Just like Standard, the Alchemy metagame has seen a huge shake-up recently. This is thanks to rotation, which has occurred alongside the release of Bloomburrow. With nine sets rotating out of Alchemy, it’s safe to say there’s been a colossal shift in the best decks hierarchy. Even now, the meta is still in a state of flux with no clear dominant force.
Despite the lack of a concrete metagame, there are still a lot of powerful decks floating around. Exactly how powerful these decks are in the grand scheme of things, however, is somewhat unknown. As a result, this list is unordered for now, however, as the meta stabilizes we’ll update this article with proper placements.
Now, without any further ado, here are all the best decks in the Alchemy format right now on MTG Arena.
Grixis Heist
Grixis Heist is one of the most annoying, oppressive, and best decks in Alchemy right now. Built around stealing your opponent’s cards and using them against them, this deck is downright mean. It’s also seriously strong and worryingly versatile against basically every deck in the Alchemy metagame.
At its core, Heist is a one-two punch in the face. Not only do your game-winning resources get stolen, but they’re cast back against you. This means that no matter what deck you’re running, you’re facing a pseudo mirror match when against Heist. Thanks to Heist only hitting nonland cards, a Heist deck can often play your own deck more effectively than you can.
In terms of how it works, Heist is at its most oppressive when Impetuous Lootmonger is in play. Offering Treasure Tokens when casting spells you don’t own, this card quickly snowballs into insane mana and card advantage. In the Heist mirror, it basically all comes down to who gets their Lootmonger in play first.
Once on the battlefield Thieving Aven and Triumphant Getaway are the best tools for Heisting. Offering Heist triggers, or two at once, these cards let you steal a good chunk of your opponent’s deck. As if that wasn’t enough Weave the Nightmare can even Heist while acting as removal too.
Ultimately, the key to Heist’s success is in keeping your Heist creatures around so they can generate value. Without these cards in play, Heist struggles to gain a foothold that it can properly play from. Sadly, doing this is a lot easier said than done when the deck has its own control shell and is actively stealing your cards.
You won’t make any friends playing Heist, but you will win an awful lot of games.
Dollmaker Combo
Much like Grixis Heist, and every deck on this list for that matter, Dollmaker Combo existed long before Alchemy rotated. Built around Dedicated Dollmaker and Three Blind Mice this deck can theoretically create an infinite number of Sagas, Mice, and pain.
For better or worse, while the two-card combo this deck is named after still exists, the rest of the deck has been annihilated. Previously, Dollmaker combo ran a midrange shell to stabilize and control the board while assembling its needed pieces. Now, however, this deck is a shadow of its former self that relies upon Rabbits.
Specifically, new additions of Caretaker’s Talent and Pollen-Shield Hare really make this deck sing. By buffing the tokens that you create, these Rabbits make the tokens from Three Blind Mice that much more potent. The same is true of Valley Questcaller who buffs your Mice and Rabbits both.
Basically, Dollmarker Combo is going all-in on Tokens right now, which is definitely an interesting strategy. Without any low-end to protect against aggressive decks, this new list may be too unverable. That being said, once it gets going now it really picks up steam fast and is very difficult to deal with.
If you do want to deal with this combo, removing Three Blind Mice as soon as it appears is mandatory. Thankfully, Alchemy has plenty of options for enchantment removal, even post-rotation, such as Get Lost.
Golgari Roots
Prior to rotation, Golgari Roots was easily one of the best decks in the Alchemy format. For better or worse, this deck hasn’t just survived rotation, but it’s gotten better from it. Thanks to new tools and graveyard shenanigans, it’s never been easier to pop off with Insidious Roots.
Arriving in Bloomburrow, the Forage mechanic has made it incredibly easy to remove cards from your graveyard. While this deck isn’t going all in on Forage, Osteomancer Adept and Feed the Cycle still offer excellent utility. Whether you want their main effect or just the synergy with Insidious Roots, these cards are excellent additions.
Outside of these new Bloomburrow cards, Golgari Roots continues to shine thanks to a pair of Alchemy-exclusive cards. Specifically, Propagator Primordium and Chitinous Crawler both excel in filling and emptying your graveyard. On their own, either of these cards can slowly trigger Insidious Roots, even if you do nothing else.
Thankfully, this deck doesn’t just wait around for these cards to work either magic. Instead, it leans on Surveil cards like Rubblebelt Maverick and Faerie Dreamthief to fill the graveyard early and often. Not only do these cards fill your graveyard for Chitinous Crawler, but they also sculpt your draws effectively.
As you might expect, this graveyard-focused deck can sadly be hosed by exile effects and graveyard disruption. Anyone running Calamity’s Wake in their main board is going to have a field day against this deck. Thankfully, these effects are rather rare outside of Heist decks with Grave Expectations. Even then, Heist players are often more keen to steal your cards than sensibly use their limited removal options.
Mono Red Aggro
Curiously, the Mono Red Aggro deck that is insanely powerful in Standard is also almost entirely playable in Alchemy. While it doesn’t have access to Monastery Swiftspear and Blazing Crescendo it’s still a real force to be reckoned with. Capable of dishing out 21 damage on turn three in magical Christmas land, this deck is seriously scary.
In an ideal world, Heartfire Hero can steamroll opponents when buffed by Monstrous Rage and almost any other spell. So long as you have two other +2 power pump spells, and Burn Together as a finisher, you’ve got a turn-three kill on your hands. Realistically this is a five-card combo that needs two lands too, which doesn’t seem great on paper. Thankfully, the deck runs at least eight +2 buffs, making it surprisingly reliable.
Thankfully, even if you don’t get the ideal turn-three win, this deck has plenty of other powerful options. For starters, Slickshot Show-Off is another potential damage engine that can quickly be buffed, especially when Plot. Alternatively, Emberheart Challenger is another option to buff that also gives you some impulse draw for added value.
Compared to the Mono Red Aggro Standard deck, one of the most curious additions is Manifold Mouse. Offering Double Strike to at least one creature, Manifold Mouse makes every pump spell and Valiant trigger even more threatening. It’s even another avenue for a three-turn kill when the stars align.
Ultimately, even if you don’t win every game on turn three, Mono Red Aggo is very well positioned in the Alchemy metagame. Since Heist, Dollmaker Combo, and Golgari Roots each take some time to get going, this deck can easily steamroll opponents. The only risk is having your Heartfire Hero removed early, especially if you don’t have a replacement.
Boros Midrange
While Boros Convoke may be a popular and proven Standard archetype, this deck is uniquely Alchemy. In fact, at the moment there are multiple different Boros variants testing their mettle in the format. Out of these, the most interesting, and powerful in my experience, is a Midrange-focused Stax-esque list that’s horrible to play against.
The Stax effects in question come from Aven Interrupter and Stalwart Realmwarden. The former of these completely shuts down Heist decks while also offering a pseudo counterspell. Stalwart Realmwarden, meanwhile, is more proactive as they increase costs briefly which can be potentially devastating.
Outside of these cards stalling your opponent, Shove Aside, Radiant Smite, and Lightning Helix all offer effective early removal. This should keep you in control long enough to drop a bomb like Tajic, Legion’s Valor. Thanks to having Indestructible it’s fairly common for Tajic to hang around, build your board, and win games.
Should they not be enough to do it on their own, Jewel Mine Overseer is equally capable of building you a board. Thanks to filling your deck with copies of Seven Dwarves who also draw you a card, these Dwarves can become a surprising fighting force. While they’re not the most splashy threat, they work wonders in this grindy style of deck.
Should Stax not be to your fancy, these cards can be dropped instead for Heartfire Hero and Prairie Survivalist. Doing this gives the deck a significantly more aggressive start which can lead to unstoppable momentum. Whether or not this is the right way to go, however, remains to be seen.
For better or worse, Boros Midrange is the least concrete archetype in Alchemy right now. This could be great news if you want a deck you can experiment with, however, you’ll need a lot of Wildcards for that.
A Malleable Metagame
While we’ve gone over what seem to be the best decks in Alchemy in detail, there are plenty more fish in the sea. Right now, there are plenty of unique and interesting decks running amok in the Alchemy metagame vying for the top spot. Thanks to this diversity, now is a great time to get into Alchemy and explore the metagame.
That being said, if you want to save your Wildcards and wait until the meta stabilizes, that’s also a sensible option. There’s also a non-zero chance that we’ll be seeing Alchemy-related nerfs soon since Heist has long been complained about. Whether or not this will happen, however, remains to be seen since rebalances are surprisingly rare.
Regardless of what happens, we’ll be updating this article when new strategies emerge and prove dominant. So, if you want to keep up to date with all the best decks in Alchemy, just watch this space.
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