While they were once hated and easily dismissed, Alchemy cards are worth paying attention to nowadays. Not only do they have the potential to warp Historic and Timeless, but, technically, they can become real too. Mystery Booster 2 gave us our first taste of Alchemy Acorn cards, and there’s little reason to stop there.
Now that Wizards has tested the waters, any Alchemy card could, theoretically, come to paper. Admittedly, this may be unlikely, for most cards, but the chance is still there for something like Mystery Booster 3. Most of the time, we can expect these reprints to be Acorn cards, since they don’t technically work on paper.
Very rarely, however, do we get something that’s genuinely playable on paper without any tweaks at all. Better than just being potentially playable, this card is rather good and could have been a juicy addition to Standard. Before that, however… Infinite monkeys.
Kari Zev, Crew of Two
So, technically speaking, Kari Zev, Crew of Two can create infinite copies of Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, if everything goes right. So long as you can keep attacking, turn after turn, you’ll get an ever-increasing number of Ragavans in your hand. In theory, this gives you plenty of Monkeys to Dash out, but you could just keep attacking with Kari Zev for the same result.
Sadly, while Kari Zev, Crew of Two can technically slowly generate infinite monkeys they can only really Conjure one copy per turn. You’d need something like Sage-Eye Avengers -which isn’t on Arena currently- to repeatedly bounce Ragavan to get the shenanigans going. With this in play, you’d then need Aggravated Assault and Savage Ventmaw for infinite combat steps, and then you’re good to go.
With these three cards supporting Kari Zev, the only thing stopping infinite Monkey generation is your opponent’s life pool. Thankfully the ever-reliable Fog exists to stop your attacks dealing damage. So, all you need is five cards, a total of 20 mana, a very patient opponent, and a reprint, then you can put infinite Ragavans in your hand.
Obviously, this combo is bad, at best, and not possible on Arena at worst, but we can’t help but get silly with it. Unfortunately, Kari Zev, Crew of Two isn’t good for much else. In Alchemy, Historic, and Timeless, this card just isn’t going to be good. You’re essentially paying four mana for three damage and a Ragavan, which really isn’t great. Sure, Ragavan can steal cards, but even Grixis Heist won’t want this bizarre Pirate.
As we mentioned previously with Mitotic Ultimus, Kari Zev, Crew of Two could technically be paper playable. Garth One-Eye basically has Conjure already, so that shouldn’t really hold things up on paper. While this card is technically paper playable, Wish Good Luck literally should be.
Wish Good Luck
Wish Good Luck doesn’t do anything that a normal paper-playable MTG card can’t already. There’s no Conjuring, Boons, or anything like that, just creating three tokens for two mana. Out of these, the Vehicle and Treasure are unsurprisingly the best, however, every part of this card is useful.
On MTG Arena, WIsh Good Luck will be a fantastic addition to any deck using Indomitable Creativity. These cards curve perfectly together, giving you two targets and mana to ramp you into that cost. If your deck is set up right, this should net you a massive haymaker threat on turn three that can easily end the game.
Sadly, Creativity decks aren’t really a thing on MTG Arena at the moment, but they are on paper. In both Modern and Pionner, Creativity decks have long been an established strategy, often in Jund. Wish Good Luck could, in theory, be the perfect addition to these decks, if it was real. Sadly, this card is only available on MTG Arena, for now, at least.
While past Alchemy cards have made their paper debut as Acorn cards, there’s little reason Wish Good Luck couldn’t just be reprinted. That being said, the name of this card is rather specific and Aetherdrift-coded, so finding it a home might be somewhat difficult. Maybe it could appear in a future Masters set, should we ever get another of those.
Better Than Nothing
Since Wish Good Luck is literally playable on paper, you might, justifiably, be wondering what gives. Because it doesn’t have any Alchemy mechanics, this looks like a main set Aetherdrift card that was simply cut before release. For better or worse, that isn’t what happened, as the Arena design team does their own thing.
This detail was confirmed by MTG Head Designer, Mark Rosewater, back in October of 2024. Following a question from Xenobladexfan, Rosewater revealed that the Arena team is essentially a separate design entity entirely. While the rest of Wizards helps make sure things are balanced and work, they’re not pinching ideas off the cutting room floor.
“The Council of Colors and play design look at them and give notes, but we don’t design them.”
Mark Rosewater
With this separation in mind, we can safely say that any Alchemy cards we see wouldn’t exist without the Arena design team. As such, it’s better that cards like Wish Good Luck exist so we can pine for them, rather than not at all. This way, we can at least hope that Wizards might cave and give us a reprint in the future.
For better or worse, this surely isn’t going to be the last time that we’re talking about paper-playable Alchemy cards. As Wizards explores new design spaces, a lot of once-outlandish designs are looking a lot more sensible. Who knows, it may only be a matter of time before Oracle of the Alpha is printed on paper without the Acorn tag.