Secrets of Strixhaven key art | By Jodie Muir

It's been a long time since I've been back to school. Certainly not since it was invaded by extraplanar invaders from beyond reality. Yet it's time to take a return to our collective alma mater and see what neat renovations they've made! Secrets of Strixhaven is the first time we've really been back to Magic's magical school of Warlocks and quantum wizardry, and it's clear that the school has never looked better!

We've got all new characters to represent the bright-eyed youth, returning characters to show us that some things never change, and above all else, we've got five-plus new mechanics that we'll hold in our minds forever - thanks to a good education.

So without further ado, its time for another Kurohitsuki's Mechanical Dive, as we look at the new and returning mechanics in Secrets of Strixhaven!

Prepared

So lets start everything off with the first set mechanic that pervades throughout each of the colleges and holds the most potential for the future of Magic: The Gathering: prepared! Prepared cards are all creatures that have an instant or sorcery attached to them, somewhat similar to Omens and Adventure cards.

You will note that with the prepared mechanic the spell is on the right hand side of the card instead of the left. This is an important distinction for how these spells work!

The creature half of the card needs to be out on the battlefield first and foremost, and has all of the same attributes that you've come to know and love about creatures. They do however each have some condition to becoming prepared, which can range from dealing damage, to watching other permanents die, to simply entering play.

Some, like Abigale, Poet LaureateAbigale, Poet Laureate, can become prepared over and over, while some, like Sanar, Unfinished GeniusSanar, Unfinished Genius, only get prepared once.

Only now that we're prepared, can we actually get to casting those spells we see on the other half of the card.

The moment a card becomes prepared, there is a copy of the labeled instant/sorcery spell that resides in the exile zone. It's just chilling there forever until the preparation ends and returns whenever the attached creature becomes prepared again. We're able to cast that spell by paying its labeled mana costs and we need to follow the expected timing restrictions as listed.

So Kirol, History BuffKirol, History Buff just needs to see a card leave your graveyard and now a copy of Pack a Punch is face up in your exile zone to be cast at sorcery speed for as long as Kirol exists prepared under your control.

Being prepared is a designation, which doesn't mean too much, but its worth remembering that there is no way to interact with preparedness other than making it no longer prepared. You're not moving around a prepared counter nor making a prepared clone of a card that's already prepared. That specific object has the status of "prepared" because it fulfilled the proper condition and nothing else.

This mechanic is bringing a lot of older non-reprintable (read: Reserved List) cards back into not just modern Magic, but Standard no less! Which you would think would cause a ton of uproar, but the community seems to have cooler heads about these than we thought and are actually taking this in stride.

The prepare requirement for most cards is just high enough to not seem super abuseable and the fact that these are all attached to the most interactable object in the game, creatures, just feels like a fun and inventive way to give older cards a second chance at actually being cast in modern Magic.

The last thing to keep in mind with the prepared mechanic is that the creature will become unprepared as soon as you cast its spell. So you'll need to get the creature prepared each time you want to cast the spell again.

Repartee (Silverquill)

The mechanic of the Silverquill college is one that fittingly takes the most finesse to say out loud. Repartee triggers whenever you cast a spell that targets a creature. That sounds very similar to the commit a crime mechanic from Outlaws of Thunder Junction and you'd be right in feeling that way! What's different is that it only checks when any of your instants or sorceries target a creature only.

For repartee, the target has to be a creature. Any creature, including your own, will count, so make use of 's many buff instants and kill sorceries and watch as the multitudes of repartee triggers stack to the ceiling.

Just note that the repartee trigger resolves before the spell you are casting does.

Also, the repartee effect is different on every card.

Opus (Prismari)

Last time we had Magma OpusMagma Opus as the true quintessential Prismari College spell. Now we have the straight up opus mechanic that gives us two triggers whenever we cast an instant or sorcery spell.

So when you cast an instant or sorcery, a card with opus triggers and first gives you an automatic effect for your troubles -this effect is different for each opus card - but then it checks to see if five or more mana was spent to cast that spell. If so, you'll get an extra ability on top (or instead, in some cases) of the first one.

For example Expressive FiredancerExpressive Firedancer gets +1/+1 until end of turn when you cast the BraingeyserBraingeyser sorcery off of your prepared Dirgur FocusmageDirgur Focusmage. Then it checks if you spent five or more mana on that BraingeyserBraingeyser (X=3+) and if you did, the Expressive FiredancerExpressive Firedancer gets double strike until end of turn as well.

There'll be a lot to talk about opus in the coming months, because this is an incredibly cool mechanic that points to the future of spell slinging. The future that's focused on actually spending more mana on your spells rather than just reducing them; as cost reduction decreases your ability to actually spend five or more mana on most instants and sorceries.

Things like kicker and spree will count towards paying five or more mana for the cast, however paying a ward cost does not count as that is not really going towards the spell's cost.

Remember, the opus trigger will resolve before the spell does as it's triggering the moment you cast the spell.

Infusion (Witherbloom)

Witherbloom was an interesting take on Golgari back in the original Strixhaven set as it caused the colors to focus on an often underutilized aspect of : the fact that they both gain life. Now focusing on lifegain and its benefits and then building around it are still firmly within 's grasp, don't get me wrong; but with infusion, we see cards that trigger simply for the fact that you gained life at all.

This is not a call to build only Lifegain decks that try to get to 100+ life in from now on. It just a call to make better use of all those lifedrain cards we put in our decks.

This mechanic is present on all different kinds of cards, from creatures to sorceries and beyond, each just checking if you gained the life this turn, not how much you gained. Which is why the new Pests gain you life on attack rather than just on death, so that you can be a bit more consistent on planning out your turns.

As with repartee and opus, the effects from infusion differ from card to card.

Flashback (Lorehold)

Now this is an old mechanic, but it is the Lorehold mechanic, so it will get the same amount of love and care as the rest of these! Flashback allows you to cast the associated spell from the graveyard for its alternative cost, giving you a second use of that spell for the same investment as just one copy of the card in your deck.

After you cast it, it goes to exile afterward so you're not able to do it again and again.

The most notable thing about flashback is that it makes the spell leave your graveyard as you cast it, which is honestly what Lorehold cares about more.

Lorehold's propensity for caring about cards leaving the yard is almost a mechanic in and of itself, but it doesn't yet have a name. However, causing things to leave the yard usually takes a whole extra card dedicated to that one ability, making the mechanic clunkier to achieve. This is why flashback works so very well here more than in other previous sets.

Increment (Quandrix)

Now the last college's mechanic is truly an exciting one - if you like math! Increment triggers every time you cast any sort of spell to see if the amount of mana paid for the spell is greater than the increment creature's power or toughness. Similar to evolve back in the day, this creature-focused mechanic is there to grow your little guys bigger and bigger as you cast bigger and bigger spells.

The main thing to note about this mechanic is that increment checks on the amount cast twice, first when you cast the spell initially, and second when you actually resolve the spell. So with Cuboid ColonyCuboid Colony out, if you cast Deep Sight off of Tam, Observant SequencerTam, Observant Sequencer, first it checks that the mana spent is more than its current power/toughness. Then it checks again upon increment's resolution to see if the amount is still more than the Colony's stats.

The reason it has to check twice is to see if you're somehow boosting the stats of the creature by other means before the increment ability resolves. So if Pensive ProfessorPensive Professor had prowess for some reason that triggers at the same time you cast noncreature spells, you'll want to resolve the increment ability first then prowess or else you might lose out because the Professor's stats increased too far.

Paradigm (Graduate School)

The last new mechanic is another one, like prepared, that goes throughout the colleges; although this one is reserved for the elite mythic rarity class. Spells with paradigm allow you cast the spell once, and then you get the choice to keep on casting them turn after turn after turn; just like the epic spells of yore.

Once the initial spell resolves, exile it, and from then on you may cast a copy of that spell on your first main phase every turn after. Even if the copy of that spell is countered, you still get the chance to cast it again the next turn for free (meaning no mana is spent to cast it, which is relevant considering the mechanics of this set).

You can only do this once, as it states "After you first resolve a spell with this name" which means you'd probably rather have just one paradigm spell in your deck that you tutor for, versus four copies that you'll only get half value out of the remaining three.

These spells seem very powerful, but not actually unbeatable on their own. Its about the spells they get/cast/effect that is the real threat versus just the paradigm spells themselves ending games. Time will tell on how they'll effect Magic as a whole!

Converge

Converge is a fully returning mechanic that seems to be relegated to the Archaics, giant colorless Avatars that reside on Arcavios, the world Strixhaven takes place on. Since the Archaics are all colorless creatures, it actually matters more than usual to count the colors of mana you use to cast them, which is what converge is checking for.

The converge amount can only ever be between the numbers zero and five, so it's pretty easy to keep track of when you're casting these spells. Spell costs that contain a color and then like Archaic's AgonyArchaic's Agony and Arcane OmensArcane Omens will always have at least one converge amount going for them, and then its up to you to fill the rest with whatever you want/can spend.

Conclusion

Now after all of that, I'd say there are significantly fewer secrets left in Strixhaven for us to wonder about. So it's time to get out there and just enjoy the set for everything that it has to offer!

Which school is your favorite? Which mechanic do you feel brings the best out of these colors? Which Secrets of Strixhaven commander do you hope to build your decks around? Tell us in the comments down below! The fun and whimsy of this set is just as captivating as it was all those years ago, and I'm excited to share in all of that with you again.