A careful study into mechanics of Secrets of Strixhaven.
We are heading back to Arcavios, and as such, it’s time for an intro course of our own — Secrets of Strixhaven Mechanics 101. There are a bunch of new mechanics in this set along with the return of one of my favorites, and I’m prepared to dive in.
Magic: The Gathering’s Secrets of Strixhaven Mechanics, Explained
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As usual, here’s a recap about the mechanics you’ll see in Secrets of Strixhaven. With Prerelease quickly approaching, now is a good time to study the essentials before the exam period, which will begin on April 17. We’ll also have our Limited Set Review coverage for Secrets of Strixhaven and will commence early next week.
Increment (Quandrix)
Berta, Wise Extrapolator
Secrets of Strixhaven, Rare
Increment — (Whenever you cast a spell, if the amount of mana you spent is greater than this creature’s power or toughness, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Increment is the Quandrix approach to Evolve, another beloved blue-green mechanic. Here, you grow your creatures by casting expensive spells (of any kind), and as long as you have bigger and greater spells, your creatures will grow in kind. This fits perfectly into the Quandrix ramp strategy that I expect to see in Sealed and Draft, and has some nice crossover with Opus (the Prismari mechanic).
Opus (Prismari)
Molten-Core Maestro
Secrets of Strixhaven, Rare
Opus — Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. If five or more mana was spent to cast that spell, do something cool.
Opus has different outputs depending on the card (hence the “do something cool” text), but all the Opus cards trigger off instants and sorceries and then have a greater effect if you spent five or more mana to cast said spell. It’s similar to the four-cost spell matters theme from blue-red in FINAL FANTASY, which is great and the mechanic played nicely. Prismari decks are clearly going to want a lot of high-end spells, which makes me think that cheap creatures are going to be key. I’m already envisioning a three-color Quandrix/Prismari (blue-red-green) deck that has expensive spells alongside Opus and Increment creatures— this all sounds great to me.
Flashback (Lorehold)
Duel Tactics
Secrets of Strixhaven, Uncommon
Flashback is an all-time classic, and in my opinion, one of Magic’s best mechanics. Lorehold will feature a bunch of instants and sorceries you can recast from your graveyard, which not only fits perfectly thematically, but will play out quite well. Flashback is just great in any game where it appears, as it gives you extra action and pays you off for self-mill and discard. It’s hard to run out of gas when you have Flashback spells, but they are also costed in a way that you have to work to be efficient enough to survive. Lorehold will also have plenty of cards like Primary Research that will reward you for flashing cards back, giving it a cohesive theme.
Given that I felt Lorehold was a bit of a miss last time in Strixhaven: School of Mages, I’m excited about this new direction — Flashback may have been exactly what this college was missing. Not to mention, there’s an actual card called Flashback in the set this time around.
Repartee (Silverquill)
Inkling Mascot
Secrets of Strixhaven, Common
Repartee — Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell that targets a creature, do something cool.
Like Opus, Repartee always has the same input (cast a spell that targets a creature) with a wide range of outputs. This also builds on previous Silverquill themes, as pump spells were a big part of the first iteration of the college. Note as well that Repartee doesn’t require that you target your creatures, so removal spells will also trigger it. Depending on the outputs, I could see Repartee decks being built as either controlling or aggressive, which hints at multiple different Silverquill archetypes for Limited play.
Infusion (Witherbloom)
Old-Growth Educator
Secrets of Strixhaven, Uncommon
Infusion does something if you’ve gained life this turn, and appears in a variety of different forms. On creatures, it might trigger upon entering the battlefield or at a specific time during the turn, and on spells, they will have an extra effect if you’ve gained life before casting them.
Witherbloom always had a pretty easy time of gaining life, and had several lifegain build-arounds in Strixhaven: School of Mages. Now the payoffs come in the form of their mechanic, which looks to be a strong one to me. There are going to be tons of ways to gain life, and as long as Infusion has some decent payoffs (which I assume it will), you’ll be happy Witherbloom-ing it up on Prerelease day and beyond.
Prepare
Emeritus of Ideation
Secrets of Strixhaven, Mythic
Beyond the five college mechanics, we have a couple of set mechanics as well, Prepared being one of the most exciting. Prepared is a bit complicated, wherein you have a chance to cast some iconic (and powerful) spells from Magic’s history. The way it works is that Prepare creatures are split-frame (like Adventure or Omen cards), with the spell in question being on the bottom right (cost, effects, everything else). As long as the creature is prepared (or when it becomes prepared), a copy of their spell appears in exile, and you can cast it whenever you normally could. Some creatures enter prepared, like the Emeritus cards, and some require you to do some work to prepare them.
Once you cast their signature spell, the creature becomes unprepared, but in cases like the Grave Researcher, you can prepare them again and keep casting Reanimate. Prepared looks like a fantastic mechanic — it’s flashy, intricate, and calls back to some of Magic’s greatest hits. It is an ambitious one, and I’m all for it. There doesn’t seem to be a unifying theme among prepared cards, so for the most part, they are just sweet and powerful additions to whatever else is going on in Limited.
Paradigm
Restoration Seminar
Secrets of Strixhaven, Mythic
This isn’t a completely new mechanic, but more of a fixed version of Epic (as seen on Enduring Ideal and compnay). Once you cast a Paradigm spell, you get to cast a copy at the beginning of your first main phase each turn, which is indeed a Paradigm shift of sorts. You can also choose not to cast a copy for some reason if you don’t want to, and copies getting countered doesn’t stop Paradigm from going (though the original spell being countered will, however). The five Paradigm spells are all Lessons, which doesn’t mean anything mechanically in this set, but has some interactions with previous cards.
Converge
Together as One
Secrets of Strixhaven, Rare
Converge has different effects based on how many colors you spend to cast the Converge spell, which is exciting — hinting at a potential five-color archetype for Limited. Converge cards will show up here and there, and while some may be fine in a two-color deck, you will mostly want to be in three to five colors to take full advantage.
Book
Diary of Dreams
Secrets of Strixhaven, Uncommon
Lastly, we have a new mechanic called “Book”. Well, it’s more of a subtype, but in any case, Secrets of Strixhaven is finally bringing literature to the Magic universe. Some cards are getting the Book subtype retroactively added to them (such as Codie, Vociferous Codex), and we don’t know what the implications of this subtype quite yet.
These mechanics make me really excited to play Secrets of Strixhaven – they look very cool, and Prepared seems especially awesome. Limited Set Reviews, Prereleases, and Draft events are coming soon — so now is the time to cram!