Alchemy: New Capenna will drop 30 new digital-only cards in Magic Arena‘s exclusive formats Historic and Alchemy on June 2. The game’s third alchemy set is a continuation of Magic‘s experiment with designing cards that could only work with the digital design space Arena enables. Every card in Alchemy: New Capenna is legal is Alchemy, Historic, and Historic Brawl.
A special draft queue will also be included with the release of Alchemy: New Capenna. One Common in each pack will be replaced with a card from the 30-card Alchemy release. It’s the first time Magic will use digital-only cards in Draft.
The third day of Alchemy: New Capenna spoilers featured a handful of spells using the digital keyword Perpetual. These cards apply persistent abilities to cards that remain on them as they move between zones.
Spara’s Bodyguard
- Mana value: GWU
- Type: Creature Rhino Warrior
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 3/3
- First ability: When Spara’s Bodyguard enters the battlefield, you may choose a Creature card in your hand. If you do, it perpetually gains “This Creature enters the battlefield with an additional shield counter on it.” Otherwise, put a shield counter on Spara’s Bodyguard.
- Second ability: At the beginning of each combat, Spara’s Bodyguard gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each shield counter among other Creatures you control.
Spara’s Bodyguard has a strong synergy with shield counters but doesn’t require running other Creatures that natively have shield counters on them. The ability to give a Creature in your hand a shield counter when it enters the battlefield lets you run a wider variety of Creatures and still get maximum value out of Spara’s Bodyguard.
This is a solid Creature to include in a deck centered around cards like Falco Spara, Pactweaver, and Sanctum Warden. There’s enough support for a good G/W/U counters deck that the archetype could show up in Alchemy more thanks to Spara’s Bodyguard.
Arming Gala
- Mana value: 3GW
- Type: Enchantment
- Rarity: Rare
- First ability: At the beginning of your end step, Creatures you control and Creature cards in your hand, library, and graveyard perpetually get +1/+1.
Arming Gala is a great Enchantment that should be played in both Alchemy and Historic. This gives every Creature you own regardless of what zone it’s in +1/+1 every turn. The turn it comes it’ll trigger on the end step. Even if you can’t untap with it, it already applied a +1/+1 buff to everything. That’s not bad for five mana.
If Arming Gala is allowed to sit on the battlefield it’ll eventually snowball hard. It’ll eventually make every Creature you own a massive threat, whether it’s a measly Llanowar Elves or a huge Workshop Warchief.
Racketeer Boss
- Mana value: RG
- Type: Creature Cat Warrior
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/2
- First ability: When Racketeer Boss enters the battlefield, choose up to two Creature and/or Planeswalker cards in your hand. They perpetually gain “When you cast this spell, create a treasure token.”
Streets of New Capenna brought a lot of treasure payoffs and enablers to Arena‘s formats. Racketeer Boss is a strong two-drop with a nice 3/2 body. It gives two Creatures in your hand the ability to create a treasure token when cast.
This is a nice way to ramp into larger spells and fix your colors. It also saves you some mana on the backend by refunding one mana because of the treasure. Racketeer Boss should fit in with Prosperous Innkeeper at the two-mana slot of R/G/X treasure decks.
There is some potential Racketeer Boss will show up in Gruul Aggro lists in Standard. The treasure tokens let you curve out and flood the battlefield with more hasty threats.
Nightclub Bouncer
- Mana value: 2UU
- Type: Creature Human Rogue
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Keyword: Flash
- Stats: 2/3
- First ability: When Nightclub Bouncer enters the battlefield, return target nonland permanent an opponent controls to its owner’s hand. It perpetually gains “This spell costs one more to cast.”
Four mana is a lot to ask in a mono-blue tempo build for a 2/3 without evasion. If Nightclub Bouncer sees play it’ll be based on the strength of its bounce ability. Bouncing any non-land permanent and applying a tax is a great way to slow the opponent down.
The abilities stack so multiple Nightclub Bouncers can apply an increasing tax on a problematic non-land permanent the opponent keeps trying to replay.
Rogue Tribal in Alchemy still has some pieces from Zendikar Rising alongside solid tempo spells that are found in the fringe Mono-Blue Delver build. Nightclub Bouncer might be a key piece that brings back the disruptive tribal archetype.
All images via Wizards of the Coast.
