Thanks to a few official spoilers and mostly some early leaks, we’ve already seen six Secrets of Strixhaven mechanics:
- Repartee (new)
- Opus (new)
- Infusion (new)
- Converge (returning)
- Prepared (new)
- Flashback (returning)
In today’s article we’re going to take a look at them, explore how they work and examine a few examples for further clarification. So, without further ado, let’s go to it.
Repartee
Repartee is an ability word that triggers whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell that targets a creature, giving you a benefit. (These vary from card to card.)
This mechanic might remind you of heroic and valiant, but there are a two key distinctions. First, repartee specifically cares about instant and sorceries. Second, you can target any creature for the effect to trigger, not necessarily the creature with repartee ability. It doesn’t even need to be your creature.
Inkling Mascot is a pretty straightforward common with this ability. Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery that targets a creature, Mascot gains flying until the end of turn and you surveil 1.
The most common ways to trigger repartee are by using combat tricks on your creatures or using removal spells on opponents’.
Opus
Opus is also an ability word. It rewards you whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell. If you spent five or more mana to cast that spell, you get an additional bonus.
Whenever you cast an instant and sorcery spell, you’ll put a +1/+1 counter on Molten-Core Maestro. That effect triggers no matter how much mana you’ve spent on the spell.
However, if you’ve spent 5+ mana on that instant or sorcery, you also get red mana equal to Maestro’s power. There’s probably some way to break this, right?
Infusion
The ability words continue with infusion. It appears on cards that get better, if you gained life on the turn you’ve cast them.
For example, Withering Curse is just a wrath for small creatures. Pretty reasonable rate at three mana, but nothing special. However, if you also gained life that turn, you get to destroy all creatures instead. For three mana, that’s quite a deal!
Converge
Converge is returning mechanic, first introduced in Battle for Zendikar. It’s an ability word that highlights spells that become stronger based on the number of different colors of mana spent to cast them.
If you only spend mana of a single color on a converge spell, it’ll probably be pretty bad. However, if you manage to use all five colors to pay for it, then you’re typically in for a great deal.
For example, if you cast Arcane Omens with just black mana, you’ll make a player discard a single card. That’s pretty useless.
On the other hand, you could spend WUBRG to cast it, in which case they’ll need to discard 5 cards. Now that’s an effect!
Prepared
A creature with a so-called prepared spell on it can have a status of prepared/unprapared. You can cast it for its regular mana cost and it enters unprepared. Once it’s in play and prepared, you can also cast the prepared spell. Once you put this spell on the stack, the creature becomes unprepared.
There are various ways to make creature prepared, and most depend on the creature.
As a mythic, Emeritus of Ideation works a bit differently than most such cards, as it already enters prepared. You can also make it prepared by attacking with it and exiling 8 cards from your graveyard.
The reward for doing so is nothing else than a Power 9 card, Ancestral Recall. Now that’s a payoff!
This mechanic is probably the most complex of the bunch, so if you want to learn more about it, check for Prepared Rules here.
Flashback
Flashback is a returning keyword ability that appears on instants and sorceries. It allows you to cast these cards from your graveyard by paying their flashback costs. If you do so, you need to exile the card after it resolves.
Duel Tactics is a pretty simple card. For a single mana you get to deal 1 damage to a target creature and make it unable to block for a turn.
If this card is in a graveyard, you can cast it for its flashback cost, which is two mana. You get to deal 1 damage to a creature and make it unable to block. (The same effect as before.) Then you exile the card.
This is a pretty neat way to get some extra value from your cards.
Conclusion
That’s it for Secrets of Strixhaven mechanics overview. There might be a fifth mechanic, that wasn’t revealed or leaked yet, but we’ll probably need to wait until March 31st to be certain.
In the mean time, if you want to further details about this set, we’ve got you covered with the following articles:
- Secrets of Strixhaven Spoilers (list of all currently revealed and leaked cards)
- Secrets of Strixhaven Commander Precons (five extremely fun decks)
- Mystical Archive Cards List (best bonus sheet in years?)
- Codex Bundle Contents (special bundle with one of the coolest designs)
Until next time, enjoy Magic, and may your starting hands always be perfect.