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Countering Forbidden Alchemy: Practical MTG Strategies
Forbidden Alchemy is a compact blue instant with a slyly disruptive flashback option—an echo from the Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander era that rewards patient control and precise timing. For a mana cost of {2}{U}, you get to look at the top four cards of your library, pick one to draw, and send the rest to the graveyard. The card also tucks an ominous second life into your graveyard with Flashback {6}{B}, letting you recast the spell later for even more card flow. In practice, that means your opponent isn’t just drawing; they’re setting up a two-step engine that can swing a game from quiet to decisive. The challenge for you, as a player, is to disrupt both the initial spell and the potential follow-up from the graveyard 🧙♂️🔥💎.
In commander circles, where every resource matters and graveyard shenanigans flourish, this little instant can become the fulcrum of a control game. The card’s blue identity paired with a black flashback makes it a natural target for both countermagic and graveyard hate. If you can identify the right points of intervention, Forbidden Alchemy becomes manageable—if not outright manageable, at least less meteoric in its impact ⚔️🎨.
Immediate counterplay: stopping the spell at the source
First and foremost, prevent the spell from hitting the stack. In a blue-black shell, that means leaning on classic countermeasures and smart hand disruption. Some practical options include:
- Counter the cast with efficient counterspells. A solid suite includes Counterspell (UU) for unconditional protection and flexible options like Mana Leak or Arcane Denial when you’re mana-light but still want to deny their tempo. The goal is to keep their engine from getting online in the first place.
- Pre-emptive discard to strip the spell from their hand before they cast it. We’re talking Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek here—cards that prize the best blue-black plays from your opponent’s hand and cut off the most threatening lines at the source.
- Pressure the graveyard angle if they manage to cast it: even a successful draw from Alchemy risks giving them fuel for the flashback, so plan for persistent counterplay that translates across both casts.
Graveyard hate: denying the flashback life
The real counterplay often lies beyond the initial cast. If Forbidden Alchemy makes it into your opponent’s graveyard, your best punchlines include a robust graveyard-hate package. Consider these tools in the post-cast window 🧙♂️🧪:
- Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void to exile or lock down graveyards, cutting off the {6}{B} flashback cost entirely or at least ensuring that the key card can’t be retrieved later.
- Grafdigger’s Cage to stop casting from graveyards by exiling cards that would be put there. It’s a brutal, reliable countermeasure against any flashback shenanigans and a perfect fit for a blue-black control shell.
- Exile-focused answers like Surgical Extraction, Extirpate, or Nihil Spellbomb to remove Forbidden Alchemy from the game or its graveyard, erasing both the current and potential future value.
These tools don’t just nullify one card—they blunt the threat of a two-step plan that hinges on the graveyard. In long games, maintaining control of the graveyard is as important as controlling the board, and the two work in tandem to keep the blue-black midrange or control strategy on an even keel 🧭🔥.
Disrupting top-deck value and maintaining card advantage
Forbidden Alchemy’ s top-four look is a small but meaningful engine: you expose their next draw to you, while simultaneously accelerating their graveyard. To counter this dynamic, blue-black players often lean into draw control, tempo, and library manipulation that makes top-of-library manipulation less impactful for the opponent. Practical angles include:
- Tap into top-deck control with a partner of draw-denial and counterpressure. Cards like Sensei’s Divining Top or Scroll Rack help you shape your own draws and can pair with countermagic to stall the opponent’s first attempts to assemble a game plan.
- Counterbalance synergy if you’re running a heavier cantrip package. The classic Counterbalance + cantrip game can frustrate an opponent who relies on the top four, since you’ll be able to leverage your own balance of mana and knowledge to negate their line while you stabilize your board.
- Prudent road ahead means prioritizing problems you can beat with a clean plan: protect your life total, keep your win condition safe, and ensure your opponent can’t freely assemble a back-up plan via the graveyard.
In practice, a balanced blue-black build might stacking: 6–8 counterspells for tempo, 6–8 cards dedicated to graveyard disruption, and a contingent draw suite to outpace your opponent’s small advantages. It’s not flashy, but it’s steady—exactly the kind of chess game MTG fans adore 🧙♂️🎲.
Practical deck-building pointers
When you’re building a deck that faces Forbidden Alchemy, consider these concrete guidelines:
- Include both Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek to disrupt the turn their engine starts and to deny their most threatening lines at the source.
- Dedicate slots to Rest in Peace, Grafdigger’s Cage, and other graveyard-hate staples to shut down flashback and repeated value from the graveyard.
- Pair your counters with targeted removal to handle any creature or artifact that supports the opponent’s plan while you wait for your big finish.
- Utilize library-control tools to deny or re-order top cards, making the opponent’s top-four reveal less impactful on their turn and more on yours.
As you draft or tune your list, imagine Forbidden Alchemy as a tiny but potent reminder of how much reach a simple instant can have in the right colors and the right graveyard context. It’s a card that rewards patience, proactivity, and a well-tuned plan that keeps your own options open while you snatch back the initiative 💎⚔️.
“Control the game by controlling the flow of cards.” It’s a philosophy that never goes out of fashion in MTG—especially when blue mana and a dash of black give you the tools to do it with style 🧙♂️.
For those looking to keep the momentum fuel-free during your next Commander night, pairing a strong counter-magic suite with deliberate graveyard disruption gives you a resilient framework. Forbidden Alchemy may be a common rarity, but its potential to swing tempo and board presence is anything but ordinary in the right hands. And while you’re plotting your counterplay, why not level up your real-world gear too? If you’re after a sturdy, travel-friendly accessory, check out a cleverMagSafe case that keeps your phone safe and your cards ready to go—perfect for those long event days where you’re juggling sleeves, dice, and decklists. The product below is a fun little detour that complements the MTG hobby just as a well-timed draw does in a clutch match. 🧙♂️🔥