It’s a good time to enroll as a Lorehold student.
Secrets of Strixhaven takes place two years after the devastating Phyrexian invasion (as part of the March of the Machine storyline), with the university acquiring new professors and students to settle into another year of magical learning. While there aren’t any Learn cards to accompany Lessons this time around, Secrets of Strixhaven ensures you’ll receive a full seminar on how to cast some of the more classical spells from Magic: The Gathering’s history.
Wizards of the Coast didn’t hold back on celebrating Magic as a whole with Secrets of Strixhaven, and ensures you’ll be prepared for the upcoming release with an abundance of new mechanics along with some well-loved, existing ones. Prepare is the leading mechanic in Secrets of Strixhaven, and allows you to cast some incredibly iconic spells if you’re able to meet the requirements. Take Grave Researcher as an example, where if you have three creature cards in your graveyard during your upkeep, then the Researcher becomes prepared. The result? You get to cast Reanimate, no big deal.
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- Read More: Everything We Know About Secrets of Strixhaven
Once you’ve cast the spell side of a creature such as this one, it becomes unprepared, which means you’ll have to go through the process again (in this case, making sure you have at least three creatures in your graveyard during your upkeep) to cast the Reanimate side once more. Reanimate is a historically powerful Magic card with plenty of competitive tenure, and there’s a similar motif flowing throughout Secrets of Strixhaven — such as Emeritus of Ideation and a little-known spell called Ancestral Recall.
Emeritus of Ideation also has to be prepared, but in this case, it becomes immediately prepared the second the card enters play. Once you’ve cast the Ancestral Recall side of the card, you’ll have to exile eight cards from your graveyard to prepare this card once more. Alternatively, you can play a Displacer Kitten and be on your merry card-drawing way. Given the prestige around Ancestral Recall and the Power Nine, Emeritus of Ideation is the Headliner card for Secrets of Strixhaven, and it looks remarkable if you’re someone who’s been playing Magic for a long time.
One aspect I adore about the Headliner card this time around is how it’s reminiscent of the old Player Reward cards from back in the day, with Cryptic Command and Negate being some of the other notables from this older series. Not to mention, Mark Poole created the original art for Ancestral Recall, making this a nice full-circle moment for those who’ve been playing the game for years. It presents a level of nostalgia in a way that I wasn’t anticipating, as if you were sifting through various material at the Biblioplex and uncovering the older texts yourself.
As with any Headliner card in a Magic release, these appear in less than 1% of Collector Booster of any language, and the card will always appear in English. Since these are serialized, Emeritus of Ideation will be the most sought-after cards from Secrets of Strixhaven, along with giving the thrill of casting an Ancestral Recall in modern-day Magic.
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Borderless treatments also return for another year with Secrets of Strixhaven, and appear on many of the set’s notable characters and Elder Dragons. Not to mention, the Slow Lands (first printed in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow) also make a return for competitive play. These will be in both Play and Collector Boosters, adding an element of “Booster Fun” that is pretty common in Magic releases these days.
The Tenured Guests of Strixhaven University
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The Special Guests is Wizards’ continued effort to bring a Masters-style experience to Play and Collector Boosters, and these are often high-level reprints of some of the game’s most-played cards. There are 10 Special Guests cards within each in-Magic release, with Library of Leng and Sylvan Library being the notables this time around. There’s also some notable cards for Pauper players out there, as Archaeomancer and Murmuring Mystic also appear in the exclusive series (Jeskai Ephemerate players, rejoice!). As for the rest of the Special Guests in Secrets of Strixhaven, these are:
- Dualcaster Mage
- Archmage Emeritus
- Grim Haruspex
- Magus of the Library
- Codie, Vociferous Codex
- Adrix and Nev, Twincasters
Library of Leng is an especially welcoming reprint, as there’s been plenty of speculation around Lorehold, the Historian and the various ways to leverage the miracle ability the Elder Dragon offers. While Special Guests cards are becoming much rarer to open (roughly one in 55 Play Boosters), this presents a fancier option for the Lorehold enthusiasts out there.
The Mystical Archive Returns in Secrets of Strixhaven
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If you were around for Strixhaven: School of Mages, you won’t be surprised to see the return of the Mystical Archives with Secrets of Strixhaven’s upcoming release. These are reprints of some of the game’s most memorable instants and sorceries, and the latest crop certainly doesn’t disappoint. These don’t alter set legality as with most bonus sheets these days, as much as we’d love to play around with Reprieve in Standard Constructed.
With Vampiric Tutor and Force of Will being the headliner cards with this entry of the Mystical Archives, these are going to be some of the big-ticket items from the highly anticipated release. In total, there are 65 Mystical Archive cards to collect (25 mythic rares, 25 rares, and 15 uncommons), with the excellent Stock Up also being part of the series as teased a while ago. Similar to the previous round of Mystical Archive cards, these also appear in Japanese, with the addition of Silver Scroll Foils being exclusive to Collector Boosters of any language. The Japanese versions won’t appear in English Play Boosters, but will appear in Japanese Play Boosters around two-thirds of the time.
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As for collation, the Mystical Archive cards appear at least once in every Play Booster, with Collector Boosters including at least three of these stunning cards to collect. As with any bonus sheet in a given Magic release, these will present an ideal opportunity to buy format staples at a more accessible rate, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for what’s coming over the next few weeks in the lead-up to release day.
The Commanders of Secrets of Strixhaven
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Secrets of Strixhaven introduces a curriculum’s worth of Commander Decks to support this exciting release, as there will be five of these decks to collect. There’s a Commander Deck for each of the Strixhaven Colleges, with the face commanders being familiar characters if you were around for the release of Strixhaven: School of Mages. Since Quintorius ignited his spark during the Lost Caverns of Ixalan story, he’s one of the few Planeswalkers you can play as your commander.
Previews for the Commander Decks will commence later this week, which hopes to introduce some exciting cards to the casual format if Eiganjo Dynastorian is anything to go by. It’s likely we’re going to see more iconic spells appearing on creatures over the next few weeks, offering newer players the opportunity to learn about these powerful spells from Magic’s past.
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Secrets of Strixhaven releases on April 24, where you can purchase Play and Collector Boosters, Bundles, and Prerelease Packs on release day and beyond. As mentioned above, Secrets of Strixhaven sees five unique Commander Decks representing each of the colleges residing within Strixhaven. If you want to add more literature to your growing collection, then the Codex Bundle releases on May 15, with the chance to open Sol Ring or any of the stunning college-colored Talisman cards.