Out of all the MTG sets released in 2024, Foundations is arguably the most important by a wide margin. This is no small feat considering that the Assassin’s Creed set and Modern Horizons 3 launched this year. Nonetheless, Foundations promises to lay the groundwork for Magic going forward, in more ways than one.
For starters, Foundations will be legal in Standard until 2029, at least. Regardless of the set’s power level, this will surely shape the format’s metagame, and future premier sets, going forward. As if this impact wasn’t monumental enough, Foundations also marks a major shift in the direction of MTG to be more Standard-focused.
On paper, this shift is potentially a return to Magic’s glory days where Standard was an approachable and widely available format. On MTG Arena, however, this Standard-focused push could completely kill an entire format. While it’s beloved by some, and hated by others, the future of Alchemy could be in jeopardy once MTG Foundations is released.
Alchemy in Agony?
Once MTG Foundations launches on MTG Arena, there will be a deliberate push to drive new players toward Standard. This was confirmed a little while back by Ian Adams during a Weekly MTG Arena Play livestream. While pivotal, this move is hardly surprising considering that Foundations will be doing the exact same thing on paper.
“With the upcoming Foundations, our focus on Arena for new players is shifting a little bit toward Standard. There’s a big push across Wizards as a whole to introduce new players with Standard.”
Ian Adams
Currently, new players on MTG Arena are subtly funneled toward Alchemy, which is sort of the most accessible format. Not only do new players get a plethora of Alchemy packs, but the format’s power level is rather approachable too. Alchemy is also pretty darn weird, which while not to everyone’s tastes, can give new players something to latch onto.
While we don’t have concrete data to hand on play numbers, it’s widely believed that new players are propping up Alchemy. Judging by the discourse online, the vast majority of veteran players hate everything Alchemy stands for. While there are some die-hard devoted players, such as myself, these probably aren’t enough to maintain for format’s existence.
This makes the release of Foundations rather worrying for the future of Alchemy. If new players are pushed elsewhere, the format may no longer have the momentum to sustain itself. This is an issue since Alchemy, by its very nature, demands a lot of resources. Between new cards in Alchemy sets and rebalances to keep things fair, this format’s uniqueness is intrinsically costly.
For now, nothing is supposedly going to change. Swiftly after announcing the new direction, Adams assured players that “Alchemy is still kicking. Not plans to shift support away from there.” Hopefully, this should mean that we’re worrying about nothing, for the time being. While this is reassuring for now, dwindling player numbers could change that before too long.
Just Let It Die?
Personally, I deeply enjoy the Alchemy format with its faster pace, silly cards, and general shenanigans. That being said, I can already see the merit in killing off the format entirely. As time goes on, this decision may become easier and easier for players like myself, and Wizards, to stomach.
Before we get to that, however, it’s worth saying that this shouldn’t be a discussion in an ideal world. If everything were sunshine and rainbows, Wizards would have infinite resources, plenty of which could be devoted to Alchemy. This would allow the format to get plenty of exciting, unique, digital-exclusive cards, and frequent rebalances to keep things interesting.
Sadly, in the real world, Wizards doesn’t have infinite money to spend so the MTG Arena team is stretched rather thin. Rebalancing, for example, has fallen by the wayside somewhat, and the devs have had to pick and choose between adding new cards. So far, Alchemy set releases have remained consistent, since different teams work on different things, but the strain is nonetheless obvious.
One of the biggest frustrations associated with this strain is the lack of premier set Commander cards. Even just getting the face Commander cards is annoyingly not guaranteed, especially if a set has a bonus sheet. In theory, if Alchemy didn’t exist, the MTG Arena team could focus on always adding these cards, if not more.
Right now, it’s not the biggest loss that we only sometimes get a set’s face Commander cards. Thanks to modern set design, there are plenty of incredibly exciting Commander options in the main set, after all. In the future, however, MTG Arena should be getting full multiplayer for Brawl. Once again this may shift the scales, demanding Commander cards take precedence over Alchemy.
Alchemy 2.0?
Considering the popularity of Alchemy compared to Brawl, especially multiplayer Brawl, this seems like a no-brainer. Sure, the Alchemy players would be disappointed if their sets disappeared, but Brawl fans would rejoice. Potentially, getting each new unique Commander card or even full entire precons would undoubtedly benefit a lot more players.
With this in mind, it seems like killing Alchemy, sooner rather than later even, is the right idea. This, however, may be somewhat premature as Alchemy does have an ace up its sleeve. As the designated home for Universes Beyond sets on MTG Arena, Alchemy can experience huge swings in popularity.
In 2025, it’s going to be a very big year for Alchemy as both Marvel and Final Fantasy are getting full crossover sets. Should both of these come to Arena, as expected, and be Alchemy legal, the format could quickly thrive once more. Potentially, this could be all that Alchemy needs in the long run.
To save on resources, Wizards could do away with set-based Alchemy releases and go all in on Universes Beyond. Since two major draftable sets are planned for each year post-2025, this content should keep things interesting. Not only could this keep players appeased, but it may be vital since adding two full sets worth of cards is no small undertaking.
The downside to this approach is that Alchemy wouldn’t really be Alchemy anymore. Instead of being a faster digital-focused format with plenty of weirdness, it would just be Standard and Universes Beyond sets smushed together. This doesn’t necessarily mean the play experience would be bad, but Alchemy would be dead nonetheless.
No Cause for Concern?
For now, there’s no telling what the future may hold once Foundations launches on MTG Arena, so there’s no sense worrying about it. Depending on the resources available to the Arena team, Alchemy could go the way of the dodo, but that’s unconfirmed. It’s equally possible that future Universes Beyond sets could herald an exceptionally popular golden age for the format.
At the moment, all we can do is take solace in what Adams has told us. Since there are no plans to shift support away from Alchemy, it should continue to exist for a while yet. Hopefully, any changes that do eventually come to the format will be for the better.
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