Alchemy: Duskmourn just released on MTG Arena and it's time to take a look at what's exciting for the Alchemy format!
Like its predecessors, this mini set also consists of only 30 cards, divided into: 10 uncommons, 15 rares, and 5 mythics, but of course many of them have been designed for the limited format and only the best will see play in constructed.
Today, we’ll try to predict which are these cards, selecting 10 of them and establishing a ranking from worst to best, so as to hype things up and make everything more interesting.
I also did the same with Alchemy: Bloomburrow and, in case you missed it and are curious to check it out, I'll leave you the link below.
Alchemy Duskmourn's Top 10
#10 Effie, Fast Learner
Grade: 5.5
Effie, Fast Learner seems to be a mix between the two best Convoke creatures in Pioneer: Venerated Loxodon and Knight-Errant of Eos. Indeed, by triggering Survival, you can put a +1/+1 counter on all tapped creatures (including herself) and draw a Survivor creature at random from the library.
Unfortunately, she doesn't have Convoke, so the full 3 mana will have to be paid and this makes her slow and difficult to optimize.
Currently, the best Convoke deck is Selesnya Rabbits which relies entirely on synergy and the go-wide strategy and almost certainly doesn't need this card.
Effie should be optimized with a new build, similar to how the pre-rotation deck was: triggering Survival the turn it enters, thus exploiting Warden of the Inner Sky and Emmara, Voice of the Conclave, and getting value with at least a couple of Survivors in the deck, such as Reluctant Role Model, which is also perfectly synergistic with the +1/+1 counters that are scattered around.
#9 Mischievous Lookout
Grade: 6
Mischievous Lookout is basically a baby Lurrus of the Dream-Den that doesn't return creatures, but isn't limited to mana value of 2 or less and sets the board by turning pieces into 2/1s.
In Orzhov, it finds the best synergies together with: Fountainport Bell, Soul-Guide Lantern, Hopeless Nightmare, Carrot Cake, Hopeful Vigil, and The Witch's Vanity, but in addition, it would be better to further enhance the strategy with cards that allow you to sacrifice permanents, like Candy Grapple, or to mill them, like Overlord of the Balemurk.
As additional payoffs and win conditions, then, there could be Builder's Talent and Rottenmouth Viper.
For only two mana, Mischievous Lookout is certainly a great card that allows you to make a good value, but I chose not to position it particularly high because in Alchemy the cards that make an advantage of this kind are not lacking (like Caretaker's Talent or Enduring Innocence), and Mischievous Lookout wants a synergy around it, it does not have an influential body and suffers the graveyard.
#8 Razor Demon
Grade: 6
Razor Demon is the card that has made its readers jump out of their seats the most, due to its incredible stats. While I agree it is a strong card, I also think it's overrated!
Casting this is not good, as the opponent will be able to get and play for free one of: Demonic Bargain, Ever After, and Demonic Pact, which are all high-level cards and could easily outplay Razor Demon or find a solution for it.
While it's true that the format has no shortage of ways to reanimate a mana value 3 or less, such as Helping Hand, Surgical Suite, or Lively Dirge, on the other hand, this requires an additional setup to send the Demon to the graveyard, in addition to the fact it makes it vulnerable to the maindeckable Grave Expectations.
The best way to discard it might be to add red for: Impetuous Lootmonger, Fear of Missing Out, or the new Anguished Recollection, but the Ward – discard a card cost doesn't seem to be enough protection to justify all that effort, especially with Long Goodbye in the format completely bypassing this ability.
However, Razor Demon could still find its place alongside Abhorrent Oculus, forming a powerful 3-drop strategy to cheat into play and giving birth to a new archetype. The two are also synergistic with each other, as Abhorrent Oculus allows you to Manifest at the opponent's upkeep and, by finding Razor Demon, you can then turn it face-up and bypass its on-cast trigger.
#7 Lurker in the Deep
Grade: 6.5
While we all thought that the only cards with Impending would be the Overlords, here comes Lurker in the Deep, which has nothing to envy of the five Avatars cycle!
For 4 mana it Manifests and draws a nonland card that might already be ok, but in addition, it puts a clock for a 7/7 that when it attacks causes disasters and that the opponent will have to deal with.
Since it synergizes with both Seek and Manifest effects, it probably sees its ideal home in a Simic Ramp base, perhaps taking advantage of the various synergistic effects of Manifest Dread in Duskmourn, to which the new Unnatural Summons is added, and the Seek effects of: Traverse Valley, Pool Resources and maybe Grow Old Together.
It could also be played in a Control shell, using board wipes to give the enchantment time to become a creature, but in both cases, you will have to build these archetypes from scratch and evaluate how they behave in the metagame.
#6 Soul Shredder
Grade: 7
Soul Shredder is really cool! It permanently buffs when your or your opponent's creature dies, so removal and combat trades make it grow quickly.
The best part is that it also does it from the graveyard and that it can be returned into play, potentially attacking immediately for lethal thanks to haste.
For additional value, it can even be directly discarded with Impetuous Lootmonger, or milled with Overlord of the Balemurk, and then reanimated in the late game when it will be big enough, sacrificing two creatures.
Unfortunately, this could turn into a disaster, because the opponent could have kept a Grave Expectations to cast in response and thus exile the vehicle with the activated ability on the stack (it's a sorcery, so you can't even re-activate it again by sacrificing two more creatures).
It's still a great card, but it's not particularly high on my list because I'm unsure what deck or archetype really wants it. It could potentially climb the rankings and deserve a top 5 spot, or it could go unplayed after a few tries if nobody could figure out where to put it.
#5 Verdant Dread
Grade: 7.5
Verdant Dread for 2 mana is Manifest Dread which isn't terrible, but definitely not exciting. By spending an additional 5 mana you conjure a copy of it, adding two more Manifested creatures 2/2 to your team, since each copy also triggers for the others. From there, you can snowball the game, spending 5 mana each turn and creating an additional 2/2 each time.
A 2/2 army is certainly a way to win the game, but this process might be too slow for the format and therefore needs a little help.
Threats Around Every Corner is great for ramping a land for each Manifested card and getting quickly a huge amount of mana to spend.
Additionally, we learned from Limited that Manifest Dread is a Simic mechanic, so why not add The Enigma Jewel to the equation so we can activate Verdant Dread's ability for basically 3 mana?
Just imagine curving out like this:
T1 The Enigma Jewel; T2 Verdant Dread; T3 activate its ability. Ending with three Manifested 2/2s and a setup ready to snowball!
Another card that can be considered in blue is Virtue of Knowledge, since it is synergistic in both modes. On the Adventure side, it allows you to double the activation of Verdant Dread by adding 2 mana, while once the enchantment is in play you will double each Manifested permanent.
#4 Golden Sidekick
Grade: 8
Despite only being uncommon, Golden Sidekick is one of the best cards in the set, as well as being the best 2-drop for Orzhov Bats! It can easily replace Valley Questcaller which I have seen played in many lists, as it not only makes up for the buff provided by the latter, but far surpasses it!
For each life gained, in fact, a random creature in your hand perpetually gets +1/+1 and, considering that in Bats the entire strategy is focused on gaining life, Golden Sidekick easily turns small creatures into absurd threats.
The fact that it’s “random” isn’t a problem, since all creatures here have flying and so, no matter what happens, they’ll go straight to hitting the opponent’s face like missiles.
It's true that, even if it's huge, a creature can always be killed by a black removal spell, but Zoraline, Cosmos Caller will take care of that, entering or attacking, she will be ready to reanimate a Bat with a small mana value but with titanic stats, since these are not lost and are perpetual.
Golden Sidekick is definitely the mythic uncommon in Alchemy: Duskmourn and I think it's really cool that each of these sets secretly have one, such as: Emporium Thopterist in YMKM, Impetuous Lootmonger with YOTJ, and Cottontail Caretaker with YBLB.
#3 Valiant Emberkin
Grade: 8
Here we go again, yet another playable card for Boros Mice! The deck was already complete pre-Alchemy: Bloomburrow but the latter still added two excellent 2-drops such as Brave Meadowguard and Recruit Instructor, while this time it was the 3-drop.
Boros Mice is generally focused on aggression and low curve, leaving little room for 3-drop that, when played, has been taken up by Mabel, Heir to Cragflame so far.
So the question is: “Is Valiant Emberkin better than Mabel, Heir to Cragflame?”. Well, I think most of the time it is!
Don't let its 1/1 fool you, because in its worst case scenario it's a 3/1 with haste!
Its strength, however, lies in buffing others, giving a +1/+0 on entry and a +1/+0 on attack, targeting perhaps 2 different Mice, so as to trigger Valiant up to 4 times, thanks to its static ability.
It could therefore fill the role that until now has belonged to Prairie Survivalist, which has nothing to do with the tribe, but which is very useful for triggering all Valiant abilities.
Additionally, some versions of the deck, especially in Best-of-Three, play Three Tree Battalion for more depth against heavy-removal decks and here Valiant Emberkin is certainly better than Mabel, Heir to Cragflame which is legendary, in addition to not being affected at all by the fact that its conjured copy is 1/1 and thus obtaining two identical pieces.
Lastly, it should be mentioned that Valiant Emberkin is an enchantment and this is relevant if you are interested in it for Boros Auras, gaining additional power for Ethereal Armor.
#2 Mothlight Processionist
Grade: 8.5
Mothlight Processionist is super strong and has a very unique design that gives Convoke to every enchantment. To work at its best, it therefore needs creatures in play and Three Blind Mice is perfect for this purpose, allowing you to fill the board turn after turn and of course being an enchantment so it can be Convoked.
Just like Virtue of Loyalty does, giving you a 2/2 creature token which helps cast other enchantments and in particular its 5-cost half, buffing the entire team every turn.
Yes, because the mana saved for enchantments can be invested in creatures that will be provided indefinitely by Mothlight Processionist itself, guaranteeing a copy of itself for each enchantment that enters. Then the excess copies end up in the graveyard, but here nothing is wasted because the possible addition of black allows us to have Virtue of Persistence with a super discount, thus obtaining an indefinite amount of material to reanimate at each of our upkeeps.
Another must-have is Enduring Innocence, which can be cast via Convoke, provide card advantage, and help Convoke other enchantments by being a creature; just like a must-have is Dedicated Dollmaker for its combo with Three Blind Mice and Caretaker's Talent for value.
If that wasn't enough, Mothlight Processionist also synergizes with the new Solitary Study, gaining plenty of enchantments to trigger Eerie which then turns into a solved Case of the Gateway Express, ready to power up an army made of Mice and Mothlight Processionist clones.
#1 Enduring Friendship
Grade: 8.5
To be fair, while an Izzet Otters list in Alchemy is hard to come by, I played against it, and it's not that bad—just not good enough compared to the other tier 1 decks. Enduring Friendship might be the straw that breaks the camel's back and pushes the deck into the competitive scene.
Just imagine having this card in front of you on turn 2. What do you do? Do you kill it? Well, it comes back as an enchantment, and the opponent gets value with a 2-for-1. Do you leave it there and put up a blocker? The opponent will shoot your creature, maybe spending just 1 mana, and attack, activating Double Team and doubling the problem. Also, with the two mana left, they could already cast the copy on that turn.
Keep in mind that the latter is a conjured card and not a token, so it will also return as an enchantment in play once it dies.
However, even if you control just a single copy of Enduring Friendship, all the Otters get +1/+1 for each instant and sorcery. Considering that basically all the competitive Otters have Prowess or similar abilities, it will only take a few spells to make your creatures huge and dominate the board. You'll also take advantage of a spell exclusive to this tribal, such as Pearl of Wisdom.
That's all for today! This was my Top 10 of what I think are the best cards in Alchemy: Duskmourn at first glance. Of course, I expect surprises and upheavals as soon as I have the chance to try them out on the field. Regardless of the ranking, this set is certainly very interesting and will bring a wave of renewal to the format as always..