It feels like Standard is almost perpetually in a weird spot. Thanks to getting six sets per year nowadays, and having rotation too, things are almost always changing. This may sound like a good thing if you like variety, but, more often than not, the metagame can be rather stale.
When powerful new cards get printed, they have a tendency to dominate for the three full years that they’re legal in Standard. As much as new archetypes can spring up from unlikely sources, it’s rare that the meta gets completely broken. Due to this, it’s little wonder that many MTG players often ask for bans to keep things feeling fresh.
Most recently, huge swathes of players hoped that Monstrous Rage would be banned on March 31st. While an unusual MTG Arena glitch made this seem guaranteed, it never ended up happening. At first, this seemed like bad news for Standard; however, Tarkir: Dragonstorm has been a welcome breath of fresh air. Nonetheless, some MTG players are looking for greener pastures.
A Faster Fresher Meta
Last week, as we were all doing, MTGGoldfish discussed the latest bans, or rather lack thereof, in Standard and beyond. Speaking with CovertGoBlue in their podcast, a lot was said about the state of Standard, as there’s no clear right answer. As CGB noted, casual players could be immediately turned away by a Monstrous Rage ban, so any format-warping change might not be worth it.
Following on from this point, Seth (SaffronOlive) suggested that “no changes” is unlikely to stop players from playing. As much as some may complain about the stale state of the Standard metagame, more players likely just want to play their favorite decks when they have time. Even ignoring the potential of new set releases and rotation, this makes changing anything in Standard a risky venture.
Technically, Wizards of the Coast doesn’t even need to change anything, as alternative formats do exist. On Bluesky, several podcast listeners were quick to suggest Alchemy as an alternative option to disgruntled Standard players. While it’s not perfect, there are a lot of upsides that players want, as Awkvision3000 comments.
“Why aren’t the people that want more quicker changes in Standard, playing Alchemy? It has the old 2-year rotation and gets new cards more frequently, thanks to Alchemy cards. I personally enjoy [the] 3-year standard myself.”
awkvision3000
On a surface level, Alchemy does seem to offer a lot of what the frustrated Standard players are after. Not only is Monstrous Rage banned, but the metagame is wider with a good deal more viable strategies. In an ideal world, this meta is kept fresh thanks to rebalances as well, but those do have problems.
Despite these strengths, Alchemy is still seen as one of, if not the, most hated formats in MTG. Even if it is better, or at least more interesting, than Standard, this keeps many players from migrating. This became abundantly clear once this argument was moved over to the MagicArena subreddit.
Problems Problems Problems
The problems with Alchemy are nothing new at this point, yet MTG players aren’t shy about repeating them. In the comments to JoeGeomancer’s post, which asked what players felt about moving to Alchemy, many players highlighted major issues. For starters, the economy of Arena has always been a rough spot.
Since the Alchemy metagame is so different from Standard, most MTG players will have to build entirely new decks to compete. Additionally, unless players have been doing Alchemy Drafts in particular, any digital-exclusive cards will need to be crafted. Considering these cards often prop up the Alchemy metagame, this means players need to spend a lot of wildcards.
As if this problem weren’t bad enough, MTG Arena still doesn’t compensate players when cards are rebalanced. This can make investing in the format rather risky, since there’s no guarantee your deck will stay good between releases. You might think a Chorus deck sounds like a great idea now, but a sudden rebalance should make your investment worthless.
On top of the burden of the MTG Arena economy, Alchemy obviously also has digital-exclusive cards and mechanics. For a lot of players, this isn’t what they want and is enough to turn them away without a second thought. For the most part, this is just each player’s personal opinion; however, there are some slight problems.
Heist, in particular, is incredibly unfun to play against since your opponent literally steals your cards. Should they find your wincon when Heisting, the game can be over before you even know it. Similarly, while Seek is a fantastic mechanic, the fact that it’s largely archetype-based can cause some issues.
A Brighter Future
At the end of the day, whether you want to play Alchemy or not is your decision. If you’re really sick of the Standard metagame, then it’ll always be an option you could brew or buy your way into. While this might not seem like a fantastic idea at the moment, the future is hopefully bright for Alchemy.
Recently, Wizards of the Coast has finally hired a dedicated Alchemy designer. Ideally, this role will help keep the format’s metagame balanced while allowing for more frequent rebalancing. Currently, it’s unclear how often we’ll be getting rebalances going forward, but we do know one is coming “during Alchemy: Tarkir’s release.”
While more rebalancing is definitely welcome, increased changes could put even more strain on the Alchemy economy. This is what really needs to be changed to allow the format to properly flourish, in our opinion. Sadly, it’s unlikely that any major changes in this area will be implemented soon, given what Wizards said recently.
For better or worse, we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens with Alchemy. Personally, I don’t have much hope at the time being, even though I do love the format. Currently, Standard is thriving post-Tarkir: Dragonstorm and will only get more popular once Final Fantasy is released. Not long after that, we’ll be getting Edge of Eternities and rotation, which should hopefully mix up the metagame.
Ultimately, while Alchemy can provide an alternative for Standard players, that’s not the sole reason it exists. In its own right, Alchemy is plenty of fun in its own unique way and should be celebrated as such. Judging by the recent play numbers that were released, the format is hardly struggling, so maybe that’s enough.