Grab your wizard hat and your finest robes, it’s time to go back to school with Magic: the Gathering’s return to Arcavios in Secrets of Strixhaven. We’ve got all the details on what it means for a card to be prepared, what’s the deal with those new split cards that seem to have the Power 9 slapped on them, and exactly what is in what seems to be one of the most powerful sets in Magic’s recent history.
What Are Prepared Cards?
Let’s talk about the Quintorius in the room, prepared cards. These cards resemble the Adventure and Omen mechanic, with an extra spell slapped onto the text box. Generally, they’re on a creature cards, like Emeritus of Ideation, though there’s nothing saying that that is an exclusive feature.
Preparation cards more often than not enter the battefield prepared, or have a condition that will allow them to become prepared. Once this characteristic is online, a copy of the prepare spell will appear in exile. That copy remains in exile so long as one of three things happen:
- You cast the prepare spell
- The prepared creature leaves the battlefield
- The prepared creature becomes unprepared
If the second or third condition is met, the exiled spell disappears. Casting the prepared spell causes the creature becomes unprepared.
Some creatures, like Grave Researcher and Emeritus of Ideation, can prepare themselves once conditions are met. A creature cannot become prepared twice, so no getting two copies of a prepare spell in exile off of one creature.
Interestingly, if control of a prepared creature changes to your opponent, they can now cast the exiled prepare spell. This is a bit of a corner case, but it could be very silly in competitive matches.
Dragons of Secrets of Strixhaven
Once again, the five Dragon heads of Strixhaven are here with some supremly powerful abilities. Each one comes with a unique mechanic that’s not found on any other card in the set (that we know of yet). Quandrix has Cascade, while Witherbloom has affinity for creatures, helping to have each Elder Dragon feel unique.
Planeswalkers of Secrets of Strixhaven
At least two planeswalkers are dropping in Secrets of Strixhaven, and both can educate you in the lessons of pain. We’ve got Professor Dellian Fel, a green and black planeswalker, and the mono-black Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer. Both planeswalkers have four abilities, a premium among these planeswalkers, though they’re not as oppressively powerful as some other cards.
Ral Zarek is the more powerful of the two at only three mana and a few different ways to manipulate your draws, while also enjoying a built-in, though limited, reanimation effect.
Secrets of Strixhaven Mechanics
Each school in Secrets of Strixhaven has its own dedicated mechanic, making them feel functionally unique, though it does feel that Lorehold got the most vanilla of all the mechanics. It’s not bad, but just a little boring.
Repartee (Silverquill)
Anytime you cast an instant or sorcery spell that targets a trigger will cause repartee to trigger as well. The effect of the repartee trigger will differer from card to card, sometimes letting you blink a creature, other times putting +1/+1 counters on a creature you control.
The repartee ability will trigger only once per spell, so if you have a spell that targets multiple targets, you still only get one repartee trigger. That said, the repartee trigger will resolve before your spell does so make sure to plan accordingly.
The card Graduation Day is a one-mana enchantment that puts +1/+1 counters on your creatures, and will no doubt find a place in aggro decks looking to get in plenty of early damage.
Opus (Prismari)
Always ready to show off, the Prismari get the Opus mechanic. This ability word triggers when you cast an instant or sorcery spell. This mechanic comes in two stages: an initial effect and then an additional one that happens only if you spent five or more mana on the spell.
Opus checks to see the total amount of mana spent on the spell itself, such as kicking a spell, not spent on ward costs.
Infusion (Witherbloom)
Another ability word, Infusion checks to see if you have gained life on your turn, granting additional effects if so. It doesn’t matter how much life you’ve gained, just so long as you have before the spell or ability resolves.
Infusion can appear on instants, sorceries, and creatures, making it a bit more diverse than other mechanics.
Flashback (Lorehold)
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See? Not a bad mechanic at all, just a little boring to get an evergreen as Lorehold’s signature mechanic. The flashback keyword appears on some instant and sorcery spells and can be activated from the graveyard by paying the flashback cost.
There’s not much to say about flashback; it’s a beloved mechanic that players have seen a lot of in recent sets.
Increment (Quandrix)
This creature-only keyword lets you add +1/+1 counters to that creature any time you cast a spell with a mana cost greater than the creature’s current power or toughness.
Similar to Opus, the keyword checks to see all mana spent on the spell, though it will ignore other taxing effects.
Paradigm
A bit of a dual mechanic, Paradigm brings a whole new level of power to your spells. Found exclusively on a cycle of sorceries, the mechanic exiles the spell upon resolution. At the start of your first main phase each turn, you then cast a copy of it for free. You don’t have to cast it if you don’t want to, and you don’t lose it if you choose not to cast it for a turn or two.
The Paradigm spells seem pretty powerful, and pretty pricey, with Improvisational Capstone coming in at seven mana, which fits with such a strong effect. If there’s a way to cheat them out earlier in a game then there’s a pretty good chance they’ll see some play.
All of the Paradigm sorceries are also lessons, though the learn mechanic is not making a comeback in Secrets of Strixhaven.
Converge
A returning mechanic, and one that rewards breaching out to multiple colors, converge checks the amount of colors spent to cast a spell and then grants effects depending on that number. Sometimes it might give a +1/+1 counter for each color spent, or you might draw cards equal to that number.
Spells that have converge will always be somewhere between zero and five, putting a cap on how much you can get out of it, and really restricting how much value you get out of casting them for free or copying a spell.
Book
While not a real ability or mechanic, it is interesting to note that Secrets of Strixhaven is introducing a new artifact subtype: Book. The card Biblioplex Tomekeeper is the first to get this subtype, and an Oracle update will bring a number of older cards up to speed.
Commander
Five commander decks, one for each school of thought at Strixhaven, are joining the set. While details are light so far, we do get a peek at one card: Eiganjo Dynastorian.
This prepare card comes attached with Replenish tacked on to it, letting you return all enchantments from your graveyard to the battlefield turn after turn. All you have to do to prepare it is attack with two or more creatures, which is pretty easy to do.
Collecting Secrets of Strixhaven
Secrets of Strixhaven drops on April 21 for Arena, and April 24 for tabletop, with prerelease events running from April 17 through April 23. In the set, there’s going to be a ton of cards to collect, with the biggest pull being the serialized Emeritus of Ideation, and by extension, a serialized Ancestral Recall.
The artwork is reminiscent of old promo cards, with a retro border and no text box. It’ll only be available in Collector Boosters, though there’s only going to be 500 of them in total. The art for the card is from the legendary Mark Poole, the original artist for Ancestral Recall, which is an incredible pull.
Mystical Archive Returns
Also back in the set is the Mystical Archive, a collection of powerful and valuable cards from Magic’s history. All Play Boosters will include at least one Mystical Archive card, and Collecter Boosters have at least three.
There’s even an alternate Japanese Mystical Archive version for each card, featuring different artwork and a new frame with artwork by Japanese artists and illustrators.
Borderless Cards
A number of professors, Dragons, and lands are getting the borderless treatment, with fancy new artwork to collect. These cards are going to be available in both Play Boosters and Collector Boosters in non-foil and traditional foil treatments.
Special Guests
Ten special guest cards are the last of the collectible cards in Secrets of Strixhaven. All of these cards are themed around being a lecture, as fi you were at Strixhaven as a student and were getting an education there. Non-foil versions can be found in Play Boosters, while traditional foil versions are in Collector Boosters.
