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Pre-Kamigawa Alchemy Power Rankings – 2/7/22

By / February 7, 2022

Alchemy saw a major rebalancing on January 27. We won’t know exactly what the future holds for this format until Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty hits Arena. Still, it’s worthwhile to have a look at what’s been performing well over the past 11 days in this week’s Alchemy Power Rankings.

Thanks to Untapped.GG for providing stats to help inform these Rankings.

 

 

10. Venture

The clear winners from the recent rebalancing were strategies that use the venture Into the Dungeon mechanic. A huge swath of venture cards were buffed, highlighted by Dungeon Descent and Triumphant Adventurer. 

Saying that these decks are dominant would be an overstatement, but they did go from nonexistent to solidly competitive. I’ve seen venture decks in Orzhov, Esper and Selesnya color combinations. 

9. Mono-White

Adeline, Resplendent CatharBrutal Cathar // Moonrage BruteElite Spellbinder

Mono-White is another great way to use Inquisitor Captain, which is one of the strongest “build-around” cards in Alchemy. It’s fast and punishing, which can be a great place to be if control and ramp decks become popular. I won’t be surprised if it’s a sleeper deck that winds up putting up more good results.

8. Dragons (Boros, Mono-Red, Izzet)

Dragons was the deck to beat going into the Arena Open. The archetype is fueled by Fearsome Whelp and Town-Razer Tyrant, whose land “burn” ability is a nightmare for opponents scrambling to stabilize the battlefield and their life total.

Dragons can come in any color combination (as long as it includes red). Right now, I’d say that Boros Dragons is the biggest player. Boros Dragons taps into white to access Valorous Stance, Adult Gold Dragon and Divine Purge. Purge is particularly powerful because it wipes the board of opposing creatures while leaving your big dragons intact. 

7. Mono-Green

Green is another clean, effective monocolor strategy. It’s highly successful in classic Standard and Alchemy alike. Some nice Alchemy-specific cards include Tenacious Pup, Grizzled Huntmaster and Lupine Harbingers. 

6. Clerics & Life Gain

Cleric of Life's BondVoice of the BlessedOrah, Skyclave Hierophant

Clerics is a powerful tribal strategy that centers around Inquisitor Captain and Righteous Valkyrie. It can come in Esper or Orzhov forms, and uses life gain synergies to bury opposing creature decks. Lately, I’ve also seen Selesnya life gain decks that utilize Voice of the Blessed, but don’t necessarily feature a Cleric tribal theme. 

A key card is Inquisitor Captain. Hitting Glasspool Mimic off of Captain used to be a huge appeal of splashing blue, but that combo was weakened with the latest update. 

5. Mono-Black

The Meathook MassacreBlood on the SnowSorin the Mirthless

Mono-Black uses The Meathook Massacre and Blood on the Snow to sweep the board, while generating a steady flow of card advantage via planeswalkers and sacrifice synergies. 

4. Blue Control (Esper, Izzet)

Blue Control decks pair together two Alchemy-specific cards in Key to the Archive and Discover the Formula. Esper Control accesses premium white and black removal spells like Vanishing Verse. Izzet Control gets Expressive Iteration, as well as options for Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Unexpected Windfall and Galvanic Iteration help you churn through your deck and fill your graveyard. 

3. Orzhov Control

Like Mono-Black, Orzhov Control is an effective anti-creature strategy which utilizes The Meathook Massacre to wipe the board. It touches into white for the premium removal spells of Vanishing Verse and Rite of Oblivion, plus additional threat options including Wedding Announcement and Edgar, Charmed Groom. 

2. Rakdos Midrange

While Rakdos Vampires is also a solid deck, this Rakdos Midrange deck is a non-tribal value deck with tons of removal and discard spells. It plays all of the format’s best disruption alongside threats like Town-Razer Tyrant, Sorin the Mirthless and Bloodthirsty Adversary. 

1. Werewolves

Werewolves is another tribal approach to the format that’s both fast and punishing. It’s much stronger in Alchemy than it is in classic Standard. A few Alchemy-specific cards that Werewolves puts to good use include Tenacious Pup, Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat, Lupine Harbingers and sometimes Forsaken Crossroads.

I was uncertain about Werewolves for the last two installments of the Alchemy Power Rankings, but now this archetype has decisively proven itself. In the 35-player MTG Arena Zone tournament, all 11 of the top-finishing decks were either Werewolves or Rakdos Midrange!

 

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