Whether you love it or hate it, the Alchemy format on MTG Arena has a pretty useful quirk. Since cards can be rebalanced as needed, formats don’t descend into a combo hellscape for too long. This is very good news, as Alchemy players have been dealing exactly this since the release of Alchemy: Lorwyn Eclipsed.
Thanks to its insane ability to give all your blue creatures Evoke, Aquatic Subtlety unsurprisingly made an impact on Alchemy. Now, after four long months, Wizards is finally doing something about this problematic card. Curiously, however, while this key combo card has been nerfed, it hasn’t been dealt with entirely.
MTG Aquatic Subtlety Nerf
In its per nerf state, Aquatic Subtlety was the perfect combo enabler in Alchemy. Ideally, this card could put Omniscience in the graveyard while giving Sin, Spira’s Punishment Evoke. By casting Sin, you can get Omniscience by turn three, letting you play the rest of your deck and win handily.
Curiously, while Aquatic Subtlety has been perfected, the card still seems totally playable. While the change from discard to the bottom of your library hurts this deck’s consistency, it can still combo off. That being said, without any changes, this does slow the deck down, as the only other discard effects cost four mana.
While this might sound like a job well done for Wizards, Aquatic Subtlety decks can easily pivot to include more affordable effects. Currently, in Alchemy, Does Machines is insanely effective, but even Gran-Gran works in a pinch. Admittedly, requiring another card will definitely hurt this combo, but it’s far from down and out.
As powerful as a turn-three Omniscience is, however, Aquatic Subtlety isn’t the most broken deck in the entire format. With mono red metabreakers putting up good results, and counterspells existing, beating this deck isn’t impossible. Hopefully, this slight nerf is all that’s needed, then, to bring about a more balanced metagame.
Mending the Meta
Alongside the major nerf to Aquatic Subtlety, Wizards of the Coast also confirmed three more MTG Arena rebalances. Two of these appear to be specifically aimed at slowing down Alchemy slightly by improving defensive tools. On Oura, the Imitator, this intention is blindingly obvious, as that extra toughness will help it fend off aggressive threats and Badgermole Cub.
Ideally, the change to Infestation should bring about the same effect. Not only will the cheaper Evoke cost let you deal with Earthbend-ed lands sooner, but sticking Blowfly Infestation keeps -1/-1 Counters relevant. Currently, decks built around these counters are only seen at lower ranks, but this could definitely change that.
Outside of Alchemy, Trackhand Trainer has also seen a slight nerf to make flickering it less busted. Previously, after bouncing it once, you could draw for just one blue, but now that cost has doubled. While this is a pretty big nerf to the card, having multiple Training Grounds is still busted in Brawl, so don’t expect it to disappear.
All in all, as far as rebalances go, this latest suite isn’t too bad. As usual, Wizards could have taken things further, but smaller, more frequent changes are better, ideally. That being said, Alchemy rebalances still aren’t all too common, and we’re still waiting on Sewer-veillance Cam’s return after its banning.
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