Last updated on March 12, 2025
Invasion of New Phyrexia | Illustration by Chris Rallis
Battles were the first new card type we'd seen in over a decade, and played out pretty well in March of the Machine last year. The success of the mechanic had one fan asking this question on Head Designer Mark Rosewater's tumblr:
So we now know that battles are coming back! But when should we expect them?
“Currently in Design”
Magic sets are usually designed a year or two in advance of when they are actually released. Therefore, we can likely place battles outside any of 2025's sets. It's hard to be 100% confident on this though, as space battles in Edge of Eternities would be pretty sweet! It could also be that “UUB” (unannounced Universes Beyond) ends up being some kind of property with lots of battles, and the mechanic ends up there. The speculation is that it's an Avatar: The Last Airbender set (Edit: this has been confirmed), so maybe a fine fit for battles, maybe not. We'll have to see how it plays out!
All About Battles
For those who haven't played much with the mechanic, battles are a neat innovation. Every battle does something when it enters (usually a slightly below rate version of a normal effect, like making or removing a creature), then it's assigned to an opponent, who must defend it from your attacks. Doing the required amount of damage allows you to cast the battle for free from exile on it's other side, which is usually some kind of souped up creature or enchantment.
Are they any good?
They certainly were in March of the Machine Limited, but WotC may have played battles a bit too safe for Standard. Invasion of Amonkhet is the only battle has seen any real play, and even then it was just a fringe 1- or 2-of in UBx midrange decks. Invasion of Tarkir may get one last chance to shine when Tarkir Dragonstorm comes out, as the card gets much better if they print more good dragons. In general though, the mechanic struggles in Constructed as flipping battles is never free, and the front sides are always overcosted with the possibility of flipping battles in mind.
Future Battles
Begin the Invasion | Illustration by Campbell White
It's hard to say exactly how future battles will be different, as battles were a well-implemented new card type. One knob developers could mess with is the “Siege” subtype, which was present on every battle in March of the Machine. Though “Siege” was basically just flavor text in that context, perhaps in the future there could be new subtypes that play out differently. We know from the cards themselves that Siege contributes the following functionality:
“As a Siege enters, choose an opponent to protect it. You and others can attack it. When it’s defeated, exile it, then cast it transformed.“
An easy reverse concept would be a battle that your opponent must attack, which flips in a set number of turns (let's say 3). If they can't remove it in time, the card exiles itself and casts some powerful free spell at the beginning of your upkeep. A possible name for this idea would be Battle – Fortification (this is already the name of an artifact subtype but let that slide for a moment). Perhaps a Fortification would work like this:
“Fortification enters on your side of the battlefield. Your opponent's can attack and destroy it. If it isn't defeated after three turns, exile it, then cast it transformed.“
We'll finish this article with a fake sketch card for this concept!
Defense of Heaven's Gates (2WWW)
Battle – Fortification
When this battle enters, you gain 4 life and create a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying and vigilance. At the beginning of your upkeep, if Defense of Heaven's Gate has survived 3 turns, exile it, then cast it transformed.
Defense: 6
Fine proof of concept, and you can imagine the transformed half being any number of powerful payoffs. Of course, it's very possible that the next batch of battles are just sieges again, but the designers left themselves open to possible variations. Solid chance we don't see another battle until 2026 at the earliest, but it's exciting for people who enjoyed the first batch, especially those with a copy of Begin the Invasion in their collection.
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3 Comments
A battle for each different FF game? Makes some sense.
“Fortification enters on your side of the battlefield.” Technically, the same is true of Sieges. I think what you meant to say was, “A Fortification is protected by its controller.” Also, the turn count would probably be kept track of by time counters, meaning all Fortification battles would enter with both defense counters and time counters. This would work the same as vanishing, except that it would be an intrinsic ability instead of a keyword ability, and the triggered ability when the last time counter is removed has a different effect, exiling it and casting it transformed instead of sacrificing it. There might also be a state-based action that sends it to the graveyard if its defense counters or time counters (or both) are at zero, but only if it doesn’t have a triggered ability that hasn’t left the stack yet.
Oh yeah, there’s definitely rules tweaks that would need to happen on the custom card presented here.
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