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Welcome back to class students! Yesterday we went over Lorehold and the White cards, today we will be going over the math college in Quandrix and the Blue cards. Sit down and buckle up, class is in session!
I will not be going over cards that I believe will not see play in Standard and I will not be going over the Commander cards that will not see Standard play. For example, cards like Goldmaw Champion and Master Skald will be omitted since they are just Limited cards and saying, "This is just a Limited card" repeatedly gets old rather fast. Do not worry though, I will be covering all the rare and mythic cards in the actual Strixhaven set. So, if you like a certain rare or mythic, it will be mentioned in the review.
Keep in mind I am rating all these cards for Standard playability. I will mention Modern applications if I believe the card has some.
Each card will be listed by color, then alphabetically by name.
Each card will be given a rating of 1-5. If a card would receive a 0, meaning it will see no play in that format ever, its rating is left off the list.
Rating | Explanation | Standard Examples
0 - Will never see play in this format (0 ratings are not listed).
1 - Unlikely to see play. (Divine Gambit)
2 - Could see fringe play, or occasional sideboard card. (Disdainful Stroke, Annul, Erebos's Intervention, Shadow's Verdict)
3 - Commonly played, staple in a single deck, or frequent play in several decks. (Righteous Valkyrie, Behold the Multiverse, Solemn Simulacrum)
4 - Format staples. Sees play in multiple decks, one of the best cards in the format. (Saw it Coming, Fabled Passage, Bonecrusher Giant)
5 - Format warping. If you are in these colors, you play that card or keep that card in mind when building decks. (Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Embercleave, The Great Henge)
Now that we have that out of the way, let's begin!
Blue
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Archmage Emritus - 2 - 4 mana is a lot for a 2/2, especially with Stomp/Bonecrusher Giant running around. We do not have rituals in Standard to make this guy really good either. |
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Dream Strix - 2.5 - A decent body for the mana you spend on it. Love that it will send Bonecrusher and Brazen Borrower to the graveyard if the instant spell is cast on the Dream Strix. |
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Mercurial Transformation - 2 - A lesson that can kill a creature that has taken damage or transform a planeswalker, enchantment, or artifact into a 1/1 creature so you can kill it is versatile. Solid Lesson in Blue if you are playing Learn. |
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Ingenious Mastery - 2 - Sorcery speed Stroke of Genius is not good enough and the two treasures + scry is very risky if your opponent has a hand. If they do not, then this card is great. High risk / High reward card that is also hilarious and political in Commander. |
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Multiple Choice - 2.5 - Too much mana for the abilities if you are not making X at least 3. 5 mana for all of it is fine but is still sorcery speed. If you are playing a tap out control deck this could be fine in that deck but very mad against a deck like Rogues. And tapping out can be very risky against Emergent Ultimatum. |
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Solve the Equation - 2 - Love this card for combo decks in Historic. It is basically a playable Grim Tutor for decks that are comboing with instants and sorceries. |
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Symmetry Sage - 3 - Bad Delver of Secrets is still aggressive enough that it could see play in   tempo deck, especially since it has a relevant creature types. |
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Teachings of the Archaics - 2 - Normally unplayable but because of Learn this seems acceptable to have as an option. |
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Tempted by the Oriq - 1.5 - Seems better in Commander than Constructed. Not even sure you want this in your Sideboard as it is not good against any of the top decks. |
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Test of Talents - 3 - Now this is a solid Sideboard card and even main deckable in the right meta. Hitting Emergent Ultimatum and getting rid of the rest is extremely efficient. |
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Body of Research - 1 - Cards like this and Lord of Extinction see no play because it is not good enough to just have a huge body, even with cards like Fling. You're better off going with something like Beanstalk Giant. |
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Decisive Denial - 4 - Instant Speed Prey Upon or a conditional Negate is just what a  flash deck wants. Very solid in a tempo deck. |
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Double Major - 2 - Fork cards are conditional and usually not worth playing, even if you have the option to copy an opponent's instant or sorcery. Double Major only hits your spells and is asking to be blown out by a counterspell. Awful top deck as well, fun for commander though! |
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Eureka Moment - 2 - Growth Spiral was great because it was 2 mana. 4 mana is a bit too much in my opinion but I could see Emergent Ultimatum decks running one or two. |
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Fractal Summoning - 2 - A Lesson that scales and in that color combination that usually ramps. Fine Lesson to have access to. |
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Kasmina, Enigma Sage - 2 - Kasmina is very disappointing. 3 mana to scry two and then maybe make a 3/3? Kasmina is worse than Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer and that card wasn't even good enough. |
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Manifestation Sage - 2 - You need the token to at least be a 4/4 in order to dodge Frost Bite and for this card to kill Lovestruck Beast and have the Sage survive. It is an okay card but prefer our Simic turtle more. |
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Quandrix Command - 2 - Not a fan of this Command, I am much more impressed by Decisive Denial than the Quandrix Command. Needed to counter creatures, instants, or sorceries to be good. |
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Quandrix Cultivator - 3 - Which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle is this? I am not sure, but I know it is the good one! 4 mana for a solid body to block those pesky aggressive decks and ramp you? Sign me up! The land does come into play untapped so you can hold things like Mystical Dispute up too. This one is so much better than Eureka Moment. |
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Tanazir Quandrix - 2 - I understand he is great with fractal creatures, but you can just not play those cards and play Elder Gargaroth instead and have a much better deck. |
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Zimone, Quandrix Prodigy - 2 - I miss Growth Spiral and Zimone, you are no Growth Spiral. Zimone is too slow and fragile for this Standard world. It'll just get Stomped. |
Top 5 Quandrix Cards
Honestly, outside the top three cards in Quandrix, the school did not get much love this time around. I am sure nobody is complaining after Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath and Oko, Thief of Crowns. Decisive Denial is immensely powerful, though, and will be an annoying card once it finds the right home. Again, look for a tempo shell for it to be played in. That's it for today, thanks for reading!
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Tomorrow we will be going over the Silverquil, Black, and land cards!
As always, thanks for reading,
Ali Aintrazi
Follow me @AliEldrazi
