Near the beginning of Mystery Booster 2 reveals, it was announced that Mardu Outrider, a card that previously only existed on MTG Arena, would be getting a physical printing in the set. While the card itself isn’t exciting power level-wise, the precedent this sets certainly is. If one Alchemy card can come to paper, why not more? Oracle of the Alpha aside, which was also announced as a reprint but has the dreaded Acorn symbol, what other Alchemy cards might we see in Mystery Booster 2? As more cards are revealed, the community has been pondering this question.
Please Sir, I Want Some More
In a Reddit thread earlier today, user Vedney expressed their desire to see a few other Arena cards in Mystery Booster 2. Their list included eight cards in total, all of which could work perfectly well in paper. Take Tin Street Cadet, for example. This is a simple 1/1 Goblin that creates a 1/1 Goblin token when blocked. Nothing outrageous or fancy, and it would probably make the cut in both Mono-Red and Goblins lists in some formats.
Vedney’s list also included Compound Fracture, a removal spell in the vein of Muscle Burst and Accumulated Knowledge. A modern-day Kindle card, as they’re sometimes known. While tracking cards like this is slightly easier in digital, it’s really not a big deal in paper either. Baloth Packhunter is similar, but only cares about other Packhunters in play, so would be even easier to track physically.
In addition to some other straightforward asks like First Little Pig and Soulhunter Rakshasa, Vedney did dip into some of the more complex Alchemy cards too. Inchblade Companion makes very specific tokens with its ability, which puts a strain on the limits of physical play. That said, we just got Offspring tokens in Bloomburrow that work very similarly. So I could see this card being printed no problem.
Tasha, Unholy Archmage, the Alchemy version of Tasha, the Witch Queen, was also on the list. This card also introduces a lot of potential tracking issues. Its -1/-1 counter placing Aura effect and its permanent granting of Ward two could be tricky to represent. Perhaps this one needs to wait until Ward gets a keyword counter of its own, but it’s not a million miles away. This Tasha is certainly much more powerful than the one we actually have in paper Magic.
The Community Cry Out
Of course, Vedney wasn’t the only one with thoughts on which Alchemy, or Arena cards should make it into Mystery Booster 2. Many players in the thread were quick to offer their own suggestions. X_The_Walrus kicked things off with a banger: “My faint hope to see Inspiring Commander printed in paper is renewed.” This has consistently been one of the cards that players have wanted to see bridge the digital divide. It may be a six mana 1/4, but it’s a hell of a card draw engine for white decks in Commander.
superdave100 went in a slightly different direction. “Wickerwing Effigy please” was their simple request. This is one of the more interesting Alchemy-exclusive cards out there. A colorless Future Sight effect that lets you cast creatures from the top, with the caveat that they become 1/1 Flying Birds when you do so. This can be both an upside and a downside, making it a stellar design overall.
Another card that got a surprising amount of love in the thread was Arms Scavenger. SteampunkElephantGuy noted its power in Boros Equipment decks, and the_subrosian chimed in to agree. The latter even suggested a tweaked design akin to Garth One-Eye to replace the Alchemy Spellbook system, which is a very interesting idea in itself. Creating token versions of cards is slowly becoming more common in MTG, so we could see something like this sooner rather than later.
Threads like these highlight the demand that exists for digital cards in physical formats. These designs are often excellent, and the kind of cards players would love to sleeve up in Commander if they could. Hopefully WotC throws a few more of these into the set.
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