Secrets of Strixhaven Sneak Peek Showcases Return of Unpopular Zendikar Mechanic

Last updated on March 24, 2026

Arcane Omens | Illustration by Antonio José Manzanedo

Converge is back! And if you had to Scryfall search converge just to remember what that mechanic was, you're not the only one. It was a fairly unpopular mechanic that debuted back in Battle for Zendikar, and hasn't been used all that much since. It's returning in Secrets of Strixhaven, and seems to be associated with the enigmatic Archaic creatures that exist on the plane of Arcavios.

The Previews

The two previews above were spoiled in Episode 2 of the Secrets of Strixhaven story, titled Travels and Travails. These both use the converge mechnic, which scales the power of a card based on the number of colors of mana spent to cast it. You can think of converge like a sliding scale from 1-5, with 1 being the baseline effect if you play it in a mono-colored deck, and 5 giving you the maximum output if you're able to spend to cast the card. If you've played with sunburst before, it's very similar.

Both Arcane Omens and Archaic's Agony have a mana cost of 5, so it is possible to reach the full five colors of mana when you cast these spells. In that case, Arcane Omens becomes something of a Wit's End, and Archaic's Agony impulse draws more cards the more excess damage it does.

Neither look all that enticing at first glance, but they both hint at a multicolor deck available for Secrets of Strixhaven‘s Limited format, which was further reinforced by the presence of another colorless creature in Monday's leaks that gets +1/+1 counters when you cast a multicolored spell.

That Was Ages Ago

Archaic's Agony | Illustration by Joshua Raphael

Honestly, converge was a pretty forgettable mechanic when it debuted back in Battle for Zendikar. It was associated with some pretty lackluster Limited cards, like Prism Array and Brilliant Spectrum, though it did spawn a number of heavily-played Constructed cards, including Radiant Flames and Painful Truths, as well as Bring to Light, which has formed the backbone of competitively viable Pioneer and Modern decks from time to time.

Converge has been used sparingly since its debut, most notable on a cycle of uncommons from Modern Horizons 2. Prismatic Ending was the standout card from that bunch, and while it doesn't see much play anymore, it had a couple years of Constructed dominance as a cheap and flexible removal spell.

Crystalline Crawler (Commander 2016) and Uncle's Musings (Avatar: The Last Airbender Scene Box) are some additional one-off converge cards that have appeared across different sets.

In total, there are 19 pre-SOS converge cards, 12 of which came out in the first batch. Mark Rosewater deemed it “unpopular” with Magic players, and gave it a 6 on his Storm Scale, claiming that: “…converge ended up being a mechanic in the wrong environment. I believe if put into a block where color (as opposed to colorlessness) is relevant, the mechanic would have fared much better.” Looks like Secrets of Strixhaven fits the bill, since the set clearly has a focus on multicolor cards.

We'll see if converge can fare any better this time around. Based solely on the two cards spoiled thus far, it looks like it might be getting the MH2 treatment on a cycle of uncommons, but it's too early to say that definitively. If that's true, it should add a little bit of multicolor spice to the Draft environment. Especially if they're all 5-mana cards that give you the opporutnity to hit max WUBRG for your converge payoff.