The latest Magic: The Gathering set, Secrets of Strixhaven, is proving to be a hit with players, and a big part of that is the great drafting experience. There are plenty of archetypes to look out for, but it all starts with the first picks, and we're going through our list of cards you'd love to see early in your draft experience.
These cards are ones that are good enough to dictate your entire draft strategy, assuming they're your first or second pick, or complete bombs that are just too good to pass up, even if they don't quite fit your plans.
7
Snarl song
If you have Mana, show it off
There are some expensive bombs in Secrets of Strixhaven, and not all of them are hits, but Snarl Song is worth the risk if you're trying to build a three, four, or five suit deck.
This spell lets you create two 0/0 blue and green fractal token creatures and add X +1/+1 counters to them and gain X life. For this spell, X is the number of colors used to cast the spell.
Chances are if you draw a card like Snarl Song you will lean heavily towards token creatures and not be as strict with the colors you draw. It's a tricky strategy to win with, which is why the card isn't higher on the list, but when it works, it's so satisfying.
Magic: The Gathering – All Secrets Of Strixhaven Commander Decks, Ranked
We take a closer look at all the Strixhaven Commander decks from Commander 2021 and Secrets of Strixhaven to determine which one is the best in the class.
6
The Ark of Hunger
A Legend Of Lorehold
Artifacts aren't the first card type that comes to mind when you draw a Lorehold/Boros deck, but Ark of Hunger is a great card to take early if you're lucky enough to find it.
This artifact interacts with a regular Lorehold action, move cards from your graveyard. Each time you interact with a card in your graveyard, you gain a life and your opponent loses a life.
As an added perk, you can also tap Ark of Hunger to spawn a card. This works well because many Lorehold spells have Flashback, meaning you can still cast them from your graveyard. The worst case scenario is that a creature card goes to the graveyard instead, but there are still ways to interact with them in your graveyard if you build your deck correctly, and you can continue to trigger Ark of Hunger and play away your opponent's health consistently.
5
Informed Inkwright
Tokens for days
Next on our list is the two-mana 2/2 creature with vigilance, Informed Inkwright. Adapted to Orzhov decks, this creature has Repartee, and every time you cast a spell that targets a creature, you create a 1/1 white and black flying Inkling token.
Flying creatures can be tricky to deal with in limited formats if your opponent hasn't factored it into their strategy. If you've managed to take some decent enchantments throughout your draft, you can also get these token creatures to hit for big numbers instead of doing chip damage.
4
Emeritus of ideas
Worth the price
As a five-mana card, Emeritus of Ideation is a costly card to pick when drafting, but it's a quintessential Limited card simply because it offers so much for the price. You get a 5/5 flying creature with a two-mana ward, and it comes in prepared with a Power Nine spell, Ancestral Recall, attached to it.
Get your mana curve just right, and maybe even find some ways to generate treasure tokens or play additional lands, and you'll be laughing when this hits the battlefield.
3
Exhibition Tidecaller
Milling Madness
While milling isn't generally a strong strategy in Secrets of Strixhaven, Exhibition Tidecaller is a brilliant Limited card thanks to its use of the Opus mechanic.
Each time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you choose a target player to grind three cards. If the spell that triggered Opus cost five or more mana, the target player shuffles 10 cards.
This is so valuable because draft decks are 40 cards, meaning you can seriously disrupt your opponents flow with any type of mill, and the longer Tidecaller sits on the battlefield, the more damage it does.
2
Hardened academically
A quick threat
Lorehold has a lot of valuable Limited cards that are worth taking early, but Hardened Academic is the best. This two mana bird priest has flying and haste.
You can choose to discard a card and give it lifelink, and when a card leaves your graveyard, you can put a +1/+1 counter on a target creature.
The balance of low casting cost but high impact is what makes Hardened Academic a no-brainer if it shows up early in your draft, especially given how
1
Together As One
Everything you could ask for
Rarely will the card do as much as Together As One, but the catch is that its value only reaches its potential in three, four, or five mana decks, similar to Snarl Song.
This card allows a target player to draw X cards, deals X damage to any target, and you gain X life, where X is the number of colors used to cast the spell.
This triple threat basically works as removal, draw, and life gain for six mana, and its effectiveness just depends on how many different mana sources you have.
It's one of the best first cards you can draw in Secrets of Strixhaven because you can still be fluid with the rest of your picks, but it's still a valuable card even if you only end up with a three-color deck.
Magic: The Gathering – How To Pick Your Strixhaven College
Choosing a Strixhaven College is a big decision, so let's make it easier by taking you through which MTG game mechanics define each one.
