Magic: the Gathering BATTLE Tier List for Standard, Pioneer, and Modern (MTG)
One of the most exciting parts of March of the Machine is that it's bringing the new battle card type to the game. The set has 36 of them, and today, we're going to tier-list them all based on their potential in 60-card constructed formats like Standard, Pioneer, and Modern.
Before jumping into the list, a bit of bookkeeping. First, how are we actually grading the battles? Well, since battles are double-faced cards, we need to consider three things:
- How good is the front side? The front side of the battle is by far the most important aspect of the card since we'll be getting it every single game as soon as the battle resolves. Here, we are considering both the cost and the effect of the battle. How does the battle compare to a sorcery with a similar effect? Is it priced the same? Is there a tax (additional mana) for the upside of being a battle? All these things and more play into the front-side evaluation.
- How easy is it to flip? To get the backside of a battle, we need to defeat it by removing all of its defense counters, but some battles are easier to defeat than others. While the "ease of flipping" category is, in large part, a product of the number of defense counters on the battle (battles range from three to seven defense counters, and a battle with three defense counters will be much easier to flip than one with seven), it also takes other factors into consideration, like whether the battle makes creatures (if so, we can use them to help defeat the battle, making it easier to flip) or whether the battle acts as removal (which can get a blocker out of the way, making it easier to attack and defeat the battle).
- How good is the backside? The big question here is how often it will be worth trying to defeat a battle. Is the backside strong enough that we'll often be willing to send damage at the battle to try to flip it rather than throwing that damage at our opponent's face?
As far as the tier list itself, here are the definitions
- S-Tier: A multi-format staple.
- A-Tier: A staple but only in one format.
- B-Tier: Average. Could see play in the right deck or meta.
- C-Tier: Below average. Fringe in 60-card formats.
- D-Tier: Bad. Unlikely to see play, even in Standard.
- F-Tier: Fail. Why would anyone ever put this card in their deck?
Anyway, let's start grading cards!
Invasion of Alara
A-Tier: One of my picks for sleeper battle for Pioneer and maybe even Modern. The front side is fairly costed, and the pseudo-cascade-plus-draw ability oozes value and naturally synergizes with Yorion in Pioneer. Since it is not technically cascade, it can cheat Tibalt into play. The backside is a million for one, but seven defense counters are a lot. I’m more excited about trying to blink it with Yorion than defeating it.
Invasion of Amonkhet
B-Tier: The front side is technically a two-for-one with additional upside in self-mill or graveyard decks. The backside also synergizes with this plan, potentially letting you copy a reanimation target as you wait to find your reanimation spell, and four defense counters is reasonable. I could see the card being good in a Standard deck looking to reanimate Atraxa. The question is whether there is room for it alongside competing options like Corpse Appraiser and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. If it doesn’t take off right away, it should have a chance after rotation.
Invasion of Arcavios
C-Tier: Tutoring from your sideboard is powerful. It’s the reason why Karn, the Great Creator is so strong in various formats. However, the easiest way to evaluate a battle's front side is to compare it to a sorcery. From, this perspective, Invasion of Arcavios is overcosted by one or two mana, as compared to cards like Cunning Wish, Burning Wish, Mastermind's Acquisition, and Solve the Equation. Having an overcosted front side isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for a battle, assuming the backside is worth a worthwhile payoff and it's easy to flip. But Invasion of Arcavios fails here as well, having seven defense counters (tied for the most out of any battle) and flipping into Swarm Intelligence. If you want an enchantment that copies all your spells, it's likely easier to just cut out the middle man and play Swarm Intelligence. It's possible there's some crazy Ali Antrazi–style combo deck that can take advantage of it, which keeps it from being graded even lower, but Invasion of Arcavios looks like a Commander card to me.
Invasion of Azgol
B-Tier: While not quite as good as Angrath's Rampage or Sheoldred's Edict, two mana is the going rate to make an opponent sacrifice a creature or planeswalker. With a bonus damage thrown in, I could see a copy or two of Invasion of Azgol showing up in some Standard decks for the front side alone. On the other hand, the creature on the back is pretty weak, as a 2/1. It's hard to imagine it being worth throwing four damage at this battle to defeat it. A fine if unexciting removal spell.
Invasion of Belenon
D-Tier: Three mana is just way too much to make a 2/2 creature, and five damage to end up with a Glorious Anthem is too much to make flipping worth it for most aggro decks. In a world where Wedding Announcement exists, it's hard for me to imagine this card showing up anywhere. The only thing that keeps it from being an F-tier battle is potential Knight synergies.
Invasion of Dominaria
D-Tier: Invasion of Dominaria isn't good, but we have seen similar cards like Ritual of Rejuvenation or Revitalize occasionally see play in the past, in control decks looking to stabilize against aggro. Sadly, control decks are some of the worst decks for flipping battles since they usually don't play many creatures, which means the Serra Angel backside is unlikely to show up very often. This is likely just worse than Sunset Revelry and Union of the Third Path in the decks that might want it.
Invasion of Eldraine
D-Tier: We recently learned what a playable Mind Rot looks like in Go Blank, which is three mana and comes with a Tormod's Crypt attached. Four-mana, discard-twos are problematic because they are slow enough that your opponent could be empty-handed by the time it hits the battlefield. The only reason to not write off Invasion of Eldraine completely is the backside, which is a sweet Shrieking Affliction– or The Rack–style creature. In a format like Explorer or Historic that doesn't have the literal The Rack, the backside could be a replacement, although I'm not sure how a discard deck is going to flip the battle.
Invasion of Ergamon
A-Tier: Invasion of Ergamon has a lot of implications just because of the front half. Looting and making a Treasure for two mana seems great in a reanimation or graveyard deck where you can pitch your Atraxa or Titan of Industry and ramp toward your reanimation spell a turn earlier. It's also in the right colors to show up in a Jund Windgrace shell, which would also care about getting cards into the graveyard. While I guess you could try to flip it into a 3/4, and that might be the right line in some situations, I think there would be decks (at least in Standard) that would play the front side as a sorcery. And it wouldn't be impossible for it to show up in older formats, where it also synergizes with Indomitable Creativity. To me, this puts Invasion of Ergamon solidly in the A-tier, as a card likely to be Standard playable along with some eternal upside if you squint hard enough.
Invasion of Fiora
A-Tier: There might be some arguments for putting Invasion of Fiora in the S-tier, but it's hard for me to figure out what non-Standard decks would want to play a six-mana wrath. Its best bet is probably in Pioneer, which doesn't have great wraths and has cards like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Yorion, Sky Nomad that synergize with battles. The good news is that Invasion of Fiora is one of the best battles for Standard, where a six-mana wrath with the upside of flexibility is already solid enough where and there are natural top-tier homes thanks to the popularity of black in the format and various legendary-themed decks that can turn Invasion of Fiora into a Plague Wind. While the front side is good enough to see play on its own, the fact that it only has four defense counters makes it relatively easy to flip (a single Sheoldred, the Apocalypse attack gets the job done), and the backside offers a very powerful creature that can defeat a battle or kill a planeswalker each turn while potentially generating card advantage as well.
Invasion of Gobakhan
S-Tier: Our first S-tier battle is Invasion of Gobakhan, which seems designed to make waves in 60-card formats. The front side offers the closest thing we've seen to a white Thoughtseize, offering a way for an aggro deck to slow down a sweeper or combo piece from an opponent, and the backside can easily snowball into a victory for a go-wide aggro deck. Most importantly, Invasion of Gobakhan only has three defense counters, making it the easiest battle to defeat, which means flipping it shouldn't be much of an issue for the decks that want it. Better yet, since the backside triggers on the end step, you'll start generating value immediately, which gives it a leg up on some other battles that flip into creatures and need to survive a turn to do anything. I expect Invasion of Gobakhan to be a Standard staple in white aggro decks like Soldiers, Humans, and Knights and that it should have a chance to break into formats like Pioneer and Modern as well, both of which have tier white-weenie decks.
Invasion of Ikoria
S-Tier: Two S-tiers in a row! Invasion of Ikoria is one of the battles I'm most excited for in older formats. The front side is essentially Finale of Devastation—a very playable card—with the random Ikorian downside of not hitting humans but the upside of adding two green mana symbols to the battlefield (which matters in decks like Mono-Green Devotion). This alone should be enough for the card to see play in creature-toolbox strategies and potentially Devotion decks as well. The backside offers a solid creature. An 8/8 with reach that gives your entire team evasion is, what, a seven-mana card? Invasion of Ikoria gives us that creature for the cost of skipping six damage rather than paying mana, and if there's one thing we've learned over the years, it's that paying life to make mana is almost always worthwhile. The other reason to be high on this card for Modern specifically is that it combos with Vampire Hexmage. For four mana, you can tutor up the Vampire and immediately sacrifice it to defeat the battle and add an 8/8 Zilortha to the battlefield. While a four-mana 8/8 reach with evasion isn't exactly broken in Modern, and it is annoying that its backside's mana value is two, which means it dies to things like Fatal Push, March of Otherworldly Light, and Prismatic Ending, the opponent will lose the game super quickly if they don't have an immediate answer.
Invasion of Innistrad
C-Tier: Invasion of Innistrad is a puzzling battle. In Innistrad: Crimson Vow last year, we got a card called Bleed Dry, which is a random, forgotten uncommon that is the same as the front side of Invasion of Innistrad but with the upside of exiling the creature that it kills, and cards like Tragic Slip and Tragic Fall do the same thing for one or two mana if their morbid or hellbent conditions are met. As a result, Invasion of Innistrad looks pretty bad at first glance. But, considering Wizards put it at mythic, I keep wondering if there's something I'm missing and if the card is way stronger than it looks. I guess the ability to flash this in on your opponent's end step, kill a blocker, and then hopefully defeat the battle could be powerful, although this still requires dealing five damage to remove the defense counters. And the reward on the backside is basically Moan of the Unhallowed with the ability to really slowly hate on the graveyard and make more 2/2s. It does have some Zombie tribal synergies, which is nice, although Zombies haven't really made their mark on Standard, and four mana is a ton for a targeted removal spell in older formats. I really want to put this battle in F-tier, but I can't shake the feeling that it must be better than it looks, so I'm going to play it safe and stick it in the C-tier.
Invasion of Ixalan
B-Tier: Invasion of Ixalan is weird. Two mana to dig five cards deep for a permanent is a fine rate if that's something your deck is interested in, although putting the extra cards back into your library rather than into your graveyard means this won't be a replacement for Grisly Salvage. Just how mana decks are looking to pay a two-mana tax to dig for a permanent is up for debate though. The backside—a 4/3 trample that should mostly be indestructible during your turn—much like the front side, is fine, although not game-ending or anything like that, especially in a format where everyone is playing Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. I guess this leaves us with a B-bier battle—solid enough as a support card to dig through your deck to find better permanents but not the type of card that you build your deck around.
Invasion of Kaladesh
C-Tier: Two mana to make a 1/1 Thopter is about one mana too much, and while the backside is a potentially powerful Vehicle, you really need to be a heavy artifact deck to take advantage of it. It's not impossible some Affinity-style artifact deck develops in Standard—there are a lot of good artifact support pieces from The Brothers' War—and Invasion of Kaladesh could be a part of it, although I would expect it to be more of a role player than a foundation of the deck, if it even makes the cut at all.
Invasion of Kaldheim
B-Tier: Invasion of Kaldheim is a really unique card. Its front side looks overcosted, as a self-wheel, but this might actually be the correct cost for the effect when you consider that you get access to all of the cards you wheel away for one extra turn, which we've never seen before. Four defense counters is fine—on the lower end of the battles range—and the backside is incredibly powerful as an upgraded Seismic Assault, which can be a combo piece or simply a way to prevent flood in an aggro deck by giving you a way to turn extra lands into damage and cards. When I first saw Invasion of Kaldheim, I probably would have put it in A-tier. But, the more I thought about the card, the more my faith wavered. In Standard, my big concern is Sheoldred, which is really punishing against mass-card-draw effects like this. Wheeling away your hand sounds nice until you have to take 10 damage from Sheoldred to do this. (This is the same reason I've stopped playing Phyrexian Arena in Standard—it's just too risky with Sheoldred being so heavily played.) In Modern, the card could be a Seismic Assault replacement and does have the huge, huge upside of only requiring one red mana (although it does cost one more mana overall), but is it going to be fast enough? The front side by itself isn't good enough for Modern, so if you're playing it, your plan is to flip it. I guess one attack from a Swans of Bryn Argoll, Tarmogoyf, or Slogurk, the Overslime should get the job done, but what about on an empty board? I think players will try it as a Seismic Assault replacement, but whether it ends up being better in the end remains to be seen. Oh yeah, when using it to hit our Swans and draw some cards, the fact that the backside always exiles a card when you activate it for damage might actually be a deal breaker. I haven't done all the math, but I'm pretty sure that it means we'll end up decking yourselves before we draw enough lands to win with the damage.
Invasion of Kamigawa
F-Tier: Wizards played it really, really safe with the uncommon removal battles, presumably because they might be pretty easy to flip in limited, where you can use the battle's removal mode to clear a blocker so you can attack and flip the battle. Sadly, this means that cards like Invasion of Kamigawa have zero chance of seeing constructed play. The front sides are too expensive, and the backsides aren't strong enough to make up for it.
Invasion of Karsus
B-Tier: Compared to other similar sweepers, the front side of Invasion of Karsus comes with a one-mana battle tax. This means if we're going to play Invasion of Karsus over other competing options like Brotherhood's End and Anger of the Gods, the backside is going to have to make up for this inefficiency. The good news is that Invasion of Karsus should be pretty easy to flip if you build your deck around it, in part because it only has four defense counters and in part because it can sweep small blockers out of the way to let you attack the battlefield with a big creature. Speaking of big creatures, the backside of the card is solid. A 4/4 is fine, if a bit sad against Sheoldred, and its ability to Shock something whenever you cast a spell should be able to close out the game quickly, assuming you have some cards in hand. Sure, you have to give up four damage to get Refraction Elemental, but it should more than make up for this in just one turn on the battlefield, which should make defeating the battle worthwhile pretty often. I can see an argument for Invasion of Karsus being in the A-tier, but its inefficiency compared to Brotherhood's End gives me pause. For now, we'll stick it in the B-tier, although I think it's more likely that I'm underrating it than overrating it.
Invasion of Kylem
F-Tier: Yes, it's cute that pumping your creatures can help flip the battle. Sure, the tokens on the backside are decently statted, especially if you can grow them. The problem is that four-mana sorcery-speed creature pumping just isn't constructed playable. In Standard, four mana buys you Sheoldred or The Wandering Emperor. Giving two creatures +2/+0 until end of turn simply isn't going to cut it.
Invasion of Lorwyn
F-Tier: I don't know what Lorwyn did to piss Wizards off, but it must have been something pretty big because they got the worst battle, and it's not even especially close. Six mana to kill a creature at sorcery speed is already bad, but for some reason, Invasion of Lorwyn has multiple additional restrictions (non-Elf, need lands). Sure, the backside could be big if you manage to defeat the battle, but considering it costs six mana (and five damage) to get Winowing Forces on the battlefield, you're not really getting much of a discount compared to cards like Beanstalk Giant or Cultivator Colossus.
Invasion of Mercadia
C-Tier: Basically the battle version of Bitter Reunion, except the ability to give all of your creatures haste is likely more of an upside than potentially flipping into a 3/3, which means this is probably just a worse version of a card that already exists. That said, it is a battle, it's cheap, and it fills the graveyard, which could be relevant in decks with a card-type-matters theme built around Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Tarmogoyf. That potentiality puts it in the C-tier, although I expect most decks that want this effect will stick with Bitter Reunion.
Invasion of Moag
F-Tier: Solid support for the +1/+1 counter theme in March of the Machine limited, but constructed has cards like Brokers Ascendancy and Felidar Retreat that can put a +1/+1 counter on our team every turn, which is way more upside than potentially flipping into a 3/3 creature.
Invasion of Muraganda
F-Tier: Next on our list of "Wizards was really scared of uncommon removal battles in limited," we have another absolute waste of a card in Invasion of Muraganda. A playable version of this effect would be something like Dromoka's Command—two mana and instant speed with upside. Invasion of Muraganda is five mana and sorcery speed! The creature on the backside is fine, but for a battle to have a chance to see play in 60-card formats, the front side needs to be at least somewhat playable on its own, and this is where Muraganda fails.
Invasion of New Capenna
B-Tier: Invasion of New Capenna is interesting. The front side is a worse version of Rite of Oblivion but still a decent removal spell for a deck that has useless sacrifice fodder. It only has four defense counters, which is what you're hoping to see on a battle that is mostly about the backside, so that's good. Speaking of the backside, I think the equipment is actually sneakily strong. While it reads like a card for tribal decks, and you can play it in tribal decks, I think it will actually be at its best in token strategies, which tend to almost accidentally have a lot of creatures of the same type. I could imagine a deck built around Oni-Cult Anvil, Lingering Souls, or Skrelv's Hive making good use of the card. In the early game, you can cash in a token to remove your opponent's best thing and then later start growing your tokens with the equipment, which only costs a single mana to equip. The card's only real drawback is that if you flip it in combat, you won't get the first trigger from Holy Frazzle-Cannon until the next turn, which makes it a lot worse than something like Invasion of Gobakhan. But I could still see this card showing up in a competitive Standard deck, which puts it in the B-tier.
Invasion of New Phyrexia
A-Tier: While I'm not expecting Invasion of New Phyrexia to show up outside of Standard, it looks to be one of the best battles for Standard. Even discounting the Knight tribal subtheme of March of the Machine, the card's front side is basically Finale of Glory. There isn't any tax for being a battle and potentially flipping. While six defense counters is a lot, it's not as bad as it looks because the battle itself is going to be adding a bunch of 2/2s to the battlefield that can help defeat the battle, meaning this should be one of the easiest battles to flip in the mid- and late game. Plus, the backside—a new Teferi planeswalker—is a worthy reward for soaking some damage into the battle. While not busted like some past Teferis, the Knight-pumping emblems work well with the front side of the card, while card advantage and removal are exactly what you want to see on a planeswalker. I expect we'll be seeing a lot of this one in Standard.
Invasion of Pyrulea
B-Tier: Invasion of Pyrulea is one of my favorite sleeper battles from the set. When I first saw the card, it didn't excite me, but the more I thought about how many powerful double-faced cards we have in Standard—most of March of the Machine, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Wedding Announcement, et al.—the more I began to like Invasion of Pyrulea. Two damage to scry three and draw a land isn't exciting, but two mana to scry three and draw a Wedding Announcement, Brutal Cathar, or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker to play on the next turn is solid. Then, the backside of the battle is decent as well. While Standard is a tough place for a 4/4 thanks to Sheoldred, giving all of your transformed permanents ward 2 is a decent form of protection. While I don't think Invasion of Pyrulea is format-defining or anything like that, it does seem like it could be a solid role player thanks to the number of powerful double-faced cards that currently exist in Standard.
Invasion of Ravnica
A-Tier: Invasion of Ravnica is a tricky battle to grade. It's in the conversation for best colorless removal spell of all time, which is notable, although just how much that matters is up for debate. Five mana to exile most non-land permanents is a lot of mana in an absolute sense, but it could be worthwhile if you are in a color that struggles to find hard removal. In some ways, it would have been even more exciting a few years ago. In the current era of color-pie expansion allowing black to kill enchantments, blue to exile artifacts, and the like, the number of colors or decks that can't find a removal spell is dropping fast. Plus, remember, we're ranking battles based on 60-card constructed formats where you can easily splash a color, not by Commander, where harsh color-identity rules make this impossible. Still, we've seen decks make good use of The Mightstone and Weakstone, and Invasion of Ravnica is even more flexible, exiling things like Wedding Announcement, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and The Eternal Wanderer along with exiling most creatures. I could see decks in older formats—like Tron, which can make a lot of mana but has lackluster removal options—being in the market for Invasion of Ravnica in some numbers.
Compounding the trickiness of grading the card is that the backside is more or less the opposite of the front. The front side is most valuable in mono-colored or colorless decks that struggle with removal, while the backside likes multicolored cards, specifically two-color cards. Think Niv-Mizzet Reborn. That's more or less the kind of deck that Guildpact Paragon will like best. Actually, as odd as it sounds, the best home for Invasion of Ravnica might be in Niv to Light decks in Pioneer. Sure, the front side is a nonbo with Niv, but it's great with Yorion, Sky Nomad, which is often used as a companion, and Niv or Omnath can flip the battle in just one attack. And once Guildpact Paragon is on the battlefield, it's more or less a backup Niv as an absurd card-advantage engine for a deck full of two-color cards. All things considered, I think you can argue that Invasion of Ravnica is anywhere in the A- or B-tier range, although I'm going to aim high and put it in A-tier.
Invasion of Regatha
C-Tier: In general, Invasion of Regatha is a pretty lackluster burn spell. Since it can only throw one damage at a creature, it's really more of a Lava Axe than a true burn spell, although there is one scenario where it could be really strong: a dedicated battle deck. Dealing four damage to a battle is enough to flip several of the strongest battles without attacking at all, although Stoke the Flames might just be better at this job. The other possibility is playing Invasion of Regatha in a dedicated burn deck since the backside seems pretty powerful with Play with Fire, Lightning Strike, and friends as a weird twist on Torbran, Thane of Red Fell, although I'm not sure a burn deck wants to use multiple burn spells or attacks to remove the five defense counters to defeat the battle. While Invasion of Regatha has some interesting uses, for the most part, there are other cards that do the same thing but better (Stoke the Flames for the front and Solphim, Mayhem Dominus or Urabrask for the back), which puts the battle in C-tier.
Invasion of Segovia
B-Tier: While making two 1/1s at sorcery speed for three mana is about a mana below the going rate (see: Raise the Alarm and friends), Invasion of Segovia gets bonus points for being one of the easier battles to flip since it starts with just four defense counters and its front side adds bodies to the battlefield. The backside, while just a 3/3 that dies to all the popular removal spells in Standard, has a very powerful ability for a go-wide deck by giving all your noncreature spells convoke. This means you can cast a token maker like Wedding Announcement, Invasion of New Phyrexia, or even Invasion of Segovia and then use the tokens to help cast your next token maker, flooding the board super quickly. Even better, being able to untap four creatures lets you tap out during your turn to add bodies to the battlefield and then still cast a counterspell during your opponent's turn, potentially for free, which is super strong. As such, I think Invasion of Segovia is one of those rare battles where the backside is the real payoff. While you need a bunch of creatures and noncreature spells to really take advantage of it (which probably limits it to token decks), it can be an engine that takes over the game in the right deck. If tokens are good in Standard, Invasion of Segovia is solidly an A-tier battle, but will battles be good? I'm not sure, which puts the battle in the B-tier...for now.
Invasion of Shandalar
B-Tier: Invasion of Shandalar looks like one of the most fun battles. Who doesn't like putting massive permanents into play from their hand for free? But is Invasion of Shandalar good? That's a tough question. Returning three permanents to your hand from your graveyard for five mana is a decent rate, better than similar cards like Restock, although it's been a long time since I've seen Restock show up in a competitive deck. Surprisingly, Invasion of Shandalardoesn't have any restrictions on the permanents you can Regrowth, which means in a graveyard deck, you can set up some absurd value loops by using the battle to return two permanents and another copy of itself to your hand and then doing that again the next turn, but this is pretty slow. You potentially can also use the front side of Invasion of Shandalar to return massive finishers like Portal to Phyrexia or Atraxa to your hand, flip Invasion of Shandalar, and drop them into play on future turns, which sounds powerful if you can find the time to get it set up. The bad news is that green has been the worst color in Standard, and there's a lot of random graveyard hate running around, which might make it hard to get full value out of the battle. There are a ton of good pieces to make a graveyard deck work in Standard, which would be the best home for Invasion of Shandalar, but so far, no one has made the archetype work. As much as I want to put it in A-tier just because it's a card I can't wait to cast, for now, the right home is likely B-tier.
Invasion of Tarkir
B-Tier: Invasion of Tarkir's power is almost solely dependent on the number of Dragons in your deck. A two-mana sorcery-speed Shock is bad, but the rate actually becomes pretty solid with one or two Dragons in hand. Assuming you're playing a bunch of Dragons, defeating the battle shouldn't be a problem since you'll have a bunch of big evasive creatures, although there probably will be times when it's better to just hit your opponent's face and then try to burn them out with the front side of Invasion of Tarkir rather than flipping into another Dragon that dies to a wrath. The good news is that the backside is a strong Dragon. A 4/4 for four that Shocks whenever a Dragon attacks should be able to close out the game quickly, and the ability to attack your opponent and throw the direct damage at battles to flip them is a nice upside. Since I'm not convinced Invasion of Tarkir is worth playing outside of a Dragon deck and there aren't currently any top-tier Dragon decks, I'm going to put it in B-tier, although the card should be very, very good in a Dragon deck.
Invasion of Theros
B-Tier: Invasion of Theros is a tricky one. The front side is okay as a narrow three-mana tutor, although there are more efficient or flexible options if you are trying to tutor up Auras or Gods. On the other hand, the backside—a new Ephara—is one of the strongest Enchantresses we've ever seen, as a 4/4 lifelink indestructible creature (assuming you have three enchantments, which you should in a deck that would want Invasion of Theros) that draws a card each time you play an enchantment. In non-Standard formats, I'm guessing Invasion of Theros is likely too slow. Most Auras decks are looking to be as fast and efficient as powerful, and paying three to tutor an Aura and then giving up a turn of attacking to flip it probably isn't worthwhile. In Standard, though, things are different. We already have a couple of enchantment decks built around cards like Hallowed Haunting that could easily run Invasion of Theros to tutor Heliod, the Radiant Dawn and Ossification and then flip into Ephara, which seems like a tough card to beat outside of a Farewell or Sunfall. This puts Invasion of Tarkir in the B-tier, with the potential to move up if it does somehow manage to find a home in Pioneer or Modern.
Invasion of Tolvada
A-Tier: Five mana to reanimate a permanent is the going rate—see Obzedat's Aid and Invoke Justice. It's also the going rate to reanimate Atraxa, Grand Unifier in Standard (see: The Cruelty of Gix), so the front side of Invasion of Tolvada seems fairly priced. If it were a sorcery rather than a battle, I'd expect it to cost five mana. As such, the possibility of defeating the five defense counters and flipping it into a souped-up Bitterblossom is mostly upside. My expectation is that [[Invasion of Tolvada] will be strong enough to see play purely as a reanimation spell, at least in Standard. I don't especially care whether it ever flips. It's in A-tier for the front side alone.
Invasion of Ulgrotha
F-Tier: Lightning Helix costs two mana at instant speed—that's the constructed-playable rate for dealing three damage and gaining three life. Invasion of Ulgrotha costs five mana and is sorcery speed. As such, it could flip into literal Oko, Thief of Crowns, and I don't think it would be good (and it definitely doesn't flip into Oko; instead, it's just a 3/3 flier with some upside).
Invasion of Vryn
D-Tier: The front side is Sift, which has never really been a constructed-playable card. While drawing three and discarding one for four mana isn't laughable, it's also not good, especially in Sheoldred Standard. On thew other hand, the backside is interesting. Being able to copy any spell you control for just one mana is an exciting rate, considering the same ability on Lithoform Engine costs four mana (although it is worth mentioning that Overloaded Mage-Ring is a one-shot). Is the backside strong enough to make it worth playing an underpowered front side and then sending four damage at Invasion of Vryn? I think the answer will generally be no, but I could imagine a deck making good use of the backside, so we'll stick it in D-tier.
Invasion of Xerex
D-Tier: Four mana to bounce a single creature is pretty bad, and the backside's power depends on you having a board full of creatures. My first thought was to put this in F-tier alongside the other limited-focused removal battles, but I bumped it up to D-tier due to the possibility of looping it with Yorion, Sky Nomad. In theory, you could play Invasion of Xerex to bounce something, use Yorion to blink the battlefield, and then use the battle to bounce Yorion, Sky Nomad, which would essentially let you blink your entire board each turn if you had enough mana. Of course, this synergy costs an infinite amount of mana (nine total to go through the loop), which means it's probably not good enough, even considering that Yorion's blink synergizes with most battles, but the slight possibility of this mattering keeps Invasion of Xerex from F-tier.
Invasion of Zendikar
B-Tier: Invasion of Zendikar is another battle without any tax—four mana is the going rate to tutor to basics to the battlefield—so we're off to a good start. It only takes three defense counters to defeat, tying it for the least among the battles, which is also solid, and then the backside is fine, as a 4/4 that can make some extra mana. Basically, every part of Invasion of Zendikar is fairly costed. The only problem is that Explosive Vegetation isn't an especially important effect for constructed decks. If a ramp deck develops, Invasion of Zendikar will likely be good in it, and the possibility of blinking it or of bouncing it to replay it offers a ton of mana. But the number of decks in the market for this effect is limited. As such, Invasion of Zendikar ends up in B-tier, not because the card is bad but because it has limited homes in 60-card formats.
The Tier List
Putting everything together leaves us with something like this:
Invasion of Gobakhan and Invasion of Ikoria are the two best battles, although there's a pretty large A-tier group right behind them that should have an impact on 60-card formats. The B-tier is probably the most interesting because of the uncertainty. I expect that once we actually get to play with the cards, some of the battles in this tier will rise to A-tier or maybe even S-tier, while others will fall toward the unplayable categories. There are also a big group of battles near the bottom of our ranking, with five D-tier battles and six F-tier battles, although, in fairness, they are all uncommons that seem balanced for limited rather than for constructed, which means it's probably unfair to consider them bad cards. They serve a purpose—that purpose just doesn't involve showing up in formats like Standard, Modern, or Pioneer.
Agree with my rankings? Disagree? Let me know in the comments! Oh yeah, if you want to make your own battle tier list, you'll find the template here. Just click the remix button at the bottom and it should reset it so you can make your own ranking. As always, you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
