With Arcana Unleashed as the next official D&D release, I've been thinking a lot about how the books will affect 5.5. I am, as I have been in a lot of 5.5, been a little underwhelmed given how many options and spells are simply getting reprints, given that we don't really need a reprint of, say, Synaptic Static or Absorb Elements, given that, unless they're getting functional changes, they should already be available from Xanathar's Guide to Everything (I believe both were in that). The whole point of 5.5 was to be backwards compatible, and it is to a large extent. (You could give every Warlock subclass a blanket rule that they get their old "expanded spell list" as "patron spells" and kind of cover things that way.)
That said, the Warrior of Mystic Arts is simultaneously a new option as well as one that uses a tried-and-true formula. The Eldritch Knight Fighter and Arcane Trickster Rogue are among the most popular and powerful (the power likely a cause for the popularity, though not exclusively) subclasses for their respective classes. While a one-third caster for a Barbarian probably can't work without taking a wrench to the core Rage mechanic, the idea of a spellcasting Monk is not actually that crazy.
Indeed, in 2014, the Way of Four Elements actually replicated a lot of actual spells, but for some reason didn't work the same way, relying entirely on Ki Points (now Focus Points) for its spells and thus being extremely limited in its spellcasting capabilities. The revamped Warrior of Elements took the flavor of the Four Elements Monk but utterly reworked its mechanics, making it arguably the most powerful (or at least a respectable) subclass for Monks in the PHB (I think the argument for it as a powerful subclass is largely built on its capacity to be a grappler who holds foes far enough away that they can't fight back). But this did not take what I thought might have been the more obvious route and just made them a spellcaster (it might have been harder to enforce the specific relationship with elemental magic).
Here, though, we have a subclass that is built along the same way.
What's interesting, though, is where it differs from the Arcane Trickster and Eldritch Knight.
Both of those subclasses, which have been core to 5E since 2014, borrow the Wizard's spells, and the flavor of them is similar to the Wizard in the notion that these are magic spells that have been learned, and while you don't have a spellbook to endlessly collect spells, I've always felt the intended interpretation of the subclasses is that the knowledge of this magic is acquired in a similarly scholarly way, or at least via an intellectual understanding of the magical principles, the way that Wizards and Artificers cast their magic.
Indeed, these subclasses actually gave the only other options that mechanically encouraged high intelligence beside the Wizard in the 2014 PHB. Later, we'd get the Artificer, but this is part of the reason why 5.0 really produced a lot of himbo characters with low intelligence (while Dexterity and Charisma were quite common). I think those pressures are still there (between Bards, Warlocks, Sorcerers, and Paladins, Charisma's still a very important stat for a lot of people) but we're perhaps seeing a little broader of a spread now.
But while Mystic Arts Monks are third-casters, they're the only ones who A: don't use Intelligence and B: don't use the Wizard spell list.
The former is certainly wise: Monks already rely on Wisdom as their second-most-important stat (though Con is also pretty important). It's also already the source of their saving throw DCs for their Focus-Point-consuming abilities (one confusing thing for grappler monks is that they have two DCs to track, as the Grapple/Shove DC is based on Dexterity) so forcing them to invest in Intelligence as well would kind of hamstring the subclass (though I will say that you can build a very good Eldritch Knight who basically never worries about how high their Intelligence is - using cantrips like Booming Blade and spells like Shield, Misty Step, or Enlarge/Reduce, the latter to cast on yourself as a buff, means you could be dumb as a brick and do just fine).
The latter is kind of curious, though. Naturally, Arcana Unleashed is all about arcane magic, which doesn't have a mechanical definition (though it nearly did). But instead of Wizard spells, Mystic Arts Monks get Sorcerer spells. Now, I think there's arguments to be made over whether Sorcerers or Wizards are more powerful (I'd generally lean the latter just because they have such unparalleled utility, but probably in combat specifically, the Sorcerers might have the edge - though they lack some of the insane power-spells, primarily Conjure Minor Elementals).
I actually think that Monks getting into Wizard magic would make a ton of sense, as both are classes that have an association with cloistered practice and study. I mean, real monks (I think both in the East and West) are often very scholarly, with acts of intellectual study incorporated into their spiritual practice. In fact, I think that it would make a lot of sense to give them the Cleric spell list as an alternative (I like the idea of a Cleric who is a mystic that is very into esoterica).
But I imagine one of the reasons they chose Sorcerer is more mechanical than flavorful: Monks and Sorcerers both have a point-based resource equal to your level in that class. The parallels between Sorcery Points and Focus Points are pretty clear, and this subclass effectively allows you to use the latter as the former.
I think the most potentially exploitable/optimizable element here will be the fact that Focus Points come back on a short rest, and because they can be converted into spell slots, a Monk who gets to take multiple short rests in a day can potentially have significantly more spellcasting opportunities than their Rogue and Fighter brethren.
Simply adding spellcasting to just about any class makes it more powerful because of the breadth of options - indeed, while many bemoan the Ranger's design flaws (guilty as charged,) its half-caster nature often puts it ahead of non-caster classes in a lot of optimizers' tier rankings (a format of criticism that I know is very flawed by nonetheless I feel compelled by).
At the same time, as I've talked about in my critique of the subclass when it was first previewed, there are some things that Monks can do that already kind of get some of what you want out of spells already. Shield is an amazing spell for Eldritch Knights (because they can stack it on top of heavy armor - it's already amazing for anyone who can get it) but given the power of Deflect Attacks, it's not... bad to have, but it's also partially redundant, as Monks can often fully negate the damage of an attack as one of their core class features. Similarly, Misty Step, as spell that I think I'll take on just about any character who can get it (though I'll concede I don't think I've cast it on my Wizard in a while) is somewhat less appealing when playing a character who can already disengage or dash, or both, as a bonus action.
My suspicion is that the Mystic Arts Monk might suffer a bit from taking the Sorcerer spell list - the power of the Sorcerer is largely that it takes a lot of Wizard spells and tosses metamagic and Innate Sorcery on top of them, neither of which the Mystic Arts Monk has, so it'd probably be better off if it got the Wizard list just to broaden the options (there are some spells Sorcerers get that Wizards don't, but the opposite is a much larger category). But compared to other Monks? I think it's likely to be a real powerhouse.
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