Uncovering The Secrets of Strixhaven - Exploring Magic: The Gathering’s Newest Set
Keywords 101 - Secrets of Strixhaven Featured Mechanics
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Prepare
Prepare is that perfect blend of flavour and gameplay mechanics that we love. Characters from all across Magic: The Gathering are arriving at Strixhaven University to learn and teach magic. Of course, being wizards, they would have a spell or two up their sleeves. But how do prepared spells work? Let’s break down the already infamous Emeritus of Ideation.
The majority of the creatures with prepared spells are similar to creatures with Omen or Adventure. The cards are broken up into two parts. The first part is the main card, the overall creature. On Emeritus of Ideation, we see it is a 5/5 blue human wizard creature that costs 3 generic mana and 2 blue mana. No matter where the card is: in your hand, graveyard, deck, or anywhere else, it is a creature spell with all the characteristics of a creature.
The prepare spell is the inserted section we see to the right of the creature’s regular text box. Unlike adventure or omen, these spells cannot be cast from your hand. These spells are cast from exile, but what does that mean? As of now, we only know of creatures that can be prepared, but in theory, any permanent can be prepared. Most creatures, when they enter, become prepared; others have ways to become prepared.
When a creature with a prepare spell becomes prepared, a copy of the prepare spell will appear in exile. The copy will remain in exile until one of three things happens. You can cast the spell, in this case, Ancestral Recall. The prepared creature leaves play, and so you lose the copy of the spell. Lastly, the prepared creature somehow becomes unprepared. This will also cause the copy to leave exile. Casting these prepare spells still requires you to obey timing restrictions. If the prepare spell is a sorcery, you still can only play it at sorcery speed unless you have a means of casting spells as though they were instants.
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From what we’ve seen so far, I absolutely love that these prepare spells are real spells from Magic’s history. I love the fact that I can potentially cast Channel in Commander or Ancestral Recall in Standard. One final thing to note is that, should a prepared creature change controllers, the new controller is the one who can cast the copy of the prepare spell.
Paradigm
Paradigm is an “epic” new keyword that we’re told will appear on a cycle of sorceries. I love Paradigm because it takes the idea that we saw from the “Epic” cycle of spells and alters it so that you’re not entirely locked out of playing spells for the rest of the game. But what is paradigm?
The first time a particular spell with paradigm resolves, the spell is exiled. From then on, you may cast a copy of the spell from exile without paying its mana cost at the beginning of each of your first main phases. Should the copy get countered, no sweat, you can cast it again on your next turn. Should you choose not to cast it for a turn, it doesn’t matter; you can cast it again the next. However, should you draw and play another copy of the same spell, for example, you draw and play your second copy of Improvisation Capstone while you already resolved one, you would not then cast two copies on each of your turns.
Converge
Before we dive into the core curriculum of each school, there is one more overarching lesson shared by all. Converge is a returning ability word that denotes the fact that the following ability counts the number of different colours of mana used to cast the spell.
Until we receive the fabled purple mana, the number of colours of mana spent to cast a spell will always range between 0 and 5. Colourless is exactly that, colourless, and will not count towards any converge abilities. If you cast a spell for free, the converge will be zero unless you had to pay any additional costs. Also, copies of converge spells will see their converge value be zero because you did not spend mana to cast the copy in most cases.
Repartee – Silverquill
Just like how on Ravnica each guild had a mechanic representative of their skills and specialities, we see each house of Strixhaven University represented by their own unique styles of combat. The eloquent and verbose Silverquill wield their scriptures and academia to confound and bewilder their foes into submission.
Repartee is an ability word that denotes when a triggered ability would trigger when you cast an instant or sorcery spell that targets a creature. Let’s take a look at the Silverquill representative itself, Inkling Mascot. Its repartee ability says “Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell that targets a creature, this creature gains flying until end of turn. Surveil 1”.
Each repartee ability is unique to each creature. Should you cast a spell that targets multiple creatures, each repartee ability on your side of the field still only triggers one time. However, should you trigger multiple repartee abilities at once, you can layer the triggers to resolve them in whichever order you choose. Repartee abilities will always resolve before the spell that caused them to trigger resolves.
Opus – Prismari
For the aspiring showmen and artists among you, every spell and ability is but an entry into your compendium of art, each an addition to your “magnum” opus, a culmination of your greatest pieces into one dazzling finale.
Opus is another new ability word in Secrets of Strixhaven that denotes a triggered ability for whenever you cast an instant and sorcery spell. Each opus ability has an initial triggered effect that will resolve when you cast an instant or sorcery spell. These effects may have an additional or alternative effect if you spent 5 or more mana on the spell that triggered the opus ability.
The Prismari representative, Elemental Mascot, has the opus ability “Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, this creature gains +1/+0. If five or more mana was spent to cast that spell, exile the top card of your library. You may play that card until the end of your next turn”.
Opus takes into account all mana spent to cast the spell, including additional costs. It does not, however, take into account mana that was spent to pay for effects like Ward. Similarly to Repartee, you can order multiple simultaneous opus effects to resolve in the order of your choosing, and these effects will resolve before the spell that caused them to trigger resolves.
Infusion – Witherbloom
The students in Witherbloom specialise in the natural cycle of life, so much so that life itself fuels much of their magic. Infusion is yet another new ability word that denotes abilities that care whether or not you’ve gained life this turn. We see infusion on instants and sorceries that give alternate or additional effects. An example would be Withering Curse. We also see it on creatures, often for triggered abilities, like on Old-Growth Educator.
From the cards we’ve seen so far, infusion doesn’t look at how much life you’ve gained, only the fact that you’ve gained life at all. If you started the turn at 10 life, lost 5 life, and then gained 2 life, infusion would still apply. You do not need to be above your starting life total or the life total you were at when the turn began.
Increment – Quandrix
Quandrix students specialise in making the most of their magic through the sciences and math. While sometimes they have exponentially explosive results, we often see them make use of every little increment of magic, inching closer to victory in a meticulous, calculated fashion.
Increment is a keyword that denotes a triggered ability on creatures. In true blue-green fashion, increment states, “Whenever you cast a spell, if the amount of mana you spent is greater than this creature’s power or toughness, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. The interesting part about increment is that if it triggers, you compare the stats twice, once on trigger and once on resolution .
Let’s say, for example, you have a Pensive Professor in play and cast a 3 mana spell. Increment will trigger and see that 3 mana is indeed greater than Pensive Professor’s power or toughness. If nothing else happens, the trigger will resolve and see that Pensive Professor’s stats are still less than 3 and the creature will get the +1/+1 counter.
However, if in response to the increment trigger, an ability or spell increases Pensive Professor’s stats to say 3/4, when increment goes to resolve on the stack, it will see that Pensive Professor no longer has stats lower than 3, and will not give the +1/+1 counter.
Similarly to Opus and Repartee, we continue to look at the total mana spent to cast the spell, factoring in additional costs. We do not, however, account for mana spent to pay for additional effects like with ward yet again.
Flashback – Lorehold
If any school were to dig up mechanics from the past, it would be Lorehold. The aspiring archaeologists, historians, and explorers excel at digging up the past and using that knowledge to gain an edge over any adversaries they may face.
Flashback is a keyword ability that appears on some instants and sorceries. Cards that have flashback often show a cost next to them. While a card with flashback is in your graveyard, you may cast it by paying its flashback cost. Then, after it resolves, the spell is put into exile. However, should you cast a card for its flashback cost and it gets countered, it is still exiled. Flashback also does not change any timing restrictions to spells; you can still only cast sorceries at sorcery speed unless you have an effect that allows you to cast spells as though they were instants.
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Browsing The Yearbook - Professors and Students, New and Old
As we return for another semester at Strixhaven University, we see that time has passed not only for us, but for the students and professors as well. We saw the formerly new students become leaders and mentors in their own right. Killian, Dina, Zimone, and many others have grown as students and are now seen at the helm of their very own commander decks.
Of course, the founders of each of the colleges are back. The founding elder dragons make their return, and each of them has vastly different and immensely powerful abilities. Shadrix Silverquill, Galazeth Prismari, Beledros Witherbloom, Velomachus Lorehold, and Tanazir Quandrix themselves are here to show just how powerful they can be.
This wouldn’t be a university without its professors, and we do have a surprise new one. Last semester, Professor Onyx was our guest mono-black teacher, but this semester, she’s joined by yet another notorious planeswalker, Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer. And this time he’s mono-black? Ral is also joined by brand new planeswalker Professor Dellian Fel.
Also, something I personally love, as a sucker for beautiful full-art lands, we have these stunning full-art spellcraft lands.
Entering The Mystical Archives - A Compendium of Art and Products
One thing that was extremely memorable about the first time we visited Strixhaven University was the alternate art treatment and special cards. The Mystical Archives were one of the absolute highlights of the set. And let me say, the art for this set does not disappoint.
Starting with a very special card, the headliner of the set, Emeritus of Ideation. What makes this card so special is that we are seeing Ancestral Recall, one of the most iconic cards in Magic: The Gathering’s history, make an appearance again in standard. It may not be an exact reprint of the card, but I know for a fact I’ve always wanted to say I’ve cast Ancestral Recall. But on top of that, the original artist for Ancestral Recall, the legendary Mark Poole, came back to design the stunning headliner card of Emeritus of Ideation. The reference to the original Ancestral Recall artwork is just the icing on the cake.
We also see the return of an art treatment that we saw in Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Borderless Field Notes art treatment. It matches thematically so well with the students having travelled to Lorwyn and other planes to further their studies.
Of course, this wouldn’t be a Strixhaven set without the Mystical Archive itself. Once again, we’re seeing iconic spells from across Magic: The Gathering’s history, immortalised as tomes and scrolls in Strixhaven’s massive library.
In addition to the original Mystical Archive, we are also getting the Japanese Mystical Archive featuring art from some extraordinarily talented Japanese artists. These come in their original versions as well as an all-new Silver Scroll Foil art treatment.
The Semester Begins
With Strixhaven University opening its doors once again, we can’t wait to see what mysteries the set holds. Prerelease events start as soon as April 17th-23rd, and the full set is due to release April 24th 2026. Brand new mechanics, epic dragons, and so many powerful legends and spells, we genuinely cannot wait to see what Secrets of Strixhaven has in store.
And of course, you wouldn’t want to leave behind any important subjects, right? 😉 Join us in London for Magic Spotlight: Secrets, where you’ll be able to test all the new mechanics in a weekend full of Magic! Let’s celebrate Secrets of Strixhaven with artists, special guests and tons of fun events from 8 to 10 May! Get your tickets here.
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