Since its inception, Alchemy has been a relatively unpopular format with a niche community of enthusiasts. The concept of being able to play with cards on Arena that wouldn’t really work in paper is interesting. However, players generally gravitate towards Standard or Historic on the client.
Many players who aren’t fans of Alchemy simply want to play cards they are familiar with on Arena that have been printed on paper. Unfortunately, though, since Alchemy cards were incorporated into both Historic and Timeless, it’s impossible to escape powerful designs and still make use of Modern cards.
This has given rise to a multitude of complaints, and I’m definitely in the same boat. I’d love to be able to play a format with powerful Lord of the Rings and Modern Horizons 3 cards without worrying about Alchemy cards at all, but that’s simply not an option at the moment.
Forcing Alchemy Across the Board
For many players, including myself, an ideal Arena world would feature at least one Modern-style format without Alchemy cards in the mix. Obviously, Standard and Explorer (soon to be Pioneer) don’t feature Alchemy cards. The problem is that these formats only showcase cards from main sets. As such, in order to maximize all the other goodies on Arena, you’re forced to interact with Alchemy cards.
With Historic and Timeless coexisting on Arena, it’s clear that many players wish at least one of these formats didn’t include Alchemy cards. There’s certainly an argument to keep Alchemy cards in one of them, since this allows players to continue using Alchemy cards that rotate. The way things currently stand, though, both Historic and Timeless have a number of Alchemy cards that are format staples.
Assemble the Team is a classic example. This card is an all-star for combo decks, most notably Show and Tell strategies in Timeless. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with having cards like this be legal, it forces players to keep track of a huge subset of cards outside of paper Magic when trying to optimize their deck.
Things can get even more awkward in Historic Brawl. Brawl is meant to help give Commander enjoyers a similar experience on Arena. Yet, with so many digital-only legends like Grenzo, Crooked Jailer to run into, your whole play experience is skewed.
One player suggested having a separate Brawl queue that doesn’t include these Alchemy legends. This way, even if the Brawl queue wait times were longer, it means they would avoid playing against these types of cards. I’m all for implementing an Alchemy-free setting, especially considering how clunky and unnatural some Alchemy cards can feel.
Clunky Designs
Speaking of clunky designs, some of the most annoying cards to keep track of in my opinion are the Alchemy cards that let you “draft a card” from a specific spellbook. These cards are cool, but they come with a distinct set of rules and versatility that are unlike any real Magic cards.
Luckily, most of these cards don’t make too much noise in Historic or Timeless. However, some cards like Key to the Archive can be quite strong in Brawl and the Arena Cube.
What makes these cards so awkward is that, even though the player resolving them only gets a choice between three random cards from the spellbook in question, the opponent needs to look at the entire spellbook to know what cards to play around. This forces players to interact directly with a strange Alchemy mechanic despite putting no Alchemy cards in their decks.
This doesn’t even cover the fact that such a huge percentage of the Arena Cube cards are Alchemy cards. As someone who used to love the Arena Cube, I can understand why this would be a turnoff. If you don’t keep up with every Alchemy release, it’s tough to read and evaluate all the unique cards on the spot in a small amount of time.
Not to mention, some cards like Grenzo, Crooked Jailer are among the top picks in the entire Cube. Yet, you wouldn’t really know that if you weren’t familiar with how Heist plays out. The sheer number of extra mechanics and play patterns that the Alchemy cards create can be overwhelming for those that don’t consistently play Arena.
Nerfs and Upgrades
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention rebalances in Historic. In many cases, when a card gets nerfed, it becomes largely unplayable. Orcish Bowmasters fits the bill well. Without an enters-the-battlefield trigger, this creature went from format-warping to mediocre overnight. In these cases, there’s nothing to worry about, since this isn’t too different than the card getting banned straight up.
Things get a little muddy, though, when you factor in upgraded versions of cards that consistently see play. This isn’t a huge deal all things considered, but it creates a bigger disconnect between Arena and paper Magic.
Take a look at the boosted version of Symmetry Sage shown above. The typical Strixhaven variant is a 0/2 that can bump a creature’s base power to 2. By contrast, the Alchemy card is an 0/3 that can buff one of your creatures to have base power three.
Thanks to the upgrade, Symmetry Sage became an Izzet Wizards powerhouse in Historic. Getting to attack for three in the air with Symmetry Sage every turn you cast any instant or sorcery is incredible. The paper card, on the other hand, sees basically no play anywhere.
In some ways, it’s nice to see otherwise mediocre cards get some time in the spotlight on Arena. The issue is that it can be annoying to have to remember all the rebalanced cards that function completely differently than their paper counterparts.
This only makes me echo the sentiment that we need a Modern-esque format on Arena separate from Alchemy designs even more. Alchemy still very much deserves a space on Arena. At the same time, the more we can keep paper and digital Magic cohesive, the easier it is for players to transition to Arena, which is extremely important.
