Ranking All 5 Strixhaven Precon Face Commanders

Last updated on January 28, 2026

Killian, Decisive Mentor | Illus. Billy Christian / Zimone, Infinite Analyst | Illus. Carly Milligan / Dina, Essence Brewer | Illus. Pauline Voss / Quintorius, History Chaser | Illus. Darren Tan / Rootha, Mastering the Moment | Illus. Lie Setiawan / Sol Ring | Illus. Oistina Khalidah

Big day for Magic this Tuesday. Maybe it was all a way to brush some of the TMNT controversy under the rug, but whatever the reason, WotC dropped tons of news about Secrets of Strixhaven and Marvel Super Heroes this week. In the midst of elder dragons and Mystical Archive hype, the Strixhaven spoilers also included the face commanders for all five Commander precons coming out in April's headliner set. Let's put them all in a vacuum together and see how they stack up against one another.

#5. Rootha, Mastering the Moment

Rootha, Mastering the Moment looks respectable enough, it's just not all that inspired. That was sort of Prismari's problem in the original Strixhaven set: How do you make Izzet spellslinging feel unique on the plane where every color pair is known for spellslinging? The answer is you don't, and you just embrace what Izzet always does. In this case, Rootha makes one large token per turn and smashes face, incentivizing casting big spells. It's got extra turns written all over it, which is probably as much a net negative as it is a good thing.

The fact that this is coming in last is a good sign, since Rootha still reads like a fairly powerful card.

#4. Quintorius, History Chaser

Quintorius is a literal planeswalker and there are still more Zimone cards than Quints. This version feels like an apology for undershooting Quintorius, Field Historian, but it strikes me as more cool than good. It's obviously promoting the whole Lorehold “archaeological” gravebreak theme, but the combination of abilities doesn't really add up here. Like yes, the -4 pumps the spirits you make with the static ability, but the +1 doesn't actually do much without help from other cards.

Add to that the fact that this is an easily-killable planeswalker and I'm skeptical how Quintorius will perform out of the box. It just seems like this will be more about the cards surrounding it than the card itself. There's a bit of cool factor here though, since this is the only planeswalker commander of the bunch (I bet Quintorius is a real showoff at Strixhaven).

#3. Killian, Decisive Mentor

Black-White enchantress sounds fun, and a goading/aura subtheme feels novel enough for Orzhov/Prismari. This strikes me as an imminently playable casual commander that'll form its own mini-archetype, similar to Eriette of the Charmed Apple. It's doing enough unique things that I imagine people will gravitate towards Killian over Rootha outside of precon play, and look at that fit.

#2. Zimone, Infinite Analyst

Would you believe me if I told you this was the fifth legendary creature card featuring Zimone? She's up to her usual Quandrixy mathematical ways as an X-spell commander that maintain's Simic‘s usual +1/+1 counter identity. This version reads a lot like Mizzix of the Izmagnus, but comes down earlier and has an easier way of discounting larger spells.

If not the next big X-spell commander, you can at least expect to see a lot of Zimone in Magus Lucea Kane and Zaxara, the Exemplary decks.

#1. Dina, Essence Brewer

She's mean, she's green, she's Din… a.

The Kombucha-making Witherbloom student makes her third appearance on what looks to me like a slam-dunk aristocrats card. That's a pretty powerful draw ability in a sacrifice deck, reminiscent of Morbid Opportunist, but more restrictive. The activated ability also covers a lot of ground: +1/+1 counters, sac outlet, lifegain, power-matters, etc. It just feels like a package of abilities that ties everything Golgari can possibly do together on one card.

You could argue it's not exactly inspired, the same way Rootha's a little too on-brand, but I can imagine so many different BG decks clamoring to slot this in somewhere, and many more running it in the command zone.