Magic: The Gathering's March of the Machine reveals a powerful new version of Heliod

Heliod, a God of Theros, falls in Magic: The Gathering’s next expansion. March of the Machine features the interplanar war MTG has been setting up across the last several sets, and not everyone will get out of it in one piece. During the preview we received over the weekend, we learned that this card transformed, but the alternate form was a mystery.

However, there was a very interesting tease that would explain things. In the lore text of the card, Ajani said that if you Compleat the people, you Compleat the God. That means Heliod falls and becomes a Phyrexian God.

He’s no longer indestructible, either. That doesn’t mean he’s without power, though. What can this fascinating new card do?

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Heliod’s fall spells disaster for Theros in Magic: The Gathering

The normal version of this card is interesting in a few ways. He starts off as a creature and doesn’t require you to have devotion to him to transform. He’s a bit more expensive at four mana and is no longer indestructible as his original Magic: The Gathering form was.

Heliod, the Radiant Dawn

• Mana Value: 2WW
• Type: Legendary Enchantment Creature - God
• Rarity: Rare
• Stats: 4 power, 4 toughness
• Passive Ability: When Heliod, the Radiant Dawn enters the battlefield, return target enchantment card that isn’t a God from your graveyard to your hand.
• First Ability: 3U/P: Transform this card. Activate only as a sorcery. (U/P can be paid with either U or 2 life).

However, when you put this Magic: The Gathering card into play, you can return an enchantment from your graveyard - that isn’t a God - and put it into your hand. That’s solid retrieval based on the cost of that mana. He can also transform, requiring three colorless and one blue or Phyrexian Mana. It can only be done as sorcery, so you can’t transform him in response to removal and hope for the best.

Thus, this corrupted form was born. Now a Phyrexian God, his abilities are far more dangerous. He’s a simpler card with no activated abilities, but what he does is dangerous enough.

Heliod, the Warped Eclipse

• Mana Value: n/a
• Type: Legendary Enchantment Creature - Phyrexian God
• Rarity: Rare
• Stats: 4 power, 6 toughness
• Passive Ability: You may cast spells as though they had flash
• First Ability: Spells you cast cost one less for each card your opponents have drawn this turn.

The fall of Heliod turned out to be a major gain for a wealth of decks. The fact that you can cast spells as though they had flash gives Standard a way to use the power of Leyline of Anticipation.

This Magic: The Gathering creature also punishes your opponents for drawing cards. You could also force them to draw, to make your spells faster, and hopefully force a discard situation.

Why is this so great? Heliod, the Warped Eclipse doesn’t specify a type of spell. He could easily be used in UW control decks. He could also be used in various decks that splash white and feature large numbers of creatures. You could run him, in theory, in a UW Soldiers and only play your creatures on your opponent’s turn.

Since he isn’t indestructible, you’ll have to be careful how you play him. I’d like to see this new version of the Theros god played in Magic: The Gathering’s Standard meta, though. It also tells an interesting lore story.

The Phyrexians Compleated and corrupted the followers of Heliod, so as a result, he was turned, and his realm fell soon after. He may not be the only Theros God to fall, either. We’ll have to see as more reveals occur.

March of the Machine launches worldwide for Magic: The Gathering on April 21, 2023.