The 6 Biggest Staples for Secrets of Strixhaven’s Most Popular Commander

Last updated on May 4, 2026

Witherbloom, the Balancer | Illustration by Chris Rahn

Secrets of Strixhaven has only been out for a few weeks, but the numbers are decisive: Witherbloom, the Balancer is SOS’s most popular commander, per EDHREC, with over 7,600 decks registered. The runner up is Lorehold, the Historian at 5,693.

With such a popular (not to mention powerful) commander, it's worth considering what cards to run. While Commander offers ample deckbuilding flexibility, every commander has a core of cards you probably want; these are the must-plays you would never catch me without when sleeving up Witherbloom.

#6. Stinging Study

Stinging Study works best with lots of ramp and an expensive commander. Not only do you have both in a Witherbloom deck, we’re often paying less than the full mana cost for both Witherbloom and the spell. With such an expensive commander, Stinging Study’s worth pretty much any amount of mana thanks to its incredible card draw.

#5. Diabolic Revelation + Dregs of Sorrow

Diabolic Revelation has seen a huge price spike thanks to Witherbloom, and I imagine Dregs of Sorrow isn’t far behind. Witherbloom’s affinity makes casting these spells possible despite prohibitively high mana costs that keep them out of most decks. Both provide immense card advantage, though they are dependent on Witherbloom.

#4. Beseech the Queen

Another tutor with a lovely interaction with Witherbloom, Beseech the Queen should be near the top of your order. Mono-color hybrid cards let you choose whether to pay multiple generic mana or a single colored mana per pip. It gets silly with Witherbloom because you can chose to pay 6 generic, which totals out to 0 with affinity. A free tutor is perfect for any deck, and isn’t a horrid backup price.

#3. X-Spell Token Producers

Pretty much any X-spell that makes tokens works in Witherbloom. Since they make creatures, they set up Witherbloom and future spells. As they’re also instants and sorceries, they benefit from Witherbloom. Cards that serve as both enabler and payoff make your decks more consistent because they’re pretty much always useful whenever you draw them.

While many cards fit this specification, Awaken the Woods is hands down the best of the bunch. The Forest Dryad tokens are mana dorks, so they count as 2 mana for your instants and sorceries—like artifact lands breaking affinity.

#2. Sprout Swarm

Sprout Swarm might be the biggest-ticket card you can add to the deck because it sets up a 0-mana infinite combo with the elder dragon, which means adding it immediately bumps your Witherbloom deck to Bracket 4+.

The combo is super simple. As long as you have Witherbloom and at least four other creatures, you can cast Sprout Swarm with its buyback cost by convoking it for . It goes back to your hand, then you can use the Saproling token to cast it again. From there, you could win with a mass pump spell like Finale of Devastation, or a Witherbloom Apprentice thanks to magecraft.

#1. Skullclamp

As cool as the Sprout Swarm combo is, it’s prohibitive because it forces you into higher brackets. The top card should be available to the most decks, so Skullclamp seems to be the most natural choice.

Witherbloom screams small creatures, mostly tokens from cards like Awaken the Woods. That makes Skullclamp a natural inclusion. It’s one of Magic’s best equipment, one of the most broken cards, one of the best draw spells… Skullclamp is one of the best cards in any category it qualifies for. It costs 2 mana to draw the first two cards, 3 for four, and it just gets better and better. Commander decks of any power level require card draw, and it doesn’t get better for Witherbloom than Skullclamp.