I'm sure you're sick of hearing about Alchemy feedback by now, but I think Alchemy would be much better received if players had an eternal format which avoided these digital only cards. I think a lot of these players would come around if they had the chance to dip their toes in Alchemy, but had the peace of mind that they could avoid it if they wanted to.

I’m not on the Magic Arena team, but my guess is they’d like players to sample it before outright dismissing it. Magic history is filled with things players dislike until they try it and find they actually like it. If there was an immediate way to avoid a format, a lot less players would sample it.

What purpose does the reserve list serve? What does WotC gain from its existence?

The Reserved List was made to give some peace of mind to the collector community after Wizards made some poor actions in the early days that strongly upset them. We continue to honor it because we made a promise and we want to be a company that lives up to its promises.