I’m no master deckbuilder just yet, but Secrets of Strixhaven (Magic: The Gathering’s next set) just gave me a pair of ideal Izzet (Red/Blue) cards to drop into a deck I already felt was finished.
As with many, I loved how powerful (read: broken) Vivi Ornitier was in last year’s Final Fantasy set, so I took a pair of spellslinger decks, mashed them together, and put together something that’s all about casting as many spells as possible.
There will always be tweaks to make, of course: Spellslinger decks tend to get swamped by big stompy creatures if the draw doesn’t go your way, but after somehow packing a Confetti Foil version of Omniscience, if I can ride out potential awkward mid-games, I can start playing cards without their mana cost.
So, what’s new in Secrets of Strixhaven? First up is Primari, the Inspiration. It’s a 7/7 with Flying, and makes up one of five Elder Dragons in the set. The Ward cost is 5 life, which is the kind of transaction no one wants to make in the late game, and it gives Instant and Sorcery spells Storm.
That means pairing it with my Omniscience can mean an awful lot of spells at once.
Prismari looks to be a shoo-in for the next version of my Commander Deck, then, but it’s not alone. Colorstorm Stallion is a 3/3 with Ward 1 and Haste, with the keyword Opus. This means it powers up until the end of the turn when I’m casting spells (a little like Prowess), but with the added bonus that big spells (of five or more mana) will create a token of it, which will also have haste and be ready to hit hard.
Get into the late game with Vivi Ornitier generating mana, or having Omniscience on the board, and that Opus keyword could really come into its own - giving me a fleet of Colorstorm Stallions as I cast bigger and bigger spells.
The challenge now will be removing two cards to make way, but I think these could be really fun new cards to include. And, with a whole host of cards likely to be revealed, that challenge could only get tougher to navigate. Have any cards have caught your eye so far? Let us know in the comments.
For more on Commander, be sure to check out some of the most powerful precon decks in the format so far, as well as a look at some currently on sale.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He's a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife's dismay.
