Before we even start today, I want to head everyone off.

Yes, Alchemy has a lot of problems.

I've already written a whole article about the issues that Alchemy and digital only stuff on MTG Arena have and my potential solutions for them. Yes, Alchemy is currently Magic's punching bag, we get it. No, you don't get bonus points for raging about it in the comments.

However, that doesn't mean that there weren't parts of Alchemy that had great potential to be awesome.

Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate is Magic's first ever complete, digital-only, draftable set, and while it does have some issues (confusion of reusing card arts from the paper Baldur's Gate set, specialize being a confusing and sloppy mechanic) it's a great first step for a fun, digital-only draftable experience.

Mechanics like seek, conjure, boons, and perpetual are on full display, all of which I think are awesome extensions of Magic into the digital space, and while the set does have some balance issues as well as really powerful rares, it's a great first attempt at a draftable digital-only set.

Wait Jim, did you say balance issues? We can fix that!

While balance updates for Alchemy and Historic have been somewhat jarring and a mixed bag, being able to live balance a Limited set is nothing short of awesome.

As the set has now been draftable for weeks now and tons of data has been accumulated on websites like Untapped.gg and 17lands.com, a pretty obvious color imbalance has been observed. White is by far the deepest color in the set, with multiple top-level commons, while Blue has lagged heavily behind, mostly due to a very underwhelming set of commons.

This of course happens sometimes, as it did in Streets of New Capenna draft (where Brokers cards were clearly a cut above the rest) and Adventures In The Forgotten Realms draft (where Rakdos Treasures was far and away the best archetype). However, in both of those situations, what is simply is. Those are paper sets and we've just got to live with the design flaws.

This of course is not the case with Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate!

Balancing Magic formats is extremely difficult and there are always going to be times where things don't go exactly right, but for the digital only sets the option of live rebalancing is a very exciting one. Now changes can be made to try and right the wrongs of the original design file, and when these changes are made it's almost like having a brand-new format to explore as it shakes the foundation of everything you've already learned.

When it comes down to it, this is what makes the digital-only design space exciting. Playing Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate draft is an opt-in experience (as you can always just go draft a paper set or play Standard or Explorer) and delivers on that digital-only expectation.

So, of course you guessed it, as this all wouldn't mean much if they weren't going to be doing a rebalance, yesterday was the first ever Limited-focused rebalancing. All the official info for it, as well as the updated text for all 27 rebalanced cards, can be found in the official Wizards of the Coast article.

It would be a bit too much to go over every card change here (although I will be doing that on my Bronze to Mythic YouTube channel soon), but I did want to take a look at the five most impactful card changes that will be shaping a lot of what the format is about going forward. There are both buffs as well as nerfs to cards, so let's get right to it in no particular order:

Blessed Hippogriff may look innocent, but it was the top performing common in the entire set on 17lands.com thanks to how powerful the adventure mechanic is. We saw a lot of this in Throne of Eldraine, but getting two cards in one is easy and naturally built-in card advantage, and when both cards are actively good you've got a real winner on your hands.

Because Tyr's Blessing is so cheap, it was almost impossible not to get two-for-oned by Blessed Hippogriff as it was so difficult to play around. Add this to a host of common 2-drops that your opponent actively wants to block and trade with like Soldiers of the Watch, Flaming Fist Duskguard, and Steadfast Paladin and it's not hard to see why White has been the best color in the format.

The nerf here is subtle but very impactful. At two mana, Tyr's Blessing is no longer easy to play and is less difficult to play around, making the card still good but much clunkier than before which makes it harder to double spell. This is the kind of nerf that has less of an effect on the individual cards and more of an effect on how White decks are going to play out as a whole going forward, which is good because of how good White was before these changes.

This change is huge and drops Blessed Hippogriff down from the top White common to probably just top 5.

In the completely opposite direction is the fate of Young Blue Dragon.

While Young Blue Dragon was one of the "best Blue" commons in the set, the overall quality of the Blue commons did not make this a glowing review. While Young Blue Dragon is an easy two for one on an adventure creature, skipping turn two to draw a card and then casting a 3/3 on turn five just doesn't hold up well against either the very low to the ground aggressive decks, or the decks looking to go huge with things like Dread Linnorn.

It may not seem like a lot to add a single toughness, but like the mana added to Tyr's Blessing this is a huge change.

Young Blue Dragon can now safely block all but the largest of creatures the turn it enters the battlefield, and this can allow the Blue player to stabilize the game to both take advantage of the two for one of Sand Augury as well as start to turn the corner in the air while resolving more big spells. The turn you spend five mana on a creature it has to provide five mana worth of impact on the board, and Young Blue Dragon now no longer trades down on mana with 3-drops.

While the prior two changes were minor changes that moved the needle one way or another, this next change is a rather large one.

Guildsworn Prowler was an exceptional aggressive 2-drop in Black, proving basically unblockable as long as you were on the offensive unless your opponent wanted to give you an easy two-for-one, and then could even play great defense if needed. Well removing a point of power from a two-drop is a death knell for any sort of aggression, leaving Guildsworn Prowler effectively neutered from one of the best Black commons to a niche role-player.

Guildsworn Prowler is still a decent blocker in the vein of Underdark Basilisk, with a bit of upside for sacrifice effects, but this is a major step down the pick order for what was once a top common.

Perhaps the biggest change among all 27 rebalanced cards is You Come to a River, which now has very different text.

Rather than just being a bland, two-mana bounce spell, You Come to a River is now a pretty good removal spell that compares very favorably to New Capenna's Run Out of Town (which was a solid playable). With Charmed Sleep being super unreliable as a removal spell in this format (thanks to being easily undone by various commons and requiring a deep commitment to Blue), now Blue actually has a removal spell at common that you actively want to play.

This may end up being the single most impactful change of the entire format, doing a lot to help bring Blue up to respectability compared to the rest of the format.

The last buff we're going to talk about is perhaps the most fun, in Circle of the Land Druid.

The Green/Black theme in this set is a collection of self-mill and graveyard stuff, but lacks the raw power level to really come together. As a 1/1, Circle of the Land Druid was a mildly playable card that required help from things like Deadly Dispute or Poison the Blade to make up for its lack of rate.

As a 2/1, Circle of the Land Druid is a whole new story.

Much like how Guildsworn Prowler plummets in power level as a 1/1, Circle of the Land Druid surges as a 2/1 that is now a relevant body on both offense and defense. A two-mana play that can attack early as well as trade with a 2-toughness creature to usually draw a card is already awesome on rate, so the fact that it helps to enable an archetype as well is a big boon.

Change Is Scary; Change Is Good

If you're looking for a way to win people over with the digital-only stuff on MTG Arena, this is a great start. I was growing tired of Baldur's Gate drafting despite still having a way to go to Mythic on my Bronze to Mythic series, but now I can't wait to fire up a draft again.

As Magic tries to expand into potential digital only designs, there're going to be mistakes. Alchemy has been a very rocky road, but it's just as important to celebrate the successes as it is to point out the failures. This one feels like a win to me!