Earlier this year,Magic: The Gatheringreleased March of the Machine: The Aftermath, a micro set that explored the, well, aftermath of the Phyrexian invasion of the multiverse in March of the Machine. It came in five-card Epilogue boosters, which allegedly told the story between stories, but players didn’t take to it, and the set was universally panned.
The general sentiment is that the cards included are underwhelming and lack purpose, made worse by the fact thatthe set is not draftable. Adding onto that, it was incredibly expensive, costing the same as a regular pack for less than half the usual number of cards. So, it didn’t sell well, even among MTG whales. When a fan asked MTG head designer Mark Rosewater, “How likely are we to see another Epilogue set like Aftermath?",he was understandably quick to reply,“Pretty unlikely”.
Aftermath was mired in problems before it was even revealed.The entire set leaked, in response to which Wizards of the Coast sentthe Pinktertons after the leakerin one of its most infamous controversies of recent years. The string of disasters didn’t stop there, asthe Arena launchalsofell apart.
The digital MTG game suddenly stopped working on Android devices and MTG responded by dropping Aftermath two days early without warning, which sparked backlash from content creators who were caught off guard. To make matters worse, the set was mixed with March of the Machine, diluting pulls and making it unclear what players on Arena were actually buying.
Given the myriad problems with Aftermath’s launch and its awful reputation, it’s no wonder Wizards of the Coast is in no rush to return to the Epilogue format.
The reception to Rosewater’s reply has been much more positive, at least. One fan reblogged his comment, simply saying, “Victory!”
Another celebrated by continuing to voice their disinterest in the set, “That isn’t surprising. Pricing was far too high for a five-card pack (think The Dark/Fallen Empires/Homelands pack pricing) and the card selection just didn’t ‘hang together’ as a set for me. Pricing, set design, and story elements all seemed to fall flat.”
Unsurprising sums it up. On the MTG and MTG Finance subreddits, many warned players away from buying Aftermath, so it was quick to grow a tainted reputation. Others declared it a “bust” pretty quickly, saying that the most interesting part of Aftermath was the Pinkertons controversy, not the set itself.
In the meantime, we have a much more well-received set to look forward to - Universes Beyond: Doctor Who. We’ve now seenevery card in this ambitious crossover, from the incredibly popular Fourth Doctor to the obscure Vrestin.
Itlaunches tomorrow, so you can water down the taste of Aftermath pretty soon with 60 years ofDoctor Whoretold through Magic: The Gathering.
