Thanks to Universes Beyond, MTG players are used to seeing a lot of crossover cards nowadays. Whether they appear in a dedicated set or as premier set add-ons, it’s hard to escape them. Despite this familiarity, Wizards is still capable of surprising players with unexpectedly adorable crossover cards.
This latest crossover isn’t of the Universes Beyond persuasion, but rather two MTG sets being smushed together. As if this wasn’t weird enough, Wizards has combined two of the most tonally different sets. Thanks to the ever-handy innovation of Omenpaths, some of Bloomburrow’s adorable critters made their way to Duskmourn recently.
This recent migration occurred during Alchemy: Duskmourn as eight adorable critters became hope-inspiring Glimmers. Beyond being a nice flavorful touch for players to enjoy, some of these new cards are seriously strong. Specifically, Golden Sidekick is a huge upgrade to an already powerful deck that could now shake the meta.
Golden Sidekick
Golden Sidekick is a rather simple, and viciously effective Alchemy card. So long as it’s in play, every bit of life gain becomes a source of random perpetual buffs. At first glance, this may seem okay at best since it’s rather slow going. Not only do you have to keep something back in your hand, but you’ll need to cast that threat later.
While both of these issues are facts, Golden Sidekick still has insane potential since it’s so easy to gain life. This is especially true in Orzhov Bats decks, which have long been a fairly popular choice in the Alchemy metagame. Thanks to an abundance of Lifelink creatures and accompanying triggers, this deck already boasts a strong lifegain and lifedrain theme.
Between Ruin-Lurker Bat, Deep-Cavern Bat, and Zoraline, Cosmos Caller, Orzhov Bats decks have no trouble gaining life. This can easily be turned into extra damage with Starscape Cleric or utility with Darkstar Augur. The deck also has Darkstar Banisher from Alchemy: Bloomburrow too for general removal goodness.
Overall, Orzhov Bats decks tend to be fairly grindy and win over go-wide attrition rather than all-out power. Sadly, in the Alchemy metagame right now, this strategy isn’t the most effective since aggro is king. With Rakdos Aggro and Boros Mice presenting insanely quick kills, Orzhov Bats is usually forced into bad trades and worse situations.
Thankfully, Golden Sidekick may change all of that as it can give you real threats. Provided you don’t have too many targets in your hand, just a few ticks lifegain gives you midrange viable bats. Should you hold out long enough, then suddenly you have a true game-ending threat that’s been stacked beyond belief.
A Glimmer of Hope
Currently, it’s a touch too early to tell whether or not Golden Sidekick is the real deal. The card does have huge potential in Alchemy, but realizing that is often much easier said than done. Since Alchemy: Duskmourn has only been out for a single day the new metagame hasn’t been decided yet, so we’ll have to wait and see.
Outside of Alchemy, Golden Sidekick only really has one home: Brawl. Historic and Timeless are far too fast for this Bat’s antics, but lifegain decks are everywhere in Brawl. Whether you’re whittling an opponent down with Blood Artist or popping off with Aetherflux Reservoir, Golden Sidekick can work wonders.
Sadly, the rest of the Duskmourn x Bloomburrow Glimmers are also pretty likely to be stuck in Brawl. Valiant Emberkin is potentially an exception to this as it allows Boros Mice to double up on Valiant triggers. While this could certainly be useful, the fact Valiant Emberkin costs three mana does make things difficult.
Technically, there’s a non-zero chance that Enduring Friendship could also see competitive Alchemy play. While it would need to create an Otter-driven control deck to thrive, this archetype could prove viable. Saying that, however, is clutching at straws somewhat, even if giving Otters and enchantments faux-Prowess seems strong.
Outside of these cards, the rest of the new Gilmmers are just weird at best. Chittering Illuminator has unique Alchemy-only abilities that should help mono-green Brawl decks. Meanwhile, Gilded Ambusher can do work in Sacrifice-themed decks that want to walk on the random side.
Overall, there’s a lot to love about the new Alchemy: Duskmourn Glimmers, and they’re a fantastic nod to Bloomburrow.
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