Original Strixhaven was a fantastic draft and Commander set. Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS) is shaping up to be an A+ set. Let’s look into the set from a couple of angles: for new classics, reprints, and new commanders.

Did you study for the test?

Prepared is a new take on the two-cards-in-one design space. These creatures have a split text box. It looks like an Eldraine Adventure card. These are quite different.

A creature must be “prepared” before you can cast its spell. Once cast, the creature becomes “unprepared”. Some creatures, like Jadzi, Steward of Fate, enter prepared. But, they have no way to become prepared again.

Meanwhile, Grave Researcher can become prepared every upkeep as long as your graveyard has three or more creatures.

The spells attached to these creatures vary. Some are callbacks to classics like Emeritus of Conflict/Lightning Bolt, or Emeritus of Ideation/Ancestral Recall. In all cases, you are casting the spell. This will trigger “whenever you cast effects”, but could leave you open to a counterspell.

I love the cycle of two-color uncommon prepared legends. With the exception of Sanar, Unfinished Genius, these legends have repeatable ways to become prepared. This gives you access to a reliable mana sink. Lluwen, Exchange Student is my favorite. You can cast Pest Friend as much as you like. Just exile something from your grave, and pay one mana.

Casting a powerful spell is fun. What if you could cast it every turn! Paradigm appears on five spells. After the spell resolves, exile it. You can cast a copy of that spell for free at the beginning of your first main phase.

Restoration Seminar returns a non-land permanent from your grave to the battlefield. Seven mana is a lot. It’s a great payoff for Lorehold decks. You can trigger “leave the graveyard” effects every turn once this is active.

Echocasting Symposium is Blue’s contribution. It makes a token copy of a creature you control. This is usually a four-mana effect. For longer games, you will definitely get value out of this. Bonus points if you have a token doubler.

Decorum Dissertation resembles two Phyrexian Arenas stapled together. The setup is powerful. Decorum Dissertation cannot be destroyed like Phyrexian Arena. It’s not as flashy as the others. But consistent card advantage is hard to pass up. And, a bonus: You can kill players in a pinch, as it affects the “target player”.

Improvisation Capstone does not require much setup beyond the seven mana. It exiles cards from the top of your deck until you get four mana or greater. You can cast any number of these spells for free.

Initially, I thought this was just a cascade for a four-cost spell. I was wrong. Four mana is the worst-case scenario. Play Sensei’s Divining Top. Activate it. Put a Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and Etali, Primal Storm in that order. Improvisation Capstone will reveal all three of these cards.

You now get to play all three of them.

Of all the paradigm spells, Capstone rewards you the most for clever deck building. Be intentional with the top of your deck. It will pay off.

Finally, Germination Practicum is the green edition. It puts two counters on each creature you control. It snowballs. There is a huge reward for wide, resilient boards.

All the paradigms are strong. They are like Emblems. Once they are here, not much can stop them. From strongest to weakest, I rank them:

Black

Red

White

Green

Blue

They all have their place. Red and black are unique because they never fail. You will get some value no matter what. The other three need setup. Either a graveyard worth reanimating, a board worth buffing, or a creature worth cloning. There are turns where these three spells do nothing!

Saviors of Kamigawa gamers might remember the “Epic” cards. Paradigm is Epic for the modern day. Epic was similar. When you cast it, you get a copy of that spell for free every turn. Epic has a downside. It adds: “For the rest of the game, you can’t play spells”. Epic had its place in 1v1 formats. Commander is different. Games are longer with more going on. If you ever thought Enduring Ideal or Eternal Dominion looked sweet, consider picking up the paradigm spells.

I love modal spells. They’re great! Each charm costs two mana and gives a choice of three effects.

All the charms offer some form of removal. I love Witherbloom Charm‘s third ability: destroy any nonland permanent with mana value two or less. It’s clean and versatile. Reminds me of Abrupt Decay.

Lorehold Charm has great blowout potential. The +1/+1 and trample at instant speed is sure to swing some games. All the charms are powerful. The effects are small. But the power is in the flexibility.

Lorehold, the Historian, gives instants and sorceries in your hand, Miracle 2. Keep two mana up. Lorehold discards then draws a card on each opponent’s upkeep. You will run away with games. Victory Chimes and Bender’s Waterskin are perfect inclusions!

Prismari, the Inspiration, gives your instant and sorcery spells a storm. It’s a seven mana red-blue dragon. What did you expect? This effect is incredibly powerful, but seven mana is a big ask. You will have the most success if you can cast Prismari and cast a spell in the same turn. Jeska’s Will, Mana Geyser, Seething Song, tap an Island play Prismari. Even if an opponent has a removal spell, don’t worry. You can still cast an instant in response for some value.

Quandrix, the Proof has cascade, and gives your instants/sorceries cascade. They are similar to Prismari. You get the most value by holding out for a big turn. Set up Quandrix alongside cost reducers or effects that cheat on mana. Even if Quandrix is targeted, you can cast Dig Through Time or Gush in response. Maybe you’ll cascade into a counterspell.

Silverquill, the Disputant, gives your instants and sorceries casualty 1. Shoutout to New Capenna. Casualty lets you copy the spell as long as you sacrifice a creature with one or more power. Silverquill will grow out of hand. Raise the Alarm makes two tokens in the early game. Sacrifice them to feed bigger spells down the line. In a pinch, you can also sacrifice Silverquill to pay the casualty cost. A last-ditch effort when he is going to die anyway.

Witherbloom, the Balancer, the final dragon. They have an affinity for creatures. Mana value of eight. You will cast them for two. This dragon gives your instants and sorceries affinity for creatures. Your deck is now a balancing act. Too many creatures means you have no spells to discount. Not enough creatures, your spells are expensive. Witherbloom gets better if a creature comes with a friend. Myr Enforcer, Woe Strider, and Orcish Bowmaster help the affinity count grow.

The dragons are open-ended. They have a clear game plan. The end is murky. They are ideal for all power levels. They work well with carefully curated bracket 4 decks. Or they can fit in at a bracket 2 table with 40 lands and a mix of spells you thought looked cool. I am sure they will see a lot of play.

Finally, let’s give the mill gamers some love. Exhibition Tidecaller is a 0/2 for one mana. When you cast an instant or sorcery, the target player mills three cards. If that spell costs five or more mana, they mill ten cards instead. Hedron Crab for spells!

I like the self-mill side. You can set yourself up with a big graveyard, then turn this on your opponent later on. Underrworld Breach combos often rely on Brain Freeze to get the job done. This is a cute backup card. Cast Tidecaller, then a Demonic Tutor. Mill three cards. Cast Demonic Tutor again. Repeat until you have everything you need for a win.

SOS is flush with reprints. There are a handful scattered throughout the main set and Commander decks. But the real excitement is the “Mystical Archive”. They look gorgeous. We saw this before in original Strixhaven.

There are three treatments and two languages. There are English and Japanese versions. They use the same border as the original Strixhaven. The Japanese versions also come in a new “silver scroll” foil.

If you’re rare drafting at prerelease, keep an eye out for some of the high-value reprints. These cards need no introduction. Just know they carry a hefty price tag for some store credit, or could be your first step towards CEDH or Legacy.

High Value Reprints:

1. Force of Will

2. Vampiric Tutor

3. Jeska’s Will

4. Cyclonic Rift

5. Ad Nauseam

Some less pricey reprints are here, too, with gorgeous new art. Keep an eye out for Stock Up. If you missed it in Aetherdrift, now is your time. Stock Up is outstanding. It has replaced Fact or Fiction in many of my decks. I respect Fact or Fiction in a graveyard deck, but Stock Up digs deeper and guarantees you find the two best cards in those top five.

Reprieve gets its first “in-universe” printing! The art is gorgeous. I am not too familiar with Alex Stone‘s work. He has not done a lot of cards. But he shows up in special treatments a lot. You might recognise his work on Neheb, the Eternal‘s side profile shot from Commander Masters. Going back to SOS, Stone has a total of five Mystical Archive cards. Repel Calamity is a beautiful piece calling back to Bloomburrow. It’s not very playable in Commander, but I will be delighted to play it in draft.

Sheoldred’s Edict is a great reprint. The best in Edict out there. If you didn’t get a copy of this during All Will Be One, then grab a few copies now.

Play Boosters have one Mystical Archive per pack. Collector Boosters have three. This includes the Japanese language cards. I.e, An English/German booster pack can contain Japanese Mystical Archives.

The Silver Scroll foil will only appear in Collector Boosters.

There are ten special guest cards in the set. They are not guaranteed like Mystical Archives. They can  be found in Play (non-foil only) and Collector Boosters (non-foil/foil).

Some are nice-to-have staples with beautiful art. Archeomancer, Grim Haruspex, and Dualcaster Mage come to mind. The chase card is Sylvan Library. A small PSA. The Library of Alexandria is included on the Magic Arena special guest list. It is on the reserved list, so we won’t be seeing a reprint anytime soon.

If you need one, you can still find old copies at Three for One’s Store.

These are a great cycle of dual lands. They enter tapped unless you control two or more other lands. i.e., they enter tapped turn one and two. Strixhaven gives us a half-cycle of lands. One for each school. These are solid mid-tier dual lands. If you already have Shock Lands, these are a wonderful supplement or a budget alternative. They are five to ten euros, depending on what deck is good in Standard. They are great in any deck or trade binder.

A nice mix of reprints is available in the Commander precons.

Land Tax is huge. It used to be a staple in eternal formats. Land Tax is a perfect Commander card. I hope this sets a precedent for Land Tax showing up more regularly in precons.

Adding this, we have Archeomancer’s Map and Claim Jumper. They are more modern renditions of the same effect. I am delighted to see their inclusion. Meanwhile, White Orchid Phantom is also being reprinted. Land destruction is rarely seen in Commander decks. While some don’t like it, I believe it’s an essential part of keeping things balanced. Greedy five-color decks. Game changers like Gaea’s Cradle and Field of the Dead, you need answers for those cards!

Currency Converter has been creeping up in price for a long time. Don’t sleep on this one. A one-cost artifact that digs for cards is amazing. If you’ve never tried it, please pick one up and give it a try. You will not be disappointed! A new classic with a well-deserved reprint.

Animate Dead has been getting more and more reprints. This one will always creep up in price. It sees play in Commander, Legacy, and Vintage Cube. It’s the next best thing to Reanimate itself. In some ways, Animate Dead is even more powerful than Reanimate for Commander thanks to its combo potential with Worldgorger Dragon, or its synergy with enchantress effects.

Witherbloom brings a sacrifice theme.

Combining life gain and +1/+1 counters. Dina , Essence Brewer will keep your hands full, and life totally high.

Silverquil goads and draws cards.

It is an enchantress with a combat focus, turning your opponents against each other while drawing cards. Kellan, Decisive Mentor, makes combat messy and your hands full.

Lorehold uses the graveyard to produce tokens.

Strange. But, with rummage effects and buffs for your tokens, this deck has a lot of moving parts that play together incredibly well. Quintorius, History Chaser is a planeswalker Commander. That’s rare! Quintorius sets up your tokens and draw engine, but you’ll need to find your own way to get things out of the grave.

Prismari plays big spells.

One big spell, one big token with flying and haste. Rootha, Mastering the Moment is a fantastic engine for this deck. If you use a ritual to cast Rootha, she will make a token the turn she comes into play!

Quandrix cares about X cost spells.

Your X spells put counters on Zimone, Infinite Analyst. She reduces the cost of your first X spell. Zimone, Infinite Analyst, will grow fast! I love her second ability. She always gains two +1/+1 counters. If you are short on mana, you can still cast a spell for X=0 and still get two counters.

Secrets of Strixhaven has plenty of products on offer. Check out Three for One Trading for your sealed products and the singles we talked about today. Below is a price list for the upcoming set. Be sure to get your orders in soon.

Play Boosters Packs are €5 or €130 for a entire booster box.

Bundles (48€) are a classic. They include nine boosters, 30 basic lands (15 foil), a promo, and a life counter. Plenty of packs to dip your toe into the set.

A Draft Night (90€) has enough packs for a four-player, pick-two draft. Lands are included. No need to go digging for basics. A bonus play booster is included for the winner of the night!