By BDC
Hey guys, been busy in the brewery deep within The Magic Tavern, so I’m just now surfacing from brewing Strixhaven’s new set of cards! It may not hold the power of Eldraine or Theros Beyond Death, but it is definitely going to change the meta with five new ways of looking at half the enemy colors.
First thing we have to get used to is that what Strixhaven brings to the table is NOT Golgari, Orzhov, Semic, Izzet and Boros, but five totally different concepts of those color combos. It may take a while before we really find this set’s true power. In fact, it may take till Renewal Season. But it totally rewrites how we do these colors.
As usual, I’m bringing some of the best cards and combos that I run upon; especially those that we can tinker and jank. So, here’s what I’ve run into on the first few weeks.
BEST CARD OF STRIXHAVEN?
We begin with what may be the best card of the set: Blade Historian!
Are you tired of seeing this card yet? Because Blade Historian has snuck its way into one of the top five best decks in meta. Not only that, but it brought back a card from Ikoria that we thought we rid ourselves of when Agent of Treachery was banned. Winota, Joiner of Forces, is back in a big way! Teaming up with Blade Historian it has proven to be quite deadly. In fact, doubly deadly.
Blade Historian brings double strike to all the creatures you control. Besides this amazing ability, it can easily fit into any mono white or mono red deck or any deck with a color scheme that allows one or both. It has become the top card from Strixhaven to see use right off the bat thanks to its power and versitility.
There’s no way I can go through all the types of decks this card will up the power on, but I did have fun pairing up Blade Historian with Prismari and their Elder Dragon and the Goldspan Dragon (Arguablly, the best card out of Kaldheim: Prove me wrong).
REFLECTIVE GOLEM RAMP
The rest may not be the best cards out of Strixhaven, but they caught my eye for their jankability.
Reflective Golem has potential, that is sure.
it’s another nice three drop that reacts to instant and sorceries. As you can read, when you use a card to target JUST the golem, it will allow you to pay 2 to copy it and choose new targets.
I’ve gotten quite fond of using instants and sorceries that place +1/+1 counters on it. Light of Hope is my favorite seeing that it is so versatile giving you options. Three new cards from Strixhaven work in this capacity: Guiding Voice, Show of Confidence and Expanded Anatomy. Guiding Voice carries LEARN with it, so you can go after the LESSON Expanded Anatomy.
That’s only one idea since ANY instant and sorcery that targets ONE creature will work. You can ramp fast with cards like Infuriate and Inordinate Rage. I also will be tooling with some sidekicks that have MAGECRAFT to get more triggers.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
My personal favorite is Double Major. Doubling your creature summoning causes all sort of problems for your opponent. Once again, this can help your creatures with Magecraft. The best thing about it is the ability to copy Legendary creatures. Whereas, my favorite card from Kaldheim was Orvar, he just couldn’t do this.
Hmmm? I wonder how Orvar will jank with this card?
DIGGING FOR TREASURE…TOKENS
I also enjoy what Wotc has done with the resurgence of Treasure Tokens. It started in Kaldheim with Magda, Brazen Outlaw, and probably the best or, at least, the most used card from Kaldheim, Goldspan Dragon. But MTG did NOT stop there. Strixhaven has brought several cards to help us ramp mana in colors that don’t usually ramp mana aka Blue and Red.
Galazeth Prismari, the Elder dragon of this particular school, brings one such token when entering. Another creature, Storm-kiln Artist, has magecraft which makes one every time you play an instant or sorcery. And, of course, one of the options on Prismari Command is creating a Treasure Token.
On top of that, there are two Prismai instants and one Sorcery that are expensive but powerful. The great thing is the option on each of these cards to drop two either red or blue and create a Treasure Token. This gives you tons of choices in a game if you get that useless, high mana spell you can’t use early on.
PLANESWALKER AMBUSH
I’ll leave you with a little surprise I’m sure everybody else has run into since Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider, hit Kaldheim. But one particular Planeswalker from the Strixhaven set may make this combo devestating. Professor Onyx .
I knew this type of combo existed, but I really didn’t expect to die in one turn to one. BUt Onyx comes out with 10 loyalty counters with Vorinclex out. That allows you to play her ultimate with repeats six times. With seven possible goes, it can be around 21 damage in one move. I’ll be janking around with this one later this week.
Ok, fellow jankers, that’s all for now, but I’m far from done. See you next time with little jank and combos that you may have not thought of! Post in the comments below or on our social media (links on the homepage) of some you’ve come up with. We’ll try them out and, maybe, show them off next time.
AoE Table Top 