New Secrets of Strixhaven Artifact Supercharges Spellslinger Strategies

Last updated on April 3, 2026

Resonating Lute | Illustration by Edgar Sánchez Hidalgo

Secrets of Strixhaven spoiler season has dropped plenty of exciting commanders, but that doesn’t mean archetypes aren’t getting non-legendary support. Resonating Lute boasts a high mana cost, but promises just as much ramp, especially when paired with the right synergies.

Sol Lands For Instants and Sorceries

Ancient Tomb | Illustration by Yeong Hao Han

I’ve always thought of spellslinger decks as falling into two rough archetypes: Storm-style combo decks that accrue value by casting many small spells in a single turn or over several turns (Vivi Ornitier or Niv-Mizzet, Parun) and decks that ramp into big instants and sorceries🙁Rootha, Mastering the Moment, Anhelo, the Painter). While these archetypes want different card choices, win conditions, and payoffs, they share a desire for ramp, and Resonating Lute supports either flavor of spellslinger.

The key line of text on Resonating Lute lets your lands tap for two mana so long as its spent on instants and sorceries. Whether you want to cast lots of cantrips or a single impactful play, that’s a huge mana bump. Assuming you play the Lute on turn 4, turn 5 sees you with up to 10 mana. It also draws a card if you have a full hand, but that’s nothing compared to the mana.

Costing 4 mana plays well with 2-mana ramp spells. Cards like Talisman of Creativity and Arcane Signet are generally the standard in EDH, so having a 4-mana rock curves into that well; turn 2 Signet, turn 3 Lute, turn 4 have some nine mana sounds like an extremely achievable curve.

Exploiting the Extra Mana

Frantic Search | Illustration by Mitchell Malloy

The best way to make use of lands that tap for multiple mana is casting spells, first and foremost. A clsoe runner up is finding ways to exploit that additional mana with effects that untap your lands.

Frantic Search and Snap are both “free” spells that untap lands; when those lands tap for extra mana, you ramp. These are commonly played alongside High Tide, but Resonating Lute fills a similar function. Frantic Search in particular works well in combo-y, storm-style decks. Time Spiral might be the most famous of these effects. You can also use Reality Spasm and Finale of Revelation to generate huge bursts of mana.

Green excels at untapping lands. The pinnacle of these effects is Seedborn Muse, but Wilderness Reclamation isn’t that far off. These two work best with plenty of instants like Consult the Star Charts and Memory Deluge so you can use your mana every turn. There are even much leaner untap spells like Arbor Elf and Portent Tracker that ramp normally, but get turbo-charged with Resonating Lute. Temur spellslinger decks aren’t that uncommon with commanders like Storm, Force of Nature and Kalamax, the Stormsire running around.

Is It Actually Good?

Novice Inspector | Illustration by Fajareka Setiawan

There are many points in Resonating Lute’s favor, but you can paint any Magic card in a good light if you pick out the right synergies. It’s important to consider the fail cases, and how new cards stack up to existing options.

At its worst, Resonating Lure does nothing. A glaring flaw compared to, say, Relic of Sauron or Thran Dynamo is that the Lute itself doesn’t tap for mana; it just makes your lands better. If you play it and tap all your lands, your opponent can destroy the artifact before it does anything. At least the Relic or Dynamo can play another spell.

There’s also the mana restriction. While spellslinger decks primarily want to cast instants and sorceries, those aren’t the only spells in the deck. Forget not setting up other mana rocks or getting an Archaeomancer into play—the more I think about it, the less I like an expensive mana rock that can’t recast my commander.

Don’t expect Resonating Lute to break cEDH or get put on a ban list anytime soon. It probably works pretty well around Bracket 2 or 3, but I’d prefer a rock that sets up my entire game plan unless you explicitly plan to break it with land untap effects.