Maelstrom ArtisanMaelstrom Artisan | Art by Eelis Kyttanen

After all the gooey pizza and Ninja action of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT), its time we went back to school. The return to the snarled world of Archavios is here with Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS)!

The five colleges are back with a new semester in full swing. So lets see what Minotaurs can learn this time around.

For those new to my reviews, I analyze cards from the perspective of Minotaur typal and how they can be used in the various sub strategies available, those currently being Aggressive Combat, Discard, and Magar Big Spells. Each has their own nuances, but all broadly rely on the same core Minotaur typal backbone.

So with that, lets explore these campuses and find out their secrets.

Maelstrom ArtisanMaelstrom Artisan

Well, let’s not beat around the bush. The main attraction of Secrets of Strixhaven is Maelstrom Artisan, which is a very interesting direction to take Minotaurs: land destruction. Not since Hurloon ShamanHurloon Shaman has a Minotaur had an ability to destroy lands. But beyond that, I like the fact that it creates a a unique choice when playing a Minotaur deck.

The main question is, at what point in a game should you cast this Minotaur?

You can play it on curve at three mana to start early aggression and threaten later turns with his prepared spell. For Commander I think this is the best case for him, as the threat of casting Rocket Volley may cause our opponents to play sub-optimally.

As an example, if we have Rocket Volley available to cast, our opponents may choose to not play certain lands out of fear of them being destroyed. At the same time, we can use Rocket Volley as a method to start Commander politics. By promising to not use Rocket Volley on their lands, we can broker an early alliance. This could give us some needed breathing room to build our momentum.

Alternatively, we can hold on to him until we have mana to play him and then immediately cast his prepared spell. This has the benefit of being able to directly remove a problematic land from the table, such as Cabal CoffersCabal Coffers, Cavern of SoulsCavern of Souls, or Urza's SagaUrza's Saga. Given the lack of land destruction used in Commander, most decks have no way to stop these powerful lands and sometimes they need to be removed immediately.

This will likely make us the enemy of that player, but we'll also be able to gain allies with the other two players for removing the problem land.

I think both are valid approaches to using the Artisan, but I see myself waiting until later turns to instantly activate his ability. The problem is that Maelstrom is three mana, which means he delays developing our Minotaur Lord cards on curve. Even though the politics of Rocket Volley are tempting, playing our Minotaur Lords a turn later is going to cause a lot of problems down the line.

This is a gut feeling, but one I’m confident in.

Decorum DissertationDecorum Dissertation

Undeniably paradigm might be my favorite mechanic to come out of this set. The ability to cast a spell and then have it recast for free on all future turns is just insane value. And Decorum Dissertation has too much value to ignore.

With a surface level of evaluation this is just a heavily over-costed Night's WhisperNight's Whisper, a card normally not run in Commander in favor of better card draw. But I think more accurately Decorum is comparable to having two Phyrexian ArenaPhyrexian Arenas in play, that cannot be disrupted by removal.

So after we've cast it, we're now effectively drawing three cards a turn. What are we going to do with all these cards? To me the obvious choice is to use it in our discard-based decks. By drawing so many extra cards every turn we're reloading our hand far faster for our discard synergies.

The biggest problem any discard strategy faces is when our hand is stripped empty. So drawing these extra cards should solve that, or at the very least dig into our deck faster to find cards that will wheel our hand.

Mica, Reader of RuinsMica, Reader of Ruins

Mica may seem unassuming, but I think he is going to be very good in Magar Big Spell decks. The key mechanic with the tokens created by MagarMagar are that they recast the instant or sorcery spell they named. This happens when they deal combat damage to a player. The goal then is for the tokens to be recasting very expensive spells to devastate the battlefield.

This is where Mica comes in. Since Mica copies cast spells by sacrificing an artifact, this means we sacrifice something like a Treasure token to double up on the powerful spells the tokens are recasting. Suddenly, at the cost of one Treasure token, our opponents will have to deal with two casts of Army of the DamnedArmy of the Damned, or two Peer into the AbyssPeer into the Abyss, or two Blood for the Blood God!Blood for the Blood God!, etc.

Some may call this as “win-more,” but I see it as win-faster. The faster we can put our opponent into an unwinnable situation, the less likely they are to stop us.

Steal the ShowSteal the Show

When it comes to cards used for discard strategies, these are some of the best. It acts as a wheel-like effect that will only affect us, so not to refill our opponents’ hands. At the same it can act as a removal spell once the graveyard starts to fill up as the game progresses.

This works well for Discard decks like Neheb, the WorthyNeheb, the Worthy, but also Magar. Magar already wants to fill his graveyard with spells, so both modes of Steal the Show play into his strategy.

However, it should be acknowledged that this card does have a drawback: it's only as effective as the size of our hand. If we have only one or two cards in hand, then that is how many cards we draw. So, it's most effective when we have a full hand, but if we’re discarding or playing cards then it's unlikely we will get the full effect.

So the best case scenario is that we draw into it after playing a wheel effect. However, I don't think that's something we should be counting on happening.

Rabid AttackRabid Attack

As I have played Minotaurs I’ve come to learn how important it is to have insurance. Minotaurs live and die by their momentum, only together as a herd can they stampede our opponents into the dust. However, through trading in combat or board wipes our momentum can be stalled if we don’t have the cards to rebuild ourselves.

I've lost many games after having someone cast Blasphemous ActBlasphemous Act, and then have nothing to do for a few turns. By then the game was already lost for me.

I see Rabid Attack as a form of that insurance. It can be used offensively as a combat trick to squeeze in some extra damage and draw off any Minotaurs that die, or it can used defensively in response to board wipe to completely refill our hand and give us the card advantage to not lose our footing.

Because of its cheaper cost, surprise factor, and versatility, I put it slightly higher in my book than Grim HaruspexGrim Haruspex or Species SpecialistSpecies Specialist.

In any case, I think Rabid Attack will play a key role in my future iterations of my Minotaur deck.

Conclusion

And with that, classes come to a close on Secrets of Strixhaven. I was really impressed by how they iterated on the mechanics of the five colleges. The prepare mechanic is genius, and hope it continues to get used in the future.

Speaking of the future, not too long from now we're returning to the world of Marvel with Marvel Super Heroes. Spider-Man wasn't exactly a home run, so I'm hoping this second attempt better delivers.

Additionally, the new Magic novel, Omens of Chaos, features Angrath's daughter Jamira. So if you want a deeper look at Strixhaven and to learn what's been happening with Angrath's family, I encourage you to go read the book.

Until next time, be sure to check out the other set reviews found on EDHREC for a broader analysis on everything the set has to offer.