Wizards of the Coast has announced that banning or restricting Magic cards. The creators of Magic: The Gathering learned early on that some cards could be overwhelmingly powerful, which led to the creation of a ban list for official play.
The physical version of Magic: The Gathering has to resort to bans or restrictions, as recalling cards or issuing new copies to existing owners would be a logistical nightmare. This isn't a problem with digital-only card games, like Hearthstone, as it's easy for developers to change all existing versions of a card in the game, or prevent them from being used in a competitive environment. MTG Arena recently used the Jumpstart: Historic Horizons set as a testing ground for effects that could only work in a digital environment.
MTG Arena will soon be adding a new format that will utilize the technology available to the game. On December 9, the Alchemy format will be added to MTG Arena, which is a digital-first format. Alchemy will have all of the same sets and rotations as Standard, with the main difference being that cards will regularly be rebalanced, new digital-only mechanics will be added, and new supplemental cards will be added in each premier set. The Standard format will still exist in MTG Arena going forward and owning a rebalanced version of a card still gives you every version of that card to use in other formats. Alchemy packs will have duplicate protection, but they'll start pulling from the non-Alchemy sets when all cards are collected. If a rebalanced card is later banned in Standard, then players will still receive Wildcards for the banned cards. Alchemy cards will have a letter A on them to differentiate them from regular cards, as seen below.
Alchemy will use its rebalancing to change the effects of cards, with the aim of monthly rounds of changes. This is to help keep the metagame moving without the need to ban cards. Alchemy will introduce new digital-only mechanics, such as the above card allowing the player to draft from a selection of spider-themed cards, such as Drider or Snarespinner. MTG Arena will now the Printed and Live formats through Alchemy, with the former being the same as the tabletop game, and the latter ing digital-first elements. Jumpstart: Historic Horizons is also digital-first.
The principle of Alchemy is that it will add new cards with each premier set, which will drop 4-6 weeks after the main set. It will provide a more balanced play environment after a set has been released, in order to tweak any archetypes that prove to be too strong, and strengthen those that are underpowered. This will create a more fluid version of MTG Arena, where overpowered/underpowered cards can be rebalanced as needed.
The Alchemy format will be added to Magic: The Gathering Arena on December 9, 2021.
