Historic Brewing Review – Secrets of Strixhaven

Hello, hello! Plum here from Fun & Jank, and it’s time for another Brewer’s Review yet again. We’re diving into Secrets of Strixhaven, and I’ve got to say, I’m feeling a lot better about this one. I’m excited to get back to a Universes Within set coming off of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stuff, and it feels like we’re getting back to what I really love about Magic, unique designs and interesting glue cards that actually open up room for brewing.

Just a reminder: this isn’t a full set review or a limited guide. I’m just a dude who likes to play jank and find homes for the weird stuff. We’ve got a massive list to get through, over 70 cards, including some spicy Mystical Archives that are going to shake up Historic and Timeless. This set seems to have a ton of fun designs that aren’t groundbreaking, but good possibilities to have in the brewing pool. I’ll give you some quick thoughts about each card and potential homes for them, why they’re cool, and why you may want to keep an eye of ’em for the future!

So, grab your snacks and strap in. Let’s get moving!

First up on the list is Dawning Archaic. This thing is a massive 10-mana 7/7 with reach, but don’t let that mana value scare you off. It costs one less for each instant and sorcery in your graveyard, and when it attacks, you get to cast one of those spells for free.

The comparison everyone is going to make is to cards like Demilich or Murktide Regent, but there is one huge difference here: it doesn’t actually exile the spells to get the cost reduction. I think that’s quite the upside. It means once your graveyard is set up, the first one is cheap, but the second and third ones are just going to be free.

I’m looking at this for some really explosive turn two or turn three plays. If we’re running Faithless Looting, Glimpse the Unthinkable, or even Otherworldly Gaze, we can fill the yard fast enough to drop this way ahead of schedule. I also really want to pair this with Arena of Glory, giving a 7/7 haste so you can immediately cast a free spell from the bin is super sweet. Quite excited for this one!

This is basically a big Lingering Souls. t’s a three-mana sorcery that makes two 2/2 Spirits, which is already a decent rate for bodies, but the real kicker is that if it’s cast from anywhere other than your hand, those Spirits get a permanent +1/+1 and vigilance.

Spirits already have some good synergy with stuff like Drogkol Captain or even the new Group Project card. If you go turn two Group Project into a turn three Antiquities, you’re looking at eight power across four bodies. I’m definitely going to be testing this in a few different tokens and tribal shells.

This is part of a cycle of creatures featuring the new Prepared mechanic with oldschool spells stapled to them. This one is a 3/3 Cat Cleric, and it comes with Swords to Plowshares attached to it. The cat tribal synergy is obvious, and getting 4 power on two bodies isn’t all that bad. However, I’m not thrilled that it can’t re-prepare itself, and the condition to prepare is not useful if you’re ahead on board. Might just be a bit too slow for Historic, but still a cool design!

Next is Erode, which will probably be the most played card from the set and new staple on Arena. A fun take on Path but now with the abilities to hit walkers as well for just one mana. It’s awesome that you can also hit your own stuff to ramp if needed. If we’re playing something like Stitcher’s Supplier, we can actually point Erode at our own creature. That lets us mill 6 cards and then ramp ourselves a land at the same time.

This is the first of many subtle cards that I find beneficial to have access to. Not very splashy but good to have. The immediate home for this is obviously something like Feather, the Redeemed or Hardened Scales, where we’re already looking to stack up counters and target our own creatures. But what I really love about this card is that it doesn’t specify your creature has to be the target. If you’re playing a removal and you point a Fatal Push or an Erode at one of their threats, you’re still getting a a buff. It’s just efficient. It turns every single piece of interaction in your deck into a combat trick.

This our first spell with Paradigm, a fixed version of Epic. They’re all powerful high costed spells with, but notably, they’re all lessons as well. I’m looking at this as a top-end finisher for a “Sun Titan” style devotion shell. I find it quite reminiscent of Emeria, the Sky Ruin.
If we’re using Professor of Symbology to grab this from the sideboard and Nykthos to generate the massive mana needed to hard-cast it, the value becomes unstoppable. Returning a key piece and then getting that repeatable reanimation every turn is strong. We already have a shell for it the Lancer Devotion list we talked about in Episode 51.

Throwing this one here because it’s a two card infinite combo with Goldspan Dragon for a giant dragon. Since the dragon’s treasures tap for two mana, you can essentially use those treasures to infinitely pump the dragon, creating new tokens to prepare Enthusiast, and generate a never-ending stream of artifact ETB and sacrifice triggers. This may be more suited for Pioneer, but two card combos are always worth taking a look at.

This is a 1/3 Bird Bard with flying and lifelink, and it’s basically a flying version of Leonin Lightscribe. Every time you cast a spell that targets a creature, it pumps your whole team.

I think it’s a little slow, but it could be a fun top-end for prowess or spellslinger decks like Feather, the Redeemed. Having that effect on a body that already has evasion and lifelink is huge for stabilizing against other aggro decks while you’re trying to set up your explosive turns.

Ancestral Recall on a 5/5 Body with evasion and some protection seems pretty good. If you have enough fuel to keep it going, you basically get to Treasure Cruise every time you attack. I’m looking at this in a shell with Psychic Frog or even Tainted Indulgence. You fill the yard, exile the junk to reprepare the Ancestral Recall, and just keep your hand completely full.

Also not a bad thing to be persisting on turn 2 either. It might be a little slow if you’re trying to hard-cast it in a high-power format like Timeless, but in a grindy Historic shell where we can control the graveyard, this is a massive engine.

This dude is such a fun take on Ruin/Hedron Crab. What I love about this is the flexibility. In a dedicated mill deck, you’re obviously pointing this at the opponent to turn your spells into incremental mill. But you can also point it at yourself to fuel a graveyard strategy. t’s a cheap, early-game blocker that incidentally fills your yard just for playing the game. Now if only we had Vengevine….

This is already causing a stir for eternal formats. I’ve heard some chatter that it might be hard to turn on, but I don’t buy it. If you’re playing a Grixis shell, you can just go turn-one Thoughtseize or Fatal Push, and by the time you’re ready to cast this, it’s basically an unconditional look at three, draw two. Even a turn-one Faithless Looting sets this up perfectly. I don’t think you necessarily want to be jamming this on turn two every single game, but it has that same high-powered flexibility we saw with stuff like Expressive Iteration or Stock Up. It’s a very strong card, and I expect it to see a ton of play in a variety of decks once we figure out exactly which shell uses it best.

This is a 1/1 Merfolk Bard Wizard for just a single blue, and it comes with Brainstorm stapled to it.

Now, the prepared condition on this one is a bit more involved—you have to tap the Trio plus two other untapped creatures you control. But honestly, in a Merfolk shell or any go-wide deck, that is a trivial price to pay for a repeatable Brainstorm. f we’re running Deeproot Waters or even just a pile of cheap creatures, we can reliably prep this every turn. YOu can even make sure you’re still hitting your opponent with something like Throne of the God-Pharoah so you don’t lose tempo.

This is essentially a Standard-legal Mana Drain. Even if you aren’t jammed full of Wizards, you can turn this on using something like Firdoch Care. Three mana is quite a bit worse than two but it’s still a very strong effect to have, and can let control decks cast their game-enders ahead of schedule.

This is a rare 0/2 Human Wizard for 1UU, and it’s introducing that new Increment mechanic. Very close to Fathom Mage, which means it combos like Fathom Mage does too. I’ve already spotted a potential loop with Laya, Holographic Assistant to draw through your entire library. It’s also got some serious legs in a Wizard Class shell. We have an existing shell that we’ll be trying this in on stream with the deck from Episode 41.

Blue Restoration Angel? I love the utility here. It’s perfect for protecting a key threat from a removal spell and great for rebuying ETB effects on your other creatures. Because it has flash, it fits perfectly into those “Draw-Go” style decks where you want to keep your mana open for a counterspell or removal. Maybe UW Flash could make use of it? Also seems kind of hot in Simic Ritual.

A double blood artist effect, albeit a bit more conditional, is still powerful. You’re most likely playing this in an aristocrats style shell anyways with a bunch of small creatures. If you’re running things like Stadium Headliner or Voice of Victory, you’re going to be triggering this constantly as the tokens sacrifice themselves. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

This is the Black entry in that mythic Paradigm Lesson cycle. A five mana Sign in Blood is expensive, but you’re going to be casting that same spell for free at the beginning of every one of your first main phases for the rest of the game. Can definitely be better than Phyrexian Arena in a lot of situations.

Seems great with Bx decks already playing Sheoldred. Plus, it can target either player, meaning you can use it to burn out your opponent if needed.

This is the Black piece of the mythic cycle we’ve been looking at, it’s a 4-mana 5/4 Vampire Warlock, and it’s got Demonic Tutor stapled right onto the side. Just like the others, it enters the battlefield prepared, so if you’ve got the six mana (four for the body and two for the tutor), you can just go find your silver bullet immediately. I personally find this too slow for Historic I think, but Demonic Tutor is pretty sweet.

I think the ability here is more important than the rest of the card, and I’m viewing this as half a Lingering Souls that you can cast at instant speed. We played a fun shell for this back in Episode 25 featuring Zombie Infestation. This slots right into that list. It’s a rather simple ability and maybe no the strongest, but this is one of those “glue” cards I mentioned earlier for the decks that want it.

is a complete graveyard engine on a 3/3 Troll Warlock body for just three mana. It’s got Reanimate stapled to it, which is already incredible, but the way it prepares itself seems trivial in any deck that wants to play it. It sets up its own fuel, and then gives you the best reanimation spell in the game for just one black mana. Worth testing in some gridny midrange shells for sure.

Again, this is just a fun uncommon to keep an eye on. Reminds me a lot of Favored Hoplite, but Repartee triggers off of targeting your opponent’s creatures as well so I think this might be able to grow even quicker. Black isn’t usually the base color for these spell slinger decks but this might be a decent reason to give it a shot.

Super excited to see another Pox! This obviously competes with something like Invoke Despair, but I think you play this because you want the symmetrical effect like Death Cloud. I want to jam it in a heavy-black midrange build, possibly with Super Shredder as a finisher since it helps grow him rather quickly.

I’m looking at this as a cornerstone for a Mono-Black or Dimir Midrange shell. He sets up your yard, recurs your utility creatures, and threatens a game-ending coin flip if the board stalls out. Notably an all-in one engine for Abhorrent Oculus, giving you multiple ways to drop it in the yard or reanimate it. Plays well with Liliana too!

Silvertongue’s prep condition seems simple enough. Since it has lifelink but only one power, it doesn’t actually prepare itself just by attacking, but getting an extra life should be easy. I’m looking at this as a low-cost card advantage engine that doubles as a great roadblock against aggressive decks. I’d like to play with Sorin of House Markov as the two of them are both low-cost and grindy. Throw in Lurrus and we could have some sort of midrange lifegain brew.

This is just a solid board wipe with some versatility. Not sure what the best way to turn on Infusion is, but we do have access to life lands like Radiant Fountain, but the manabase will have to be adjusted.

Someone will break this, most likely with Ruby Medallion. While the card doesn’t have a built-in way to reprepare, the initial value of a three-mana 2/3 that pays for itself and then some the following turn is decent. The easiest combo is with Displacer Kitten, but I’m sure we’ll brew something with Runaway Steamkin and Grinning Ignus at some point too.

This is such a fun spell that can give you some insane value if you’re able to copy both a spell and a creature. But I’d like to try it in some sort of combo shell featuring Discover the Impossible. Between Increasing Vengeance, Narset’s Reversal, and other copy spells, we may be able to chain them together until we can cast Manamorphose into a Grapeshot for the win. Might need some tinkering though haha.

This one doesn’t enter prepared but it’s not the hardest to turn on. It already fits into a prowess style shell that can easily cast 3 spells in a single turn. Is all that worth a single Lightning Bolt? Who knows, but it has relevant creature types and it’s only 2 mana, so its probably worth a try. Seems to pair nicely with Runaway Steam-kin.

This is a rare Red instant for a single mana, and it’s about as literal as a card name gets.

I’m looking at this as a massive consistency booster for any deck that relies on specific powerful spells. Ruby Storm can rebuy spells, Control can buy back removal, its just a great all-around card. It’s a simple, elegant piece of utility that rewards you for having a well-stocked graveyard. I can definitely see this becoming a staple in Izzet or Mono-Red shells that want to ensure they always have access to their best tools.

Oooh its been quite some time since we’ve straight up land destruction. I feel that a 3/2 hastey body is good enough to make this playable somewhere. Since he enters prepared he plays quite well with blink effects like Ephemerate to reset his prep ability. Combined with cards like Stone Rain or Cleansing Wildfire we might be able to revive Gruul Ponza in some form.

This is a rather interesting effect, and quite a lot of text on three mana body. I think most of the time we’ll be using this card for its second ability to pump our team with combat spells. It seems rather strong with Atarka’s Command or Boros Charm in some sort of zoo list. Notably it has a mana value of six because of the split mana costs. This plus a Birthing Ritual lets you chain into an Atraxa and other 7 mana creatures quite easily.

Next up is Ambitious Augmenter.

I think this is the newest rendition of Pelt Collector/Experiment One. It grows as you curve out in an aggro deck, and it can trade out with another creature while still leaving a body behind. There’s also a few cards from TMNT like Save by the Shell or Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11 that happens to play well with the Turtle creature type. We’ll see if it’s any better than the one-drops above, but we’ll definitely be trying it out.

This is the Green piece of the mythic cycle, and it is a powerhouse for any ramp or lands-matter deck. It’s a three-mana 3/4 Elf Druid with vigilance, and it’s got Regrowth stapled to it. Just like the some of the others, it enters prepared. So for three mana, you get a solid blocker that immediately buys back the best card in your graveyard. The reprepare condition on this one is rather easy if you’re playing green.

It reminds me of Eternal Witness, but with the potential for repeatable value if the game goes long. I’m definitely going to be testing this in a few different ramp shells to see if that land requirement is as easy to hit as I think it’ll be in the current meta.

By default, you look at the top four cards of your library and put a creature or land card from among them into your hand. However, if you’ve gained life this turn, that value doubles, you get to reveal two creature and/or land cards instead. This is obviously comparable to Malevolent Rumble or Winding Way, but the fact that his gets Lands and/or Creatures gives it quite a bit of versatility compared to the other two. If you have a creature deck with incidental lifegain this might be a viable inclusions for additional gas.

Two Harrows stapled together is pretty sweet. 4 Landfall triggers is quite a powerful effect that allows you to OHKO with cards like Tifa Lockhart. If you happened to want to get full Domain, you could even fetch 4 basics of different types to achieve it. In a deck designed to take advantage of that sudden burst of lands, the result is more than worth the sacrifice. Chocobos, Badgermole Cub, etc all play great with this bad boy.

This plays incredibly well with a card like Price of Betrayal. You drop the Trudge for one mana on turn one, then on turn two, you cast Price of Betrayal to strip away all three stun counters. Suddenly, you have a 6/6 ready to attack on turn three. You’re most likely playing Moonshadow in this shell as well, so Betrayal has multiple viable targets.

Or you could go a different route and get value from 6 power on turn 1 with cards like Ghalta, Tumbleweed Rising, or The Great Henge. I like that this had a few ways to go about it, but I’m excited to try them all.

This seems like an upgraded version of Bramble Familiar. Entering prepared is big and the body is pretty solid for three mana. You get an efficiently statted blocker that threatens to trade with anything on the ground. Then, whenever you have the mana open, you can fire off the Bind to Life (at instant speed too!) to cheat a massive threat into play. Shouldn’t be too hard to dump an Emrkaul or Atraxa onto the field.

This is the Green counterpart to the Magmablood Archaic we saw earlier. The real power lies in its static ability: whenever you cast a creature spell, that creature enters with X additional +1/+1 counters, where X is the number of colors of mana spent to cast it.

5 color Zoo anyone? This makes things like Territorial Kavu even bigger, or Tam into a sizable threat. I’m hoping it can slot into a pre-exisitng Domain Zoo shell with some tweaking.

I want to talk about how this pairs with Caretaker’s Talent. The moment that Fractal token hits the battlefield, Caretaker’s Talent triggers its Level 1 ability, letting you draw a card immediately and giving you a second copy of Talent. The real spice is when you start leveling up the Talent. At Level 2, you can spend just one white mana to copy that Fractal. Since the Fractal is a token, the Talent creates another copy of it. And remember, the original token “is a 0/0 Fractal… with six +1/+1 counters.” When you copy a token that was created with counters, the new token doesn’t usually get the counters—but because Applied Geometry creates a token that is a 0/0, the Level 2 ability gives you another 0/0 body.

However, once you hit Level 3 on the Talent, all your creature tokens get +2/+2. meaning you can keep making ne tokens of Talent as long as you have enough white mana. Seems like a lot fun in Bant tokens strategy.

The spiritual successor to Blex, Vexing Pest. Mayyybe we finally have enough support for a dedicated bug shell? The synergy with Tarantusk, Unwisely Awoken is perfect; Tarantusk enters and creates a Food token, and when you crack that Food to gain life, Blech immediately buffs your entire team of creepy-crawlies. We also have access to Blex and freakin’ Swarmyard, which can protect Blech from removal. Fun and flavorful!

This is a simple, high-impact uncommon. The two effects are rather strong and can help stabilize you. I don’t think there’s a deck that wants this since we have much better options. But it’s still a sweet card to have access to in Karn boards or Trash for Treasure decks.

It’s a 4/3 Kor Warlock that immediately replaces itself by drawing a card when it enters, while making each player lose 1 life. But the real meat of the card is the Repartee mechanic. I’m looking at this as a premier engine for an Orzhov or Esper “Blink” shell. It turns all of your targeted removal or protection spells into a “flicker” effect. You can use a simple combat trick or a removal spell to save one of your own creatures from a board wipe, or temporarily remove an opponent’s blocker to clear the way for a lethal swing.

I think this can generate a lot of value with the right support.

A flexible tutor for creature strategies, much akin to Formidable Speaker without legs. I don’t have too much to say about this, I’m just happy to have more tutors in Historic.

This is a key synergy piece for a few different strategies. ts activated ability lets you discard a card to give it lifelink until end of turn. This is a perfect outlet for cards like Blazing Rootwalla or Hollow One. It also helps you set up your graveyard for reanimation spells like Persist or engines like Greasefang, Okiba Boss and Emperor of Bones. This might be a decent reason to delve into a Mardu Reanimator shell or even jam it alongside Greasefang.

This is a versatile uncommon instant for two manathat offers three distinct modes, making it a powerful utility tool for Boros shells.

• Artifact Removal: Each opponent sacrifices a nontoken artifact of their choice. While they get to choose, this can be devastating against decks relying on a single powerful artifact.
• Small-Scale Reanimation: You can return a target artifact or creature card with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard directly to the battlefield. This provides excellent synergy with low-cost utility creatures like Pride or Voice of Victory.
• Combat Trick: Your creatures get +1/+1 and gain trample until end of turn. This can push through those last few points of lethal damage or help your board trade up in combat.

This is the Izzet entry in the charm cycle.

• Draw: Surveil 2, then draw a card. This is fantastic for smoothing out your draws and setting up your graveyard for any “spells-matter” payoffs.
• Ping: It deals 1 damage to each of one or two targets. While 1 damage doesn’t sound like much, being able to clear away two small utility creatures or tokens, or even finishing off a planeswalker, for just two mana is a great rate.
• Bounce: Return target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand. This is your classic blue “answer-to-anything” mode, letting you reset a threat or bounce a blocker to push for lethal.

This feels like a rather basic walker design and a nice callback to Vraska, Golgari Queen. It’s nice having decent value oriented planeswalkers, and this one seems to play well with Sorin, of House Markov in my opinion. Fel’s +2 ability gains exactly the 3 life needed to trigger Sorin’s transformation, and the Ult can help OHKO when combined with Sorin’s Minus ability. Definitely excited to see if we can make some sort of Superfriends shell work.

I think all of the charms will see some fringe play, but this one in particular is a bit weaker than the others. We already have things like Decisive Denial in the format, but maybe the flexibility of this one will give it the extra push it needs to be viable somewhere.

Four mana is expensive yes, but ramping from 5 to 10 mana on turn 5 is pretty solid. We have plenty of big dumb spells we can cast off of this, even just a giant Banefire can be pretty fun. If you can untap with it, I think it’ll likely be a game ender. Not sure how often the second ability will come into play, but its nice to have.

One of the better charms for sure. An option between removal and a Lightning Helix is already quite useful, but even using it as a combat trick will come in handy. While it might face stiff competition from cards like Fatal Push for pure removal, its flexibility as a combat trick and a finisher makes it a strong utility option for Orzhov.

This card essentially functions as a more flexible version of Storm’s Wrath with a late-game draw mode. Dealing 4 damage to each creature and each planeswalker is a premier board reset in Historic. It efficiently answers aggressive decks and mid-range threats that rely on multiple small-to-medium creatures or planeswalkers. Drawing four cards for five mana is an incredible rate for replenishing your resources. Strixhaven seems to have a lot of these flexible spells and I’m totally here for it.

One powerful option for your Historic Boros decks is Suspend Aggression. It functions as both a temporary removal piece and a source of potential card advantage. You exile a target nonland permanent, effectively clearing a threat or a blocker from the board immediately. At the same time, you exile the top card of your library. Both you and your opponent have the opportunity to play your respective exiled cards until the end of their next turn. So you either get to remove a bothersome card that your opponent may miss out on re-casting, or give yourself extra value with ETB effects and an extra card off the top.

Tormenting Voice with a potential Banefire stapled to it?? At instant speed?? Sick as frick. Feels rather strong at any stage of the game as both card advantage, removal, or a finisher if we target the opponent. It’s simple and elegant and I love it.

Culling Ritual and Toxic Deluge had a baby. In Historic, this is going to be an absolute house against aggressive decks like Boros Convoke or any shell leaning on low-cost artifact engines like affinity. I expect this to be playable in sideboards at the very least.

This is probably my favorite of the 5 charms. This one just has so much flexibility across a wide array of situations. I think most of the time it’ll basically be casted as a pseudo Abrupt Decay, but cashing in a extra permanent to draw a couple cards is also a solid option. The life gain will probably used left but a great way to hedge your life total against aggro. Just a great card all around.

This guy is giving me Scholar of the Lost Trove vibes. It can combo the same way Scholar did in the very popular reanimator list (not with Persist though), or take its palce in Aquatic Subtlety lists. Emergent Ultimatum or Breach the Multiverse are probably still the best targets for now, but we’ll see it if ends up being as strong as the old lists.

Not too much to say here that isn’t obvious. A great addition to both Historic and Timeless to turn off Strip Mine, Channel Lands, etc. I’m sure it’ll see quite a bit of play.

Waypoint seems like a necessary addition to make many of the Prepared cards work. It allows you to bypass hard prep conditions or re-prepare creatures that don’t the ability to do it themselves. Obviously a colorless land isn’t going to work in every manabase, but I think paying mana rather than jumping through the hoops required for some Prepared creatures will be worth the trouble.

---

Next we’ll be moving onto the Mystical Archives!

Oh boy I’m excited for these. In the case of Grace, its most notorious application is alongside Ad Nauseam, where it allows you to draw your entire library into your hand without dying to the life loss, but it’s just as effective at neutralizing the “lose the game” triggers on powerful red extra-turn spells like Chance for Glory or Glorious End. We’ll definitely be trying to do both!

This is a classic, polarizing effect that can effectively end a game on the spot if you’ve already established a superior board presence. Players love it and hate it for good reason. I doubt we’re getting this one in Historic, but in Timeless it might open us up to some sort of White Stax list. Can’t wait to cast this one on Arena.

I think the gold standard for this card will be combo decks running Underworld Breach. While it can be used defensively to disrupt an opponent’s library or trigger your own graveyard synergies, its primary home is undoubtedly in a dedicated combo deck where it can mill an opponent’s entire library in a single burst. I’m excited to see the shells people throw this in.

Most likely a Timeless card as it’s probably too strong for Historic. The synergy with Hydroponics Architect is particularly interesting for blue-based strategies. This and Force of Will will probably bring Timeless into a era of Blue. Don’t think I have much more to say on this one, you know why its good.

No comment. It’s freakin’ Force of Will.

We already have Rapid Hybridization, and although this is a rather unimpressive card, I have a shell I’ve been waiting to port into Historic called Monkey Form. A fun little Bant shell that uses these cards to put a lot of power on the board quickly. You’ll have to tune into stream to see it in action.

Another great cantrip to have in either format. Good for a variety of shells but most playable in Combo and Control variants.

Ad Nauseum is a such a sick card to come to Arena. We saw Angel’s Grace earlier, and we’ll probably try to make a classic shell work, but we do have some other options. Laboratory Maniac and Triskaidekaphile could be viable win-cons with the right support. I’ll be a happy camper if we can pull of a win with 13 cards in hand!

A great combo piece for Timeless specifically. Between this, Dark Ritual, and Sacrifice, Black has access to the best rituals in the format. Not sure what to do with it, but we’ll think of something. I have some sort of Tendrils list in the works featuring Hoarding Broodlord and Saw in Half. I’m excited to try it out.

Boy oh boy we’re going to play a lot of Living End in whatever format we can. We don’t have all the fancy Cascade engines that its Modern counterpart does, but we still ahve plenty of cool ways to snag it. Kari Zev’s Expertise, Electrodominance, As Foretold, Bloodbraid Marauder, and more. There has to be a playable list in there somewhere, and I’ll be brewing until we find it.

Another classic I’m glad to see on the client. Much like many of the others, we don’t have all the tools to make it work at full power. But now with the addition of Pox Plague we might have a shot and making a real attrition deck work in Historic. Something low to the ground (probably splashing white) is the first route I’d like to try.

It’s rather unfortunate that we don’t have Glistener Elf (or maybe thats a good thing), but we still have plenty to do with Berserk. Tifa Lockhart is the simplest answer, getting some crazy power as early as turn 3. Combine it with something like Assault Strobe and we can win incredibly quickly.

And that’s it!

As we wrap things up, it’s clear that this return to Strixhaven is shaping up to be a fun and flashy set. Between the high-impact legends and the explosive additions to the Mystical Archives like Brain Freeze and Armageddon, there are plenty of flashy new mechanics that I’m excited to dive into on the ladder. However, as I mentioned earlier, the real backbone of the set might just be the commons and uncommons. There’s so much essential support to a wide variety of Historic archetypes. It should be a funs season for brewers and I can’t wait to see how these pieces shake up the meta once the set finally drops.

That’s it for me!

Thanks for reading!

As always, feel free to comment and leave any questions you have below. And make sure to come back next week for even more Fun & Jank!