There are very few mechanics in MTG that are outright hated. Ante, Banding, and pre-nerf Companions are wildly considered the worst of the worst and nothing comes close. Nothing except for Heist, at least.
Released in Alchemy: Thunder Junction, Heist is an MTG mechanic all about stealing your opponent’s cards. For a wild-set set, this was an incredibly flavorful digital addition, although it had one major problem. Heist was worryingly powerful and quickly created an overwhelmingly popular meta-dominating deck.
Having been complained about en masse since release, MTG Arena players never expected to see Heist again. Rather fittingly for a horror-themed set, however, this unexpected threat has returned. That’s right, Wizards has created a brand-new Heist card for Alchemy: Duskmourn. Thankfully, it looks just okay.
Polterheist
If we’re honest, Polterheist seems just okay. While the Ward cost should keep it somewhat safe from spells, it’s still destined for death. All it takes is a piddly 1/1 creature or token and your big scary spirit bites the dust. Considering Mice, Offspring, and Token decks are rather popular in Alchemy right now, Polterheist probably won’t last long.
Somewhat weirdly, Polterheist also costs three mana, which feels a bit much. Sure, Heist is a powerful MTG mechanic, but this price makes Polterheist incredibly durdly. For three mana, it really feels like Polterheist should have Haste in order to actually let it do something. Either that or reducing the mana cost to just BR would have given it some much-needed go.
On social media, MTG players are already suspecting Polterheist was pre-nerfed during development. BelcherSucks, for instance, suggests the card originally cost BR before Heist-based hatred slowed it down. Whether or not suspicion is actually accurate is unknown for now, but it does seem rather likely.
In terms of playability, Polterheist isn’t awful, but it’s not exactly great either. Brawl decks helmed by Grenzo, Crooked Jailer are bound to use this card, but Heist decks in Alchemy have better options. While it does necessitate running Grixis over Rakdos, Thieving Aven is just a significantly better threat.
While the fact that Polterheist is a bit meh may be annoying to some players, it’s almost certainly for the better. Even if Heist isn’t the best deck in the Alchemy metagame, it certainly doesn’t need any upgrades. MTG Arena players already hate this mechanic enough, and another pushed card may have just made things worse.
Fear or Ridicule
While Fear of Ridicule may not use the word Heist, its abilities do a similar sort of thing. Capable of stealing creatures from an opponent’s deck, Fear of Ridicule still disrupts your opponent’s plans while furthering your own. Sure, you may only get a 1/1 token copy of the randomly token creature, but this is no bad thing.
Unlike Heist, you don’t have to pay for the creature that Fear of Ridicule steals. In theory, this means you could get incredibly lucky and nab a huge ability-focused threat for basically nothing. In Alchemy, the ideal situation is a free Grenzo, Crooked Jailer on turn three or four, which would be insane.
Sadly, there’s no guarantee that every hit from Fear or Ridicule is going to find an absolute bomb. This issue is mitigated, however, by the fact that Fear of Ridicule works with any enchantment creature, not just itself. As if this wasn’t good enough, Fear or Ridicule gives enchantment creatures Menace, increasing the odds of them connecting.
Thanks to this synergy with enchantment creatures, Fear or Ridicule’s best home is likely to be in Brawl. Here, it should work as an unconventional lord that has utility, disruption, and powerful potential beyond that. While this potential would technically exist in Alchemy too, there are far fewer exciting targets to find.
Currently, the Alchemy metagame is rather fast-paced with decks favoring go-wide and aggressive strategies. Sadly, this means there tends to be a lack of high-cost bombs with insane game-ending abilities. Unless this changes in the near future, Fear or Ridicule is probably best left in Brawl.
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