Sometimes it can feel a little unfair going second in Magic, especially when your opponents have a particularly explosive first turn. This week’s Midweek Magic evens the odds a little with a special Alchemy event to put both players on an even playing field.
Winning games in this event will reward you with two Rare Individual cards, which will take the form of any rare or mythic rare card currently on Magic: The Gathering Arena. The other potential reward players can earn is a Mystery Cosmetic pack, a little bundle that has the potential to give out new avatars, card sleeves, and unique card styles. More often than not, players will be opening a new card style since they’re the most common reward but the chance for something rarer is always there.
Like all Midweek Magic events, Slow Start is completely free to join, making it a great way for players to give their collection a little flair. Slow Start beings this Tuesday at 2 pm. PT and runs for two days, ending on Thursday at 2 p.m. PT. If you’re on the go don’t worry, you can join the event both from the Magic: The Gathering Arena app and game client.
Slow Start Rules
The Slow Start event has players competing in an Alchemy event to earn up to three rewards. A special rule is in place for this event: the first player’s first land will enter the battlefield tapped. This rule puts a bit of a hamper on aggro and ramp decks but could be just the thing to help midrange decks take the field.
Other than the first player’s first land entering tapped, the Slow Start event is a fairly straightforward Alchemy event. Alchemy is a digital-only format, with certain cards rebalanced to increase their odds of being played or to bring them down a peg if they’re too powerful. There are also plenty of original cards in the format, cards with mechanics that only work digitally, like conjure, which creates cards that were not originally in the player’s deck or sideboard and adds them to the game.
Slow Start Deck List
Another unique aspect of Alchemy is that you can use cards from the The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set. This, combined with other special Alchemy-only cards, makes for a powerful rotating format with plenty of fun cards to explore. A particularly punishing deck, the U/B Midrange list employs a number of cards that deal damage in a number of ways while controlling the board with plenty of removal spells.
Alchemy U/B Midrange
| Creatures (15) 4 Orcish Bowmasters 4 Graveyard Trespasser 3 Rusko, Clockmaker 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse 3 Atraxa, Grand Unifier Instants (11) 3 Cut Down 4 Go for the Throat 4 Make Disappear Sorceries (2) 2 Duress Artifacts (2) 2 The One Ring Battles (3) 3 Invasion of Amonkhet Land (27) 4 Darkslick Shores 1 Forsaken Crossroads 4 Great Hall of the Citadel 3 Island 1 Otawara, Soaring City 2 Phyrexian Scrapyard 4 Shipwreck Marsh 3 Swamp 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire 4 Underground River |
While it might take a few rare wildcards to craft, especially some of the more unique Alchemy cards, you can always swap a few cards out for other efficient spells.