MTG Arena players have officially lost the format that could have defined the entire platform in a shocking update from Wizards of the Coast.
In a September 11 announcement from Senior Manager of Digital Products Dave Finseth, it was confirmed that Magic: The Gathering‘s digital-only Alchemy format is officially being removed from the MTG Arena platform on Feb. 2, 2027. This marks a major change for MTG Arena, and the decision is likely to spark backlash from players.
Magic: The Gathering Says Goodbye to the Alchemy Format
Introduced in Dec. 2021, Finseth described Alchemy as being “created to help solve” various problems that the platform is simply no longer facing nearly five years later. Among the problems Finseth noted were the fact that non-Standard cards and sets needed a home on MTG Arena, as well as the need for a format that could shift as quickly as its digital metagame.
“After five more years of development, the issues Alchemy was created to address are simply not as much of a factor anymore,” Finseth stated.
“MTG Arena has various non-rotating formats for cards outside of Standard. We release more sets per year than in 2021, and our growing number of formats offers significant variety for Constructed players. With these problems no longer pressing, Alchemy’s role has become less clear. So, we want to focus our attention on delivering new sets and our growing formats like Brawl.”
The statement goes on to explain that more than 200 rebalanced versions of various Magic: The Gathering cards will be reverted to their original printings across all MTG Arena formats as of September 22, while the banned lists for those formats will be updated across the platform to match. The majority of these changes will hit the Historic format, where five separate cards will be banned, while Brawl will see just Nadu, Winged Wisdom banned with the card’s reintroduction to the format in its original state on MTG Arena.
On October 13, MTG Arena players can look forward to the release of the Alchemy: Reality Fracture expansion set, which will mark the final Alchemy set ever released. The statement notes that “Additional sendoff events are scheduled to celebrate the Alchemy format, including a massive preconstructed deck event featuring all Into the Future decks from the past.”
Finally, on Feb. 2, 2027, the Alchemy format in its entirety will be removed from MTG Arena to coincide with Magic: The Gathering‘s 2027 rotation schedule. All Alchemy Play, Alchemy Ladder, Alchemy Constructed, Alchemy Direct Challenge, and Best-of-Three events for the Alchemy format will close out and be removed from the platform, although players can take some solace knowing that prerelease events for Nauctis: The Sunken Realm begin the very same day.
While Alchemy has been a popular format on MTG Arena since it was introduced, it has also been just as controversial. Unlike other Magic: The Gathering formats in which the text on cards is largely static and problematic game pieces must be removed by being outright banned in any given format, Alchemy cards could be subject to errata at any given moment thanks to the digital-only nature of the format itself.
