The Best Commons and Uncommons By Color for Secrets of Strixhaven Draft

Andrew Quinn 20 days ago Deckbuilding, Draft, Limited, Sealed

Last updated on April 28, 2026

Transcendent Archaic | Illustration by Chris Rahn

Jumping into a new Draft set can be daunting. What do you take for your first pick? You’re looking at 13-14 brand new cards with a lot of text to read through, and you know you’ll probably pick something that ends up bad.

Here, I’ll go over my picks for the best commons and uncommons in each color to arm you with a bit of extra information as to what you should take in your Secrets of Strixhaven drafts. As the format progresses and we learn more about it, these will absolutely change, so take these picks with a pinch of salt, but I hope that this can serve as a baseline for the set as we get started with it and you test yourself on the Secrets of Strixhaven draft simulator. SOS is a heavily multicolored set, so we’re also going to look at a few multicolor cards, too.

Table of Contents show

Commons

Pterafractyl | Illustration by Andrew Mar

White

#3. Dig Site Inventory

You can get so much value out of a single Dig Site Inventory: It’s two targeted spells for repartee that only cost 1 each and give you a significant bonus each time. Weirdly, it’s designed for Lorehold (), but it also works very well in Silverquill (), which makes it a great common that bridges across both white archetypes.

#2. Elite Interceptor

The prepared spell on Elite Interceptor isn’t particularly impactful but it draws you a card, and that’s the main thing that matters here. The fact is that this is a cheap creature that draws you a card, and that’s always good to have.

#1. Eager Glyphmage

Four mana for two good bodies is a good deal. Eager Glyphmage does nothing special, but it looks like white’s best common for raw stats alone, and it can be good in any white deck. I don’t think this’ll be the best common in a few weeks’ time, but at least on Day 1 it’s what I’d pick.

Blue

#3. Run Behind

I’m honestly kind of bored of seeing this exact design in every single set. Yeah, Run Behind is very good and one of the best ways that blue can answer a creature on the board, but is there not a better design for this? Or at least a new one….

#2. Essence Scatter

Two mana has proven to be a good cost for a simple Counterspell, and since the most important spells you want to counter are usually creatures, Essence Scatter has proven itself very effective.

#1. Deluge Virtuoso

I’ve always been a fan of Frost Lynx; it’s a card that usually plays out really well, and Deluge Virtuoso is just the next iteration of it. It’s a good way to interact with your opponent while advancing your own board, and you can repeat it through flicker effects or Raise Deads.

Black

#3. Wander Off

You can’t get much simpler than this. Wander Off answers anything you need it to, and that’s all you want out of a 4-mana removal spell. These spells are always good, and you always want at least one in your black decks.

#2. Cheerful Osteomancer

I really want to highlight this card for the value it provides. Like many of these cards, Cheerful Osteomancer doesn’t have any particular synergy with the two black colleges, but it’s very close to just being a Gravedigger. It’s less efficient, but you’d expect that out of a common version, and it’s great with all of the set’s flicker mechanics too.

#1. Last Gasp

The cheaper black removal spell usually ends up stronger than the more expensive one. Last Gasp is simply cheap, efficient, and highly effective, everything you want in a removal spell. These are often the best black commons.

Red

#3. Zealous Lorecaster

This is kind of a pet card choice. At 6 mana, Zealous Lorecaster may prove to be far too expensive. That said, if this is as good as I hope it’ll be, Secrets of Strixhaven is going to be an incredibly fun format to play.

#2. Goblin Glasswright

Goblin Glasswright looks like the perfect 2-drop for red decks. This set doesn’t look particularly aggressive, so a cheap creature that provides a little bit of good value for the early game is exactly how I want to start my curve.

#1. Unsubtle Mockery

Heated Debate was the best red common in Strixhaven by a pretty wide margin. Four damage for 3 mana is just a perfect rate for a red burn spell, and Unsubtle Mockery is no different.

Green

#3. Noxious Newt

I’d certainly prefer this set’s mana dork to be able to tap for more than just green, but acceleration is going to be important enough for Quandrix () decks that it won’t matter too much. Besides, Noxious Newt has deathtouch, which works especially well with green removal spells. Like….

#2. Burrog Barrage

Cheap and efficient removal spells are always going to be near the tops of these lists, if not at the very top. For now, Burrog Barrage is the best green removal spell. It’s going to be a high pick, especially in Quandrix because they aren’t backed up by black’s excellent removal.

#1. Studious First-Year

Studious First-Year isn’t just an efficient way to ramp you: It can enable a Rampant Growth on turn 2. This fixes your colors, accelerates you, and maintains card advantage all at once. I love this card, and I hope I’m right about it.

Multicolored

#3. Embrace the Paradox

What can I say, I’m weak. I like to draw cards and ramp mana, which Embrace the Paradox does perfectly. It’s expensive itself, but that just makes it a payoff for a ramp deck as well as something that advances your gameplan further.

#2. Wilt in the Heat

This is one of the SOS’s most efficient removal spells, which makes it a great payoff for Lorehold decks. It’s unlikely that you’ll run it outside of Lorehold, but that just means that a Lorehold player will have fewer people to fight over for their copies of Wilt in the Heat.

#1. Grapple with Death

Grapple with Death is a very important common. Not only is it the best gold common, but it’s one of the most efficient removal spells in the set. Being green, I think this is particularly relevant for the 5-color deck. This is the kind of card that feels like a reward for drafting that deck, as are many of the gold uncommons.