Secrets of Strixhaven - Cardboard Corner

Welcome back Students!

Its been a minute since we've been to Arcavios, with it having been debuted in Strixhaven: School of Mages in 2021. That first set was, to me, a mixed bag with tons of interesting and innovative mechanics, and then unreadable walls of text that made me doubt myself as a studied planeswalker. While being smack dab in the year of the MDFCs did it no favors, its single-sided cards sported innovative mechanics like lesson/learn which made you feel like a wizard with a spellbook, transforming your sideboard into an extra deck to pull from. From that first foray with magic's legally distinct wizarding school, we reaped powerful players like Divide by Zero, First Day of Class, and Expressive Iteration, demonstrating just how far we'd come within WOTC's F.I.R.E. design, where these cards enabled format-warping strategies that tormented metas for months. There's actually quite a bit one could say about Strixhaven's legacy, but those are good cliffnotes for today's actual examination: Secrets of Strixhaven is barreling down upon us, and we've been spoiled for much of the set in preparation for its April 17th Prereleas. As is tradition, we'll go over how the new set's singles are shaping up, whether or not they pass class, and how they might impact the game as it develops in 2026. I'm Ben, this is Cardboard Corner, and these are our star pupils (at time of writing!)

Out of the gate, we have Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer who while playing within strategies Secrets likes, is more representative of things to come. Later this year is the set Reality Fracture, which feels like another Endgame-level event where alternate reality versions of the MTG cast will be set loose into the known Multiverse. Trading in Izzet colors for Silverquill stylings, Ral is a mono black engine who enables graveyard strategies, digging, discarding, and reanimating all within the ballpark of his starting loyalty. I'm not giving much thought to his -7 ability, but I do appreciate the nod to his Ravnican background with the coin flipping. Overall strong, with high build around potential, and aware of prevalent themes and interactions within the current meta. High marks.

Charms are important, and casuals will whine about how overcosted they are without appreciating the flexibility they provide. I think this year's cycle are all contenders, but I think Silverquill's edges out Loreholds for being the best, since it feels clear and has the ability to pull the rug right out from under an overleveraged opponent. 

While the set does have its own identity, it takes time to honor and staples and icons from the past. We revisit Magic history not just in the mystical archive slot, but in retooling, as seen with this fixed or perhaps fair version of Path to Exile. Certainly adjustments have been made, such as replacing exile with destroy, and expanding targets to include planeswalkers, but this is an excellent example of carrying the tools of yesteryear into tomorrow.

But what happens when those tools of yesteryear are still there, and are not irrelevant? This card appearing in standard certainly evokes Path, but in commander this card can be in many cases a second copy of Path. Is your singleton format still singleton if you have a plethora of functional redundancy?

Unfortunately, this is Cardboard Corner, not Philosophy, so I have no answers to give you. You'll have to reflect on your own personal cardboard journey, if you're so inclined.

Speaking of reprints, not only do we have functional and mystical varieties, but we have literal reprints appearing as these new prepared spells, the first mechanic unique to secrets that we've touched on this episode. Creatures with these spells on them can cast the spells once they're prepared, and then the casting of the spell unprepares the creature. Hearkening back to adventures and omens, these prepared spells differ in that they are considered to be cast from exile, and are oftentimes spells of considerable power from all of MtG history.

Perhaps Emeritus of Ideation is the most iconic of these, as it sports Ancestral Recall, one of Magic's Power Nine, and a card that is definitely on the reserve list. I will say that it is misleading to see this Ancestral recall and think of it as being comparable to 1993's card of the same name, as it costs 5 mana to set this one up, but it is exhilarating nonetheless to see this power invoked in modern times and for modern audiences. As always, cheating is wrong, but cheating this into play will always feel better than paying in full. 

The five colleges within Strixhaven University each have their own named mechanic this time around, instead of sharing an umbrella one with differing outcomes. The Quandrix mechanic is Increment, which is a fun spin on evolve, where the abilitied creature gets +1/+1 counters whenever you cast a spell for more mana than the number value of their power or toughness. Ambitious Augmenter does that, but then if it dies, it replaces itself with a fractal that is slightly smaller than the Augmenter was on explosion. Its not hard to cast spells that cost more than one, nor is it difficult to imagine why replacing oneself on departure is a useful skill to have, and so this paragraph is finished. Moving on! 

Seven times we've seen page counters in Magic's history, but this is the first time we've ever seen a card with the Book subtype. I think its interesting that we're mining the design space of subtypes right now, and to a lesser degree supertypes, in a way that reminds me of Grand Archive, who has many loaded types, of type and sub and super varieties, with mechanical implications for all. Strange to see the future of Magic written in another game, but it makes sense. We owe so much of what is good to the lessons learned by the past, so its no wonder that games who share a history might independently evolve similar design principals, especially since neither game lives in a vacuum. This card is fine though. 

This card is likely more than fine however, as it's mechanic is part of a mythic cycle with the paradigm keyword, which takes the text from Saviors of Kamigawa's Epic spells, but doesn't then make it so you can never cast any spells ever again, which was the original mechanic's fatal flaw. I appreciate that this cycle gives eternal-format decks desirable high-end targets for their learn fetching by dint of being a lesson, and I enjoy that with the recurring effects, the paradigm shifts as the game's turn structure changes with the inclusion of the capstone's effect into the gameplay loop. These spells are flavorful ways to close out the game, and of those revealed so far, Improvisational Capstone has my heart. Well done.

Someone in design is fixated on making better blue drawspells and they need to be stopped. Between Stock Up and Accumulate Wisdom, it had been the opinion of some that we'd had our fill. Oh how wrong we were.

One of my favorite things about original Strixhaven is how it managed to reinvent the red/white color combination and make it interesting after a decade or more of stagnation, and seeing it continue to be developed is a treat. Here's the ark that pings your opponent whenever you do what Lorehold was built to do, remove things from your own graveyard. Then it self enables elegantly. This card is five lines of text only. Beautiful.

Bears should always be 2/2's at least, but I'll forgive it this time. I'm unsure of whether or not this will see any play in competitive pauper, but in causal and limited, I love this bear as a first turn play that lets you ramp while keeping your hand full. Card advantage is critical, and this first year is adorable, so I'm excited to see if he makes any moves in the first month post prerelease.

This fellow however looks like a definite pauper player, given that it's Ajani's Pridemate mechanic with trample on top. Lifegain may be Witherbloom's new thing (Influsion is like Morbid if the trigger were lifegain,) but design has been using lifegain as an incidental enrichment tool so much that there are variants for Pest Mascot practically everywhere, just wainting to be taken advantage of. Excellent work.

This card read Dieter Rams principals of design. A+

There are five Eldar Dragons of Strixhaven University, and each of them has a fun "instant and sorcery spells you cast from your hand have blank," mechanic. To my understanding, despite cascade's many failings as a mechanic, it is still a much beloved one by the community for how degenerate it can be, and so I picked this dragon as the example for the cycle. Quandrix, like their cofounders, is a perfectly adequate beatstick who enables funny spellslinger shenanigans, especially and/or specifically as your commander. I was impressed that they found five ways to do the thing. Perfectly. Adequate.

Finally, they made a Pithing Needle for lands. This makes for a good hard counter for the channel lands, fetches, and manlands, but misses Evendo and Uthros if I'm not mistaken. Its important to note that the effect is symmetrical, which could be a neat curveball to navigate in a "whose Wasteland is more powerful" sort of situation, but at this point I'm personally unsure of how healthy the Lands archetypes are doing these days. I hope they're well.

Double Harrow. Elegant. No notes.

Honorable Mentions

I don't ordinarily include cards from extra-set and commander-set card pools, but I'll make an exception for the exceptional.

White Memory Lapse-like effect that replaces itself, plus thoughtful art that might look at home on a Dixit card. Splendid use of a Mystical Archive slot.

The third ever card with the gravestorm mechanic, which can either be used as a refuel or a wincon. The versatility is a terrific coup de grace, especially if used as a reversal. Tasteful, like hunters served with a side of mushrooms.

From the Special Guests slot we have Murmering Mystic, who is one of my favorite cards from modern magic. I think this treatment is fun as the art honors the original, but in a transformative way.

 

Passing Grades

Although the tone of this article has been drier and more stoic than those of recent memory, I think this set is shaping up to be interesting at least, where we get to examine and play with magic's history in ways that many haven't since its debut. This kind of innovation feels healthy, as the design works to harmonize Magic's present with its past, keeping that through line intact as we prepare for some greater paradigm shifts in the game and in the world. Given the prevalence of Universes Beyond sets in Magics future, and the jeopardizing of Magic's own Multiverse in the next and last Universes Within set of the year Reality Fracture, this tether to the game's Ur-self feels taught, but hopefully not tenuous. 

I and many other Magic the Gathering players are hopeful for Secrets of Strixhaven, but how do you feel? Are you excited to return to Arcavios, or to read the first Magic Novel since that terrible War of the Spark novel? Let us know! Send a stryx, or tell us at our Secrets of Strixhaven prereleases, starting April 17th, (sign ups through the website.) Thank you so much for reading, fellow mages! May all of your pulls be sick!

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Ben Doane has been a member of the Pandemonium Team since 2019, and has been playing wargames, rpgs, and tcgs since 2004 and earlier. When not blogging, Ben runs the wargames and mailing departments, and also puts together the store's newsletters. Her current favorite game is Flies, Lies, and Spies.