Secrets of Strixhaven is Magic’s next set, and it’s back to a beloved Plane from Magic’s past.
While the legendary wizarding school (no, not that one) is opening its doors again, it’s also introducing fresh Elder Dragon cards that represent each of Strixhaven’s founders. To clarify, these characters have appeared in the prior Strixhaven decks, but this time around they’re getting fresh looks and new card designs.
With the caveat that we’ve not gone hands-on with them yet or discovered some comically overpowered combos (except for one), here’s our ranking.
Which Elder Dragon Is Best?
One card has to be at the bottom of the list, and for me, it’s Lorehold, the Historian (despite it having some amazing artwork).
This Boros (Red/White) 5/5 has Flying and Haste, and gives Instant and Sorcery cards in your hand Miracle 2 so you can cast them for less when drawing them. You do get the option to discard a card and draw to manipulate your deck somewhat, but the payoff will depend on how many Instants you can pull from on opponents’ turns.
The Orzhov Elder Dragon, Silverquill, the Disputant, is a 4/4 with Flying and Vigilance – always a welcome combo. It also has the Casualty keyword, meaning you can sacrifice creatures with power 1 or greater to double up an Instant or Sorcery.
Put it in a token deck, and it’ll fly (pun intended), and I think there’s scope to sneak it into an Aristocrats-style deck to get some aerial firepower, but overall I think it deserves fourth spot here.
Quandrix, the Proof, is a 6/6 with Flying and Trample that, on another day, could slip into second on our list. For now, it’s a Simic (Green/Blue) powerhouse that dishes out Cascade to your Instant and Sorcery spells, while also having Cascade itself.
Sadly, the Instant and Sorceries for Cascade need to be played from your hand, otherwise you could Cascade Quandrix right into an Instant or Sorcery and so on.
Prismari, the Inspiration, takes second spot in our list. This 7/7 Flying creature has a Ward cost of 5 life, which should deter foes from targeting it in the late game, and gives Instant and Sorcery spells the Storm keyword.
That means you can double up spells, and given Prismari is in Izzet (Red and Blue), there’s an awful lot of cheap spells to use to tee up bigger ones. The sheer size of it as a 7/7 makes it the biggest Elder Dragon on this list, too.
Top of the pile is Witherbloom, the Balancer. This Elder Dragon is a Golgari (Green/Black) 5/5 with Flying and Deathtouch, which is pretty great on its own, but it’s the ‘Affinity for Creatures’ keyword that puts it in a league of its own.
Because it reduces the colorless mana cost of Instant and Sorcery spells, you can use it to create an infinite number of Saproling creature tokens with Sprout Swarm. Play Sprout Swarm, pay its Buyback cost (three mana, which can be reduced to zero with the Affinity ability of Witherbloom), create a 1/1 green Saproling, rinse and repeat.
Will the other Elder Dragons see similar combos pop up? We’ll wait and see, but for now, Witherbloom, the Balancer is the apex predator of this quintet.
For more on Commander, be sure to check out some of the most powerful precon decks in the format so far, as well as a look at some currently on sale.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
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