Alchemist's Apprentice

Creature — Human Wizard

Sacrifice Alchemist's Apprentice: Draw a card.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (15)

MagicMarc on What mad science am I …

3 years ago

In case you have not seen these. Here are a couple in a "Frankenstein's Monster" kind of theme.

Brain in a Jar, Scour the Laboratory, Amass the Components, Alchemist's Apprentice. Including the Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde card as well; Civilized Scholar  ^Flip.

And, in case you wanted to see the lineup for the Delver of Secrets  ^Flip series, you can see all three here: Once It Was Human.

I am a fan of mad scientist decks, have fun building your deck.

jaymc1130 on Mothra & Mono White (SPOILERS)

4 years ago

So it's agreed then. We'll play Mothra in a UW commander shell with Flash + Thassa's Oracle, Academy Rector, Hapless Researcher, Alchemist's Apprentice, Phyrexian Altar, Ashnod's Altar, and Blasting Station and break the card before it's even been released. Glad we settled that. Easy peasy.

eyes2sky on Tobias Fünke, Ana****ist

5 years ago

Looking good! I think you should find a place for Foresee and maybe some other 2-card draw(keep your hand full!). Also consider adding a couple more creatures, maybe ones that replace them selves with a card like Alchemist's Apprentice ?

Lanzo493 on

5 years ago

Sakura-Tribe Elder and Alchemist's Apprentice take advantage of Muldrotha's ability for repeatable effects. So does Mindslaver . Mystic Remora is normally not a good card, but with your commander you can recast it whenever the cumulative upkeep goes more than 1.

flapjackwars on Assassination for Dummies, a Black Rose Primer

5 years ago

I like this primer, and I appreciate that you understand some of the stronger Marchesa interactions like the applications of the graft creatures and Mimic. I hope you'll check out my Marchesa list. I think we have a similar outlook though I favor low cost cards for curveouts and I think you might find some of my cards to be "do-nothings." Anyway here are some of my suggestions and thoughts:

Dusk Legion Zealot , Baleful Strix , Alchemist's Apprentice , Seekers' Squire , Preordain , Sage of Epityr , Rix Maadi Reveler : The first three are a slam dunk while the rest are a bit of a harder sell, but all of these cards get cast earlier than Mulldrifter/Disciple of Bolas so they help you hit land drops and find your missing pieces. And something like Apprentice can curve right into a counter enabler and draw 4 cards on turn 4 before you'd even cast the more expensive draw spells. Preordain and some amount of the other cantrips are always worth consideration too, since you're trying to put together specific things to bring a powerful Marchesa engine online.

Altar of Dementia , Spawning Pit , Bloodthrone Vampire , Dross Hopper : A critical mass of sac outlets is important and though the creatures listed aren't exciting they're a lot better for rebuilding if your first boardstate gets broken up. Deploy on turn 2 into value creature on turn 3 to recur on turn 4, or deploy alongside 3-drop on turn 5 to try to rebuild. I dislike using my whole turn to play Grimgrin or Falkenrath which I consider to be pretty mediocre standalones in EDH (Grimgrin is probably fine actually though a little finnicky) and Yahenni not being able to sac itself is a problem for me.

Goblin Cratermaker , Heap Doll , Mausoleum Wanderer , Goblin Trashmaster , Abyssal Gatekeeper , Nevermaker : Personally only run the first three but have included all of these at some point or another. They're all creature-based interaction that Marchesa can recur, but at instant speed. For example, I much prefer Heap Doll to Agent of Erebos since you can stop something like entomb-reanimate or Survival discarding Kiki to find Karmic Guide. The downside to cards like these is that they're rare and not usually efficiently-costed, but they're definitely worth considering. Boompile , Oblivion Stone , Engineered Explosives : Grixis' best enchantment removal. I'd go with these over the Grave Pacts for multiple reasons. First, destroying all nonlands and being left with Marchesa is a bigger power play. Second, it's nice to be able to remove Rest in Peace and other generally pesky enchantments. Third, these cards aren't reliant on your engines being in place to do their job, so they're better for coming back from behind. In the same line of thought:

Sower of Temptation , Grenzo, Dungeon Warden , Hostage Taker , The Eldest Reborn , Demon of Dark Schemes : My topend may look odd to you but each of these cards is strong interaction on its own, and becomes an army-builder alongside Marchesa. Stealing creatures is great for ramping and killing enchantments, or winning with Primeval Titan. Bribery and Phantasmal Image are more cards in this vein, as well as the Puppeteer Clique and Gonti you're already playing. I prefer these to Flayer, Herald of Secret Streams, etc since they help you come from behind when Marchesa isn't out, and having "finishers" that rely on your engine being all in place isn't all that effectively different from just running some combo (Metallic Mimic / Murderous Redcap is the most efficient one for Marchesa imo if you wanted to go the route). Of course, Flayer does act as removal, and is also very fun, but I hope you'll consider cutting Herald, Merchant, and Kokusho. Mikaeus is actually nice as a "backup commander" with great synergy with Marchesa but he's not in my build because I run too many Humans. Luckily we have Grenzo who is an absolutely insane engine card.

Awaken the Erstwhile , Mindslicer : Marchesa can dominate the board but is weak to combo, hate enchantments, the whole table targeting all your stuff with removal, and brick hands. These cards take care of the first three. Landing them early with your value engines already online is like a more reliable sort of "land destruction win" since in either case they can't cast their spells. Trinket Mage , Spellseeker , Phyrexian Metamorph , Mindclaw Shaman , Entomber Exarch , Trophy Mage , Ixidron , Sparring Construct : Miscellaneous other value ETBs. Trinket Mage is the best one, I highly suggest you include him. Construct will surprise you with how strong it is. The baseline is on-board protection for Marchesa the turn you cast her, but the upside is acting like a limited Graft creature by giving each new creature you play a counter.

I think that's just about it for suggestions, maybe consider Spell Pierce , Stubborn Denial , and Fire Covenant , but overall, great primer, very well-written, and I think you'll set people in the right direction when it comes to building Marchesa.

Drakorya on Muldrotha Commander HELP

5 years ago

shirouu: sorry man, I didn't realise Second Chance was that expensive! I was looking at building the list online, and it's only a 1 cent card on MTGO.

It depends on how you want to build the deck, but the good cheap cards I was looking at for Muldrotha were creatures and enchantments that have good sacrifice abilities, and spells that let you draw and discard (since discarding isn't that bad when you can play the cards from your graveyard with your commander).

So cards like Breakthrough, Windfall, Kagemaro's Clutch, Seal of Doom, Seal of Primordium, Sinister Concoction, Courier's Capsule, Executioner's Capsule, Mind Stone, Alchemist's Apprentice, Caustic Caterpillar, Fleshbag Marauder, and Merciless Executioner.

Also, cards like Secrets of the Dead and River Kelpie are good too (though River Kelpie may be too pricey).

Austin_Smith_of_Cards on My Take on Muldrotha

5 years ago

Seems like a pretty solid list, although there are definitely a few suggestions to make.

You probably misread Mask of the Mimic; it searches for a copy of a creature on the battlefield and puts it into play, which is practically useless in commander singleton. I would not count on opponents having the same creatures as your decklist.

You seem to have an especially strong sacrifice theme present in your creaturebase, so I strongly recommend Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest as a perfect payoff.

I don't know how well Extraplanar Lens works in a tri-colored manabase, even with snow-covered lands as insurance. You could also work Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth into that manabase to combo with Coffers.

You need more boardwipes for vs tokens/aggro matchups, especially ones that don't take down Muldrotha with them. Pernicious Deed and Toxic Deluge are the two strongest ones in that category, I believe.

Recommend Animate Dead/Dance of the Dead/Necromancy as a way to effectively play two creatures out of the graveyard a turn. Also great for yoinking from an opponent's yard.

Baleful Strix is so much better than Alchemist's Apprentice in a lot of ways. The card draw is immediate, it's an absolute headache as a blocker, and it also counts as an artifact, which means you can replay it alongside your creature for the turn with Muldrotha.

Happy brewing!

newtontke on Muldrotha, Permanant's Tribal

6 years ago

Thanks for the comment kyleo. I never heard of Hapless Researcher but I did have Alchemist's Apprentice serving the same role already. Also, all of the revealed Permanents ETB effects trigger after Primal Surge resolves; therefore, Baleful Strix, Mulldrifter, Regal Behemoth and Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur will each trigger Laboratory Maniac and win the game before my turn fully ends. As for the various Mikaeus, the Unhallowed Combo win-cons, I have already used these to get lead my Meren of Clan Nel Toth to victory and try to vary my decks whenever possible. Madame Meren's Grave Pact (Meren of Clan Nel Toth).