On Tuesday, March 31st, Wizards of the Coast had their Secrets of Strixhaven debut. They announced that there will be some old mechanics - like Flashback - returning, but more importantly, they introduced six brand new mechanics featured in this set.

These included Repartee, Infusion, Opus, Increment, Paradigm, and Prepare. Some of these are spins on old mechanics and some are completely new.

We'll get into what these new Strixhaven mechanics do and some strategies that might want them.

Silverquill's Repartee Mechanic

Repartee is the Silverquill, or Orzhov, mechanic. It rewards you for targeting Creatures with Instants and Sorceries. The spell they spoiled at the debut was Conciliator's Duelist. It gives you a blink effect when you target a Creature.

This one was tricky to find a build around for. It's got to be Killian, Ink Duelist who would get the most out of this ability on a whole. Killian would get a discount on Continue? from his effects targeting Creatures and be able to get a trigger off Repartee effect like Conciliator's Duelist.

Ketramose, the New Dawn might get some use out of the Duelist specifically.

Most of the time, Ketramose is exiling other players' things. Repartee doesn't care whose creatures get targeted for the effect to happen. Blinking with Concilator's effect could be really good for Ketramose.

Witherbloom's Infusion Mechanic

Infusion is a Witherbloom, or Golgari, mechanic that cares about life gained this turn.

Old-Growth Educator, a card that had been spoiled from the set, puts two +1/+1 counters on it if you gained life this turn. One life or five life gained, doesn't matter. Essence Warden is going to do a lot of work for cards like this.

There isn't too much to read into here; but Dina, Soul Steeper or Dina, Essence Brewer would both benefit off this effect.

Both are Golgari decks that care about life gain. Dina also cares about power so that Educator could go in there as well.

Prismari's Opus Mechanic

Opus is a Prismari, or Izzet, mechanic that cares about whenever you cast an Instant or Sorcery spell. The reward for when you cast an Instant or Sorcery increases if five or more mana is spent to cast that spell.

This is not the mana value of the spell, but what spent on it. This is relevant for things like casting for free or kicker costs.

Colorstorm Stallion, for example, would normally give itself +1/+1 until end of turn, but if five or more is spent to cast the spell then you create a token copy of that Creature.

This might be great in a deck built around Zaffai, Thunder Conductor, one that wants high mana value Instants and Sorceries.

The other card spoiled, Exhibition Tidecaller, would be great in a Bruvac the Grandioloquent Mill deck. Maddening Cacophony is really good because Opus would see the Kicker cost and mill ten cards on top of the milling half their library.

Quandrix's Increment Mechanic

Increment is the Quandrix, or Simic, mechanic. It reads, "Whenever you cast a spell, the amount of mana you spent is greater than this Creature's power or toughness put a +1/+1 counter on this Creature."

This would be good in the new Zimone, Infinite Analyst deck. Being able to cast huge X spells that buff Cuboid Colony each time and drawing cards with Pensive Professor is pretty neat.

This mechanic might be broken sincerely if this ability is ever able to be given to a Creature. Giving this ability to Zimone would end the game, hands down.

The Paradigm Mechanic

This is a new mechanic for Secrets of Strixhaven that isn't tied to a House. It is on certain cards with the ability and happens after you successfully cast it. You exile it and you may cast a copy of it from exile without paying its mana cost at the beginning of each of your first main phases.

It looks like this is going to be a cycle of five different Paradigm cards, each color getting its own card. The Red one, Improvisation Capstone, has been spoiled.

It looks like a new Prosper, Tome-Bound, Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald, Rocco, Street Chef, and Fire Lord Zuko staple.

Any deck wanting to get value from playing from exile is going to play this card. Being able to get it every turn after successfully casting it is going to be amazing. Prosper has the best chance of casting it reasonably for its whopping 7 mana, though.

The Prepare Mechanic

Let's end with the big mechanic everyone's been whispering about. There are cards spoiled with spells on the right side of the card. Copies of those spells can be cast for that cost if the Creature is "prepared." Once a copy of the spell is cast the Creature becomes unprepared.

The card's main section will explain how it becomes prepared.

Landscape Painter enters prepared so unless you can blink it - or use Biblioplex Tomekeeper - you are getting that Vibrant Idea spell only once.

I'm not sure how much play this will see in Commander. Having to jump through the hoop of preparing a Creature and then paying mana for the spell seems like a hassle.

I say that but Grave Researcher gives me Reanimate over and over and Surveil 1 every upkeep. It might be good.

Conclusion

A lot of these mechanics are fun! Instead of just rehashing old ideas, Wizards found ways to push familiar play patterns into new territory.

Whether it's casting from exile with Paradigm, scaling spell investment with Opus, or turning simple life gain into real board presence with Infusion, each mechanic opens up new lines of play rather than just slotting into existing shells.

I think Prepare and Paradigm might be ones to stick with the game outside of SOS.