Locations
We have seen the cards from Lorehold, Quandrix, and Silverquill. Next on our list is Prismari, the Red cards, and the Modal Double-Face Cards from Strixhaven. Before we dive in, let us go over my grading scale.
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!
Red
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Conspiracy Theorist - 2 - A great way to generate card advantage and filter your hand. Especially since you can play the card you discard. It is just a bit slow for this Standard now, especially with Bonecrusher Giant being a premium removal spell in the format. |
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Crackle with Power - 2 - You can do some fun things with Irencrag Feat and Crackle with Power, but you are probably better off using the mana to cast Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. |
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Draconic Intervention - 2 - Wrath cards are not amazing right now and a conditional wrath is even worse. I know you can discard some big spells for Treasures, but it is not worth it. You should not need to "combo" two cards to wrath the battlefield. |
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Efreet Flamepainter - 2.5 - This card seems fun with Magma Opus and Access Tunnel. Especially since the Treasure token allows you to play the Efreet on turn three then Access Tunnel it on turn four. Casting Ultimatums seems fun too! |
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Enthusiastic Study - 2 - Expensive Learn that can act as a big burn spell. I would keep an eye on it after Embercleave rotates. |
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Fervent Mastery - 2 - Pretty chaotic tutor. This card could be decent if we had flashback spells or a lot of creatures that cared about the graveyard. We do not have that right now so this card will not see competitive play in Standard. |
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First Day of Class - 3 - Amazing Learn spell for Red. Important to note that it triggers off every creature that enters the battlefield this turn. |
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Grinning Ignus - 2.5 - Helps with Storm count and if you have Birgi out, you will have infinite storm count. This is more important for Historic than Standard, but this is a great combo enabler. |
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Hall Monitor - 3 - It is a 1/1 for one with Haste. If Fireblade Charger can see competitive play there is no reason Hall Monitor cannot. |
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Illuminate History - 2 - If I am playing Learn in Red I would play one Illuminate History in the Sideboard. It is not fancy but sometimes you draw 6 lands in a row and you want a way to wheel your hand. |
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Retriever Phoenix - 3 - This is a solid Learn pay off that I can get behind. However, I would again wait until Embercleave rotates as that is the best Red strategy now. |
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Start from Scratch - 2 - Does not look great but if your opponent has The Great Henge on the battlefield, you will be thankful you have this card in your Sideboard if you are playing cards with Learn. |
Prismari
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Culmination of Studies - 2 - A cool card that would be playable in control decks if it was an Instant. Being a sorcery means that this will be a fun card to build around but control will not play it. |
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Elemental Expressionist - 2 - A bad Luminous Broodmoth or Nightmare Shepard, not sure why you would want to play this card. |
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Elemental Summoning - 2 - I think this lesson is not good enough. Just save some more mana and cast Mascot Exhibition. |
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Expressive Iteration - 3.5 - My favorite Prismari Card. Love that you can play it on turn three, play a land off Expressive Iteration, and then have another card in my hand from Expressive Iteration. Late game it can basically just find two good spells for you. |
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Galazeth Prismari - 2 - A fun dragon but ultimately worse than Goldspan Dragon, I would stick with Goldspan. |
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Magma Opus - 2.5 - Love this one in Historic with Torrential Gearhulk. As far as Standard, I just want to do this Efreet Flamepainter at least one time! |
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Prismari Command - 3 - This is the best Command of the cycle. It is great that it can also refund you some mana with the Treasure token. In Historic it is a solid way to fuel the graveyard while also ramping you into Unburial Rites or looting and killing a creature. Even better yet, Looting and destroying Gafdigger's Cage. |
MDFCs
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Augmenter Pugilist - 2 - Lovestruck Beast is just the better creature here by a mile and will make sure Augmenter Pugilist sees no play. |
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Blex, Vexing Pest - 2 - I feel like Blex is another one for Commander and not so much Standard. He is a lord for Pests but you are better off buffing those pests another way or just sacrificing them. |
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Extus, Oriq Overlord - 2 - Extus is basically unplayable in Standard, but Awaken the Blood Avatar would be decent if you could not just Brazen Borrower away the token. It is also an additional cost to cast Awaken the Blood Avatar so getting this spell countered is a big yikes! |
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Flamescroll Celebrant - 3.5 - 2 mana for a 2/1 that pumps itself and punishes opponents for activating abilities is already solid. The fact that it also has a backside that can act as a Time Walk against the right decks, really pushes it over the top. |
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Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios - 2 - This is just way too much mana for little effect in Standard. It'll be fun to build around in Standard but this is definitely more a Commander card. |
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Kianne, Dean of Substance - 1.5 - This card is just way too slow for what it is trying to do, not to mention a three-mana creature that does not have an enter the battlefield ability and dies to Stomp is not where you want to be. |
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Mila, Crafty Companion - 3 - Mila is like a mini Leovold for aggressive creature decks. The option to have a late game threat in Lukka, Wayward Bonder makes it great and versatile. |
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Pestilent Cauldron - 2 - Pestilent Cauldron is interesting but ultimately too slow without something like cards with Madness. Restorative Burst is also too slow for Standard. Cool card for Commander and cube though! |
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Plargg, Dean of Chaos - 3.5 - This card has a lot of options. It can be a 2/2 creature that has the ability to loot or just put something small into play, or it can be a three-mana lord that can also untap creatures that have a tap ability. Great in a lot of decks like tokens, aggressive strategies and even decent in reanimator if you really want a Merfolk Looter. |
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Rowan, Scholar of Sparks - 3.5 - I love Rowan and Will and that both their statics are the same and will fuel the deck you build with them in mind. This is a powerful static ability if built around correctly. Rowan is a great early play while Will can draw you two cards mid-late game while remaining on the battlefield. |
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Selfless Glyphweaver - 3 - A giant Selfless Savior that can sometimes be a solid removal spell late game in Deadly Vanity, especially if you cast Deadly Vanity and sacrifice your own Selfless Glyphweaver. |
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Shaile, Dean of Radiance - 4 - A different Luminarch Aspirant is what you get with Shaile. That in of itself is good enough. Having access to Embrose to ping off opposing creatures or to draw cards is a great bonus pushing this card even further. |
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Torrent Sculptor - 3.5 - Flamethrower Sonata is what makes this card great. I love how it is not a dead removal spell at any time thanks to Torrent Sculptor. |
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Uvilda, Dean of Perfection - 1.5 - Uvilda is way too slow for Standard. Standard isn't slow enough for a 3 mana 2/2 that allows you to cast another spell four turns later (since you have to wait to untap with her.) Nassari suffers the same fate and is ultimately too slow. Cool for commander! |
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Valentin, Dean of the Vein - 3 - Valentin is good by itself. I am glad we have a 1 mana creature that can punish graveyard strategies like Witch's Oven and Kroxa. Lisette is a nice option to have but Valentin is why you play this card. |
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Wandering Archaic - 2 - This is a super sweet card for Commander. Wandering Archaic is a bit slow and does not have enough impact for Standard. Explore the Vastlands is a bit better but still slow and it helps your opponent too. |
