Quintorius, History Chaser | Art by Darren Tan

Secrets of Strixhaven preview season is finally underway! On Tuesday, March 31st, Wizards of the Coast kicked off the set's preview season with a WeeklyMTG stream that many have been anticipating since the set's general announcement. Within the stream, Wizards revealed many details of the set, including its mechanics. And, of course, multiple new cards.

What were these cards? Let's bypass any further orientation and get to class!

Secrets of Strixhaven Set Mechanics

Secrets of Strixhaven has a variety of new mechanics and three returning deciduous mechanics as well. Those mechanics are:

• Repartee: The Silverquill mechanic, repartee is a pseudo-keyword (meaning the keyword is generally shorthand for how to trigger a given ability). triggers whenever you cast an instant or sorcery that targets a creature. This doesn't have to be a creature you control, mind you, but it has to target.
• Opus: One of the returning mechanics on this list, opus is another pseudo-keyword, representing the Prismari house's magic style. This mechanic cares about how much mana you spend on a given instant or sorcery spell, with additional bonuses for casting spells costing 5 or more mana.
• Infusion: Another pseudo-keyword, Infusion is the Witherbloom mechanic. It's pretty straightforward in that it cares about whether you've already gained life previously this turn.
• Flashback: The Lorehold mechanic and the second returning keyword, flashback allows you to cast spells from your graveyard. Generally, this will help trigger cards that like when cards leave your graveyard, which is very much Lorehold's schtick in this set.
• Increment: Increment is the only new keyword in this set that isn't a pseudo-keyword. Specifically found on Quandrix cards, increment acts similarly to the evolveevolve mechanic of the Simic Combine of Ravnica, but looks at mana expenditure rather than power or toughness. Put simply, if you cast a spell and spend more mana on it than the incrementing creature's power or toughness, put a +1/+1 counter on the incrementing creature.
• Prepare: Prepared (and, conversely, unprepared) is a state for creatures to be in. When a creature is prepared, they allow you to cast the requisite instant or sorcery spell on its card. You'll have to pay that spell's mana cost and the creature becomes unprepared, but these spells are pretty potent. From Rampant GrowthRampant Growth to Ancestral RecallAncestral Recall some of these spells pack a serious punch!
• Paradigm: This spell mechanic is very similar to the epicepic spell cycle from Saviors of Kamigawa, except without the kneecapping of being unable to cast spells for the rest of the game. Thank goodness! After you cast a spell with paradigm, you exile it as it resolves, and you then get a copy of the spell for every one of your first main phases for as long as the spell is exiled.
• Converge: The last set mechanic in Secrets of Strixhaven, converge is yet another pseudo-keyword. It cares about the number of colors of mana you spend to cast a spell with the mechanic.

Here are the cards in the preview season debut that have these abilities:

There are a few other returning keywords, but they exist much more sparingly in this set, being strictly limited to the Elder Dragons of the college. But enough talk; here are those very Elder Dragons!

Some other cards from the set include the following:

Mystical Archive, Part 2

Strixhaven University wouldn't be what it is without the Mystical Archive bonus cards. Here are just a few of them, along with their Japanese-language counterparts:

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Serialized Emeritus of Ideation

Additionally, Emeritus of Ideation has a serialized version. What's more, it's presented in a textless style, not unlike the textless promos of ye olde Magic Player RewardsRewards program! This serialized card is limited to 500 copies.

Commander Precon Cards

We can't forget the Commander precon cards! Secrets of Strixhaven will feature five preconstructed Commander decks, modeled after the five houses of Strixhaven University. While the precons will be previewing in full in the coming days, we got one teaser, presumably from the Silverquill deck, as well as the face commanders of the precons:

Conclusion

And now, we want to open the floor to you, dear readers! Are you excited for Secrets of Strixhaven? Have any of the cards in the preview kickoff spurred you to think about new or updated decks? Alternatively, what is your Strixhaven house of choice, with specific criteria notwithstanding? Sound off in the comments below, and happy studying!