Alchemy has been out for a week now, and it’s been a wild ride. It’s always fun exploring a new format, and Alchemy is no different. So many creative and unique decks have already popped up in the format, but someone has to be the fun police, and it might as well be you. Today, I’ll be sharing three Alchemy decks that will give you the best chance of crushing the MTG Arena ladder.
Blue-Black Witch
Near the end of the last Standard season, a group of players brought a unique deck to the Star City Games Invitational. Blue-Black Witch looks to keep the board in check, then use cards like Sedgemoor Witch to finish things off.
These decks came packed with Duress and other discard spells to stymie Alrund’s Epiphany decks. Now, in the Alchemy format, where Alrund’s Epiphany is much weaker, the deck has adapted to be more focused on the board in Game One.
The Alchemy set has also brought a few new cards to this deck that help push it over the top:
This card is completely messed up, and one of the best cards from the set. You essentially get to make a down payment on a card, which would be a powerful effect in almost any environment. Thanks to our good friend Lier, you can make some nasty plays – you can reduce the cost of Divide by Zero with Geistchanneler, and Lier will give it flashback and prevent your opponents from countering it. You can make it incredibly hard for your opponents to kill a Lier, which will allow you to do things like play a Sedgemoor Witch on turn four and up interaction for their big follow-up.
This spell fundamentally changes the way your games play out. Not only do you open up more multi-spell opportunities, you’re also gaining a source of card advantage. Always getting three spells is much different than just drawing three cards, especially when you’re reducing the costs of your spells in the process. With six mana, you can cast this card on your end step, untap, and easily unload your spells. Combine this with Lier, and your opponents are going to have a terrible time winning games.
This has been the deck I’ve been most successful with in Alchemy so far, and I highly recommend it for climbing the ladder. No one is really prepared for this style of game as of now.
Blue-White Clerics
This next deck never really had legs in Standard, but thanks to some digital-exclusive cards, it’s seeing a big burst in power in Alchemy. This deck looks to flood the board and take over with flyers, or sometimes just a bunch of Inquisitor Captains.
Inquisitor Captain is my pick for the most easily abusable card from Alchemy. It’s very easy to meet its requirements, and once you do, you get access to more powerful cards like Righteous Valkyrie and Glasspool Mimic. This gives the deck the ability to slog through removal in a way it couldn’t before, and it also opens the door to completely take over the game on turn 4. I’ve had turns where I put as much as 15 power on the board all at once. Also, did I mention Inquisitor Captain is a Cleric? If you curve Righteous Valkyrie into this card, you’ll have a HUGE board presence very quickly.
Angel of Unity is another great addition to this deck. While Luminarch Aspirant is still good in the two-drop slot, having another good two-drop really helps smooth out your curve. I wasn’t very impressed with this card at first, but after playing with it a bit more, it suits what the deck is trying to do and does a great job of enabling Righteous Valkyrie draws.
I’ve loved playing tribal decks in Alchemy, from Wolves to Clerics, and it’s great to see this under-supported archetype get a huge boost with digital-only cards.
Mono-Green Aggro
Before the release of Crimson Vow, Mono-Green was a very midrange-focused Standard deck. While the deck had access to some curve-out draws, the deck was mainly set up to battle through the barrage of interaction that Izzet decks presented. But Alchemy is an entirely different world. Here, the Mono-Green deck looks to curve out first and foremost, and while it can grind, it does so in more unique ways.
Tenacious Pup has proven to be one of the better cards for beatdown decks from Alchemy. As we discussed last week, Pup is a nice option for filling out your curve, and it leads to some follow-up plays that your opponents might be having a harder time preparing for.. Pup is also secretly one of the best ways to win the mirror, as targeting cards like Old-Growth Troll will allow you to make profitable trades and set up terrible attacks for your opponent.
Garruk, Wrath of the Wilds has also really impressed me. When I first read this card, I was a tad underwhelmed, but I think I underestimated what playing against it would be like. A walker that puts an actual body on the board is frustrating for lots of decks, and certain creatures give you more strategic opportunities than a 3/3 Beast token could. Garruk’s +1 ability is also very good at setting you up to cast two spells in a turn. Cards like Ulvenwald Oddity love the cost reduction.
Mono-Green continues to impress me with both its resiliency and its blazing speed. If you’ve been playing this deck in Standard, it’s definitely worth trying in Alchemy.
If you’re looking to crush the MTG Arena ladder this month, these decks are all solid choices. Alchemy has been a blast to play so far, and it’s a great place to test out decks that haven’t quite worked in Standard.
If you’re looking for more Alchemy decklists, head to my YouTube channel, where I’ll be showing off decks from the top tier to the more obscure corners of the format.
Mason Clark is a grinder in every corner of the game who has played at the pro level and on the SCG Tour with Team Nova. Whether he’s competing in Standard, Historic or Modern, Mason plays with one goal in mind: to be a better player than he was the day before. Check out his podcast, Constructed Criticism, and catch his streams on Twitch.