Here we are! Bloomburrow will arrive on MTG Arena in a few days, precisely on July 30th, and with it there will be a rotation of both Standard and Alchemy formats.
As for the evolution of Standard there is already an article by Damienf16 here, while today I will cover the Alchemy part and in particular we'll analyze it through 5 decks that will survive rotation.
The latter hits the format like a truck, especially considering that here it's shorter and only has 2 years of expansions, unlike the 3 of Standard. In addition, the extra Alchemy sets also leave us, together with the one that is certainly the most important of all, The Lord of the Rings, bringing back the power level closer to Standard than to Historic.
It's also true that this year of missing rotation is partially filled by new Alchemy cards, which certainly provide us with powerful spells... but not cycles of lands!
Honestly, the situation looks bad now! All DMU and BRO painlands are out, as are allied fastlands (enemy fastlands are still legal with OTJ), leaving us with basically only surveilands and manlands which enter tapped. Captivating Crossroads acts as a “hole filler”, almost like Mana Confluence does in Pioneer, but enters tapped in the early turns half the time, while Fabled Passage, new Bloomburrow's addition, should also be considered as a tapland because it's not suitable for aggro decks.
As for the best spells we are saying goodbye, I will mention just a few, but we'll see many others in detail, analyzing 5 decks that will still be playable after rotation:
A-The One Ring, Palantír of Orthanc, Delighted Halfling, Stern Scolding, Reprieve, Flowering of the White Tree, Sauron's Ransom, Crucias, Titan of the Waves, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Rusko, Clockmaker, Oracle of the Alpha, Duress, Negate, Cut Down, Go for the Throat, Change the Equation, Temporary Lockdown, Sunfall, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, A-Haywire Mite, Monastery Swiftspear, Fiery Inscription, Rally at the Hornburg, Resolute Reinforcements, Knight-Errant of Eos.
#1 Grixis Heist
The most obvious deck that surpasses rotation is definitely Grixis Heist, since the namesake mechanic was the last to arrive with Alchemy OTJ and it was most likely the best deck pre-rotation.
Despite losing from blue Stern Scolding, Lórien Revealed, but above all Rusko, Clockmaker, a staple of the format that allowed you to ramp Grenzo, Crooked Jailer, Grixis is still the way to go because of Triumphant Getaway, which is both the best finisher and heist enabler.
Another staple and way of ramping that abandons us is Crucias, Titan of the Waves, giving way to an equally valid Laughing Jasper Flint, perfectly synergistic with the other Rogues and with the Heist payoffs, but also giving space to Thieving Aven, until now the only heist piece that has seen no game. Like the legendary Pirate, the Bird used to suffer from both Stern Scolding and Cut Down, but these instants have now rotated out, leaving it in a better position, especially considering it doesn't die from Shove Aside.
There are many cards available for this archetype: Tinybones, the Pickpocket is particularly useful for the mirror, The Irencrag and Magda, the Hoardmaster allow you to have plenty of mana to cast enemy spells, and you could even add Decadent Dragon // Expensive Taste maindeck for extra value, but I considered it unnecessary.
The deck loses: Duress, easily replaceable with Phantasmal Extraction; Go for the Throat and Negate with a more versatile Weave the Nightmare, as well as the more similar Bitter Triumph and Long Goodbye (Shoot the Sheriff is hard to consider in a heist metagame); Glistening Deluge and Gix's Command with Malicious Eclipse, Deadly Cover-Up and Harvester of Misery.
#2 Orzhovstrong> Midrange
Another easy inclusion is Orzhov, an archetype that has also been dominant in Alchemy for a while and still has most of its card pool available.
Juggernaut Peddler and Reprieve are undoubtedly its biggest losses as they provided that aspect of control and protection from opposing decks, as well as making tempo play and therefore buying turns to cast the bigger spells.
Against aggro, Go for the Throat also did the same but especially Cut Down which here doesn't find a substitute and all that remains is to use the turn 1, in addition to the taplands, by setting up your own game plan that in this case includes Hopeless Nightmare.
Trading a card for a card is only ok, but this enchantment, in addition to finding synergies with both Candy Grapple and Hostile Investigator, sees its perfect follow up in Dedicated Dollmaker. The latter enters and “blinks” Hopeless Nightmare, making a two-for-one, but the real reason why it's played is of course its combo with Three Blind Mice, which in a short time guarantees you an unmatched value for any fair deck.
As for the other 3-drops, they are all still there! Preacher of the Schism is probably the best card, while Lord Skitter, Sewer King with its tokens is particularly synergistic in this version, but, if you want to go the “discard cards” route, Cackling Observer and Rankle, Pitiless Trickster can also be taken into consideration.
Speaking of discard spells, Hostile Investigator is so strong that it doesn't make us regret the lost Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and, if you like, also Kaya, Spirits' Justice is no exception.
What survives rotation is instead Porcine Portent // Lend a Ham (another synergistic piece with Dedicated Dollmaker), always one of the best cards in the format, ready to exile the indestructible Tajic, Legion's Valor and artifacts or enchantments that are no longer A-The One Ring or Rusko's Midnight Clock.
#3 Golgari Roots
And here is an example of artifacts and enchantments to exile, with Golgari Roots surviving almost entirely and reconfirming itself for another year of the game.
It loses A-Haywire Mite, but this is more of a good thing than a bad thing, because it means that it not be available for the opponent when they want to exile Insidious Roots or Agatha's Soul Cauldron. Even losing Pile On is not a drama, being anything but a key card for the archetype, while the absence of Llanowar Wastes is lucky enough to meet the fastland in the right colors: Blooming Marsh.
The only real piece that rotates out is Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler, which is kinda irreplaceable because, together with Insidious Roots, Propagator Primordium and Chitinous Crawler, it allowed you to go infinite creating huge Plant tokens at will and perhaps winning in that turn thanks to Agatha's Soul Cauldron and Voldaren Thrillseeker.
Now this will no longer be possible since Plant tokens can no longer add mana as soon as they enter, but, about his work with the graveyard that triggers Insidious Roots, there is still something that can be done.
Honest Rutstein returns to your hand a conjured Propagator Primordium from the graveyard or a surveiled creature, but in addition it allows you to discount the other creatures and in particular Chitinous Crawler, which can thus be cast the following turn even without having the fourth land.
Squirming Emergence is also a valid alternative that returns a piece directly to the battlefield, but it can be any permanent and therefore also Insidious Roots or Agatha's Soul Cauldron.
#4 Azorius Ensoul Aggro
With rotation, all 10 painlands and 5 allied fastlands rotate out, leaving us with 15 less untapped lands and a hard time for aggro decks.
The one that probably loses the least and will still be playable after rotation is UW Ensoul (or UW Artifacts if you like) that takes a hard hit without Seachrome Coast and Adarkar Wastes, 8 less untapped bicolor lands, but at least it survives well in the spell department and its core remains unchanged.
Norn's Inquisitor is what we'll miss the most, as it provided us with two useful pieces for Regal Bunnicorn or Warden of the Inner Sky, but above all for the fact that the Incubator token was particularly synergistic with the animation spells: Case of the Filched Falcon and Zoetic Glyph, receiving at least two additional +1/+1 counters.
Emporium Thopterist, a staple of the Historic format, is a worthy substitute, which by surviving can give us as many pieces that are buffed, useful both for filling the board and for being animated. In addition, you can pair it with Landlore Navigator, benefiting from the conjured Ornithopter to trigger it and to overwhelm the opponent with Thieving Magpie's value.
#5 Azorius Control
Where taplands are not an issue is definitely in Control, which also survives, albeit with a little evolution.
Black loses Rusko, Clockmaker, and Sauron's Ransom, in addition to Cut Down and Go for the Throat, leaving Porcine Portent // Lend a Ham as the only reason to play Esper over Azorius.
Furthermore, it must be considered that heist will be an important part of the newagame and therefore it's good to equip yourself with the right tools to counter it.
What was probably the best, Reprieve, is no longer available, but there are still two of the best counter spells, No More Lies and Three Steps Ahead, ready to keep the opponent under control. As for tempo play, there is also Aven Interrupter, which is obviously here to work as a heist-hate, but which also indirectly hits other cards such as: Porcine Portent // Lend a Ham or Mosswood Dreadknight // Dread Whispers on an Adventure, a plotted Slickshot Show-Off and Chitinous Crawler's activated ability.
Stoic Sphinx and Ezrim, Agency Chief are the win conditions and two very strong pieces that the opponent will often have difficulty interacting with. Despite having flash, we'll often cast Stoic Sphinx on our turn with the opponent tapped out so as to protect it, while, despite the mana value 5, we'll often cast Ezrim, Agency Chief with 6 mana so as to protect it and sometimes we'll exploit the Clue token by Deduce to avoid it being killed in response to its enter trigger.
Lastly it's time for a change of wraths: Temporary Lockdown and Sunfall are out and all that remains is to get familiar with No Witnesses and Final Showdown!
That's all for today! Of course, the proposed decks are mainly made to give an overview of what remains or goes away post-rotation and they are not to be considered already done and finished, also because in the absence of a metagame it would not be possible.
What will happen to Alchemy Will heist be dominant, perhaps to the point of arriving at a nerf? I can't wait to find out!
