Courtesy of Wizards of the Coast (WotC), check out this series of Alchemy: Kamigawa previews from yesterday’s Neon Dynasty Championship stream!
Part of what appears to be a cycle, Mothrider Cavalry starts as a four-mana 2/2 flyer, but can be cast for two less mana if certain conditions are met. For this card to be discounted, you must have no other creature cards in hand, or the only other creature cards in your hand are named Mothrider Cavalry. Two mana for an anthem effect with a body definitely seems strong, but decks looking to utilize anthems tend to play a lot of creatures, making this card’s discounted casting cost somewhat awkward.
Like the previous card, Forceful Cultivator starts at four-mana, but can be cast for two less if a requirement is met – in this case, if you have no land cards in hand. Upon entering the battlefield, Forceful Cultivator lets you search out a basic land and put it onto the battlefield tapped, making it comparable to a card like Solemn Simulacrum. This effect is great if you hit your first couple land drops but then run into a patch of spells, but not having an additional ability like drawing a card when it dies makes it hard to justify casting for the full mana cost.
Kami of Mourning is a three-mana 3/2 that makes a nice curve-topper for black-based aggressive decks. When it enters the battlefield, you target a creature your control or that is in your graveyard and it perpetually gains the ability to be returned from the graveyard to the battlefield when a creature you control with a greater mana cost dies. This is a great insurance policy against sweeper effects and lets you keep the beats coming.
Better Offer is likely the best of Sunday’s previewed cards — allowing you to invest X mana in order to pull a random creature with mana value X or less from your opponent’s library. Not only do you take a threat away from your opponent, but that creature also perpetually has base power and toughness X/X and ward 1, making for a sizable threat. In control mirrors, the number of creatures played is often very limited, so using Better Offer to steal the opponent’s finisher could be game-changing.
Kami of Bamboo Groves is a solid one-drop — acting like an Arboreal Grazer early, but also providing late-game flexibility through its channel effect.
Lastly, Dragonfly Pilot is another great one-drop that conjures a free Dragonfly Suit to your hand. It can also crew Vehicles as though its power is two greater, making it a dangerous resource if left unchecked.
So what do you think of these previews? Are you excited for the next step in Alchemy’s evolution? Let us know in the comments.
Alchemy: Kamigawa is scheduled to release on MTG Arena on March 17.