Four Very Different Decklists For Alchemy

Entire articles could be written detailing the intricacies of releasing a format like Alchemy and what it means for the future of Magic. Today, I’m going to spare you from that misery, ignore the ramifications, and simply focus on trying to build some decks. 

Cool? Cool.

Seven Things I Like And Dislike About Alchemy’s Arrival To MTG Arena

The Alchemy cards I’m interested in are the ones that create card advantage. Hearthstone had many built-in ways for the player to not run out of gas and some of the stronger Alchemy cards have the same features. Without a top end like Alrund’s Epiphany, those game plans are suddenly more viable. It helps that cards like Esika’s Chariot and Luminarch Aspirant are more reasonable as well.

In the Selesnya Tokens era, the best gameplan was to avoid spending resources trying to kill your opponent. With planeswalkers and the combination of Evolutionary Leap alongside Hangarback Walker, you beat everyone inevitably. As long as you could contain what they were doing, you were going to win. I wouldn’t be surprised if the new Alchemy cards (and nerfs) usher in a similar era. Of course, that’s contingent on being able to beat Mono-Green Aggro❄ and Mono-White Aggro❄, so that automatically removes a few ideas. 

I’m hoping that I can build a busted creature deck that can pressure control decks while dominating creature mirrors. It’s certainly a tall order, although one that’s potentially doable given the way Alchemy is presented. 

Let’s get into some thoughts on individual cards and then some decklists.

The drafting cards are truly heinous. Each one has a different spellbook, which will be difficult to memorize. To top it off, drafting from Faithful Disciple’s spellbook is especially painful. There doesn’t seem to be much, if any, cohesion between the cards included. It means that you can’t particularly build around Anointed Procession or whatever. 

Slayer’s Bounty is the opposite and arguably has the opposite problem. It’s nearly all removal spells, which means using it as an engine against a control deck isn’t a viable option. Maybe you’re lucky and find Raise the Alarm or Bounty Agent. If we have more Clue token generators or a better spellbook, I’d like this card.

Even though it has a mediocre statline, requires a battlefield presence, and then takes mana to get card advantage, I like Antique Collector quite a bit. I could see it being more useful in Historic where you can build a deck with a lower mana curve and potentially have some sacrifice outlets.

If you’re playing Historic, Cursebound Witch has a reasonable draft pool with Witch’s Oven, Cauldron Familiar, and Witch’s Vengeance. Unfortunately, the rest aren’t particularly helpful. If you’re playing Standard, that’s even more true. Maybe if you’re playing a black sacrifice deck and want even more Eyetwitches or Shambling Ghasts, this could be useful.

As a lifelong Ishkanah fan, I’m pleased with the sequel. Its stats are reasonable, and it seems playable, even if it doesn’t give you any immediate value. Obviously it lines up poorly against Fading Hope (like almost any other four-drop). 

Overall, Esika’s Chariot is the stronger option, even after the nerf. The main reason to play Garruk, Wrath of the Wilds is if you’re playing a bigger green deck with some six-drops. That’s not something I’m currently interested in, but that could change.

Next we have a Human creature that’s supposed to be an engine for Vampires, Werewolves, Spirits, or Zombies? And if you don’t hit one of the relevant creature types, you’re getting a piece of cardboard. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it’s also very, very slow.

This card is actually great! Not only does it allow you to filter away dead cards in Best-of-One, it offers powerful ramp and some additional controlling tools. I could easily see this creating a tapout control archetype or seeing play in the Historic Niv-Mizzet decks.

Don’t want to play Unexpected Windfall to ramp into Hullbreaker Horror? Now you don’t have to. Seriously, look at this spellbook:

• Approach of the Second Sun
• Day of Judgment
• Time Warp
• Counterspell
• Demonic Tutor
• Doom Blade
• Lightning Bolt
• Claim the Firstborn
• Krosan Grip
• Regrowth
• Despark
• Electrolyze
• Growth Spiral
• Lightning Helix
• Putrefy

I dunno what Claim the Firstborn is doing there, but the rest are unbelievably powerful. The worst pile you can get is probably Krosan Grip, Growth Spiral, and Claim the Firstborn. When the floor is Growth Spiral, you’re probably in a good spot. The question is finding a home for Key to the Archive, but I have some ideas in mind.

So, which Alchemy cards do I actually like? Inquisitor Captain is the front-runner, although Key to the Archive is tempting. Bloodrage Alpha is solid. Oglor, Devoted Assistant is slow and requires work, although it’s potentially powerful. 

Unfortunately, not many of the cards appear to help with a creature-based card advantage deck I talked about earlier. Each of the stat lines are weak, the draft pools are too wide, and they don’t do anything to help you not die against the aggro decks. Maybe in the Alchemy: Kamigawa edition.

The party rabbit hole is deep. Despite there being powerful options in other colors and seemingly endless ways to build the deck, I eventually settled on a boring looking Selesnya decklist. I wanted to present the strongest options and Selesnya is it. 

The cards I’m missing from the other colors that I might want to try at some point are Coveted Prize (for Showdown of the Skalds probably), Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate, and Concerted Defense. You could get creative and splash for some (or all) of those, but I wanted to keep it simple. 

Angel of Unity is the big party payoff, although discounting Archpriest of Iona would be a mistake. Squad Commander and Tazri, Beacon of Unity are both fine payoffs, even if I’m not sure I should be playing them at all. 

Grizzled Huntmaster is a word soup that I eventually came around on, mostly because it’s a Warrior. Ideally, you’d be able to Grizzled Huntmaster for spicy party options, but outside of Squad Commando and Tazri, Beacon of Unity, they’re a rarity. At least you have Masked Vandal as a party wildcard if you need it.

Alchemy Is Almost Here. Lets Get Started!

Regardless, being able to search for Toski, Bearer of Secrets, Glorious Protector, Reidane, God of the Worthy, or Avabruck Caretaker as the situation demands could be nice, especially in Best-of-One where it won’t cost you sideboard slots. Those are all effects you would typically play in your sideboard for specific matchups and also cards you don’t want to draw in multiples. Huntmaster’s statline isn’t anything to get excited about, but it serves a few different purposes, so trying it seems worth it.

With Angel of Unity, maybe having some mediocre starting statlines isn’t a big deal. Its ability is potentially very powerful, but it’s one that’s difficult to gauge unless you’ve played games like Hearthstone or Eternal. When all of your cards trade and then suddenly you have an eight-power threat you’ve been working on all game, you end up in a commanding position. It’s even better if that threat has haste, although there aren’t many strong options for that angle.

The reason I started building around party was because of Inquisitor Captain. I’d prefer if we had cards like Brutal Cathar or Skyclave Apparition to potentially hit, but this setup isn’t bad. Most of your cards have relevant effects, even if it’s just filling out the party, and putting multiple bodies on the battlefield will always be powerful. 

Similarly to the party decks, I did a deep dive on various control and ramp strategies in order to find a home for Key to the Archive and ended up with a deck that is very much a known quantity. However, it’s a good option for Storm the Festival decks as well. 

You could go harder on the cost reduction cards and try to do some really big things, but that seems worse than slotting Key to the Archive in a normal deck that happens to want lots of mana. For the most part, you resolve the Key and then profit, especially if you have Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset on the battlefield.

If you wanted to play Best-of-One, you could try Unexpected Conversion. It’s honestly not much better than Thirst for Discovery or the other options though.

Between the nerfs to Esika’s Chariot and Goldspan Dragon plus the new Gruul cards, I actually favor Gruul Werewolves over any of the other green decks. Tenacious Pup is a solid addition, plus you get Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat and Bloodrage Alpha, both of which seem incredible. We finally have a full curve in our Werewolves deck! Between the boosts to the archetype itself and the nerfs making the other decks worse, Gruul Werewolves finally looks great.

I’m not sure about which cards should occupy the top end of the deck, but that will become quickly apparent once we see what the metagame looks like. My sideboard is also fairly random and could use some tuning. 

I wanted to find a home for Frenzied Geistblaster. I really did. Red decks need a Lava Coil, not more 2/2s that filter. At least Esika’s Chariot is more manageable in this format. I could see using Frenzied Geistblaster as a discard outlet in Historic. It also gives you another prowess threat alongside Soul-Scar Mage if you want to try to build around that theme.

Remember that Faceless Haven is nerfed in Alchemy Standard. As much as I wanted to include Frost Bite and Faceless Haven, it made more sense to opt for Flame-Blessed Bolt and Den of the Bugbear. That allows us to play Conductive Current in the sideboard too.

I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. Over the next few days, I’ll be eager to see if anyone can come up with something that looks truly fun to play. If not, I could see sitting out of Alchemy unless there’s a qualifier weekend coming up. Thankfully, you can treat Alchemy like a fake format unless you get bored of Magic’s other offerings or want to try to qualify for a championship. Even then, it’s perfectly reasonable to take a qualifier season off.