One. More. Draft.
Our first two Secrets of Strixhaven drafts showcased a near-creatureless big blue deck and a low-to-the-ground aggressive Silverquill deck. In each draft, we opened well and our early picks were supported as we moved through the packs. Easy peasy.
To send off the format, let’s take a look at a draft without clear direction or an easy build.
Where Are Our Good Cards?
Pack one, pick one, nothing stands out at the power level we hope for to start the draft. Overall flat, we have Feed the Swarm, Ajani’s Response, Wilt in the Heat, and Studious First Year as options.
Feed the Swarm alongside Ajani’s response could lead to a removal heavy Silverquill build, but we’ve done that already.
Ajani’s Response alongside Wilt in the Heat could open up white-based Lorehold, but picking up multiple expensive removal spells that require jumping through hoops also doesn’t sound great.
Feed the Swarm and Studious First Year are both inexpensive options that could lead us to Witherbloom, multicolored good cards (if we see good cards), or Quandrix splashing black, or Silverquill if we later abandon Studious First Year.
We take Feed the Swarm and Studious First year, hoping future packs will be better.
Sheeesh. If this pack had powerful cards, they have already been taken. We are looking to get out of pack one as open as possible with the hopes of seeing some real power in pack two.
End of the Hunt and Elite Interceptor are both reasonable cards and leave us open to Witherbloom, Silverquill, or multicolored decks. Some of the routes this draft may take will lead us to cut Elite Interceptor, but it is a hedge we are willing to make.
Pick three, we see a Stirring Honormancer, a buff creature that replaces itself. Due to the Honormancer’s size and speed, it’s not usually at its best in Silverquill, but can be easily splashed in Witherbloom or multicolor converge and encourages a slower, more controlling pace of play.
Witherbloom Charm allows us to dig into the black/green/white deckbuilding space and we take it here despite its subpar performance in the format. We are leaning toward control and expect to use the “Destroy target nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less” mode to buy time against aggressive strategies and the “You may sacrifice a permanent. If you do, draw two cards” mode to keep pace against removal in the control mirrors.
Other options here could have been Paradox Gardens to lean more heavily into multicolored converge strategies or Render Speechless as a disruption spell that applies pressure to our opponents. We aren’t set up to apply much pressure and might like to have outs to being two colors with a light splash instead of full on five-color converge, if possible—a decision we might regret later.
Yep, looking to get out of pack one as open as possible.
With our black cards being the best we have in our pile, we pick up an Adventurous Eater here, and pair it with a Lorehold Charm in case we open Arc of Hunger and make a BIG pivot out of our current pile.
Well, Wilt in the Heat tabled, so maybe Lorehold is where we should be? Had we seen other good red cards, white cards, or Lorehold cards, we would be feeling pretty good. As it stands, we pick up the Wilt in the Heat to stay open without much optimism for Lorehold. While Lorehold as a college may be uncontested, there could be a heavy red Prismari drafter and a heavy white Silverquill drafter taking up all the good cards Lorehold would need.
In addition to Wilt in the Heat, we pick up a Cheerful Osteomancer as the only black card to support Feed the Swarm and End of the Hunt.
Rapturous Moment and Page, Loose Leaf are the only cards here we would consider playing.
Lorehold Charm and Page, Loose Leaf. The charm isn’t very good, but maybe Lorehold is where we want to be?
Coming out of pack one, we have a bit of a mess, but weren’t offered a clear path into any one college. Yes, we saw a late Wilt in the Heat, but we didn’t see a steady stream of quality Lorehold creatures to support it.
With seven picks directing us toward Lorehold splashing black, six picks toward a five-color converge deck (with no clear reason to be converge and a severe lack of mana fixing), and five picks we would be happy to play in Silverquill, we may have trouble making playables.
Pack two, pick one, we need to see a strong green, black, red, or white rare to give us a solid direction…
… and instead, we get Exhibition Tidecaller.
Don’t get me wrong, Tidecaller is excellent and we are happy to pick one up here, but it certainly doesn’t make our job of clarifying a lane any easier.
Alongside the Tidecaller, we pick up a Titan’s Grave to start working on our mana base. With pack one failing to deliver on a two-color archetype, we will need to prioritize mana fixing to end up with a functional deck.
At this point, we are really wishing we picked up the Paradox Gardens pack one, pick three over Witherbloom Charm.
Que sera, sera.
Pack two, pick two we see a Sundown Pass as an excellent land that enters untapped most of the times that we need it to. We also pick up a Transcendent Archaic as a late-game threat that refills our hand to help us go over the top of the aggressive decks.
We are passing on some card draw and removal, hoping beyond expectations to get a Wander Off or a Quick Study on the wheel.
Now that we have picked up two powerful cards and two lands, we are feeling committed to a multicolor converge strategy and will stop hedging on aggressive cards like Elite Interceptor.
Pack two, pick three, we see a board wipe in Vicious Rivalry—perfect for our slow, controlling deck that will aim to win with late game threats like our Honormancer, Archaic, and Tidecaller.
To help us make it to the late game, we pick up a Matterbending Mage as cheap interaction that gives us some board presence. Unlike the blue based control deck from our first draft, this build will rely on creatures to help us grind into the late game.
We see an Infirmary Healer pick four, and are feeling much better about our deck rounding out pack two. Infirmary Healer has strong stats for either offense or defense, and the life gain provides breathing room as we try to trade cards one for one.
Run Behind is a solid removal spell that fits our plan of trading resources.
Archaic’s Agony on the wheel is exactly what we are looking for and a good sign that perhaps the converge cards are uncontested. Maybe we haven’t seen many because they just haven’t been opened?
Not wanting to fill up on too many five drops, we pick up an Imperious Inkmage to add to our deck, if our mana allows.
Social Snub isn’t really a card for us. We get a Chase Inspiration to protect any bombs we might open pack three and a Shopkeeper’s Bane as an easy to cast green three drop, though we are hoping not to play either.
Last pick rare. Nice.
Coming out of pack two, we are expecting to build a deck with the fifteen cards to the left of the lands, and will likely cut the eleven cards to the right. We expect to be tight on playables and low on power.
Pack three, we are hoping to see Potioner’s Trove, Arcane Omens, and Snarlsong above most other picks. Bombs would be great, but we’re trying to be reasonable to salvage this draft.
Pack three, pick one, we are not thrilled. Antiquities on the Loose is the best card in the pack and is far, far away from what we are trying to do. Abigale, Poet Laureate and Spectacular Skywhale also stand out as strong cards that aren’t for us.
Flashback fits in with our collection of removal spells, though we hope to pick up some card draw and utility to make it tick. Looking at our deck, it’s possible that we end up with a stronger blue presence than pack one suggested, and pick up a Tester of the Tangential as an early threat that performs well when games go long.
Without improvements to our mana, we are scared.
Oh hallelujah!
Repel Calamity and another Wilt in the Heat are great and all, but we need mana fixing.
Forum of Amity and Environmental Scientist are added to our pile without further thought. Still hoping for at least one Potioner’s Trove, but this is a nice start to improving our mana.
Titan’s Grave is another automatic pick here.
Alongside we can choose between Archaic’s Agony or Molten Note as removal spells. Because we already have one copy of Archaic’s Agony, because Molten Note can be good in both the early and the late game, and because Molten Note can be used as a removal spell twice, we go with the Molten Note here.
If we had a bunch of Abrades and Tome Blasts without a copy of Archaic’s Agony, this pick would have gone the other way.
We’ve picked up four spells for our deck so far, and are hoping for four more to make playables. All of these white aggressive cards are making us feel cut here, but there didn’t seem to be a lane into aggressive white at any point in the draft.
We pick up a Disdainful Stroke and Rubble Rouser as solid defensive speed cards. Just two more decent cards to go to make a sketchy deck!
Mmm, not much here. We get a Stargaze and Seize the Spoils, though we hope not to play them.
From the pack that provided fixing, we now receive our last two spells. This pack saved us.
Repel Calamity and Wilt in the Heat will both fit into our five-color removal and big beaters strategy.
Ok, Honorbound Page and Interjection, get in the sideboard. We’re queueing up.
In the end, we have a five-color deck with decent-but-not-great card quality, a lack of payoffs to go through the work of being five color, and a mana base that leaves a lot to be desired.
We would have loved to see a Potioner’s Trove at some point in the draft, or a Strixhaven Skycoach, or a Terramorphic Expanse. But, at four player draft tables, cards are often not available because they just aren’t opened. At this table, the common mana fixing was not kind to us.
Luckily, Environmental Scientist and Studious First Year put in the work.
Cleanup Step
Secrets of Strixhaven drafts have been a blast. The six main archetypes offer clearly defined play experiences and are balanced well enough to encourage trying them all.
The power level and complexity are right on point, and the Mystical Archive offers nostalgic excitement to encourage returning to Strixhaven even after we venture back to Marvel and New York City.
As always, Table for Four believes in fun, kitchen table Magic and making the most of bad packs.
