Increment is a new mechanic from Secrets of Strixhaven, very reminiscent of Simic's () Evolve mechanic from Gatecrash. Evolve cared about when a Creature with higher power entered the battlefield under your control, placing a +1/+1 counter on the Creature with Evolve. The major difference with Increment is you aren't looking at the power of your Creatures. Instead, you're looking at the amount of mana spent when casting your spells.

This difference means it is easier to trigger increment by playing out your deck, as you're going to look at the cost of your cards and the order you cast your spells more than trying to shoe-horn Creatures with higher stats that may not fit the deck.

Let's look at all of the cards from Secrets of Strixhaven with Increment to see what we have to work with when building for Standard or Commander.

The Increment Cards

Ambitious Augmenter

If you're building an Increment deck, one of the most important things you'll need to focus on is your mana curve. This means your early drops are particularly important to get the deck off the ground.

Ambitious Augmenter is perfect for this, slotting into an aggressive start (much like Pelt Collector in previous decks). It will be fairly common to attack with this as a 2/2 on turn two and a 3/3 on turn three.

The big difference between this and previous, "growing" one-drops is that this one can play excellent defense as well. Once you get a single counter on the Augmenter, it will automatically create a replacement Creature when it dies. There may even be some potential to drop this in a Golgari sacrifice build.

Overall, when looking to build an Increment deck, this is a great inclusion. It should be a foundational card.

Berta, Wise Extrapolator

There is a lot going on with Berta, Wise Extrapolator. The ability to create Creatures with unused mana as a mana sink is a great way to maximize your turns. However, I find the mana ability the most intriguing part of the card.

Since Berta uses the "or more" text, it's best to focus on repeatable sources of counters instead of cards that drop counters in quantity. In Standard, I could see this playing well with Mutagen Man, Living Ooze and The Ooze to create a new deck archetype.

You'll want to look at ways to generate +1/+1 counters for "free" to gain additional value from the mana generation ability. Things like Bristly Bill, Spine Sower, Earthbender Ascension, or Innkeeper's Talent will shine here.

This could be a great Commander choice, as building around both the +1/+1 counters and the Creature creation can take a Quandrix () deck in fun directions. Combining it with cards like Doubling Season or The Ozolith could generate incredible value.

Cuboid Colony

Cuboid Colony should be a staple in any Increment deck, as it hits the ground early, hard, and provides two meaningful forms of evasion in Flying and Trample. The Colony doesn't have to trigger many times to become a serious threat, and it is extremely hard for you opponent to block this profitably.

Fractal Tender

Fractal Tender deviates from the typical Increment strategy in that it tries to push your deck into going wide as well as tall. Ward helps protect your investment. This is one of the Increment cards that most benefits from alternate ways to add counters outside of triggering Increment.

Hungry Graffalon

Hungry Graffalon is the most straightforward of the Increment cards. There are no frills here. Just another Creature that can help defensively with Reach.

This will never be the reason to build an Increment deck, but it is on-theme and can trigger Increment on all of your other Creatures. It's also one of the few giraffes in Magic, and that alone makes it a fun inclusion.

Pensive Professor

Now we're talking! Pensive Professor will be the backbone of any Increment deck and may sneak into other decks as a fringe role-player. Untapping with this should almost always result in your drawing at least one card, and it wouldn't be out of the norm to draw multiple cards a turn from this.

Starting with zero power guarantees your first few spells should cantrip. This card will fuel the Increment deck, making sure you always have cards in hand to keep the engine running.

Tester of the Tangential

One of the big issues that will come up in an Increment deck is figuring out how to grow your Creatures once you've hit the top of your curve. Tester of the Tangential is the answer, as it provides a way to add counters to a Creature without casting a spell to trigger Increment.

If you are removing all of the counters from Tester every turn, as a 1/1 it'll trigger off of most of the cards in your deck. Soon enough it'll be able to spread more counters around and start the process all over again.

Textbook Tabulator

Textbook Tabulator is sneaky good inclusion, as it only takes a couple of triggers to turn this into a Creature able to block almost anything and live.

Increment decks require time to "grow" to their full potential, and this holds down the ground long enough for the deck to develop its board.

Topiary Lecturer

I'm glad Topiary Lecturer is last, because I think there's a chance this is the best of the bunch. There is a fringe playable combo deck in Standard at the moment that focuses on creating infinite mana using Mona Lisa, Science Geek, Chrome Dome, and Guac & Marshmallow Pizza. Topiary Lecturer slots right into this deck as a better copy of Mona Lisa.

Additionally, Topiary Lecturer could just be good enough to slot into other decks. Growing this even once or twice is enough to generate game-ending levels of mana.

Cards That Work Well With Increment

Finally, here is a list of quick hits for cards I'd strongly consider if I were building an Increment deck in Standard (though, these would work equally well in a Commander deck).

Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11

What's better than adding one +1/+1 counter? Adding two! Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11 will grow your Creatures at a faster rate, but it might make triggering them multiple times a bit harder. Time when you play Micehlangelo well.

The Mutagen token is fantastic, and makes me think The Ooze and Mutagen Man, Living Ooze are also probably great inclusions in an Increment deck.

Growth Curve

Growth Curve makes Berta and Topiary Lecturer explode. If you cast this targeting Topiary Lecturer, it gets one counter for casting this, adds a second counter, and then doubles them to make the Creature a 5/6. You can then immediately add the five mana, making Growth Curve a sort of Pyretic Ritual for the deck.

Growth Curve will draw you three cards with Pensive Professor, and generate three mana with Berta. This card was tailor made for the Increment deck.

Innkeeper's Talent

This should go without saying, but adding a counter every turn, without dumping mana into the Creature, makes all of your Increment Creatures better.

Innkeeper's Talent's Ward ability slows down your opponent's interaction. If you get to the point where you're doubling the number of counters, you should win in short order.

Mind into Matter

While Mind into Matter doesn't add counters itself, what it does do is scale with your Increment Creatures. Spells with a mana value of in the casting cost are fantastic with Increment, as they scale in the late game to make sure you can continue to trigger the ability.

Mind into Matter is especially great, as it will also negate the tempo disadvantage by dropping a Creature onto the board.

Conclusion

Increment is an interesting ability that presents a great puzzle for brewers. There are some standouts, and many of these cards aren't going to be pigeon holed into seeing play only in a deck built specifically for Increment.

The ability is a great way to learn about building a mana curve and spell sequencing, and lacks the specificity that would keep the ability locked onto Strixhaven sets. I could see this popping up in another set down the road.

You can find more of my Magic musings on Twitter/X @travishall456 and on Bluesky.