6 Future Commander Staples From Secrets of Strixhaven

Last updated on April 20, 2026

Secrets of Strixhaven has unleashed a flurry of powerful spells this past weekend, and it’s time to see what’s holding up well for the Commander players. These five cards rank highest on EDHrec for inclusion from the main set and have the potential to rise as staples; the turbulent lands from Secrets of Strixhaven Commander deserve an honorable mention, too.

#6. Erode

Erode is a marquee removal spell from the set, and it’s no wonder: This is white’s only 1-mana answer to planeswalkers! In fact, it’s the only clean 1-mana answer in Magic. Black has a few contenders, but they’re cards like Bone Shards and Lethal Throwdown with additional costs (with the exception of Liliana's Defeat, but that’s much too narrow).

Toss in the ability to destroy creatures and you get a wonderfully flexible removal spell for Commander that gets you out of most pinches. It’s notably bad at killing commanders since the land your opponent gets pays half of the commander tax, but that’s a reasonably small downside for the flexibility. I’d play it over Path to Exile.

#5. Mathemagics

Mathemagics might be the flashiest spell in the set; it’s certainly the most peculiar, using X to raise the power of 2 rather than filling out the spell itself. It’s probably not the strongest X-spell draw card, but it’s a lot of fun. This ranking makes perfect sense: Quandrix brought quite a few X-spell support cards like Zimone, Infinite Analyst and Geometer's Arthropod, so Mathemagics will see play there, but it’s a little mana-intensive to go into most blue decks.

#4. Improvisation Capstone

I was initially surprised to see Improvisation Capstone over Decorum Dissertation, but I think the higher play rate comes from synergy. The Capstone casts two to three spells from exile each turn, which is perfect for cards like Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald that care about spells cast from outside your hand. Then you factor in storm, and spellslinger, and what this card does when cheated into play and…I might need to revise my paradigm rankings.

#3. Resonating Lute

Another surprise was Resonating Lute, an admittedly powerful yet fragile mana rock. While the peaks of making every land into a sol land look impressive, its highly restrictive mana use knocks it below other 4-mana rocks like Thran Dynamo and Relic of Sauron in my mind. I go into more detail about the highs and lows in this article:

#2. Flashback

Flashback being near the top is no surprise; this card lets you flashback your best instant or sorcery at a tax of 1 additional mana. Commander decks ramp hard enough to make that inconsequential. It’s a sidegrade to Snapcaster Mage. While the 2/1 body makes Snapcaster Mage better in most competitive formats, it’s much less relevant in Commander. Snapcaster isn’t bad, by any means, but many decks are happy to shave a mana off the cost.

#1. Grave Researcher

The most important thing to understand about Grave Researcher is that it has a home in any black deck that gets creatures in the graveyard, not just reanimator decks. While the archetype is named for Reanimate, any deck can use 1-mana, put the best creature from any graveyard into play. That makes the barrier for entry way lower than a mana-intensive spell like Mathemagics or an archetype-specific payoff like Resonating Lute.

The prepared condition is another mark in the card’s favor as it’s one of the easiest ones to meet. Black has no trouble getting creatures in the bin between self-mill, discard, and sacrifice synergies; you could argue it’s less common for black to have no creatures in the graveyard. The surveil even helps get you there! You should have no trouble casting Reanimate several times in a game, assuming this must-kill card sticks around that long.