It's no secret that Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS) has a lot of powerful Rares. If you've played any games of SOS Limited, you might well be familiar with some of the cards we're going to talk about.

Rares and Mythic Rares show up sparingly, so they're meant to be some of the most powerful cards in a Draft. Of course, not all Rares are created equally, and some have an outsized effect on the game whenever they hit the table.

We're interested in the upper echelon of Rares and Mythic Rares in Secrets of Strixhaven. Whether you're the one casting them or you're facing them down on the other side of the table, these cards are statistically some of the top performers whenever they show up. Who will be graduating top of the class, though? Let's dig into the data and find out.

The Top Eight Rares & Mythics in SOS Limited

Our picks for the top eight Rares and Mythic Rares for SOS Limited are pulled from the available data for online Drafts. Let's have a look at the top eight cards by win rate.

• 8. Improvisation Capstone
• 7. Stirring Hopesinger
• 6. Moment of Reckoning
• 5. Emeritus of Ideation
• 4. Ark of Hunger
• 3. Antiquities on the Loose
• 2. Practiced Offense
• 1. Together as One

We've got a true rogue's gallery to sift through, so let's talk about what makes each of these cards so impactful in SOS Limited.

8. Improvisation Capstone

Given what I know is coming up on this list, Improvisation Capstone stands out like a sore thumb. It's extremely powerful, but extremely slow. In a format where two of the best decks are aggressive, a seven-mana Sorcery making this list was not something I expected.

If you are alive on the turn after you cast this, it's easy to see how it gets its win rate. At that point, you've paid seven mana for at least eight mana's worth of stuff. Oh, and you still have seven untapped Lands to work with after that. Now, you are going to have to put some work in with this card. You need to build around it, either by ramping it out or by controlling the board with plenty of removal. The juice is evidently worth the squeeze, though, and removal is abundant in this environment.

7. Stirring Hopesinger

You're about to see a lot of White cards as we move down this list. If you've played much of the format, you could probably already guess that fact yourself, though. The White schools are eating well in Secrets of Strixhaven. Stirring Hopesinger is great in both, but its undoubtedly at its best with Black cards rather than Red ones. Its home school of Silverquill () is both better at triggering Repartee (any Instant or Sorcery that targets a single creature will do) and makes better use of doing so. The Lifelink here also works nicely with any Witherbloom () cards you might have picked up.

What makes this card so good is that it doesn't need a lot of help. A 1/3 flier with Lifelink is not a great card. Triggering Repartee even a single time turns this into a real threat while also pumping the rest of your Creatures. Triggering it multiple times is going to end the game quickly if your opponent doesn't have a board sweeper.

6. Moment of Reckoning

You'll notice there aren't many Black cards on this list, but Moment of Reckoning makes up for it. More than any card on this list, seeing this resolve on the other side of the board feels like your soul is leaving your body. Many of these cards end the game, but this one really lets you know you're done. It's so flexible, ranging from Plague Wind to Living Death with multiple stages in between.

It does have a steep mana cost, and I do think the best Silverquill decks are usually aggressive. Still, even aggressive decks need a top-end in Limited, and using this to eliminate all blockers is a sure-fire way to finish a game.

5. Emeritus of Ideation

Good grief. I've played against Emeritus of Ideation one time, and it absolutely destroyed me. Of course it did. It's a five-mana flier for five that casts literal Ancestral Recall. Well, realistically, it's more of a six-drop, because you really want to make sure you get to cast that part. Ward 2 is nice, but I would really try and wait till I could cast both parts of this card immediately.

Honestly, though, there isn't much to say about this card. It looked absurd as one of the earliest spoiled cards, and it lives up to the hype, at least in Limited.

4. Ark of Hunger

There's quite a few Red and/or White cards on this list, but I'd argue Ark of Hunger is the most fun. The other two coming up are just crushingly strong. This one is obviously strong, too, but at least it's interesting.

It's card advantage in the school that typically gets the least of it. It's reach. It's life gain, if you need it for the mirror. This card does a little bit of everything, but on top of all that, it also triggers all of your "leaves the graveyard" stuff. It's a bit like when you'd argue with your friends as a kid and say "infinity plus one." This card does everything you want, and, somehow, a little bit more.

3. Antiquities on the Loose

Lorehold () and Silverquill are both doing very well in SOS Draft currently, and you're about to see a couple of reasons why, back-to-back. While Rares don't typically define a Limited environment, the fact that there are two of these excellent go-wide cards at the business end of this list does paint a picture. That picture looks something like the other schools getting stuffed in a locker by a bunch of Lorehold jocks.

The Flashback on Antiquities on the Loose is unbelievable, but three mana for two 2/2s is so good that you might not need it. I'm curious what the win rate difference is between the two modes. We'll never know, but both would probably make this list anyway.

2. Practiced Offense

You won't need much practice with Practiced Offense before it wins you the game. If the first cast isn't ending the game, the flashback almost certainly will.

This card and the previous one perform very similar roles, and it's no surprise that they're within 0.1% of each other's win rate. Lorehold is the most performant two-color deck in the format, and both this and Antiquities on the Loose do everything the aggressive decks want. They improve your board, they trigger Opus on your Red cards and the Flashback costs trigger all your "leaves the graveyard" cards. Did Lorehold really need both of these cards in the same set? Probably not, but they're incredible, so don't pass them.

Unlike Antiquities, Practiced Offense also pays off any of your Repartee cards. This card is excellent on its own merits, sure. When it's also draining with Melancholic Poet or pumping your Scolding Administrator twice, though, it's even better.

1. Together as One

Together as One being top of the pile is fascinating. It's obviously powerful: you can see just by reading the text box. If you cast this with mana, it's going to be nigh impossible to lose. And yet, five-color decks are not doing especially well, according to the 17lands data. Even three and four color decks are, mostly, sub-optimal. So, how is a six-mana Sorcery that needs multiple colors of mana doing so well in a format full of aggressive White decks?

You know what other decks are doing quite well? Decks in the "three color + splash" category. In particular, Jund (), Jeskai () and Naya ({) are doing very well with a splash. The Green decks are obviously great at fixing, and can easily splash multiple colors for a Converge spell. Jeskai perhaps makes the best use of this card, as it often wants the game to go long, and is happy enough to cast this for three, drawing into more action. Jeskai is also most likely to benefit from simply casting a Sorcery in the first place, thanks to Opus.

It is comically easy to splash in this format. There are plenty of Lands, there's tons of fixing in Green, and Potioner's Trove is approaching a 58% win rate at common. Together as One is passable at three colors and only gets better the more you can manage. It really makes it worth taking the turn off to cast a Sorcery. And let's be honest, it's not like you're really taking the turn off anyway. This kills a Creature and gains you some life, making it quite likely that you do get to untap and keep playing next turn.

Conclusion

As you can see, White has a lot of powerful Rares in both of its schools. There are multiple mono-White cards near the top of the list alongside one gold card from each.

This is only a small sample, but it underlines what we already knew. SOS rewards you for being at either end of the spectrum. Aggressive White decks are good and Multicolor decks can be good. You do not want to end up somewhere in the middle if you can avoid it.