Last updated on April 14, 2026
Transcendent Archaic | Illustration by Chris Rahn
Folks, it’s no secret that Secrets of Strixhaven looks like one of the best sets in years. It’s packed with exciting new mechanics, callbacks to infamously powerful cards, and one of the best bonus sheets we’ve ever seen. Feels like a particularly potent follow-up to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
In fact, we here at Draftsim are so excited about the set, that we decided to compile a list of cards that we can’t wait to play ourselves.
Jackson Wong: Informed Inkwright
This vigilant 2-drop is a foundational piece to all sorts of decks, and white’s improvement on Third Path Iconoclast. It goes beautifully with prowess, fliers, and any of the heroic variants. Plus…which kind of creatures are great to target with your pump and protection spells? Fliers! And that’s just what this card makes.
Andrew Quinn: Mathemagics
The Quandrix of Strixhaven mean a lot to me. Not only is blue/green my favorite color combination, but I recently got my bachelor’s degree in Math, and now work as a Math tutor. This card makes me so happy, not for its power level, but for its absurdity and incredibly cool design. I’ve even shown it to my colleagues, who know little about Magic, and they also loved it.
Craig Maas: Studious First-Year
This 1-drop common gives me everything I want. It’s a body on turn 1 then gives ramp and fixing on turn 2 and can even ramp me again if I can flicker it. Who doesn’t love a 5-color bombs deck? I love sets that support these kind of decks and couldn’t be more excited for SOS.
Pedro Furtado: Flashback
I love flashback, and I love Snapcaster Mage. To think that I can have a durdly little 1-mana spell that can get my most powerful Magic back, and that counts as a noncreature spell for spellslinger decks. I guess my red decks start with Flashback from now on, and it’ll end up in most Cube projects.
Peter Smith: Fractal Anomaly
Fractal Anomaly is the kind of card that makes you surprised that they haven’t printed it before. It’s simple yet it asks so many interesting deckbuilding questions of you. How can I maximize my card draws? Can I be doing this on my opponent’s turn to have a surprise blocker? Do I care about +1/+1 counters? It’s the kind of card that will make you feel like a genius when you get it to work, and there’s nothing more fun than that.
Eli Weinberg: Fix What’s Broken
Cards like Raise the Past didn’t need any fixing in my eyes, but Fix What's Broken does the dang job! This one is a dream for an Orzhov player like me, it works like charm in nearly all of my Commander decks. It triggers self lifeloss effects, it can recur big beaters, value creatures, and artifacts?? I need 5 of these yesterday.
Andy Walser: Prismari Charm
Cards that give you options are always a ton of fun, so I can’t wait to get ahold of Prismari Charm. It’s a super flexible removal spell that handles pretty much any threat, or you can default to a cantrip to find a more appropriate answer or a threat. The Charm also synergizes with tons of cards, like anything that cares about filling the graveyard or burning permanents. It’s going to be a blast in Cube.
Tim Zaccagnino: Decorum Dissertation
I’m a big fan of the new paradigm spells, and I’m excited to try out Decorum Dissertation. It’s got its non-believers right now, but I’m intrigued by the possibility of casting one big spell and never running out of cards for the rest of the game. It’s basically two Phyrexian Arenas in one card, and extremely hard to stop once it gets going. I might be most excited about just losing to my own card because I won’t stop myself from drawing more cards and losing more life.
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