Alchemy is a strange format on MTG Arena. In theory, it could be amazing, but it’s sadly severely limited by development constraints. This has made Alchemy an incredibly easily hated format over the years, especially when you factor in the digital-exclusive mechanics. Despite this, we’ve now seen a digital Alchemy mechanic making its way onto paper for the first time.
Admittedly, while an Alchemy mechanic has technically appeared, it’s not on a black-border eternal-legal MTG card. Instead, we have the new playtest cards to thank for the digital divide being bridged slightly more. Whether you love it or love to hate it, it seems Conjure is one step closer to being a real paper-playable mechanic.
Pinchy McStingbutt
Pinchy McStingbutt may be one of the best-named cards in MTG. If you’ve been keeping up with the Mystery Booster 2 spoilers appearing online, you’ll know this is no small feat. Not only is this name absolutely adorable, but it’s also a fantastic deep cut to MTG Arena’s history.
Back in the days of Amonket, when MTG Arena was still in beta, the set’s battlefield featured a tiny scorpion for added flavor. For whatever reason, this little critter was immediately beloved by the community, enough so that Wizards honored them. In a poll, players decided the name of this otherwise unimportant scorpion, and of course, they picked Pinchy McStingbutt.
On top of having an absolutely fantastic name, Pinchy McStingbutt also has an incredibly intriguing ability: Conjure. As many MTG Arena players will know, this mechanic creates fully-fledged MTG cards from nothing. As Pinchy McStingbutt’s reminder text states “Treat Conjured cards like cards.”
While this mechanic has some incredible gameplay opportunities, Pinchy McStingbutt isn’t great. The three cards they can conjure are each pretty meh removal or damage options that are hardly game-winning. Compare Pinchy McStingbutt to Oracle of the Alpha and there’s a clear divide in power level.
Despite not being the strongest creature with Conjure, Pinchy McStingbutt still offers an interesting value proposition. After all, on top of a 1/3 Deathtouch creature, you also get an extra spell to use at your discretion. Notably, you do have to pay for this spell, but getting Conjured removal with Lethal Sting isn’t half bad.
The Tip of the Iceberg?
Sadly, before we get too excited, we have to acknowledge the fact that Pinchy McStingbutt is just a playtest card. Despite their name, these cards don’t have much, if any, bearing on what gets printed in eternal legal sets. After all, according to Wizards of the Coast, these cards are for fun and “haven’t undergone rules scrutiny.”
If we’re realistic, this means that Conjure is no closer to being a paper-playable MTG mechanic. Sure, Pinchy McStingbutt does tweak the mechanic’s rules by revealing the Conjured card, but that hardly fixes everything. That being said, we still can’t help but want to see Conjure on paper as an eternal legal, or even Standard legal, mechanic.
Right now, the major hurdle in the way of that happening appears to be the spike in logistical complexity. If you’re playing a bunch of cards with Conjure, you’d need a massive stack of extra cards to Conjure with. While this may seem like too much for black-bordered MTG, these cards are basically just fancy tokens.
Speaking of fancy tokens, Bloomburrow introduced the brand-new Offspring mechanic. The tokens for this mechanic all have unique adorable art, which have been incredibly difficult to get ahold of. While they don’t behave exactly like Conjured cards, Offspring tokens are nonetheless an optional spike in logistical complexity.
Admittedly, while the new official Offspring tokens are nice, tokens don’t have to be official tokens. Instead, players are free to use anything from pieces of paper to proxies. In theory, Conjured cards could follow suit, with Wizards allowing blank cards that players can customize themselves and sleeve up.
Should this avenue be an actual option, Conjure could feasibly see play. While the rules would undoubtedly need some tweaking to make that happen, the same is true for many new mechanics.
An Exciting Opportunity
Even if it takes some work, Conjure seems like a fantastic addition to MTG. The possibilities with this mechanic are practically endless as it has access to every MTG card ever printed. Wizards could even create brand-new cards, like Cragflame, to Conjure into existence if they wanted to as well.
Ultimately, while I’d personally love to see Conjure, Pinchy McStingbutt doesn’t guarantee anything. At the end of the day, the card is a deep-cut reference to MTG Arena, so it makes sense it’d include an Alchemy mechanic. Since it’s a playtest card from Mystery Booster 2, reading too much into it seems like a fool’s errand.
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