From what we’ve seen so far, Edge of Eternities is shaping up to be a stellar MTG set. The Station mechanic might be rather slow, but thanks to Void and Warp, this set has real competitive potential. As if that wasn’t enough to mix up multiple metagames, the release of Edge of Eternities also ushers in rotation.
While many Standard decks appear to be rotation-proof, there are still bound to be some fairly major changes. For better or worse, Alchemy is bound to see an even bigger shift, thanks to the format’s smaller card pool. In fact, it seems Alchemy’s two-year rotation is going to cause some problems. Thankfully, Wizards of the Coast already has a fix in mind.
Check Land Reprints Confirmed
Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast officially revealed their plans for rotation and renewal for 2025 on MTG Arena. Most of the reveals here were things we had already expected, such as the official rotation date of July 30th. Notably, this date is only for MTG Arena, as paper MTG rotates on July 25th.
While this announcement was mostly what we expected to see, there was a surprise buried deep in the article. Due to Alchemy rotation removing so many powerful lands from the format, Wizards of the Coast is reprinting some. Specifically, the entire cycle of ten Check Lands is being reprinted on MTG Arena.
- Clifftop Retreat
- Dragonskull Summit
- Drowned Catacomb
- Glacial Fortress
- Hinterland Harbor
- Isolated Chapel
- Rootbound Crag
- Sulfur Falls
- Sunpetal Grove
- Woodland Cemetery
Officially, these cards will be released as part of Alchemy: Edge of Eternities. Right now, it’s unclear whether or not the Check Lands will be in addition to the regular 30 new Alchemy-exclusive cards. There’s also no word on whether or not these reprints will get new Edge of Eternities-themed art. What we do know, however, is that Wizards of the Coast will be releasing these cards early.
Typically, Alchemy sets will be released a few weeks after the main set is officially launched. For these Check Land reprints, however, Wizards of the Coast will be releasing them immediately, as soon as rotation happens. According to Wizards, this bizarre change was made to prevent players from dealing with miserable mana bases for a couple of weeks.
“Since these cards are already on MTG Arena, we didn’t want players to have to wait several weeks for the Alchemy release to use them, so they will be playable as soon as rotation occurs.”
Wizards of the Coast
All Change
In terms of their playability, Check Lands could be a major boost to multi-colored Alchemy decks. While this sounds like good news, it’s surprisingly hard to come by the needed land types in the format. When rotation happens, the Surveil Lands from Murders at Karlov Manor will all be rotating out.
Once this happens, the only non-basic dual lands with basic land types will be the reprinted Shock Lands in Edge of Eternities. For better or worse, that may cause these cards to play a pivotal role in the Alchemy metagame. That said, between the Check Lands and the Verge Lands, we may see a big reliance on basics.
Beyond basics, it’s worth pointing out that Captivating Crossroads will be rotating out on June 30th. This is one of the most popular and widely played lands in Alchemy, thanks to providing any color of mana you need. While it is sometimes slow, this land is an absolute godsend if you’re not the starting player.
With so many lands leaving the format, Alchemy is going to be in for one hell of a shake-up come July 30th. While the freshly reprinted Check Lands will help things, the metagame will undoubtedly be mixed up. Hopefully, we’ll get some seriously exciting new lands when Alchemy: Edge of Eternities drops. Until then, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
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