Magic: The Gathering goes to battle with its first new card type in 15 years

polygon.com:

For the first time in 15 years, Magic: The Gatheringhas introduced a new type of card to the game, called battles. With the addition of the 36 new battle cards in Magic’slatest set, March of the Machine, this update to the game’s ever-changing rules landscape will redefine kitchen tables, tournaments, and combat math for years to come.

According to the set’s official release notes from Wizards of the Coast, the battles serve as a thematic tie-in to the overarching story behind March of the Machine, where the cultist army of Phyrexians have launched their invasion of the entire multiverse. As players, we see this war unfold across 36 sieges, the first battle subtype and a permanent (like a land or creature card) that sits on the battlefield for players to attack. Wizards of the Coast has likewise indicated more battle subtypes are in the works for future sets.

The siege battles are transforming double-faced cards, with a front side that always gets played to the table first and provides a certain effect upon entering the game. Later, siege cards can flip over to their alternate side — a completely different card with different effects — when a certain condition is met.

The sieges’ flip condition is removing defense counters via combat or direct damage spells. Plus, some new cards, like the Etched Host Doombringer and Render Inert, help remove defense counters explicitly.

Of course, Magic adds new game mechanics to practically every release. Commonly those are keyword abilities such as hexproof or horsemanship, and keyword mechanics such as morph and mutate that are essentially tweaks that reimagine how already existing card types interact with game rules. But a new type of permanent altogether is a much more