merfolk addition I very much appreciate, but I'm not sure you auto include this in Merfolk Mistbinder but its a cool new card nonetheless. 

Invasion of Ikoria // Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria is another Dino card, honestly I think the Dinosaurs in the set are kind of going under the radar as Dinos because they're all generically powerful, Zilortha is straight up a finisher attached to Green Sun's Zenith, can't go wrong here.

Invasion of Ixalan // Belligerent Regisaur another Dino, my goodness they're like cockroaches popping up here there and everywhere, another generically good frontside and Dino synergy on the backside. 

Ozolith, the Shattered Spire is great for those +1/+1 counter builds, I think it might even have a place in my pet deck under Tyranid Prime.

Surrak and Goreclaw Sadly as of yet there are no non-legendary Bear Lord Commander options, but as a piece in a Green Human deck this seems like a great top end. 

Tribute to the World Tree +1/+1 counters getting an overly sentimental return after their absence in All Will Be One, card draw on your big creatures and counters on your small ones, seems good. 

Storm the Seedcore I'm putting this in every Green deck I make henceforth, the art is so beautiful and the effect is great for counter likers, doesn't hurt that it gives your board Vigilance and Trample as well. 

Cosmic Hunger great budget Green removal, hitting Battles really makes this a serious consideration over other options of the same type. 

Multicolour

There aren't a lot of Multicolour cards from this set that neatly fit into a lot of Lord Commander decks but there are few that may be good for specific strategies or interesting to build around, they are:

I almost put Stormclaw Rager on this list, but its strange typing (considering it looks more akin to an Orc on Tarkir than an Ogre) has pretty much relegated it to Kragma Warcaller and Madrush Cyclops. I won't say much about the other cards listed here, except for Inga and Esika who are especially and solely useable in the big mana artifacts build of Battery Bearer, I may build this deck myself because it looks like a thoroughly interesting build around especially with the girls added to the mix. The other card I want to note is Invasion of Amonkhet // Lazotep Convert, it's a value train all the way to the graveyard, and the backside Zombie means it perfectly slots into any of Bladestitched Skaab, Diregraf Captain, and Gleaming Overseer. 

And that's all, wow that took a lot longer than I thought it would, thank you for reading this if you got this far, I hope it was an interesting run down of March of the Machine's impact on our little format. 

Happy games, happy deckbuilding, and good luck at your March of the Machine preleases everyone.

Lord Commander Rules:

No Legendary Creatures can be Lord Commanders, but you may put Legendary Creatures in your deck. 

A Lord Commanders must have an ability that grants all creatures of a particular or general type an effect, these effects generally include the words Each/All and Gain/Have/Get. This effect must be persistent, creatures with enter the battlefield "Lord" effects are not included in this format, nor are creatures that require an ability to be activated for the effect to happen, however creatures that trigger an effect by attacking are included as legal Lord Commanders. Creatures with abilities that say "as long as" conditionally for the lord effect are excluded from this format, as are Lord creatures that must attack individually by themselves for the lord effect to occur. 

Like a traditional commander, your Lord Commander begins the game a Command Zone. All usual rules for this zone apply, however commander tax is 1 mana instead of 2 mana. 

Each deck must contain 80 cards including your Lord Commander. 

Every non-silver bordered, non-acorn, non-unset creature card is legal in this format. 

Each creature in your deck must share a type with your Lord Commander or must be specifically mentioned as a part of that lord's effects, creatures that do not share a type with your commander cannot be in your deck, this rule does not apply to tokens. 

Sagas, Battles, and any other card types that flip into creatures are subject to the Lord Commander type restriction, for example, if you play Life of Toshiro Umezawa // Memory of Toshiro your Lord Commander must have Samurai or Human in its type for you to legally include this card in your deck.

Excepting basic lands, no two cards may have the same name in your deck, unless an effect on them states otherwise.

Cards in your deck must also share at least one colour with your Lord Commander, if a Lord’s effect or colour identity does not give you access to multi-colour then you cannot have multi-colour cards in your deck. Multi-colour Lord Commanders can have any multi-colour cards in their deck, but those cards must share a colour with the Lord commander, otherwise they cannot be played in the deck, this rule applies to lands as well. Any deck may contain colourless cards. Non-creature cards and Lands must also adhere to this colour identity rule.

A deck may have multi-coloured cards in it if their Lord Effect directly relates to multi-coloured creatures, however, each multi-colour creature must share a colour with you Lord Commander to be legal in a deck. Non-creature cards must also adhere to this rule.

Any ability on a Lord Commander that requires or provides multiple colours, including effects like Extort, determine the colour identity of that Lord to be of those required/provided colours.

Players begin the game with 30 life.

Players may have a Wishboard of 3 Cards that exist outside the game but can be targeted by relevant effects, these cards must adhere to all previous rules. 

Legal Lord Commanders:

- Each Sliver is a legal Lord Commander, excepting Essence Sliver, Diffusion Sliver, Brood Sliver, and Metallic Sliver. 

*~* - Each of the creatures marked this way is a multi-colour Lord Commander but their core colour is represented on their card. 

White

Blue

Black

Red

Green

Multicolour

**

**

**

**

**

**  

Colourless: