It’s very rare that Wizards of the Coast creates a truly problematic mechanic in MTG. While Wizards may deliberately play close to the line of what’s acceptable, they rarely go overboard. Looking back at Magic’s 31 years of history, only a handful of truly broken and botched mechanics spring to mind. The oddly alphabetical trio of Ante, Banding, and Companions is about as bad as it gets.
Uniquely, Companions were so powerful upon release, that Wizards nerfed this mechanic with a mass errata. Four years later, some MTG players are calling for another massive change to nerf an entire mechanic into the ground. This time around, players are up in arms about Heist, a recently released Alchemy mechanic attached to Outlaws of Thunder Junction.
Since its release, this new digital-exclusive mechanic has long been complained about, however, Wizards isn’t worried. During a recent WeeklyMTG stream, it was revealed that Wizards has no plans to nerf Heist in its entirety.
Heist B’ Gone?
Since its introduction in Alchemy: Outlaws of Thunder Junction, everyone hated Heist. Everyone not playing it, at least. This MTG mechanic lets you look at three random nonland cards from your opponent’s library, choosing one of them to steal. You can then cast this card using any color of mana for as long as it’s exiled. It’s card advantage and recourse denial in one concise package and it’s almost universally hated.
During the most recent WeeklyMTG stream, MTG Arena Designer Ian Adams was asked about the possibility of rebalancing Heist. Considering Heist has been lamented since its release in early May, it’s safe to say this question has been a long time coming. Luckily for upset players, Adams revealed there is a chance to rebalance the entire mechanic on MTG Arena.
Sadly, the chance of this happening appears to be next to nothing. Instead, Adams stated, “I could see potentially rebalancing individual Heist cards.” While this action would potentially make the deck less oppressive, nerfing it may be too much.
According to Adams, Heist isn’t actually a problem in Alchemy. “The reality is, looking at win rates of Heist decks and Heist cards, it is just not the dominant burdensome deck people think it is.” Considering the amount of hate that Heist gets online, this is quite a dramatic revelation, to say the least. If anyone has the numbers to back up what they’re saying, however, it’s Adams.
The Real Problem
While Adams explained that Heist isn’t broken and overpowered, they acknowledged it’s not fun. “Psychologically, a thing that is both mill and an Act of Treason feels bad.” This is the real problem with Heist that makes it so easy to get upset about. Not only does it deprive you of resources, but it throws them back in your face, disrupting your gameplan further.
Theoretically, part of this problem could be solved by Conjuring a duplicate of the Heisted card, rather than stealing it. Doing this, however, would be a pretty substantial nerf as the removal of resources is a big selling point of the mechanic. Even this small change could stop Heist decks from being viable in the Alchemy metagame.
Ultimately, oppressive mechanics in MTG are nothing new, and Heist certainly won’t be the last. Right now, there’s a new discard-focused deck running amok in Standard that’s equally horrible to play against. Being forced to rely on nothing but top decks while your opponent runs rampant is never a good feeling.
Similarly, blue exists. It’s no secret that players hate having their cards countered, but it’s nonetheless part of the game. More than just being an archetype, Control decks are vitally important to maintain a healthy metagame. Without decks like Azorius Control and Grixis Heist, other strategies can become overly dominant, creating a stale metagame.
Moving Away From Alchemy
On top of the much-requested rebalance of Heist being a bust, Alchemy players got more bad news during WeeklyMTG. According to Adams, Wizards will refocus the new player experience toward Standard soon. This shift will take place following the relace of MTG Foundations, which provides a baseline for Standard going forward.
Thankfully, Adams did reassure Alchemy players that Wizards isn’t cutting support for the format. Hopefully, this means Alchemy sets will continue to be released, and rebalances will happen where possible. That being said, Alchemy getting fewer players isn’t ideal for existing fans.
For new players, however, this is definitely the right decision. As fun as Alchemy is, the longer rotation of Standard is more beneficial for new players. On top of this, paper equivalency is a great plus that makes understanding the game significantly simpler.
Since Alchemy still exists, it should always be an option for those after a faster pace and unique digital mechanics. If it continues to play host to Universes Beyond sets as well, then it should have no shortage of players. Whether or not this will be the case, however, remains to be seen for now.
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