The 35 Best Cards in Secrets of Strixhaven Ranked

Last updated on April 28, 2026

The Dawning Archaic | Illustration by Josu Solano

Secrets of Strixhaven looks like a pretty juiced up set. It’s got a stellar bonus sheet, five Commander decks’ worth of new cards and reprints, and a main attraction full of new mechanics and interesting creature-spell combos with the prepare mechanic. There are a ton of headliners here, so today I’ll narrow down the newcomers to just the best in class. The Valedictorian-level graduates, if you will.

Note that due to the sheer number of reprints across the precons, the Mystical Archive, and the Special Guests, I’ll evaluate new cards only, with an eye towards Commander as well as Constructed when applicable.

#35. Slumbering Trudge

At the end of the day, Slumbering Trudge is just a big dumb beater, but The Great Henge on turn 2 might change my tune. A 6/6 you only had to invest 1 mana into is gnarly, and you can always play it as a 4-mana 6/6 and totally ignore the stun counters.

#34. Lorehold Charm

I don’t think these 2-color Ravnica-style charms hold up all that well these days. They’re modal, but modality only gets you so far when it comes to actually using one of the modes. Lorehold Charm gets above the bar, mostly off of the first mode being a potential 3-for-1 in Commander. The other two modes aren’t embarrassing either, and I’d be happy to run this with any 2-mana Boros commander off the second mode alone.

#33. Informed Inkwright

So long as the spells you’re casting target creatures, Informed Inkwright will play out like a buffed-up Young Pyromancer, with better baseline stats and better token creation. That still requires a specific enough deck that repartee isn’t a total freeroll.

#32. Scheming Silvertongue

This is a promising new addition to lifegain decks. Sign in Blood nearly every turn sounds great in the decks that’ll already be tuned to make Scheming Silvertongue work. All you need is a single extra point of lifegain sometime before you end combat each turn.

#31. Germination Practicum

Sometimes the most boring textboxes produce the biggest effects. Germination Practicum is an instant boardstate every turn, so long as you have any number of bodies in play already. It’s hard to keep up with a compounding Dictate of Heliod every turn, especially when it can’t be removed by traditional means.

#30. Flow State

A word can make all the difference. I think the comparisons to Expressive Iteration are a bit of a reach, since Flow State requires two different card types in your graveyard, but if you’re in a Constructed or Commander deck that can bin an instant and a sorcery easily, this is some powerful card draw.

#29. Moment of Reckoning

Big game-warping 7-drops, the way the EDH founders intended. Comparisons have been made between Moment of Reckoning and Casualties of War, which feels apt, even if they do wildly different things. This is just fun any way you draw it up.

#28. Ark of Hunger

Syr Konrad, the Grim but in Boros () wasn’t on my bingo card. Ark of Hunger is a sweet design, a mix between Outpost Siege and gravebreak wincon, and if that second part is ever going to truly work for Boros, this card will have something to do with it.

#27. Pensive Professor

New Fathom Mage, who dis? The card draw on Pensive Professor is more limiting, but the mana cost is less restrictive, and this has all the same combos with cards that place +1/+1 counters when you draw.

#26. Traumatic Critique

Thrill of Possibility is still a heavily played card, and Traumatic Critique is a huge upgrade if you’re in UR+. It’s already a solid card filtering tool without any mana put into X; it’s basically a better Thrill with a “kicker” cost that lets you turn extra mana into damage.

#25. Turbulent Lands

The Turbulent lands are a new land cycle introduced in Secrets of Strixhaven Commander. They have fetchable land types, and they naturally enter untapped if your opponents control a collective eight or more lands.

There’s already some scuttle about how these compare to other Commander-specific lands, but they seem like a great alternative to more expensive options like shocks and triomes. Not better, but a fine way to complement other fetchable land cycles.

#24. Resonating Lute

It’s a strange one, but Resonating Lute is a mana doubler for spellslinger decks, plus card draw in decks that keep their hand stocked. I bet this finds its way into a ton of existing Izzet Commander decks.

#23. Cauldron of Essence

I’ve heard Cauldron of Essence likened to Recurring Nightmare, which is neither accurate nor too farfetched to consider. It’s a very Golgari-coded card, requiring sac fodder and good reanimation targets, plus a meaningful mana investment. The drain effect is a nice throw-in here; I’d be interested without that line of text.

#22. Mathemagics

Whether it’s great or not, Mathemagics is definitely a design win. There’s probably some promise in Constructed, since this serves as a cycler, a 4-mana draw-2, and a win condition with a large amount of mana, since it can target opponents and deck them out. All those effects create a chimeric draw spell that seems way too efficient to ignore, even if sorcery is a bit of a bummer.

#21. Pest Rescuer

Pest Rescuer is a new imitation of Ophiomancer, and both come packaged together in the Witherbloom Pestilence precon. Ophiomancer’s deathtouching snake tokens are much better than the Pests, but both cards are at their best with free sac outlets so you can load up another token on the following upkeep. Ophiomancer’s token holds off attacks pretty well, but the lifegain from Pest Rescuer’s tokens might be preferable for some Witherbloom strategies.

#20. Immoral Bargain

Not every Golgari deck can leverage Immoral Bargain, but those with ample token creation can clear a large portion of the board with this. Seems like a great follow-up to Pest Infestation to wipe away all the creatures after dealing with the noncreatures. But that’s the level of token generation you need to consider Immoral Bargain.

#19. Defacing Duskmage

Defacing Duskmage looks like a respectable midrange card advantage engine. It’s repeatable card draw that even pressures life totals (your own, included), and having the prepared spell be an instant is key to maximizing the card because it lets you potentially fire it off multiple times per turn cycle.

#18. Ceaseless Conflict

We see a lot of wraths these days that follow the blueprint of “destroy the board, but leave you with something”. Ceaseless Conflict does this by replacing every nontoken you lost with a 3/2 spirit. Honestly, this sounds pretty great as a board wipe that can still leave you with 9-12 power on board, maybe more.

#17. Emeritus of Ideation

Emeritus of Ideation lets you cast Ancestral Recall in formats where it’s not even legal, and for people who’ll never actually own a copy of the Power Nine card. If that’s not worthy of a slot on this list independent of its own power level, I’m not sure what is. And yeah, you can soft-combo with Displacer Kitten if you’ve been struggling to find combos with that card.

#16. The Dawning Archaic

Here’s everyone’s new spellslinging staple, and it’s colorless so I truly mean everyone. The Dawning Archaic asks you to really commit to the instant/sorcery plan, but if you do, you get a burly creature for cheap and a steady stream of spells as it attacks.

#15. Mana Sculpt

Would you still play Mana Drain if it cost 1 more mana? We know how big of a difference a single mana can make; just compare Counterspell to Cancel. So Mana Sculpt isn’t exactly Mana Drain #2, but it’s still a potent counterspell in any deck that’ll reliably have a wizard in play.

#14. Grave Researcher

There’s no way to cast the Reanimate on Grave Researcher right away, but this can also represent a handful of Reanimates over several turns, and surveil on upkeep keeps the dream alive. Or undead, as it were.

#13. Emeritus of Truce

The rate of a 3/3 and a flying 1/1 for 3 mana is good enough for Standard, but I’m really interested in Emeritus of Truce for Commander, where you’ll frequently be able to give yourself the 1/1 and prepare the Swords to Plowshares. Even if you have to give someone the Inkling to get the removal spell, you’re still basically playing a 3/3 with a Ravenform attached to it, and there’s some nice politicking to it since the person with more creatures than you doesn’t have to be the one you give the Inkling to.

#12. Decorum Dissertation

I’ve heard some negative reviews of Decorum Dissertation, but I don’t think people are fully grasping the effect of this card. Sign in Blood for 5 mana sucks. But Sign in Blood every turn of the game without ever having to spend mana on card draw ever again has my attention. Or think about it this way: two Phyrexian Arenas for 5 mana. This likely needs lifegain to offset the repeated life loss, but using one turn and one spell to guarantee you have cards in hand for the remainder of the game is quite strong, and you don’t have to copy this paradigm spell if your life total gets too low.

#11. Yavimaya Bloomsage

As weird as it sounds, Yavimaya Bloomsage reminds me of Felidar Sovereign or Revel in Riches. If you can prepare the Channel spell, you’re almost assuredly set up to win, but you have to make it through a turn cycle with a giant target on your back. Getting to cast Channel in Commander sounds incredibly fun, but I wouldn’t expect that to happen all too often.

#10. Molten-Core Maestro

The fact that Molten-Core Maestro’s opus ability can give you enough mana to cast your next big spell and potentially chain big spells together puts it in combo territory, and it seems pretty easy to go off with any buyback card.

#9. Emeritus of Woe

Much closer to clunkers like Rune-Scarred Demon than actual Demonic Tutor, Emeritus of Woe is nonetheless an eye-catching midrange creature that can tutor every turn under the right circumstances. I’m thinking about this more like a 6-mana play, but running it out exposed on turn 4 so you can D-Tutor on turn 5 seems fine, too.

#8. Expansion Algorithm

Proliferating is strong in Commander, and doing it X times is about X times stronger. That’s the exact text on Expansion Algorithm. If memory serves, when reviewing the best cards from Final Fantasy, I stated that I’d never ignore a card with the text “proliferate X times” (Tromell, Seymour's Butler), and I’m staying true to my word.

#7. Lorehold, the Historian

Miracle is such steep cost reduction for some spells that it’s worth flying through hoops to make Lorehold, the Historian work. And those aren’t big hoops, anyway; you can manipulate your deck with Sensei's Divining Top and Library of Leng, or just wait until the rummage ability naturally hits one of the giant instants or sorceries you filled your deck with.

#6. Emeritus of Abundance

I’m mostly interested in Emeritus of Abundance for the extra turn combos. The Bant () spectrum has always had access to infinite turn combos involving Eternal Witness, a blink effect, and a time walk, but the green Emeritus cuts out the need for the blink spell by recharging its own Regrowth every turn.

#5. Silverquill, the Disputant

Casualty isn’t as infamous or memorable as affinity or storm, but don’t underestimate copy spells for this little of a cost. Sacrificing just about any creature to double up any instant or sorcery is dangerous, especially in these colors, which are known to produce fodder with ease. Seems like an awesome WB token commander, too, since you can double up on spell-based token-makers like Grand Crescendo and White Sun's Twilight.

#4. Quandrix, the Proof

These elder dragons are really stealing the show here. I guess that’s what happens when you slap some of Magic’s most famously broken mechanics on a bunch of mythic dragons. Cascade cameos on Quandrix, the Proof, turning every instant/sorcery you cast into a 2-for-1 minimum. And it even cascades on itself, so there’s some immediate value there, too.

#3. Witherbloom, the Balancer

Another broken elder dragon and still not the best one. You can do so much with Witherbloom, the Balancer outside Sprout Swarm combos, and it’s going to be fairly cheap to cast in a dedicated go-wide deck, despite the high mana value. This is the type of affinity people talk about in hushed whispers.

#2. Prismari, the Inspiration

Storm on all your instants and sorceries is so laughably broken that Prismari, the Inspiration is a rare “kill-on-sight” commander that you might not even have a chance to remove before the game ends. Think Thousand-Year Storm in the command zone, with a painful ward cost to boot.

#1. Erode

Whether you think Erode is better than Path to Exile or not, it’s such an important print, and it gives white another tool in its top-tier removal arsenal. Giving up exile to remove planeswalkers is a decent trade-off with real pros and cons, and for my money Path is still the clear winner, but Path doesn’t exist in Standard, and Commander’s happy to pick up a new piece of premium white removal.

Wrap Up

Emeritus of Ideation | Illustration by Evyn Fong

Secrets of Strixhaven looks more packed than a 5-course semester, which is quite the feat for a set that only focuses on five of the 10 major color pairs. Prepare is a welcome addition to Magic, and it reminds me of the compartmentalization we got with MFDCs, allowing us to squeeze more of one card type into our decks without sacrificing another.

Even outside of prepare, I’m intrigued by some of the other mechanics, namely increment, repartee, and paradigm, and I hope to open Erode on my Secrets of Strixhaven draft simulation. I might need to brush up on my Morse Code, because I’m expecting to see a lot of SOS in my future.

Which cards are you most excited about from this set? What’s going to pop off in Standard, or other Constructed formats? Let us know in the comments down below or in the Draftsim Discord, and check out The Daily Upkeep newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest MTG news.

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