Are you planning to attend your local game shop's Secrets of Strixhaven (pre)release events? Do you enjoy cracking booster packs of the latest set with your friends? No matter how you enjoy opening fresh play boosters, you may be keen to know beforehand which cards to keep an eye out for from a value perspective. Thus, here is an early look at the most expensive cards from Secrets of Strixhaven near the set's release.

The Power Nine Returns?

The famous Power Nine cards are all technically on the Reserved List, so Wizards of the Coast won't be reprinting these anytime soon. Besides, they're far too powerful to reintroduce into Standard, right?

Apparently, Wizards of the Coast found a way of doing just that. I present to you the only way you can legally cast Ancestral Recall outside of Vintage: Emeritus of Ideation.

The ability to draw three cards for a single Blue mana has returned, albeit with a major catch. First, you must cast this five-mana, 5/5 Flying, Ward 2 Human Wizard Creature. Once the Creature enters, you can access the Ancestral Recall spell as long as the Creature remains Prepared and on the battlefield. The craziest part is that Emeritus of Ideation can become prepared again, giving you an opportunity to draw three cards repeatedly! It's no wonder this card is currently the most valuable in the set, preselling north of $40.

Other Alpha Throwbacks

The second most expensive card from Secrets of Strixhaven also happens to follow this same "Prepared" template. Instead of allowing you to cast Ancestral Recall, however, Emeritus of Woe gives you access to another Alpha classic, Demonic Tutor.

Emeritus of Woe is also preselling in the low $40's, neck and neck with its Blue counterpart. In similar fashion, Emeritus of Woe is a Creature that enters prepared and gives you opportunity to prepare it again, giving you the chance to cast Demonic Tutor multiple times. It's no surprise that Emeritus of Woe and Emeritus of Ideation, two throwbacks to some of the most powerful spells in Magic history, is preselling for so much money.

A little further down the list, I see a couple other noteworthy Alpha spell throwbacks via the prepared mechanic. Completing the cycle of mythic rares, there's Emeritus of Abundance (Regrowth), Emeritus of Conflict (Lightning Bolt), and Emeritus of Truce (Swords to Plowshares).

Emeritus of Abundance is preselling for around $13, though some copies have sold for as much as $19. Emeritus of Conflict is a solid $12, and Emeritus of Truce is around $10 with earlier copies selling north of $20. Suffice to say, if you see a mythic rare Emeritus in your booster pack, you know your pack was just paid for (and then some).

Guess Who's Back

As a fan of nostalgia, this set is a likely contender for my favorite release of 2026. First, I have the opportunity to cast Ancestral Recall and Demonic Tutor in Limited and Standard. Next up, we have a new cycle of Elder Dragon Legends. That's right, Secrets of Strixhaven is bringing us a full cycle of two-colored Elder Dragon Legends, a throwback reference to the original cycle in Legends.

It's no surprise that all five new Elder Dragons are preselling for a significant amount.

Presale prices for each of the Elder Dragons is as follows:

• Witherbloom, the Balancer: $34
• Prismari, the Inspiration: $29
• Lorehold, the Historian: $27
• Quandrix, the Proof: $24
• Silverquill, the Disputant: $22

Opening one of these mythic rare Elder Dragons will cover the cost of a few play boosters, especially if you cash them in at your (pre)release event. I suspect these will settle a bit lower, with the fan favorite or two maintaining an elevated price tag relative to the rest. I couldn't tell you which ones will be winners, but as a fan of the original Elder Dragon Legends, I am just delighted to see a new, powerful cycle return to Standard.

A Couple Noteworthy Rares

As usual, the most valuable cards in Secrets of Strixhaven, at least out of the gate, are a handful of iconic mythic rares. These ultra rare cards only appear one out of every few booster packs, however, so it's highly likely you won't see too many of these in your prerelease pool.

Fortunately, there are at least a couple noteworthy rare cards also preselling for more than the price of a booster pack.

The most valuable so far is Erode, an interesting spin on Path to Exile.

I'm not the best Constructed player, but I know a versatile and efficient removal spell when I see one. While Erode doesn't exile like Path to Exile does, it offers the upside of destroying Planeswalkers. In many cases, this is a worthwhile tradeoff, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Erode replace Path to Exile in many deck lists to add optionality.

This Instant spell is currently preselling for $12-$15, and while I expect its price to settle a little lower like most preorders, I can see Erode continuing to be a valuable removal spell for years to come.

The other Secrets of Strixhaven rare turning heads is Flashback, currently preselling for $10-$12.

A number of cards have granted flashback to cards in your graveyard over the years. Snapcaster Mage may be the most famous instance of this ability. While Flashback doesn't give you the Creature like Snapcaster Mage, it is one less mana and in Red, meaning it may have different applications. I'm less confident Flashback will maintain elevated value than I am about Erode, but I can't argue with Flashback's versatility.

Rounding Out the List

Back to mythic rares, there are a few more powerful cards worth mentioning for their elevated preorder pricing.

First, there's the return of a Planeswalker: Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer. That's right, Ral Zarek is back and this time he's in Black instead of Izzet ().

Presale prices of Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer are all over the place, ranging from $12 to north of $20. It's often difficult to pinpoint how powerful a new Planeswalker will be, but I can say with confidence that being just three mana while also having four abilities makes this one intriguing.

Ral Zarek's plus ability is admittedly underwhelming, and his -2 to protect himself could be inconsistent. It will be interesting to see how he plays out, though I suspect casual fans will love his ultimate since it involves flipping five coins and taking extra turns.

The next worthwhile card to mention is The Dawning Archaic, a Colorless, Legendary avatar Creature preselling for at least $10 in most places.

Every time I see a 10-mana Creature, I immediately think of Eldrazi. While The Dawning Archaic isn't an Eldrazi Creature, it certainly gives off Eldrazi vibes being colorless. Fortunately, it costs one less for each Instant and Sorcery card in your Graveyard, meaning this Creature may join Eddymurk Crab and Tolarian Terror as a new Izzet Prowess win condition.

It's fairly powerful at 7/7, has Reach, and allows you to recast Instants and Sorceries from your graveyard when it attacks. I can see this making waves in Standard.

Finally, I want to touch on a trio of powerful, valuable Sorceries you'll want to keep an eye out for in your booster packs: Germination Practicum ($10), Decorum Dissertation ($10), and Mathemagics ($10).

Each of these Sorceries are splashy mythic rares; Germination Practicum and Decorum Dissertation are also Lessons and use the new Paradigm mechanic to boot. Paradigm is an extremely powerful mechanic - it's like Epic, except you are still allowed to cast other spells throughout the game. Five mana isn't a steep cost, either. Being able to pump your team every turn for the rest of the game sounds extremely powerful.

Mathemagics doesn't fit into this cycle, but is still preselling favorably due to its exponential card-drawing ability. It's true that at lower values of X, you'd be better off casting Braingeyser. As X increases, however, the exponential nature makes Mathemagics far more powerful. Ten mana is the crossover point. Both Braingeyser and Mathemagics draw a player eight cards. Once you get to twelve mana, Mathemagics outperforms dramatically (eight cards for Braingeyser vs. sixteen cards for Mathemagics).

Wrapping It Up

That sums up the most expensive cards from Secrets of Strixhaven. Before concluding, however, I want to acknowledge two noteworthy groups of cards you may stumble across in your booster packs.

First, as always, there are special borderless and extended art versions of these cards. These often sell for a premium versus their base versions whose prices I cited throughout the article.

Second, like original Strixhaven, Secrets of Strixhaven boasts a special Mythical Archive selection of reprints that will show up once per booster. There are 65 cards in this list; all of them are reprints. While most won't be worth the price of a pack, there are some rarer ones that will definitely spur excitement if opened.

Topping that list is Legacy favorite Force of Will, an $80 card. Vampiric Tutor is the next most exciting, which will be worth somewhere in the $50-$60 range out the gate. Other noteworthy pulls include Jeska's Will, Cyclonic Rift, Ad Nauseum, Awaken the Woods, Triumph of the Hordes, Akroma's Will, Culling the Weak, and even Berserk. In total, I count around 20 Mythical Archive cards worth the price of a play booster, so it's definitely worth keeping an eye on this slot in your packs.

Overall, Secrets of Strixhaven offers a healthy list of expensive cards worth opening. Granted, prices will settle lower once the set is on the market a couple weeks. Despite this trend, Secrets of Strixhaven is shaping up to be one of the more exciting sets to open this year.