Ever since its inception, the Alchemy format on MTG Arena has been a bit of a strange one. Not only was it widely condemned upon release, but it has never had a set schedule, either. Factor in the fact that Alchemy cards aren’t just contained to Alchemy, and it’s no wonder many players don’t love this format.
That being said, recently, Wizards of the Coast has been a little more predictable. Rather than card rebalances happening totally out of the blue, we’ve seen a fair few alongside MTG ban announcements. For better or worse, it now appears that rebalances aren’t just contained to this schedule, as eight cards have just been changed out of the blue.
A Surprise, to Be Sure, but a Welcome One
Curiously, beyond just arriving without a major announcement, it appears these MTG Arena rebalances were late. Instead of being in Monday’s Arena Announcements article, it’s taken until today for them to surface. With no mention of these changes in the MTG Arena client, either, they’re definitely easy to miss.
Admittedly, even if you did miss these changes, you’re not missing much. Five Alchemy-exclusive cards have been rebalanced here, while three paper cards have been un-nerfed. While any rebalances happening are definitely good news, admittedly, these changes are unlikely to amount to much.
http://partner.tcgplayer.com/gRD7P9That said, even though they’re not game-changing, it’s great to see Indris, the Hydrostatic Surge getting some love. Now, rather than Conjuring one Storm-empowered Lightning Bolt into your library, it’ll make four. While this should make the card a lot more fun, admittedly, for six mana, it’s still not a great build-around option in Brawl.
Technically, the same is also true for Sliver Weftwinder, which also just received a sneaky rebalance. From now on, the cards this Sliver Conjures will go into the top five cards of your library, rather than the top ten. As much as this is a nice consistency booster, other Commander options like Sliver Overlord or The First Sliver are still better.
For better or worse, it’s not all buffs for Brawl players, as The Grand Goatnapper has been hit with a mild nerf. Since it can no longer target itself, you’ll need a board to start Conjuring copies of Goatnap into existence. Notably, this also prevents combo shenanigans where you use copies of Goatnap to untap the Goatnapper while continually buffing itself.
Compelling Competitive Changes
On top of a trio of Brawl-focused tweaks, Wizards has also rebalanced Darkstar Banisher and Putrid Hexhag. With both cards receiving buffs in the form of more exile potential and more damage, these rebalances should help shore up their respective archetypes. Realistically, though, these subtle changes are unlikely to change the metagame a great deal.
While this may be disappointing to some, the trio of cards being reverted to their paper versions could have a real impact. Unholy Heat, for instance, is being reverted to have its full six damage Delirium effect, which is a huge deal. Considering how widely this card is played in Modern and Legacy, it could easily work wonders in Historic.
Technically, the same is also true of Omnath, Locus of Creation, which is being reverted back to its normal mana cost. While this card sees most of its competitive play in Pioneer, it could see testing in Historic once again. At the very least, having a more competitive Omnath in Brawl is no bad thing.
Finally, Alrund’s Epiphany has also been un-nerfed, with its Foretell cost being reverted back to normal. While this is a welcome change, we’re long past the point of this card being relevant, so it’ll probably amount to nothing. Still, even if this buff doesn’t really matter, it’s good to see cards not being kept nerfed for no reason.
More Alchemy Coming Soon
Even if this latest wave of MTG rebalances doesn’t have the biggest impact, the Alchemy format is hardly done for. Not only can reblanaces evidently happen out of the blue, but we’ve got a ban announcement coming up fairly soon, too. In theory, this could mean more rebalances will happen on May 18th, 2026, but this remains to be seen.
Notably, just after this, we should also see the release of the Secrets of Strixhaven Alchemy set. Typically, this set is released 25 days after the set’s official launch, which should be May 19th. So far, we’ve only seen art for two legends from this set; however, it should contain 30 cards, as usual.
For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what this Alchemy set and any future rebalances will bring. Thankfully, we’re not exactly short on content in the meantime, thanks to the impending release of Secrets of Strixhaven.
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