Complete Guide to Secrets of Strixhaven’s Mystical Archive Bonus Sheet

Pedro Furtado (djorso) 4 minutes ago Collecting, MTG Cards

Smallpox | Illustration by Lorenzo Gaggiotti

The plane of Arcavios, where Secrets of Strixhaven takes place, is the home of the Biblioplex, a huge library that’s said to have all the known spells in the Multiverse.

This interesting piece of lore is what inspired the first Strixhaven Mystical Archive, a glorified bonus sheet with some of the coolest instants and sorceries ever printed in MTG. And for our return to Strixhaven, WotC saw fit to bring it back!

Today, we take a look at the 65 cards from the Secrets of Strixhaven Mystical Archive, or SOA for short. There are some pretty good cards there, so let’s survey the most expensive treasures and see where we can open them.

Table of Contents show

What Are the Mystical Archive Cards in Secrets of Strixhaven?

Culling the Weak | Illustration by Aitor Sebastián

The Mystical Archive cards in Secrets of Strixhaven form the set’s bonus sheet. It pays homage to the first Strixhaven: School of Mages set that had the first Mystical Archive. Like the first one, this Mystical Archive is a bonus sheet that’s all instants and sorceries, and most of them are classic cards that saw or see a lot of play across multiple formats, like Daze and Force of Will. We also have cards that debuted in the first Strixhaven set like Crackle with Power plus some weird, spicy inclusions.

How Many Bonus Sheet Cards Are in SOS?

There are a whopping 65 bonus sheet cards in Secrets of Strixhaven across all colors and rarities. These consist of 25 uncommon, 25 rare, and 15 mythic rare cards. Approximately 15 cards from this list are new to MTG Arena.

List of Mystical Archive Cards in Secrets of Strixhaven

Are SOS Bonus Sheet Cards in Play Boosters? The SOS Draft Format?

Yes! The Secrets of Strixhaven Mystical Archive cards are in Play Boosters, and they’ll be an exciting part of the SOS Draft and Sealed formats, especially the uncommons. All cards opened in Play Boosters are playable in Limited, so Draft and Sealed will have many of these floating around.

Where Can You Open SOS Mystical Archive Cards?

You can open SOS Mystical Archive cards in Play Boosters and Collector Boosters. Every Play Booster has at least one Mystical Archive card, and each Collector Booster has at least three Mystical Archive cards. If you’re drafting on MTG Arena or MTGO, you’ll also get Mystical Archive cards.

How Many Are in Each Pack?

It depends on whether you’re opening Play Boosters or Collector Boosters. It’s also worth noting that the rates on rares and mythics were drastically cut compared to the original Mystical Archive. Before, bonus sheet cards were 67% uncommons and 33% rares or mythics, and now this proportion has gone to 87/13.

Play Boosters

These always contain one card, and you have a shot at another one in the foil slot. You can get regular cards and traditional foil cards.

1 Mystical Archive card: 87.5% uncommon, 9.6% rare, 2.9% mythic
2 Mystical Archive cards: in about 3% of Play Boosters (2.8% uncommon, <1% rare, <1% mythic)

Japanese Play Boosters

These can have a Japanese Mystical Archive card, though there are different odds here:

Regular Mystical Archive card (66.8%): 58.3% uncommon, 6.5% rare, 2% mythic
Japanese Mystical Archive card (33.2%): 29.1% uncommon, 3.2% rare, .9% mythic

Collector Booster

As usual with Collector Boosters, there are a lot of ways to get a bonus sheet card. You can get nonfoil, traditional foil, and silver scroll foil Mystical Archive cards. These packs have slots dedicated to bonus sheet cards:

Two Uncommon Slots

1 non-foil (31.7%) or traditional foil (31.7%) Mystical Archive card (~63.4%)
1 non-foil (31.7%) or silver scroll foil (5%) Japanese Mystical Archive card (~36.7%)

One Rare/Mythic Slot

1 non-foil rare (25.6%) or mythic rare (7.7%) Mystical Archive card (~33.3%)
1 non-foil rare (25.6%) or mythic rare (7.7%) Japanese Mystical Archive card (~33.3%)
A traditional foil rare (25.6%) or mythic rare (7.7%) Mystical Archive card (~33.3%)

One Foil Booster Fun Rare/Mythic

In this slot, there’s a 10% chance at a Mystical Archive card, 7.7% will be a silver scroll foil rare, and 2.3% mythic rare.

Will Secrets of Strixhaven’s Bonus Sheet Cards Be on Arena?

Yes! One of the best aspects of the Mystical Archive being on Arena is that we have access to these cards in other formats like Timeless and Historic now. The first Mystical Archive gave us Lightning Bolt and Brainstorm, and the second has juicy reprints like Force of Will and Vampiric Tutor.

Some of these will have higher rarities than normal, like Big Score being a rare, but you can still craft lower-rarity versions if they exist on the client.

Are SOS Bonus Sheet Cards Standard Legal?

Not automatically. The Mystical Archive bonus sheet from SOS isn’t Standard-legal, but the cards remain legal in the formats where they were already legal.

The idea with this sheet is that all the uncommon cards are already legal in Standard (except the banned Monstrous Rage), while rare and mythic slots are reprints from different sets that aren’t Standard-legal.

For example, Hop to It and Repel Calamity were printed in Bloomburrow and are already Standard-legal, but Reprieve and Brain Freeze aren’t and won’t be.

How Can You Get Japanese Mystical Archive Cards?

You can find Japanese Mystical Archive cards only in Japanese Play Boosters and English or Japanese Collector Booster. Although WotC guarantees that boosters have Mystical Archive cards, the percentages for the Japanese ones are smaller, about 33%, and the Collector Booster has a higher chance, close to 70% to have at least one, and around 15% to have two.

What Is a Silver Scroll Foil?

Silver Scroll Foil is a special card treatment applied to the Japanese Mystic Archive cards. You can find these only in Collector Boosters. All Mystical Archive cards can have a silver scroll foil treatment. These are rare, and fewer than 20% of Collector Boosters you open will have one of these, so about one in five.

The Most Valuable Mystical Archive Cards from Secrets of Strixhaven

These prices were taken from TCGplayer on 04/14/2026 and are subject to drastic changes over the next few days and week.

These are the “least valuable” version, so no foil or Japanese versions, just to have an idea. No surprise, these are all Commander and cEDH staples.

#5. Akroma’s Will – $22.00

Akroma's Will is interesting because both modes work well on their own, and it’s a plus if you can get both. You have an “attack and do a lot of damage” mode, and a “protect your creatures” mode. And yes, if you choose both, even if you’re not winning on the spot, you’ll gain a bunch of life.

#4. Jeska’s Will – $35.00

The Commander Legends “Wills” are very strong if you have your commander out and can choose both modes. Jeska's Will can generate a lot of mana and help you to cast three cards. It’s a mix of a powerful ritual and a card draw spell, and it’s excellent to draw into this if you’re out of gas.

#3. Cyclonic Rift – $37.00

Blue EDH staple Cyclonic Rift doesn’t go down in price. Paying 7 mana and overloading this feels like cheating because you’re the only one left with a board afterwards. It’s often a game winner on the spot, or at least it prevents a loss.

#2. Vampiric Tutor – $65.00

For just 1 mana, Vampiric Tutor allows you to set up your winning combo for the next turn. It tutors any card at instant speed, and that’s why it’s so valuable. If you have a way to put the top card in your hand, like a draw and discard effect or a Sensei's Divining Top, it’s even better.

#1. Force of Will – $80.00

MTG’s most famous free counterspell, Force of Will sees play in any format where it’s legal. It’s a huge tempo play to counter a spell your opponent actually paid mana for, to the point that it’s worth going down on cards.

Wrap Up

Triumph of the Hordes | Illustration by Aitor Sebastián

The Secrets of Strixhaven Mystical Archive is excellent, and I’m glad it exists. It’s probably one of the best bonus sheets ever designed. Cool cards need to be reprinted more often, and it’s a blast when we have a chance to play with them in Draft and Sealed. Be ready for a surprise Dismember or Daze in your Limited matches. The only caveat is that the rate of uncommons and rare/mythics could be more on the 75/25 than the 87/13 ratio, and that wouldn’t make Draft more bombier or anything.

What’s your take on the Secrets of Strixhaven Mystical Archive, guys? Are bonus sheets better for the game or an unnecessary gimmick? Let me know in the comments section below. And for more on Secrets of Strixhaven, Commander, or just MTG in general, please check our YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep.

Until next time, happy studying!

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Pedro Furtado (djorso)

Pedro started playing Magic way back when in Fourth Edition. After a long hiatus, he now plays mostly MTG Arena Standard and Limited. His biggest MTG regret is trading a bunch of Force of Wills for Serra Angels.