Every week, players gain access to a free game mode as part of Magic: The Gathering Arena’s Midweek Magic event. The Arena exclusive format Alchemy takes center stage during some of these events, with Alchemy All-Access being a particularly fun one. Players don’t need to worry about not having the cards to participate in this event, as they will have access to every card available on Arena, making it a great event for players of all experience levels.
By competing in this free event, players can earn prizes in the form of two rare Individual Card Reward (ICR) and one random Mystery Cosmetic. The random cosmetic can be anything from sleeves to special card styles, avatars, and pets. More often than not, the Mystery Cosmetic will be a card style—but there is always a chance to earn a rarer cosmetic.
Looking for more information about Alchemy? Check out our guide to Alchemy here!
Every Midweek Magic event starts on Tuesday at 8 a.m. PT and lasts for two days, eventually ending on Thursday at 8 a.m. PT. This time gives players tons of time to earn their three victories and get in some extra games with their Alchemy decks.
Like all Midweek Magic events, Alchemy All-Access allows players to change their deck in between matches. This is especially fun in All-Access events since players can use any legal card on Arena, not just the cards in their collection. If one deck seems to be on a losing streak you can swap out to another before the next match.
Alchemy All-Access Rules
MTG Arena Alchemy Cards By Elspeth’s Command
To compete in Alchemy All Access players must build a deck from any Standard-legal set available in Magic: The Gathering Arena as well as several Alchemy-specific expansions. These digital-only expansions release alongside Standard sets and include a limited number of cards only available on Arena. These expansions are:
- Alchemy: Innistrad
- Alchemy: Kamigawa
- Alchemy: New Capenna
- Alchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate
- Alchemy: Dominaria
- Alchemy: The Brothers’ War
These digital-only cards often break the traditional conventions that tabletop players are familiar with by adding mechanics that can manipulate cards in your deck without even seeing what they are. Many cards in Alchemy are rebalanced from their original versions to encourage players to use them more. Sometimes such a rebalancing is a change in casting cost while on other cards it might be a modification to their power and toughness. Rebalanced cards can be identified by a large “A” foil stamp along the bottom frame of the card as well as a large “A” before the card’s name across the top.
Since it is an All-Access event, players can use any card on Arena in their deck, even if they don’t own it in their collection yet. These events are perfect if you’re a new player looking to experiment with powerful cards and decks that you haven’t been able to craft yet, or for players wanted to playtest a little before committing to spending a large number of wildcards.
There are still your typical deck craft restrictions to keep in mind with these events: your deck must contain a minimum of 60 cards and only four copies of each card.
Banned Cards
MTG Arena Alchemy Cards By Elspeth’s Command
Even with all the rebalancing of cards and extra cards added to the format, there is one card that is banned to keep the format healthy and diverse. This can change any time Magic: The Gathering updates its Banned and Restricted List but given the format’s ability to repurpose cards it is safe to say that this list will remain relatively small.
The current ban list for Alchemy is:
With just one card banned, there are tons of options for players to experiment with new and original decks.
Ryan Hay (he/him) has been writing about Magic: The Gathering and video games for years, and loves absolutely terrible games. Send him your bad game takes over on Twitter where he won’t stop talking about Lord of the Rings.