All 20 Mythic Rares in Secrets of Strixhaven Ranked

Professor Dellian Fel | Illustration by Lie Setiawan

Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS) is just around the corner, and we’re very excited for this set – yay for in-universe MTG sets! In preparation for the set’s launch and prerelease, today I’ll cover all 20 SOS mythic rares. These are the bombs you want to open in your Draft packs and Sealed pools, and they end up more often than not seeing Constructed play, besides being the chase cards of the set.

I’ll rank these exciting new cards by playability across multiple casual and competitive formats. I’m trying to talk about the power level of the card as a whole, and not if it’s a perfect new Bracket 5 cEDH commander or the new top-tier Standard staple. Some of these will shine in casual EDH, while some will join the Standard competitive queues.

How Many Mythic Rares Are in Secrets of Strixhaven?

Prismari, the Inspiration | Illustration by Wayne Reynolds

Secrets of Strixhaven has 20 mythic rare cards, considering only the main set. We’re not taking into consideration the Mystical Archive mythics or the Commander precon mythics here.

Of those 20 mythics, 15 belong to complete cycles, and there are three cycles of mythic rares: the elder dragon cycle, the paradigm cycle, and the Emeritus cycle, creatures with prepared iconic spells. We also have two new planeswalker cards and three more mythics to round up, one of them being a colorless avatar.

#20. Restoration Seminar

Restoration Seminar reminds me of cards like Debtors' Knell or Virtue of Persistence, although these have their own limitations. It’s a 7-mana card that benefits you a lot in a long game, provided that you have something good in your graveyard to begin with.

#19. Echocasting Symposium

There are many Commander decks that thrive on casting Clone spells; Echocasting Symposium is perfect for those decks, and it’ll give you a lot of value over the course of a game. I don’t like that it doesn’t do anything on an empty board, so you’d better play this in creature-heavy decks or decks that have token synergies.

#18. Improvisation Capstone

Improvisation Capstone is an inverted cascade spell, so to speak. It’s a nice payoff for ritual decks or RG ramp decks. Once you cast this card, you can play a very potent spell you’ve exiled from your library each turn (note that it says mana value 4 or greater, so you can exile an Eldrazi and play it). It’s also a strong card if you’re aiming to cast more than one spell each turn or cast cards from exile (Laelia, the Blade Reforged, Prosper, Tome-Bound).

#17. Quandrix, the Proof

I love cascade, and I regularly play an Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty deck. I like that Imoti gives cascade to all 6+ mana spells, so Quandrix, the Proof is somewhat limited by comparison. But look, it’s a 6/6 mana dragon with flying, trample, and cascade, so it’s a very solid card by itself, and I’ll play this card in Imoti for sure. It’s very nice as a ramp target, and it’ll probably see play in Standard and Commander, besides being a Limited bomb.

#16. Mathemagics

First, I’m happy that a card like Mathemagics exists. It’s funny when something as crazy as an exponential function appears in the rules of a game, and apparently Strixhaven/Quandrix are the right places to it. This isn’t a good draw spell, since that you’re not particularly happy to pay 6 mana to draw 4 cards at sorcery speed. That said, exponentials get better with the size of X, and few other cards in MTG will make you draw 16 cards for 10 mana. The best use of this blue mythic is as a win condition. You can make players draw their entire deck, including you, for a 14- to 16-mana investment, which is totally doable without infinite combos.

#15. Germination Practicum

Germination Practicum is the Overrun that keeps on giving. I don’t think this card is bad, but it doesn’t do anything on the turn you play it if you don’t have creatures. It’s best in decks that thrive on adding +1/+1 counters to your creatures, and if you have cards with the increment mechanic that give you something extra when you put counters on them. It’s a fine card, but you need a board or at least a commander that spams tokens.

#14. Prismari, the Inspiration

Prismari, the Inspiration is a big dragon that carries the Thousand-Year Storm enchantment with it. Aside from costing 7 mana, it’s a strong card that will quickly end games in a spellslinger deck. My only gripe is that it’s expensive, but it’s still very nice as a build-around if you have good dragon ramp (like Sarkhan, Fireblood).

#13. Witherbloom, the Balancer

Witherbloom, the Balancer is very strong for EDH and Brawl. It’s easy to build a powerful combo deck around this card, or to get a lot of value out of expensive flashback cards. On the fairer side of things, it’s a nice addition to decks that play creatures and sacrifice fodder, but these decks aren’t that prepared to take advantage of the instant and sorcery cost reduction provided by affinity, so it might struggle to find a home.

#12. The Dawning Archaic

This card jumped up a few ranks for me. First, every deck can play The Dawning Archaic, but realistically it’s at least a red or blue card, since those are usually the fastest at playing spells. I like that you can cast this creature for 0 mana. When it attacks, you can get something for free, which poses a deckbuilding challenge: You want a lot of cheap spells, but you want to mill cards from your library to get some expensive, juicy ones. Good luck trying to build an EDH deck around this card; it’ll be a nice challenge.

#11. Decorum Dissertation

Decorum Dissertation has the potential to become a black staple in EDH. The closest comparison is with Phyrexian Arena-type cards. When you cast this card for the first time, it’s like you’ll have your own set of Phyrexian Arenas every turn, or get a Night's Whisper every turn. That works well with cards like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, since you’re gaining life to offset the life loss. The fact that it’s a lesson means that formats with learn can get this as a silver bullet to drown opponents in card advantage, and maybe it has a shot at Pioneer play.

#10. Silverquill, the Disputant

I wasn’t so keen on Silverquill, the Disputant at first, but let’s start with the creature size. As a 4-mana Serra Angel, it already has okay base stats to begin with, so you don’t need any special build-around support. But giving your instants and sorceries casualty 1 means that this card is a spellslinger and a sacrifice outlet at the same time, and you don’t need to pay extra mana to copy spells. Say you’ve just paid 6 on a Torment of Hailfire? Sac a creature and you’ll Torment for 12. Magecraft works wonders with this dragon around, since casualty triggers that mechanic twice. And depending on what you’re copying, you get double removal spell, card draw, tutor, reanimation… the list goes on.

#9. Lorehold, the Historian

Base rate Lorehold, the Historian is a 5/5 haste dragon with a little extra tacked on. That’s already quite good. Each turn you can discard and draw, and potentially trigger miracle, so you can do really broken things with this card, though I’d prefer to play it in a Jeskai () control deck. Or a Boros () deck with lots of scry and surveil effects. I can see a world where you can miracle Jeskai Revelation for , and that looks like a nice place to start building around, at least in Standard.

#8. Emeritus of Abundance

I don’t know exactly how this card will play out, but it has that Den Protector + Eternal Witness pedigree, so I’m not underrating it. Emeritus of Abundance has a place in grindy matchups where this is the last threat standing; attacking with this card and casting Regrowth every turn is very strong when your opponents are in top-deck mode. In self-mill decks, this can be an effective tutor from your graveyard, and I can see this being an important piece in decks like Muldrotha, the Gravetide.

#7. Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer

Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer reminds me of Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage, a fun little discard planeswalker, even if that card was bad most of the time. This black iteration of Ral Zarek, or bizarro Ral if you will, has more tools to deal with your opponents. First, it can uptick and surveil every turn. You can make any number of players discard, including you, so I can see it as a “madness planeswalker” supporting a BR build. And the play pattern of surveilling a 3-drop and unearthing it with the -2 isn’t bad. Or casting this card after losing a good 3-mana creature.

#6. Professor Dellian Fel

Professor Dellian Fel is what most midrange decks require from a planeswalker. You have card advantage for grindy games, lifegain against aggro, the ability to enable all your infusion cards immediately, and removal. And let’s talk about loyalty counters. If you’re worried that this ‘walker might go down, it can enter with 7 loyalty, and you can emblem it after a single turn. I don’t think red decks will like to see a card that gains 3 life every turn, and it’s very hard to burn down.

#5. Emeritus of Truce

Emeritus of Truce is a weird card, but it’s not weak by any means. At face value, it’s a 3/3 that makes a 1/1 flying token for you. But the thing is, if it enters and you have fewer creatures than your opponent, you get a free prepared Swords to Plowshares, which is one of MTG’s best removal spells.

This card is good for a couple of reasons. At face value, this is a better Ravenous Chupacabra and a worse Solitude. In Commander games, you can have situations when a player has 5 small creatures, and this creature enters prepared so you can take down that horrible 10/10 trampler, or the indestructible commander another player has. You’ll have to be creative in 1v1 games, however, either by giving your opponent a 1/1 flier, or having something like airbending or Ephemerate by your side. Another nice aspect of this creature is that it’s an excellent Unearth or Recommission target, considering its mana value of 3.

#4. Emeritus of Conflict

Emeritus of Conflict looks like a spellslinger card and a synergy card at first, but in many formats like Standard and Pioneer, there’s some form of deck that casts many spells in a given turn. Be it with Cori-Steel Cutter, burn, lessons, Monument to Endurance, or Artist's Talent, it’s easy to go off in a given turn, and Emeritus of Conflict only requires that you cast three spells. Then you get a free Lightning Bolt, which also triggers prowess and your noncreature spell engines. And you can do that almost every turn consistently, which makes this creature a must-kill. Many spellslinger decks in Commander, like Kuja, Genome Sorcerer_, will enjoy this card as well.

#3. Withering Curse

Withering Curse is perfectly fine as an Infest variant that also sweeps the board if you gained life. Attacking with a lifelink creature often turns on infusion, and the new Pest tokens that gain 1 life when they attack will gladly exchange their lives for a 3-mana wrath. There’s already a deck in Standard that combines Firdoch Core and Unholy Annex to drain your opponents. Sweepers go very well with planeswalkers, especially those that can gain life, and you can use the new Professor Dellian Fel in Standard, or most of the Ajanis and Sorins in older formats. Sometimes it’s hard to set a good Split Up, so this card should be easier to use in more scenarios.

#2. Emeritus of Woe

I confess: I read this card as Emeritus of Whoa. Okay, but seriously, Emeritus of Woe has a free Demonic Tutor attached to it. Exactly how many creatures can effectively tutor on entering, like Rune-Scarred Demon and Hoarding Broodlord, or others if you pay additional costs? This card has a few advantages. It’s a sizeable 5/4 creature for 4 mana, and sacrificing two creatures to do this again is trivial in black decks. Just turn on your Viscera Seer engine and find the combo pieces you need to go infinite in sacrifice decks. And it’s even great as a 6-mana 5/4 that tutors for something you need.

#1. Emeritus of Ideation

Ancestral Recall. On a creature. Look, Mulldrifter used to be a fine card as a 2/2 flier for 5 mana that draws two cards. Of course, you can blink Mulldrifter, and there are other shenanigans to pull off with that funny little elemental, besides the fact that it’s a common card.

But here, we’re talking big. Emeritus of Ideation is a 6-mana 5/5 with a draw-three attached. How many cards in MTG have a 1-mana, draw-three kicker? And the best part is, you can wait on this kicker. Cast this wizard for 5 mana; it has ward 2, so it’s not eating a removal spell that early, and if it does, you simply pay 1 more mana and draw three. It doesn’t even need to attack to do its thing the first time. Blink this card, pay 1 mana more to draw three cards.

Okay, it’s not good enough, so let’s add something extra: When you attack, you can prepare it again by exiling eight cards from your graveyard, a lot like the delve on Treasure Cruise, a card that’s absolutely fine and never got banned from any sanctioned format, right?

Wrap Up

Lorehold, the Historian | Illustration by Joshua Raphael

Overall, Secrets of Strixhaven has excellent mythic rare cards, and most of them are poised to see play. While neither are auto-includes in their respective decks, the planeswalkers are both playable. The Emeritus cycle is the flashiest, and all of them have a chance at Standard play, and I’d say most of the elder dragons will see some Standard play while being nice EDH and Brawl build-arounds. Paradigm cards are harder to predict because they’re slow and only reward you in longer games, and depending on the format and matchup, the game might be over before you cast it or get more value. But I’m at least excited to see how players crack these hard-to-use cards.

So, what do you think about these Secret of Strixhaven mythics? Are they that good, or am I overrating them? Let me know in the comments section below, and for more on Secrets of Strixhaven and MTG, please follow our Draftsim YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep.

Until next time, be well!