Secrets of Strixhaven Pauper Review

Secrets of Strixhaven is upon us.

The third Magic: The Gathering expansion of 2026 sees us returning to Arcavios' famous school following 2021's Strixhaven: School of Mages. Naturally, plenty of cool new Common cards are coming alongside it.

Today, I'm going to be taking a look through many of them and see how they stack up in Pauper, Magic's Commons-only format. There's a bevy of new and returning mechanics, a couple of cycles and some interesting one-off designs.

I'll be going through them one section at a time and see if the set brings anything awesome to Pauper the way it has for Standard so far.

Mechanics

Secrets of Strixhaven features a ton of mechanics. There is one for each enemy color pair (or school for this set), along with Prepare and Converge at Common. They all bring a little something to the table, except for Converge.

Converge only has one card that is basically unplayable in Pauper, Rancorous Archaic.

Paradigm and Lessons show up in the set as well, though only at the Mythic Rare level, so they don't impact Pauper at all.

A new Artifact subtype appears for the first time as well in Book, which retroactively applies to one Pauper legal card: Jalum Tome. As of now, nothing cares about Books, so this is little more than flavor, but it might become relevant in a future release.

Prepare

Prepare is an awesome new mechanic in Secrets of Strixhaven. It sort of acts as a reverse Adventure, where you cast the permanent and then cast the spell later as opposed to Adventure where you cast the spell first.

The set features nine cards with Prepare and one additional card that cares about it. Unfortunately, many of them aren't that exciting.

Most of them feature fantastic spells but have bodies that are so mediocre, it becomes hard to justify trying for those extra spells. If you look at Honorbound Page, the spell side looks cool for Mono-White Heroic. A four-mana 3/3, however, does not.

The same is true for cards like Spellbook Seeker and Cheerful Osteomancer. These offer you the chance to cast some very classic spells in Careful Study and Raise Dead, respectively. But the bodies are so weak by the standards of Pauper that there's no point in trying to register them in your list.

There are a few that I like, however.

Elite Interceptor is doing a fantastic impression of Thraben Inspector and Novice Inspector in a way. Rather than drawing a random card, you're given the chance to tap something down and still draw your card. It's not a one-to-one, so there are chances you'll want the Inspectors or a mix, but this is almost certainly good enough to see play in multiple decks.

Goblin Glasswright isn't the most exciting option, but the body is fine enough that it's not an unreasonable ask to cast the Craft with Pride side. This might have a home in something like a combo deck or Kor Skyfisher-style lists that really want the Treasure, but it's probably going to be niche applications.

The last of the cards that I think could have potential is Studious First-Year. There's no beating around the bush that the Creature side is extremely weak and fragile.

However, getting the option to cast Rampant Growth is a solid deal, and something as simple as a cheap flicker spell like Ephemerate can make this go a long way. Cards like Rampant Growth and even the comparable Wood Elves aren't very playable, but there's enough going on that this little Bear may have a shot.

While Biblioplex Tomekeeper is unlikely to do anything now given the narrow nature of the mechanic, it's clear that Prepare has a lot of potential. In time, I'm confident we'll see it again.

Repartee

Repartee is the first school-specific mechanic for the Silverquill (White-Black). It's essentially a riff on Heroic and Valiant except it triggers when you cast an Instant or Sorcery that targets any Creature - including your opponent's.

Exactly three legal cards use this mechanic and most of them probably aren't good enough. Rehearsed Debater isn't a great rate for Pauper and Inkling Mascot dies a little too easily despite being an otherwise decent small flyer.

The one that could be possibly interesting is Melancholic Poet, as having only a few of those can drain away your opponent's life total fast. The problem is that there is already a wide variety of options when it comes to pinger effects in Pauper.

Most are Red, though, and they don't drain life so this can be better, but you need to ask yourself if you want this more than Kessig Flamebreather or Guttersnipe.

Opus

Opus is the Blue-Red mechanic for the Prismari in this set. Funny enough, Opus was basically the Prismari mechanic from the original Strixhaven: School of Mages but it's finally keyworded here. It cares about you casting spells with five or more mana, playing into the "go big or go home" style of the school.

Only four Commons in the set use the mechanic. Deluge Virtuoso and Tackle Artist are both pretty obviously Limited fodder and simply aren't where you want to be when it comes to Pauper.

Expressive Firedancer and Elemental Mascot seem like cards we've seen in the past, namely the likes of Kiln Fiend-style cards.

Unfortunately, the boost in power both receive is too low. Most spells are also too low cost to get the bonus reasonably, making the whole mechanic land with a bit of a thud.

Infusion

Infusion is the Witherbloom (Black-Green) mechanic for the set and it's fairly simple. If you've gained life in the turn, you get a small bonus. That's pretty sweet given how many life gain effects there are in the format with how aggressive the meta currently is.

Sadly, the majority of these cards seem a bit too underwhelming, once again landing in the realm of Limited fodder. There is, however, one card that could have some potential.

Follow the Lumarets is a really strong bit of card selection for certain decks. If you already like gaining life and playing Green, then this isn't bad at all.

For example, some decks that play Winding Way will often only hit two Creatures anyways. If you can have the option to get two Creatures, two Lands, or some combination of the two based on what you need, why wouldn't you take it?

The big hurdle is having a reliable way to gain life, but most decks usually have some means of doing so. If the deck is consistent enough, there is a ton of play to this. It's definitely one of the better looking cards here.

Flashback

Pauper players are no strangers to the Flashback mechanic. It's a classic dating all the way back to Odyssey and has returned as a mechanic for years.

Many Pauper staples feature Flashback as well. Cards like Moment's Peace, Battle Screech, and Chainer's Edict are format classics.

Even later options such as Rally the Peasants and Artful Dodge have shown up to great effect.

Now, it's the Lorehold (Red-White) mechanic for SOS.

Only three Common cards in this set have Flashback and it's a pretty underwhelming group of cards this time around. Tome Blast is just a worse Firebolt, a card which has been outclassed in Pauper for years.

Pursue the Past is also not the greatest option particularly when you stack it against Faithless Looting.

The one notable card is Dig Site Inventory, though that's because it's a functional reprint of a card we know sees play already: Homestead Courage. That card has been showing up in builds of Heroic for years but lists generally don't run a full playset.

It's unlikely that you'll want to ever run this as copies five through eight, but this gives you a solid option to choose which flavor you prefer.

Increment

Increment is the latest take on the Evolve mechanic from Gatecrash.

That mechanic put a +1/+1 counter on your Creatures if a bigger one came into play but Increment beefs you up for casting a spell with higher mana value than the card's power or toughness.

Both of these are the Blue-Green mechanic of their respective sets - in this case Quandrix.

Only two cards have the mechanic at Common and sadly they're both little more than Limited fodder. Neither Hungry Graffalon - Magic's first Giraffe - nor Textbook Tabulator are anywhere near the ballpark of being Pauper playable.

I'd love to see this mechanic get used later on, but as is now, it's pretty worthless for the format.

Cycles

Secrets of Strixhaven features only two relevant cycles: the enemy-colored Mascots and the new enemy-colored Dual Lands.

The Mascots

Every enemy color pair in this set gets a Mascot card to represent each of the schools, lore-wise. We met the Elemental Mascot and Inkling Mascot, but what about the others?

Fractal Mascot is simply too expensive to play and is an easy pass. Pest Mascot and Spirit Mascot are a lot more interesting, though. They require very specific deck builds, but if you can pull it off, they can get really big, really fast.

My gut says neither is good enough to see play, but they definitely represent some of the best build-around options for the set.

Surveil Dual Lands

Last time we came to Strixhaven, we got a set of Dual Lands that gave you the ability to Scry . Making a Surveil option seems like a no brainer, though the addition of colored mana to the costs makes it feel worse.

It's especially rough seeing as the Surveil duals in Marvel's Spider-Man only had generic costs (see: University Campus).

Those see no play, which makes me feel the prospects for this cycle aren't good either.

Individual Cards

With the set's mechanics and cycles covered, it's time to look at everything else. These are the remaining cards that could still have Pauper potential, even if they aren't tied to any major theme.

We'll go color by color and see what stands out.

White

Eager Glyphmage

Creatures that make tokens when they enter have always made for great flicker targets. Few of them make Flying tokens, though, which gives Eager Glyphmage a little more juice than the rest.

It will certainly face harsh competition from existing cards like Soul of Migration and Murmuring Mystic, but it's not nothing.

Interjection

From what I can tell, Interjection is the first time White gets a one mana combat trick that gives +2/+2 and First Strike. Combat tricks typically aren't in high demand for Pauper, but the rate on this seems rock solid for something like Heroic. Space is tight for the decks that might want it, but it could certainly show up in small numbers.

Owlin Historian

There are enough ways to make stuff leave your graveyard via Flashback and the like that there could be some potential here. In practice, the rate probably isn't good enough as Owlin Historian dies to most of the format's removal, but there's certainly potential to make this huge.

Just imagine casting a big Reaping the Graves into it.

Rapier Wit

Rapier Wit is the best rate we've seen for this kind of effect in White to date, but I don't think adding a stun counter is enough to make Pressure Point good in a format like Pauper.

Shattered Acolyte

Cathar Commando has shorn up a solid amount in Pauper mainly for White Weenies as an aggressive threat that can also double as Artifact and Enchantment hate.

Shattered Acolyte plays in a similar space, but with one less power and without Flash.

Despite those shortcomings, having Lifelink and two toughness could make it more resilient against the many Aggro decks in the format right now. I know that Alabaster Host Sanctifier hasn't exactly been worth playing, but the added modality really does go a long way when it comes to playability.

Stone Docent

Speaking of aggressive White cards, Stone Docent plays into some pretty interesting space.

Typically, a 3/1 for two isn't where you want to be. However, getting to exile it afterwards to gain some life can act as a sort of two-for-one against other Aggro matchups and helps set you up with the Surveil.

It's probably not enough still for the format, but it's surprisingly nice for this rate.

Blue

Hydro-Channeler

My initial reaction to Hydro-Channeler was that it seemed better at filtering mana to cast spells compared to something like Vodalian Tideturner.

However, Pelargir Survivor was printed in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth and just makes any color mana outright, and that sees no play.

Procrastinate

I'm normally not huge on this sort of effect as a one time tap down effect, but Procrastinate scales really well thanks to the cost.

If you just want to tap something down for a turn, you can, or you can put aggressively higher numbers of stun counters depending on how much mana you're willing to spend.

This probably doesn't end up making it in Pauper when Sleep of the Dead is putting up great numbers, but it's some cool new design space all the same.

Black

Burrog Banemaker

Small critters with Deathtouch are fan favorites that rarely do much. Giving one of these cards the ability to get pumped and turn into an aggressive threat has way more merit than this type of card usually gets. Sadly, it's still probably not enough to make Burrog Banemaker a worthwhile card.

Cost of Brilliance

These kinds of spells don't see much play in Pauper, but granting a +1/+1 counter is new space. Cost of Brilliance is probably not enough to make this worth playing over Black's other existing draw engines, but it is noteworthy all the same.

Masterful Flourish

When I first read Masterful Flourish, I thought it looked promising as it seemed like one of the cheapest ways to grant Indestructible to a Creature in Black. Given how that pairs nicely with Krark-Clan Shaman, I figured it could have potential.

Sadly, when I scanned one-mana spells that grant Indestructible I came across Armor of Shadows. Masterful Flourish is little more than a functional reprint of the Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate card, meaning this probably does nothing.

Red

Rubble Rouser

Red's offerings in this set outside of cards relating to the set mechanics are quite lacking.

Rubble Rouser seems like the one potentially viable option. It's a decent blocker, gives you a rummage when it enters, and has an activated ability that does a surprisingly large amount for a small effect.

Removing a card from your graveyard has synergies with other Lorehold cards, plus you get mana out of it, and you deal some damage too. Three mana is probably what really holds this back from making a splash, but there is quite a lot going on here even at that rate.

Green

Burrog Barrage

The majority of Bite Down spells like this don't typically pump your Creature in the process. That said, it's very rare when they do see play. The only reason Monstrous Emergence sees play is that you can reveal a Creature from your hand instead of having it on the battlefield.

If you're playing something that wants the boost, like Infect, maybe Burrog Barrage can be solid, but I feel like in most situations it's not making it as the buff is so meager.

Glorious Decay

We really are getting spoiled for choice on these three effect modal spells in Green lately, aren't we? Glorious Decay compares quite favorably to something like Heritage Reclamation, but in a way that doesn't make it entirely better either.

It'll be entirely dependent on the meta when you want one over the other, but this is a fantastic addition to the format.

Oracle's Restoration

There is a lot happening with Oracle's Restoration for just one mana. Sorcery speed really hinders it, but that's the right combination of effects to be a potential player. Try it on a Kiln Fiend or a Heroic Creature and you'll get a big buff and an extra card draw.

It's still probably a bit too little for Pauper, but it's also likely better than it looks.

Wild Hypothesis

Wild Hypothesis seems like a neat card for you to ramp into at face value, but let's be real: in what world are you casting this over Nyxborn Hydra? Also, rather than bringing it up again in the Gold section, the same logic applies to Pterafractyl as well, clever naming aside.

Gold

Visionary's Dance

There are enough spell-based decks that like to make some big Creatures at the top end of your play that might like something in the vein of Visionary's Dance. The real appeal isn't the tokens, though, but the option to basically cycle it away for some solid card selection.

Having that side of this while also having the option to make two Creatures might make it more playable than it seems at first glance.

Bogwater Lumaret

Soul Warden effects have their place here and there which makes Bogwater Lumaret look somewhat appealing. The big problem this card has, though, is that it's competing with the significantly better Essence Warden and most decks don't even want a playset of those.

Grapple with Death

Sorcery speed Putrefy probably isn't good enough to see play in Pauper. That said, it's cool to see us get something close to such a classic spell in the format.

Wilt in the Heat

Boros (/) decks (Synthesizer, Bully, etc.) have historically done enough with Flashback spells that Wilt in the Heat could be better than it reads at first glance.

These decks have often played Battle Screech, Faithless Looting, Prismatic Strands, and Rally the Peasants in addition to the infrequent Reaping the Graves in Mardu (//)

builds. That often makes this a way more reasonable removal spell to take out big threats, even if you probably only want one or two ever at most.

Artifact/Colorless

Mage Tower Referee

Mage Tower Referee has already gotten some people brewing with it and it's not hard to see why.

If you get this on the battlefield and follow it up by casting two Burning-Tree Emissary into another Multicolor Creature, this gets really big, really fast. That does assume that it survives you doing so, though, as it's quite fragile to many forms of removal before getting those counters.

I'd wager Mage Tower Referee ends up falling into one of those cards that brewers will love to mess with but probably won't break out in the greater meta.

Page, Loose Leaf

I'm finding it hard to think of a place where Page, Loose Leaf sees some real play. The card is awesome and can find some great spells in select decks. For example, imagine playing this in something like Elves or Spy Combo to dig up a timely Lead the Stampede or Winding Way.

The issue is that the decks that might want to take advantage of the effect likely don't have much room for Page. Many other decks are so Instant and Sorcery rich that if you were to try using this, you'd probably end up finding a spell so minor it's not worth putting Page into your deck in the first place.

That leaves it in a precarious spot where nothing stands out to make it very appealing, but I'm not going to be surprised if someone finds a good home for it either.

Potioner's Trove

By and large, I think Potioner's Trove isn't good if you look at it as just a Manalith. Despite this, I can't help but think back to Pristine Talisman, which saw play long ago in Teachings Control decks.

This is certainly different, but there are plenty of decks where casting Instants and Sorceries is trivial and that two life goes a long way. I'm not expecting this to make the cut in Pauper, but there is certainly some amount of potential.

Conclusion

Secrets of Strixhaven is looking like a red-hot set for lots of formats. For Pauper, though, it looks like only a handful of cards are going to be slam dunk players.

Outside of those, however, it's a set that's full of neat roleplayers and great cards to brew around. I'm very eager as a member of the Pauper Format Panel to see what players are able to do with many of these and whether or not many of them have legs.

Good luck and have fun brewing!

Paige Smith

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