Culling RitualCulling Ritual | Art by Lenka Šimečková

Hello, fellow detention dwellers! I'm back to continue the search for budget rares from previous sets, and this time we're going to revisit the original Strixhaven. With Secrets of Strixhaven now out for a few weeks, I thought it was a good time to look at the original set, and Commander 2021 which was the accompanying Commander set back before we were guaranteed precons with each release.

Between both, there are plenty of budget rares that might make a good addition to your deck. Here are my picks for the best.

Culling RitualCulling Ritual ($0.74)

Kicking it off with one I run in my personal decks:

Culling Ritual is an insane board wipe. Sure, it only cleans up the small stuff, but for each token, Arcane SignetArcane Signet, and value one-drop you sweep away, you get to add or . What makes this so insane is that the mana refund allows you to redeploy before your opponents, unlike other wrathsother wraths where you probably cast it and do nearly nothing else on your turn.

If you're playing a deck that makes a lot of tokens (see my Lluwen, Exchange StudentLluwen, Exchange Student article) or a deck with generally high mana costs (like my Belbe Eldrazi deck), Culling Ritual really shines, but I'd play it in almost any Golgari ()-based deck regardless.

Plus we got some sweet new Mystical Archive artwork which I'll be picking up for sure.

Cunning RhetoricCunning Rhetoric ($1.88)

What if Ghostly PrisonGhostly Prison drew you a card?

Okay, it's not that good. But it's shocking how little it takes to incentivize opponents to not attack you. Even more so with this enchantment, since you get to steal one of their cards if they do send creatures your way. People hate getting their cards stolen, and since you can spend any color of mana to cast whatever you exile, there's no need to worry about grabbing something uncastable. The cards even remain castable if Cunning Rhetoric leaves the battlefield.

Theft decks and Exile decks make the best use of this, and for only three mana it's a serviceable card velocity piece when you have the synergies to go with it.

The Masteries ($3.00 or under)

Baleful MasteryBaleful Mastery is over the $2 threshold I like to use for these articles, but I wanted to represent the entire cycle.

The rest of them are well under $2, and I love them simply for the political aspect. You can always pay the full price if you want, but it's easy to buy favors or help one opponent out to deal with the archenemy at the table.

There are some microsynergies with them as well. Fervent MasteryFervent Mastery, for example, is great when you don't care about what you discard. Maybe you're in a Storm deck and use it to search up Past in FlamesPast in Flames.

If you need to stop someone from winning next turn, use Ingenious MasteryIngenious Mastery to help you and another opponent dig for answers. Or maybe you're playing in Bracket 1, and every nonland card in your deck must be mana value equal to six. Verdant MasteryVerdant Mastery is a cheeky way to circumvent the cost and ramp to cast your other six drops. Speaking from experience on that last one.

If you're looking to spice things up at the table, try adding a Mastery or two to your list.

Cursed MirrorCursed Mirror ($1.65)

Cursed Mirror is a great example of how to meet your deck's functional needs (ramp) but do it with fun in mind.

Arcane SignetArcane Signet and friends are optimal if you're optimizing for mana curve and efficiency, but not necessarily for fun. I like Cursed Mirror as a reminder for all of the cool three-mana rocks that Wizards has printed lately.

As for the Mirror itself, any deck that has enters triggers you want to copy can make use of it, and I would guess that it would be hard to find a deck that didn't fit that description. Maybe it's less reliable in some low-creature decks, but you can even copy your opponents' stuff, so the downside is very small.

Don't forget about attack triggers as well. This can come down when you've already got an Utvara HellkiteUtvara Hellkite on the board, and holy moly, that's a lot of Dragons.

Tempted by the OriqTempted by the Oriq ($0.31)

Outside of red, there aren't many ways to take control of multiple creatures with one card.

Tempted by the Oriq has its limitations, but if your game is to steal your opponents' stuff, paying four mana to nab three things is a pretty good deal. You won't grab their big haymakers, but it's fairly easy to tempt a mana dork or some other value piece that can either accelerate your game plan or slow down your opponents. If you manage to get at least four mana worth of stuff, you're already going mana-neutral and probably card-positive compared to the rest of the table.

Stealing a cheap commander is especially potent, since there's no opportunity for an opponent to put it back into the command zone. And to be clear, this effect doesn't stop at the end of turn, you just get to keep what you take. I'd add this to a two-color Theft deck where the triple- casting cost is less of a burden.

Veinwitch CovenVeinwitch Coven ($0.37)

I'll be honest, my first draft of this article had a lot more lifegain cards in it.

I down-selected to Veinwitch Coven because it was the best one on the list. This is an immensely powerful recursion engine in a Lifegain deck. Each individual lifegain trigger basically puts a copy of Raise DeadRaise Dead on the stack. This was a prepared creature before it was a mechanic!

Many of the lifegain payoffs (DinaDina, VitoVito) and enablers (Soul WardenSoul Warden, Essence WardenEssence Warden) are creatures, so having a repeatable way to get them back gives you inevitability. At the very least, you can halve the Commander tax by leaving it in your graveyard after it dies and use the Coven to get it back.

OversimplifyOversimplify ($0.29)

Wraths in Simic () are generally hard to come by. Sure, there's mass-bounce effects like Cyclonic RiftCyclonic Rift, but what if you want those creatures really gone?

The first sentence says it all: "Exile all creatures." If you're playing against a graveyard deck, those creatures are no longer a problem. Yes, the big Fractal might come swinging your way, but then it's time to use those bounce spells and get rid of the token forever. In line with the political thinking from before, maybe this opens the door to eliminate the opponent that forced the use of the wrath in the first place.

I'd look to use this if you're playing a Simic deck that struggles with large board states, or if you can make use of having some with a lot of counters on it.

Also, what a perfectly named card for what it does mechanically. You're literally oversimplifying the board.

Harness InfinityHarness Infinity ($0.39)

I have no idea what to do with this card, but I know I want to do something.

This is more of an honorable mention if anything, but mostly me being curious. I've had a copy of this since the Strixhaven prerelease. Reading the rules text makes my heart rate spike, but I've yet to add this to a deck. It needs a lot of specific conditions met. Heavy Golgari mana base, probably a turbo self-mill shell, and maybe a few ways to have no max hand size.

If you're running this in a deck, please comment below and tell me what you're doing.

So what do you think? Are there any cards from Strixhaven that I missed? Do you have a set you want me to explore next? Let me know down in the comments and I'll see you next time!