Some of the cards we've already seen from Secrets of Strixhaven reveal that a mechanic that was just a blip on the radar is back.

Converge first showed up in Battle for Zendikar to go with the colorless themes of the set, but it makes just as much sense in Magic's upcoming SOS - which focuses on enemy color pairs.

The first Converge card I remember seeing was Painful Truths back in Battle for Zendikar. It's a neat option in three-color decks and offers solid card draw, but the mechanic never really took off. Here, we see it in Archaic's Agony and Arcane Omens.

Now that it's returning, there's a real question of whether this set will finally give Converge the space it needs to shine.

What is Converge?

Converge is a mechanic where the effect of the card is dependent on the number of different colors of mana spent casting the spell. For example, for Uncle's Musings, the mana cost is .

The more colors you spend, the bigger X can be. The mana cost of the card limits how much X can be, though. In the case of Painful Truth, the most you can pay into it is three; the same is true with Uncle's Musings because of the cost.

Drawing three cards or getting back three permanents from the graveyard seems well worth it, though.

The New Converge Cards Revealed

In episode two of the Secrets of Strixhaven story, Archaic's Agony and Arcane Omens were spoiled.

Both are five-drop Sorceries that feature the Converge mechanic. At such a high mana cost, I'm not sure how much play they'll see. On the plus side, you could use all five colors to cast them.

Arcane Omens seems like it could see a ton of play in Commander. In a five color deck, you could nearly flush someone's hand in one go; of course, that's much steeper of a cost if you run in it a three-color deck.

Reaching five colors of mana for Archaic's Agony is already a big ask, and even then, the damage often lines up too closely with most Creatures' toughness to produce meaningful excess. Without some form of damage doubler in play, the card's exile effect may rarely reach its full potential.

Past Converge Cards

Even though we've seen it before, there were never a lot of very playable cards featuring the Converge mechanic.

Since its debut in Battle for Zendikar. It appeared in Modern Horizons 2, Commander 2016, and Avatar: The Last Airbender Eternal. Across these sets, there were still less than 20 cards altogether.

Radiant Epicure is a card that seemed interesting. Life drain is always good in Black, the Vampire Creature type is useful, and a 5/5 body for a cost of five is good. In an Edgar Markov Commander deck, this looks pretty playable, especially because of the potential of casting it with three colors.

Elf cards like Skyrider Elf and Tajuru Stalwart seem to struggle. I'm not familiar with many three-color Elf decks, which usually leaves these guys as 2/2s for two or three mana.

Prismatic Ending is better-suited to 60-card formats where efficient mana bases are more critical, but certainly not in Commander. It's probably why Converge appeared again in Modern Horizon 2. Even Head Designer Mark Rosewater has acknowledged that Converge was unpopular in Battle for Zendikar.

Rosewater said, "I think converge ended up being a mechanic in the wrong environment. I believe if put into a block where color (as opposed to colorlessness) is relevant, the mechanic would have fared much better..."

Impact on Secrets of Strixhaven

There are a lot of interesting delineations between house color pairs in this set, but it's unclear how colors might mix. Converge is a mechanic that the more colors the better it works, but there is a limit.

Five colors aren't the best situation for these spells. Cards like Uncle's Musings is good with just three targets and 3 mana spent.

If Wizards of the Coast (WotC) focuses on low cost Converge spells, they might have a chance to make a bunch of fun cards.

Keeping these effects in the two- to three-mana range - card draw, removal, and bounce - would go a long way toward making them playable across formats. That kind of balance between Commander and Standard is clearly a priority for WotC.

The card quality in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was solid, but Lorwyn Eclipsed didn't leave much of a mark as an in-universe set. I'll be honest, Edge of Eternities and Tarkir: Dragonstorm were hard acts to follow. They were easily some of the best sets of the year.

I just hope Secrets of Strixhaven lives up to expectations. We haven't seen much yet but Converge looks like a cool sign that WotC is taking risks with this set. Risk-taking has always been a good indicator of memorable design, and Edge of Eternities was a perfect example.

Predictions for Converge for Secrets of Strixhaven

The question is whether WotC will lean more into what they've already done or shift the focus to supplying the other colors with support.

Quandrix College, in Simic colors (), has the most support for Converge cards. There are a lot of +1/+1 counters in abilities and card draw in effects across all Converge cards. Quandrix seems like the poster child for the greatest number of cards for this mechanic.

They'll likely get more support than other colors. Also, based on what Rosewater said about colorless, they might avoid giving cards colorless casting costs in order to lock them to specific color identities.

It would be too easy to play a colorless Converge card. There might also be color-pairing cards specifically for different houses with Converge. I don't know, but a boy can dream.

Conclusion

I want to be optimistic. I'm not happy with the first few Converge cards I've seen, but the first few spoilers are always sleepers. It's a cool mechanic if it's given it's time to shine.

Rosewater said it would thrive better in an environment with more colors and Strixhaven definitely has the colors. Let's see what they can produce.

That's all for now. I'm @strixhavendropout on everything.