Secrets of Strixhaven Uncommon Rockets to $7 After Prerelease

Last updated on April 20, 2026

Flow State | Illustration by Genel Jumalon

Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS) officially releases on April 24, 2026, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait until Friday to get the best cards. Under current MTG rules, Secrets of Strixhaven is already legal for sanctioned play, since a new Magic set becomes legal as soon as it goes into Prerelease (which, in SOS' case, happened last Friday).

Which also means that the Magic card market now trades real, paper copies of SOS cards, rather than pre-release promises. And early prices are confirming the early hype around Flow State, strongly hinting this blue sorcery may indeed be one of the best cards from the set.

Flow State Price

Expressive Iteration – Illustration by Anastasia Ovchinnikova

In most cases, MTG cards tend to drop sharply in price once paper copies start trading. That's very much not the case for Flow State, which has gone up in price since it was revealed, and has even sharply rebounded from its low from last Thursday, going from less than $2 to well over $6 today.

Source: MTGStocks

And, at the time of writing, the cheapest near-mint copies listed on TCGPlayer sit at around $7.

The important caveat here is that the biggest wave of supply arrives on release weekend, that's to say next Friday. That's when boxes start getting cracked in bulk, and there's a massive spike in supply.

Why Flow State Looks So Good

The biggest reason Flow State has generated so much noise is obvious: people keep comparing it to Expressive Iteration, a card strong enough to be banned in Legacy. As Peter reported a couple of weeks ago, Flow State is doing exactly what Expressive Iteration and Stock Up do: giving you a glimpse at multiple cards, and letting you choose two. “It's card advantage, it's card selection, it's cheap, it's good, and it doesn't ask much of you,” Peter wrote.

Tim was a bit more conservative in our ranking for the best cards in Secrets of Strixhaven, saying the Expressive Iteration comparisons are “a bit of a reach” because Flow State asks for two different card types in the graveyard. Still, if your deck can naturally stock an instant and a sorcery, this is great card draw for a very small mana investment.

Other content creators have been strongly impressed by the card, as it fits naturally into Izzet shells that already want cheap cantrips and lots of spell density, especially decks that care about chaining multiple spells in a single turn. Getting to see three cards and draw two for just two mana is outstanding in spellslinger decks, and highlighting Vivi Ornitier as one of Flow State‘s early adopters in Commander.

Early Competitive Results

Given Flow State is already legal, has it shown any early competitive results?

Turns out that it has… but, thus far, only in one specific format: Duel Commander.

During the weekend, a Tasigur, The Golden Fang deck  made Top 8 at the 103-player Bretagne regional with both Flow State and Stock Up in the list. An Aang, Swift Savior list made it to a Top 16  in that same event, also including Flow State.

That's enough anecdotal evidence to strongly suspect Flow State is a real card. But there were no decks on MTGO reaching the Top 8, on any format, with copies of Flow State, so the jury is still out here.

What Happens to Flow State’s Price Now?

Stock Up | Illustration by Izzy

Right now, Flow State is benefiting from being legal already, has gotten a couple of early tournament top cuts, and definitely has a lot of hype behind it from Magic players and content creators.

On April 24, though, supply will increase massively as Secrets of Strixhaven gets opened in earnest.

With the big caveat that this is not financial advice (always do your own research, folks!), my best guess is that Flow State probably does not hold this price, and dips a few bucks. This does notlook like a bulk uncommon, but becoming the next Stock Up and shooting up all the way to $10 (and staying there!) seems a tad too much.

We'll find out soon enough, though. Test season starts Friday!