The Alchemy format will get showcased at the Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Championship, featuring powerful cards from the most recent Magic: The Gathering Standard-legal set and digital-only cards from Innistrad: A22.
Wizards of the Coast revealed the Alchemy metagame for the Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (NEO) Championship taking place this weekend, with Mono-White Aggro and Naya Runes as the two most entered decks from the field of over 200 MTG players from around the globe. Each player will bring two decks to the tournament, one from the Alchemy format and one from the Historic format.
Challenging the dominant MTG Alchemy meta decks are builds like Mardu Midrange, Orzhov Venture, Azorious Control, and Rakdos Sacrifice—encompassing over five percent of the overall field. Here are the top Alchemy decks getting played at the NEO Championship, according to WotC.
- Mono-White Aggro: A total of 53 players at 23.1 percent of the field
- Naya Runes: A total of 42 players at 18.3 percent of the field
- Mardu Midrange: A total of 21 players at 9.2 percent of the field
- Orzhov Midrange: A total of 17 players at 7.4 percent of the field
- Azorius Control: A total of 15 players at 6.6 percent of the field
- Rakdos Sacrifice: A total of 12 players at 5.2 percent of the field
- Jeskai Hinata: A total of nine players at 3.9 percent of the field
- Rakdos Midrange: A total of eight players at 3.5 percent of the field
- Grixis Midrange: A total of seven players at 3.1 percent of the field
Naya Runes has become one of the most popular decks played in the Standard and Alchemy formats since the release of NEO. The Innistrad: A22 land Forsaken Crossroads improves the three-color deck’s mana. And NEO Enchantment enablers like Generous Visitor, Jukai Naturalist, and Runeforge Champion work in conjunction with Kaldheim Runes in the colors Red, Green, and White.
Related: Best Alchemy decks in Magic: The Gathering Arena
Mono-White Aggro has been a strong Alchemy deck since the format released, despite a nerf to Inquisitor Captain. The deck improved with the launch of NEO, with most players adding at least two copies of The Wandering Emperor. In conjunction with low-cost White cards like Hopeful Initiate and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, the deck also contains multiple creatures that disrupt an opponent’s gameplan via cards like Brutal Cathar, Elite Spellbinder, and Sungold Sentinel.
Fans can watch Mono-White Aggro and Naya Runes take on the rest of the MTG decks in the Alchemy format at the NEO Championship from March 11 to 13.
