Strixhaven Analysis – Part 2
Hello everyone, welcome back for the second part of our Strixhaven Analysis!
As your 95mtg Prismari representative, I will be going over and reviewing all of the Blue and Prismari cards this week for a Limited Set Review. I’ll be using a 0-5 scale.
BLUE
ARCANE SUBTRACTION: Learn is a reasonable mechanic and can likely be equated to “draw a card” as long as you have some lessons to find. While it’s generally going to be a weaker power level spell, it’s always going to be a spell you’re learning with. This is like a more aggressively casted Befuddle. I expect to play this somewhat rarely and it should be easy enough to pick up.
LIMITED: 1.5
ARCHMAGE EMERITUS: this is a solid card that can give tons of value if it sits on board but frankly its body is too vulnerable to get into combat or survive a good deal of removal. You’ll likely play it a large percentage of the time you draft it, and it can steal games but it’s not a broken rare.
LIMITED: 3.0
BURROG BEFUDDLER: lower end two drop that can occasionally win you an important combat step. Will likely be a curve filler more than an important role player.
LIMITED: 2.0
BURY IN THE BOOKS: this is the kind of card I think you’ll likely want to have a copy of in almost every deck. While it’s not the best way to interact with a creature in play, its ability to swing races favorably can be both used proactively and reactively will make it a solid role player.
LIMITED: 2.5
CURATE: a solid role player to trigger Magecraft. Will likely play all the copies you get, similarly to Omen of the Sea.
LIMITED: 3.0
DIVIDED BY ZERO: Learn is basically drawing a card so this is a worse Remand for permanents. I could see this being as high as a 3.5 as it’s going to make every deck you have access to it and lesson cards to go with it.
LIMITED: 3.0
DREAM STRIX: a solid flying body that trades for any spell but will also leave some value. Assuming we’ll pick up lessons easy enough this is going to be a high draft pick, but not a broken rare.
I’d probably rate it a long the scale of best commons and maybe best uncommons.
LIMITED: 3.5
FROST TRICKSTER: it is an evasive Frost Lynx. Adding flying to that card makes it quite a bit more attractive, and Frost Lynx was already a solid role player in any deck. While blue usually isn’t the most aggressive color, this creature can swing races or buy time.
LIMITED: 3.0
INGENIOUS MASTERY: Concentrate had a pedigree of being a really strong Limited card, and this may look comparable to that but I think the drawback of casting this for 3 mana is going to be brutal in the early game when you’d want to do that and in the later game, where you’re in topdeck mode and the treasures don’t matter as much, you’ll just be drawing more than three. This will be a solid card for inevitability that scales fairly well but nothing more than a good draw spell.
LIMITED: 3.0
KELPIE GUIDE: at the least this is a three mana mana creature as it can untap land and ramp you. That alone would put it in the 2.5 category but when you add the ability, in the late game, to turn this into a tapper and the ability to untap big creatures to create nightmare combat steps for the opponent it slides it up a notch. Solid card, not an incredibly high pick.
LIMITED: 3.0
MENTOR’S GUIDANCE: a solid playable card but I’d evaluate it at about the Divination level. In the late game it will be a bit better but in the early game I don’t think you’ll reliably be able to copy it.
The fact that it will often give you two Magecraft triggers is key and may make it a bit better than it looks in a vacuum.
LIMITED: 2.5
MERCURIAL TRANSFORMATION: this card looks like a 1.0, but it’s a Lesson and not a spell I plan to include in my deck. I’d like to pick a copy of this up much later in the draft, but having some value to get with your Learn spells is important and while this is nothing to write home about, you’ll want to pick this up over replacement level commons.
LIMITED: 2.0
MULTIPLE CHOICE: this spell is
1)great
2)absurd
3)incredible
4)all the above.
This is a 4/4 creature for 4U that bounces a creature of opponent’s choice and makes you Scry 1 and draws a card. This card also cycles if you’re land light or is just a four mana 4/4.
While you’ll almost never cast it for X=2, it’s just gravy to have a free choice to do so. For a card that looks like a meme it’s quite powerful in Limited.
LIMITED: 4.0
POP QUIZ: not a great card and if you have no other ways to Learn you may end up playing it but it’s a low priority and about replacement level or below. It has serious diminishing returns because you won’t have a ton of lessons to get.
LIMITED: 1.5
REJECT: not quite an Essence Scatter but might play a solid role in sealed deck. I’m guessing you won’t play it all the time but won’t be upset if you do. Replacement level common in my eyes as it doesn’t scale well into the game.
LIMITED: 2.0
RESCULPT: this one is more combat trick than removal. It will still lead to some blowouts on both sides of the battlefield and is a card you’d like to get for free but my guess is you usually won’t play it. Has some serious diminishing returns to be an early pick as well. I’d consider this below replacement level but could be a nice tricky card against a deck with a lot of smaller ground creatures.
LIMITED: 1.0
SERPENTINE CURVE: while this card may be OK in some decks, I think they’ll be few and far between. It scales into the game, but you can’t really be happy casting this on turn 4 almost ever. That’s too big a downside. I’m sure we’ll see screenshots of decks with like 8 of these, which will be a cool novelty but I think it’s best to avoid the card.
LIMITED: 1.0
SNOW DAY: this card looks pretty amazing to me. I won’t be surprised if this performs as high as a 3.0, but six mana cards have diminishing returns issues. I’ll be extremely happy with the first copy of this usually I think, especially with Magecraft as a mechanic.
LIMITED: 2.5
SOLVE THE EQUATION: in general, this is far too slow and won’t be getting anything broken enough to warrant adding three casting cost to it. Maybe some specific scenarios you can come up with where you’ll put this in your deck but I think that will basically never happen.
LIMITED: 0.5
SOOTHSAYER ADEPT: replacement level common. If your deck wants a defensive two drop to block some Grizzly Bears that also gives you a little late game value this is a solid filler.
LIMITED: 2.0
SYMMETRY SAGE: I might be missing something with this one, but you’re not reliably going to be able to cast a spell every turn in Limited to make this a 1 mana 2 power flier. It kinda combos with Fractal tokens but I still think it’s too gimmicky.
LIMITED: 1.0
TEACHINGS OF THE ARCHAICS: it’s still tough to evaluate these Lessons as they’re a lot of weak spells, and while this one will be a nice one to have in the tool box it might be a bit too situational. My best guess is you’re going to want to take the better Lessons pretty early and a situational Divination or better might be just that. Keep in mind this is a card that will also let you mulligan more aggressively if you have enough ways to learn it in your deck.
LIMITED: 2.5
TEMPTED BY THE ORIQ: not quite a Mind Control rating because of its mana value restriction but it still can swing a game pretty easily. Its mana cost is a bit too restrictive and unreliable to cast on turn four for me to give it a higher rating, but at UU2 id push it up to 3.5 at least.
LIMITED: 3.0
TEST OF TALENTS: a sideboard card, and not a great one as it doesn’t hit artifacts, enchantments or planeswalkers like a Negate would. You can tell it was designed for Constructed where it will definitely see play but not so much a Limited card.
LIMITED: 1.5
VORTEX RUNNER: bit better in sealed than draft likely, I’d expect to rarely if ever play it in Limited outside of decks with a lot of ramp elements. A 2/3 for three isn’t so bad and deep in the game it’s a real threat so if you need a curve filler it’s acceptable but it’s at replacement level.
LIMITED: 1.5
WATERFALL AERIALIST: solid and incontention for best Blue Common. A curve of this and Frost Trickster at blue gives it a good core of aggressive flying creatures. 1 in toughness is a downside but at 3/3 this creature would be simply incredible.
LIMITED: 3.0
WORMHOLE SERPENT:
Top end curve filler that can swing some games in your favor. Its ability is too expensive to be too valuable. Won’t always play it but will sometimes.
LIMITED: 2.0
PRISMARI
ROWAN, SCHOLAR OF SPARKS // WILL, SCHOLAR OF FROST: not quite a broken Mythic rare power level, but Will, Scholar of Frost is a solid planeswalker that generates value in a close game. The common play pattern of play Will, Scholar of Frost into a single creature make that creature an 0/2 to protect itself and then untap and -3 to draw two while leaving behind this planeswalker pushes it above the better blue commons for me.
LIMITED: 3.5
TORRENT SCULPTOR // FLAMETHROWER SONATA: in a Prismari deck the flexibility of this card is quite strong as both sides are still quite playable. I’d take this card aggressively early because of its flexibility, but neither side is going to be the best card in your deck.
LIMITED: 3.5
UVILDA, DEAN OF PERFECTION // NASSARI, DEAN OF EXPRESSION: I may be overvaluing this a bit, but Nassari Dean of Expression is a really strong card. A solid 4/4 body for 5 mana that generates an extra card of advantage a turn while also growing itself. Uvilda is not quite that exciting as it’s incredibly slow to gain free mana from it but there will be spots you want that as well.
LIMITED: 4.0
CREATIVE OUTBURST: while it’s a bit too expensive, it’s still quite a powerful spell that can end games or kill the best creature in play while also finding you one of the best cards left in your deck by digging 5 cards deep in the late game. I love this card and would take it over the better commons when I’m firmly in Prismari.
LIMITED: 3.0
CULMINATION OF STUDIES: this card will be simply too hard to use to great effect but I think decks that are leaning heavy blue could reasonably play it or sideboard it in grindy matchups but they will be few and far between. It’s simply too unreliable.
LIMITED: 1.0
ELEMENTAL EXPRESSIONIST: a solid card if you’re already in Prismati, but can’t really take it early as it’s not splashable and not good enough to commit. A 4-mana 4/4 is nice and its Magecraft ability is more often going to be flavor text than something you can leverage, but it will come up of course and be scary to play against when casting a removal spell.
LIMITED: 3.0
ELEMENTAL MASTERPIECE: too expensive to be too high of a pick, but this card has the ability to swing games. While the diminishing returns is mitigated somewhat by the ability to discard it for treasure, it’s still too expensive to take too aggressively in draft. I think it will be a solid performer within the context of the format and color combination.
LIMITED: 2.5
ELEMENTAL SUMMONING: these Lessons that make creatures are staples that you will want to take your first copy of very aggressively. It’s a fine creature at rate, it triggers Magecraft and makes so many other cards better that I’ll want to take the first copy of this over most other commons. The word Lesson is something you’ll learn to evaluate differently very quickly.
LIMITED: 3.5
EXPRESSIVE ITERATION: as a gold card I can’t give it a too high score unless it’s taking over games but this is the best version of Anticipate we’ve seen in quite some time. Commonly will sequence this on turn 3 to make a land drop and draw an extra card as well.
LIMITED: 3.0
GALAZETH PRISMARI: incredible rate creature and in a Prismari deck gives you a mana rock to cast those expensive seven mana common and uncommon sorceries. Keep in mind all Lessons are sorceries too so that ability to tap the treasure for mana repeatedly will be more useful than you think while this is in play.
LIMITED: 4.0
MAELSTROM MUSE: the ability to curve this into the 7 mana common and uncommons sorceries makes this card exciting. It’s already a solid rate creature as a 4-mana 2/4 flier, but I think Maelstrom Muse will be a big reason to move into Prismari.
LIMITED: 3.5
MAGMA OPUS: So. Much. Value.
Eight mana is a hefty cost but don’t forget we have various ways to make this cheaper with either treasure tokens or cards like Melstrom Muse and Spectacle Mage. I will definitely be taking this over every common and uncommon.
LIMITED: 4.0
OGGYAR BATTLE-SEER:too expensive to be on the same level as a Sigiled Starfish and too small of a body to be a high impact haste-threat at five mana. Both abilities put it to a replacement level common for me.
LIMITED: 2.0
PRACTICAL RESEARCH: a solid card draw spell. Discarding a Sorcery or Instant is much different than discarding a land but don’t forget you may have an extra medium Lesson sitting in your hand.
LIMITED: 3.5
PRISMARI APPRENTICE: going to be too hard to trigger consistently but you’ll always want to include this one in Prismari decks. I think this is more of a card you’ll be happy to pick up once in Prismari than a reason to try and move into it.
LIMITED: 2.5
PRISMARI COMMAND: not quite great at anything it’s doing other than killing artifacts, but the whole package makes it a solid card to include in any Primsari deck. While I’ll likely take this over solid commons when I’ve settled I won’t be moving into Prismari for this card.
LIMITED: 2.5
PRISMARI PLEDGEMAGE: this is going to be a defining card in Prismari. Its ability to block early to extend the game is going to be extremely important to Prismari decks trying to cast more expensive sorceries in the late game. It will also be able to get some damage in when you want or need it to. I’m really high on Prismari Pledgemage.
LIMITED: 3.0
ROOTHA, MERCURIAL ARTIST: this is a card you would move into Primsari for. It’s got a nice body to block early and provides inevitability as the game continues. This copying Heated Debate is a play pattern you’ll have a love/hate relationship with.
LIMITED: 3.5
SPECTACLE MAGE: another pivotal card to make those expensive spells cheaper. You’ll likely want to pick these up when you can.
LIMITED: 3.0
TEACH BY EXAMPLE: this is air when you’re in a top deck war unlike Rootha, Mercurial Artist which provides continued value as the game continues. It’s possible you’ll play a copy when you have a high amount of cheap removal, but copying a Magma Opus is just a dream. I think you’ll be leaving this one in your sideboard more often than not.
LIMITED: 1.0
Prismari looks super fun to play and I can’t wait to draft my first Magma Opus.
Overall, the Blue commons look a tad underpowered to me but the gold commons and uncommons make up for it so we’ll have to see how things shake out.
That’s it for today, stay tuned to not miss the other Strixhaven Analysis, always here on 95mtg.com!
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