Garth One-EyeGarth One-Eye | Art by Micah Epstein

Class is in session, and I hope you came prepared for a test. Well... I guess it's actually a test for me.

Secrets of Strixhaven's (SOS) headliner mechanic is prepared, a new way to combine a creature on the battlefield with a spell to cast. The spells range from simple pump spells for the Limited format, all the way up to Ancestral RecallAncestral Recall, one of the Power Nine.

Today we're exploring whether or not we can build an entire deck around this mechanic. We'll start with looking at possible synergies for prepared, then select a commander, and then fill the deck with cards that use prepared and appropriate support.

At the end, I'll provide a deck list and answer the test question: Can we build an entire deck around prepared?

The Mechanics of Prepared

Before we get into the build, its important to understand exactly how prepared works. Check out our mechanics article for the detailed explanation, but for today's build the important part is that when a creature becomes prepared, a copy of its spell "appears" in exile, ready to be cast.

Let's look a little deeper at what this means for synergies. Prepared spells are instants and sorceries, so Spellslinger synergies are fair game, but only if they care about the spells being cast. Something like Tolarian TerrorTolarian Terror, for example, doesn't work here. If a creature with a prepared spell is in the graveyard, it counts as the creature card, not the spell.

The spells are also being cast from exile, so anything that cares about casting from exile or somewhere other than your hand also goes well with the archetype. Of course, all the prepared cards are creatures, so we're open to any kind of creature synergy. Obviously that means we have a lot of options for how to build the deck.

Selecting a Commander

What do we have for options? First of all, since the prepared mechanic is limited to only one set and our plan is to build a whole deck around it, we're going to want access to a lot of colors. In all five colors, there are 48 total cards that have prepared or care about the mechanic. Given that we have about 63 nonland card slots for the deck, it's looking like we'll want to go with a five-color commander if we truly want the deck to feel built around prepared.

This is also exciting for me because it's been a while since I built a five-color mana base. Woohoo!

There are a slew of five-color commanders, so how are we going to choose? Process of elimination is a good start. Commanders like Niv-Mizzet, SupremeNiv-Mizzet, Supreme and Codie, Vociferous CodexCodie, Vociferous Codex don't work because the prepared cards are creature cards. The typal commanders like The First SliverThe First Sliver, UlalekUlalek, and The Ur-DragonThe Ur-Dragon are all out.

Same goes for any other commander focused on a certain type of card: Tom BombadilTom Bombadil, Hei Bai, Forest GuardianHei Bai, Forest Guardian, Marina VendrellMarina Vendrell, etc.

So who's left? Well, not a lot. But since we've got some classic spells stapled to the prepared creatures, why not keep that theme going with Garth One-EyeGarth One-Eye? I mean if we're going to have the possibility to cast Ancestral RecallAncestral Recall, shouldn't we also give ourselves a way to cast Black LotusBlack Lotus?

Building the Deck

So we've got the 48 prepared cards and 37 lands, which gives us 14 slots for support cards. Not a lot of room, so we better make those slots count. Fortunately, just like Adventures, the prepared cards give us "extra" cards in the deck, some of which are essential role fillers for any commander deck.

Some quick examples:

• Studious First-YearStudious First-Year can cast Rampant GrowthRampant Growth, and while I'd hate having Rampant Growth as a standalone card, it's not so bad attached to a creature.
• Grave ResearcherGrave Researcher can cast ReanimateReanimate, perhaps the best reanimation spell ever printed.
• Emeritus of TruceEmeritus of Truce can cast Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares, everyone's favorite spot removal spell.

We do have some access, albeit somewhat restricted, to effects that we need in our deck, so the support cards can focus on ways to better give us access to those effects, and pay us off for casting them.

However, not all prepared cards are made equal. While I'd like to jam all of them into the deck for completion's sake, there are a few that I think we can pass on for more powerful support cards.

• Honorbound PageHonorbound Page, Spiritcall EnthusiastSpiritcall Enthusiast, and Adventurous EaterAdventurous Eater: Many of the other prepared spells are better ways to pump our creatures, so these three can go.
• Eiganjo DynastorianEiganjo Dynastorian: At the end of the day, we'll have only a few enchantments, so casting ReplenishReplenish doesn't do much for us.
• Infirmary HealerInfirmary Healer: We have better ways to spend our mana instead of casting Stream of LifeStream of Life.
• Spellbook SeekerSpellbook Seeker: Card velocity is always good, but we have other ways to do that and the prepared spells give us plenty of things to do.

Removing those frees up six more slots, bringing our available support slots up to 20.

Cast from Exile

We're going to be doing this a lot with the prepared spells, so we might as well take advantage. We'll kick it off with Kellan, the KidKellan, the Kid. Kellan basically says cast a prepared spell, and put a prepared creature or land onto the battlefield for free. This allows us to ramp and leaves mana up to cast yet another prepared spell, to put another creature on the battlefield and so on.

Red gives us access to a ton of synergies all on its own. Charred Foyer // Warped SpaceCharred Foyer // Warped Space gives us card velocity and the ability to cast prepared spells for free. Party ThrasherParty Thrasher gives all the prepared spells convoke, which goes great with the 55 creatures we have in the deck.

Keeper of SecretsKeeper of Secrets is a win condition, hitting opposing life totals for just playing the deck.

Of course, no cast from exile deck would be complete without Prosper, Tome-BoundProsper, Tome-Bound, who's especially important here for the mana fixing from Treasures.

Vega, the WatcherVega, the Watcher and Surge of BrillianceSurge of Brilliance essentially tack "draw a card" onto each prepared spell. And Fire Lord ZukoFire Lord Zuko is an easy was to pump up all of the creatures that we'll have on the battlefield.

Wrapping up this category is Appa, Steadfast GuardianAppa, Steadfast Guardian. He's a perfect transition to our next category, but is also a representation of a bunch of cards that create creature tokens when a spell is cast from exile. I'm only putting in Appa for now, but there are similar effects out there to skew the deck into more of a token heavy playstyle.

Re-Prepared

Appa does have another effect though, to airbend any number of nonland permanents we control. We can flash him in as a response to a board wipe to protect our team, but we can also use him to re-buy prepared creatures. About a third of them enter prepared, so airbending or blinking them gets us access to their spells again. Blink is also useful with Garth, since we can reset his activated ability.

The best blink effect we have access to is Displacer KittenDisplacer Kitten, since it blinks on cast of noncreature spells. In fact, it can generate infinite red mana, infinite spell casts, etc. with Blazing FiresingerBlazing Firesinger:

So that can go into our deck as another win condition. Kykar, Zephyr AwakenerKykar, Zephyr Awakener also gives us a delayed blink when we cast a noncreature spell. It's not as powerful, but can still help to reset prepared creatures or protect from spot removal as needed.

EphemerateEphemerate is a classic and also casts from exile to go with the cards we added above. Semester's EndSemester's End is another board protection spell that can also re-prepare everyone, and you can't beat the flavor.

For another loop, we can add Doc AurlockDoc Aurlock and Aang, Swift SaviorAang, Swift Savior, which form an infinite loop with Appa. Combine with Keeper of SecretsKeeper of Secrets and we win the game.

Spellslinger Support

The blinking and cast from exile stuff is really interesting to me, but we also just have good old-fashioned Spellslinger stuff, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Storm-Kiln ArtistStorm-Kiln Artist is another vital producer of Treasures, which really help with the five-color mana requirements for the deck. Sedgemoor WitchSedgemoor Witch goes in to represent all of the ways to generate creature tokens by casting instants and sorceries, and Witherbloom ApprenticeWitherbloom Apprentice is another win condition.

These are just a few representatives for the Spellslinger archetype, and besides Storm-Kiln ArtistStorm-Kiln Artist, they can be very interchangeable with whatever Spellslinger payoffs we want.

Mana Fixing and the Mana Base

As much as I'd like to add more synergy cards, I have to acknowledge that playing a five-color deck comes with strict needs for fixing and an effective mana base. Nature's LoreNature's Lore, Three VisitsThree Visits, and FarseekFarseek are the best fixing spells for a reason, and we'll add the appropriate lands to max their effectiveness.

If we want to really optimize, we'd include the full suite of fetch lands, shock lands, and Triomes. Of course, that can get expensive real quick, so I'd like to propose a more budget friendly mana base that utilizes some cheaper lands while still consistently giving us access to all five colors.

Typed duals, especially Forests, are really good to go along with Three VisitsThree Visits and Nature's LoreNature's Lore. Murmuring BoskMurmuring Bosk is a favorite of mine since it's a tri-land. For the sake of fixing, The World TreeThe World Tree is too good not to include, and Krosan VergeKrosan Verge can go fetch any typed Forest or Plains, so it's kind of like a Skyshroud ClaimSkyshroud Claim baked into our mana base.

From here, it's a matter of adding enough lands of enough colors to meet the pip requirements of our cards. Fortunately, Archidekt makes that easy, so you can check out the final mana base in the list below.

Before you light me up, remember: I'm trying to keep the mana base somewhat inexpensive. Add better lands to your heart's and wallet's content if this deck is something you decide to build.

The Final Garth One-Eye Deck, and the Answer to the Test

I think the answer to the test is clear: We can definitely build a deck around this mechanic. SOS gave us enough cards with prepared, and there are obviously a ton of support cards from already existing archetypes that we can put in alongside the new ones.

While I think this is a good first cut at the deck, there are obviously ways to optimize it. I'd love to hear your ideas. The mana base can obviously use some work, but maybe we don't need to be all five colors? Cutting white only eliminates four prepared creatures, though we lose the airbending combo.

Would you cut any additional prepared creatures? What would you replace them with? Let me know down in the comments, and until the next time may your test scores be high and your stress low.