Magic: The Gathering has gone back to Strixhaven just a few months after its trip to Lorwyn, and I couldn’t be happier.
For reference, I’m a relatively new Magic player: I got started around 2022, and when Lord of the Rings hit shelves, my friendship group bought in. And, despite Wizards of the Coast’s controversial leaning into IP, our Commander pod has grabbed fresh players ever since.
In 2026, we’ve already had a crossover with TMNT, we’re getting The Hobbit, more Marvel, and Star Trek, but Secret of Strixhaven has me absolutely spellbound. I wasn’t playing in 2021 when we got our first go-round of the magic schools contained within, but I’m now more in love with this wonderful game than ever.
Accessible Archive?
There’s something quite special about the multiple cycles included within Secrets of Strixhaven. Yes, there are Elder Dragons (all of which are pretty great), and we’ll come to Emeriti in a moment, but the set includes reprints of powerful Magic cards of yore under the heading of the Mystical Archive.
Now, to be clear, this was part of the last Strixhaven set, but this means you can open cards like Akroma’s Will, Living End, Jeska’s Will, and plenty more. Yes, some of these have been reprinted a lot, and many seem to find their way into a Commander precon or two a year, but this is, without a doubt, a great way to play catch-up.
With one in every pack (including Play Boosters), there’s a good chance that even if you don’t get a super powerful card, you’ll get at least something you can make use of in a deck you’re brewing, or just enjoy some awesome art.
Collector Boosters do seem to hold much pricier cards, and that remains a bone of contention given the steep MSRP, but when my friend and I play a prerelease and end up with half a dozen bangers to use later on, that’s a win in my book.
Preparation, Preparation
Another very cool part of the new set is the Prepare mechanic (which we’ve gone deeper into as part of our ‘study guide’). By stapling some of Magic’s most sought-after spells to creatures, Wizards has created a unique opportunity to slip, say, a Demonic Tutor into your deck while also having it be part of a new creature.
Cards like Eijango Dynastorian, which can cast Replenish to return enchantments from your graveyard to the battlefield, are the kind of perfect fit for deckbuilders to begin with – and that’s not even including the fact that it’s a 2/3 with vigilance, too.
Nowhere is this felt more keenly than in the Emeriti cycle of cards, with one included for each color of Magic. Emeritus of Woe in Black includes Demonic Tutor, while its Blue counterpart, Emeritus of Ideation, includes Ancestral Recall.
Then there’s Emeritus of Conflict with Lightning Bolt (Red), Emeritus of Truce with Swords to Plowshares (White), and Emeritus of Abundance with Regrowth (Green).
The Commander Conversation
I primarily play the Commander format with friends, but I enjoyed Secrets of Strixhaven’s prerelease so much I’m considering building a standard deck, too.
Still, Commander remains my ‘home’, and I’m so pleased that all five of the included precons are pretty great. We’ve got a full ranking, but suffice it to say that they all lean into a game plan and have some consistency. Even the (very fun) Final Fantasy quartet had some muddled end goals, and while Prismari Performance comes in last, taking these apart will give you some excellent reprints to play with.
Depending on which deck you pick up, you’ll get reprints of cards like Faerie Mastermind, Land Tax, Gyome, Master Chef, Butterthorn, Wave of Reckoning, and more.
In short, Secrets of Strixhaven has become one of my favorite sets since I began playing a few years ago, and has reinvigorated my love for the game after I struggled to get too excited about TMNT (outside of the excellent Turtle Power precon).
Will it be remembered as fondly as some iconic sets? Time will tell, but I’ve got my sights set on some more draft nights yet.
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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