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With the release of Alchemy: Dominaria on October 6, 2022, which adds 30 new cards to Alchemy and Historic, there will be some card rebalances also to come along with it:

Below is the full list of card changes as well as their reasons for the change from the MTG Arena developers.

As part of the Alchemy: Dominaria game update, the original tabletop versions of these cards will be returned to Historic.

Alright, let’s start off with answering some questions that we know you’re going to ask.

First, why we’re reverting these changes: When we look to rebalance cards, our standard is . . . err, Standard. During our consideration for whether a card or a deck archetype needs adjustment, much of our information comes from Standard play, as that is our most popular format, and we rebalance with the current Standard and, through extension, Alchemy meta in mind.

Now that these cards have rotated out of Alchemy, we go from having them legal in two formats to one and can balance around that. While many of these cards were powerful to the point of banning in Standard, Historic has a larger card pool and therefore more ways to interact or respond to powerful cards. As such, some of these rebalances were no longer necessary to maintain a healthy meta.

It’s important to note that this reversion is not comprehensive; not every card that was rebalanced to lower its power level is being reverted to the original version now that it’s only playable in Historic (looking at you, Alrund’s Epiphany). Similarly, while it’s unlikely we’ll “unbuff” cards that received balance adjustments to improve playability (and currently have no plans to do so), only a certain type of dark-empowered entity deals in absolutes, and we’re not them. As we said earlier, once a rebalanced card is only playable in Historic, we can balance solely around that.

Next, why we’re reverting these changes now: Ideally, reversion of balance adjustments due to format legality would happen at the same time as the format legality of these cards changes—i.e., rotation. Time constraints combined with necessary technical work prevented us from making the deadline for the release of Dominaria United, however, players should expect any similar “unrebalancing” of cards to happen alongside each year’s Standard rotation.

Lastly, as with all other rebalances, players will not be receiving wildcard reimbursement for these changes.

After reviewing the Streets of New Capenna Limited data collected over the past few months, we found three issues with the format that we want to address and solve:

We feel that there is not enough incentive to draft the three-color families over the more streamlined ally two-color decks. We are addressing this by reducing the cost of the three-color common “mana-fixing” creatures like Ominous Parcel, while increasing the rate of some of the three-color payoffs like Mr. Orfeo, the Boulder; Queza, Auguar of Agonies; and Cabaretti Charm.

Slow Down the Pace of Games

We want to make removal and blocking more successful against shield counters, blitz, and aggressive decks. Incriminate being more cost effective, Psionic Snoop and Midnight Assassin being better blockers, and Deal Gone Bad gaining life should help players catch up when behind and interact more successfully with creatures with shield counters.

Make More Cards Viable Draft Picks

We want to increase the strength of some of the cards that haven’t been seeing play. We believe that this will make drafting and deck building more interesting while increasing the likelihood that you’re able to draft enough playable cards while also prioritizing fixing.

Speakeasy Server Changed “you gain 1 life for each other creature you control” to “you gain 1 life for each creature you control.”

Celebrity Fencer Now 3/3 (from 3/2)

Buy Your Silence Card type now instant (from sorcery)

Public Enemy Changed “When enchanted creature dies, draw a card” to “When enchanted creature dies, draw two cards.”

Demon's Due Redesigned to look at four cards and pick two: “Look at the top four cards of your library. Put two of them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard. You lose 2 life.”

Vampire Scrivener Costs 3B (from 4B)

Graveyard Shift Creature enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it.

Incriminate Costs B (from 1B)

Deal Gone Bad Add “You gain 3 life.”

Jackhammer Costs R (from 1R)

Most Wanted Changed “Enchanted creature gets +2/+1” to “Enchanted creature gets +2/+2.”

Capenna Express Now 7/7 (from 6/6)

Paragon of Modernity Now 2/3 (from 2/2)

Ominous Parcel First activated ability cost now 1, T (from 2, T)

Rakish Revelers Activated ability cost now 1 (from 2)

Spara's Adjudicators Activated ability cost now 1 (from 2)

Stimulus Package Add “Scry 1” to second activated ability

Cabaretti Charm Changed “deals damage equal to the number of creatures you control” to “deals damage equal to twice the number of creatures you control”

Riveteers Initiate Activated ability cost now H (from 1H)

Mr. Orfeo, the Boulder Now 3/4 (from 2/4)

Queza, Augur of Agonies Gains vigilance

Civil Servant Changed “Civil Servant gets +1/+0 and gains lifelink until end of turn” to “Civil Servant gets +1/+0 and gains trample until end of turn.”

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