Edge of Eternities has been legal for weeks at this point, and yet some cards from the expansion are still being spoiled even now. These, of course, are cards from Magic: The Gathering’s latest Alchemy release. While they’re not always that impressive, these latest spoilers appear to have a chance of impacting even Timeless. It’s safe to say MTG Arena players are freaking out after seeing Thought Partition.
Thought Partition
Thought Partition is almost a Thoughtseize for white, but it’s basically just as good. Instead of discarding the card, Thought Partition will Perpetually make its mana value five. This allows the card to be cast later in the game, but in faster MTG formats like Historic and Timeless, there’s a good chance that the game will end before you even cast the card that Thought Partition targets.
Considering that combo decks lead the pack in both Historic and Timeless, Thought Partition already has a lot going for it. Making Show and Tell or Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord cost five mana will slow down either strategy significantly, giving you more time to get ahead. Thought Partition doesn’t lose you two life either, which could make the card better against aggressive strategies.
While Thought Partition should impact older formats, it should also have a strong impact on Alchemy. Thought Partition can completely ruin early game curves for many of the format’s popular decks, making cards like Swiftspear’s Teachings basically uncastable. Control isn’t a huge force in the format, but Thought Partition should be usable in any deck that can play white. If you’re playing a white aggressive deck, like Bats, not only can Thought Partition delay a board wipe, but it can also give you a ton of information for what to play around. In Alchemy, however, the current pace means whatever you target isn’t gone forever.
The biggest boon to Thought Partition is that white has hand pressure now. This might completely revolutionize the color across digital formats, since it no longer needs to pair with black for Thoughtseize effects. This is hardly an issue in Timeless since Fetch Lands are a thing, but it could allow strategies like UW control in Historic to become significantly stronger. All of that said, this won’t actually accomplish much against Historic Eldrazi decks, so you won’t be able to play it in every matchup.
The only awkward bit about Thought Parition is that you don’t get to see your opponent’s lands. This might seem like a non-issue, but knowing what lands your opponents have helps identify the cards that they can immediately cast, and could impact your decision-making. This is hardly a big downside, however, and shouldn’t impact Thought Partition’s playability much.
Unlike Thoughtseize, you can’t target yourself with Thought Paritition for some sneaky plays, either. This may not seem super relevant, but this could make Emrakul, the Promised End problematically cheap, so it’s certainly for the better. Since Brawl games go longer, it’s unlikely Thought Partition will see much play there, either. The card affected has a very good chance of getting cast, and the tempo advantage might not end up being relevant.
Worldweave
Worldweave may not have an incredible impact on constructed, but the card looks like an instant staple in any Green Brawl decks. Seeking a land whenever you cast a creature spell, Worldweave threatens to ramp you extremely quickly. The card will essentially cut your Command tax in half since, assuming your Commander is a creature, you’ll find a land each time your Brawl Commander is cast.
This will likely become a consideration for any green Brawl deck that uses a decent number of creatures. On top of this, the card has additional usage with popular Brawl decks that care about Landfall, like Bristly Bill, Spine Sower. It could also help decks trying to cast large spells, like Glarb, Calamity’s Augur, get to critical mass.
Meanwhile, in Alchemy, we fear that Worldweave may be a bit too slow for the format. The card could pair well in older formats where you can run zero mana creatures like Ornithopter to ramp a ton of lands into play in one turn, but the decks utilizing those types of cards usually aren’t too interested in ramping. Most of the creature-heavy decks in Alchemy don’t have payoffs to ramp towards either. If this card does see Alchemy play, it might be in a counter-focused green aggro deck that’s similar to what we see in Standard.
Both of these Alchemy spells are rather exciting to the right MTG player. Thought Partition, in particular, could have some massive ramifications across digital formats, and we’re excited to see what the card ends up being capable of.
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