Ranking Secrets of Strixhaven’s Mythic Emeritus Cycle

Last updated on April 10, 2026

Emeritus of Ideation | Illustration by Evyn Fong

The Emeritus cycle from Secrets of Strixhaven is one of the most exciting, one players have been brainstorming about since it debuted. It’s not surprising that it turned heads when the first card we saw had Ancestral Recall on the textbox.

While that’s certainly an eye-grabbing card, how does it stack up to the rest? Well…if you’ve ever touched Vintage Cube, you know. It’s worth noting that these are all solid cards, but I don’t think any of them are broken—while the prepared spells are extremely strong, taxing them with a creature balances them pretty well.

#5. Emeritus of Truce

White always getting the weakest card in a cycle is a meme with an unfortunate footing in reality, and Emeritus of Truce is no exception. Swords to Plowshares is one of the best removal spells ever printed, but this Emeritus has the worst prepared threshold since it only works when you’re behind.

White’s catch-up cards tend to be on the weaker side (though Beza, the Boundless Spring puts in work!) because they don’t help you’re at parity or ahead. You can always give an opponent the token to prepare EoT, but then you’re mitigating the usefulness of the spell. That doesn’t even address this being the only Emeritus that can’t re-prepare itself! If I had to say something nice, I suppose it’s a useful political card in Commander since it gives away a token?

#4. Emeritus of Abundance

I don’t think Emeritus of Abundance is particularly bad, but I don’t know where it fits. “Creature with Regrowth” is a well-explored design space and I don’t see why you would reach for this over Eternal Witness or Timeless Witness in most scenarios—since they provide Regrowth effects when they enter with no additional costs, they have lots of combo potential.

The only time Emeritus of Abundance seems better than the other options are with extra turn spells since you can attack, use Regrowth on your Time Warp, then do it all again on the extra turn.

#3. Emeritus of Woe

Emeritus of Woe has one of the easier prepare conditions. A black sacrifice deck can easily send two creatures to the graveyard in a turn. Notably, the prepared ability doesn’t care who controlled the creatures that died, so you can get away with a single card like Fleshbag Marauder that makes your opponents’ creatures die.

A repeatable source of Demonic Tutors offers lots of flexibility to decks, though it plays best in decks with game-winning infinite combos to search up.

#2. Emeritus of Conflict

Though I’m betting on blue, I wouldn’t be surprised if Emeritus of Conflict proved to be the strongest Emeritus. It certainly has the most competitive potential, mostly because it’s such a cheap threat.

Emeritus of Conflict specifically looks great in aggressive red decks, which play enough cheap spells they should have no issue casting three in a turn, especially in formats with access to red cantrips like Experiment Synthesizer and Light Up the Stage. It’s also worth noting that the Lightning Bolt copy you cast counts as one of the three spells to prepare the Emeritus, so it gets easier after the first cast.

Overall, this is the Emeritus I expect to see the most in competitive Magic, even if it’s just a copy or two here and there.

#1. Emeritus of Ideation

Emeritus of Ideation certainly boasts the strongest prepared spell. That said, it’s very much not an Ancestral Recall reprint; the 5-mana creature is a serious tax.

The main reason I put it at the top is the potential synergy. Once you get it into play, you can abuse blue being the color of flicker effects. Displacer Kitten is the single best card to pair with it since that lets you Ancestral for every you can produce, but even cards like Thassa, Deep-Dwelling and Ghostly Flicker set it up for endless card draw.