Fans have been anticipating more info on the Magic: The Gathering Secrets of Strixhaven set, and today they’ve brought a reveal of new cards, mechanics and artwork.
Wizards of the Coast slammed the internet with yet another preview drop of Magic: The Gathering Secrets of Strixhaven, and like the multi-teaser release of recent sets like Magic: The Gathering Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, they’ve revealed new cards, characters, and showcase treatments coming to the tabletops of MTG. The second in-universe set expansion for MTG of 2026 will feature a myriad of new and returning keywords, alongside fresh mechanics for fans of the TCG to unleash onto tabletops.
While previous spoiler seasons have given fans a taste of everything the to-be-released set has to offer, Magic: The Gathering is pulling back the curtain on Secrets of Strixhaven with as much information as possible as pre-release season (which starts on April 17) approaches. For the latest reveal, new mechanics and returning keywords have been revealed, alongside a reintroduction to each of the Strixhaven Colleges of Strixhaven University. Each of the five two-colour colleges arrives with its own specific keyword unique to those colours.
WOTC’s reveal today is all about colleges and classes, alongside new artwork treatments and a return of the bonus sheet, Mystical Archive (previously called Source Material in both MTG x Avatar: The Last Airbender and MTG x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). Starting with the new keyword, Prepare, which is practiced throughout all of the colleges, unlike the other keywords in the set, as if preparation is the key to success.
Magic: The Gathering – New & Returning Mechanics in Secrets of Strixhaven
Prepare – This one has layers. Like the Wilds of Eldraine Adventure cards or Tarkir Dragonstorm Omens, Prepare cards can cast spells attached to them while they fulfill the condition ‘Prepared.’ Still, each card will only be a creature (or other permanent) type, unlike Adventure cards (considered the sorcery/instant, not a creature) or Omens that can have two identities.
Emeritus of Ideation can cast the Power Nine spell Ancestral Recall upon entry, because his ability allows him to enter prepared. Once prepared, a copy of the spell (in this case, Ancestral Recall) appears in exile, and can be cast as long as the creature remains in play or stays prepared. After casting the attached spell, the card becomes unprepared, and they need to fit the prepared status again to repeat the cast. It’s worth noting that using a spell in this way does count as casting it, and the spell can be countered or interacted with as if cast from your hand or elsewhere.
Emeritus and Grave Researcher have abilities that allow them to prepare themselves, but other cards like Bibliotex Tomekeeper will do the work, so they don’t have to. Upon entry, he preps or un-preps a creature to help your strategy or hinder your opponents. Preparation is the key to success in Strixhaven.
Converge – The returning keyword converge becomes more powerful for the higher the number of colours of mana used to cast those spells. Rancorous Archaic receives a +1/+1 for each colour used to cast it, so if all five colours were used, it would enter as a 7/7. This keyword is shared throughout the Secrets of Strixhaven colleges.
Paradigm – This is a new keyword practiced and studied by all five colleges in Strixhaven University, and it appears on a cycle of sorceries in Secrets of Strixhaven. The first time a particular spell with paradigm resolves, it is then put into exile. From that point forward, at the beginning of each of that player’s first main phases, they may cast a copy of it without paying its mana cost. The copy doesn’t need to be cast, and it doesn’t matter if the copy is countered; this happens each first main phase.
Paradigm sorceries also have the Lesson subtype, and they work well with previous Lesson synergies like in MTG x Avatar: The Last Airbender, but Lesson and the attached keyword action, Learn, aren’t used as main mechanics in Secrets of Strixhaven.
Increment (Quandrix) – This keyword is unique to the blue/green college, Quandrix, and allows players to add the difference between the total mana spent and a creature’s power or toughness to the smaller number. Cuboid Colony costs two, so it enters with +1/+1 because it has 1/1. This is different than a 2/2 creature and gives players an advantage, as the +1/+1 counters can be moved or proliferated.
Repartee (Silverquill) – This keyword is unique to the Silverquill College of black/white and triggers once a creature is targeted with a spell. Repartee abilities always resolve before the spell that was cast activates, making this ability one for students who have mastery over stack interactions.
Opus (Prismari) – Prismari’s college of Blue/Red studies retains the keyword Opus. Opus abilities trigger when one or more instant or sorcery spells have been cast, and will consider all mana you spent on the spell, not only mana that went toward the mana cost. Like Repartee, Opus abilities will trigger before the spells that were cast activate, so stack shenanigans will ensue.
Infusion (Witherbloom) – Going with the mantra life is… well, life. Witherbloom’s black/green focus is all about gaining life and triggers that happen due to you gaining life. It doesn’t matter whether you gained life, then lost more, if you gained even a single life during the turn the card is cast, the Infusion ability occurs.
Flashback (Lorehold) – Excavating a keyword from Magic: The Gathering’s past, the red/white college of Lorehold returns Flashback to tabletops in Secrets of Strixhaven. Flashback allows players to cast cards from their graveyard, but then those cards are exiled. A card that has Paradigm and Flashback would cause a world of hurt for an unsuspecting (and understudied) opponent.
On top of the new and returning mechanics, like every other set release in Magic: The Gathering (starting with Unglued in 1999), full-art basic lands from Secrets of Strixhaven can be obtained in all booster packs in Magic: The Gathering Secrets of Strixhaven, and the full-art basic lands can be seen below.
But that’s not all. New artworks, treatments and the first look at the extended Mystical Archive bonus sheet have been revealed.
Magic: The Gathering Secrets of Strixhaven – Special Card Treatments And Where To Find Them!
Not only have Borderless Field Notes cards been brought back from Avatar: The Last Airbender (and Bloomburrow before it), the Mystical Archive in both English and Japanese treatments will be featured in the set as well, just like Strixhaven: School of Mages in 2021. Like the previous Magic: The Gathering Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-branded Pizza Bundle, Secrets of Strixhaven has unleashed a special Codex Bundle with similar components and specialized promo cards that can be found inside.
Leading the charge for Secrets of Strixhaven is the new and powerful Power Nine-wielding Emeritus of Ideation in Double Rainbow Foil Treatment, serialized to 500. Embracing Magic: The Gathering‘s history, this card’s textless artwork is done by the prolific MTG artist, Mark Poole, complete with a retro frame treatment that allows the new Mythic to pop off the card.
While the special treatments are shown above, the table below lists where the treatments can be found.
| Card Treatment | Play Booster | Codex Bundles | Collector Booster |
| Full Art Basic Spellcraft Lands | X | X | X |
| Mystical Archive (English) | X | X | X |
| Mystical Archive (Japanese) | (Only Japanese Play Boosters) | X | X |
| Mystical Archive (Japanese Silver Scroll Foil) | X | X | |
| Borderless Codex Bundle Promo Cards | X | ||
| Borderless Headliner Eastman Autographs | X | X |
The Secrets of Strixhaven Mystical Archive returns with improved frames and new artwork that adorn each of the English and Japanese versions of the cards. In English Play Boosters, players will get at least one Mystical Archive card in the English treatment with each pack (a 100 per cent chance), whereas a Japanese treatment Archives card will appear in one third of Japanese packs. There are 65 Mystical Archive cards in Secrets of Strixhaven, and they’re broken down into 25 uncommon, 25 rare, and 15 mythic rare cards from the annals of Magic: The Gathering history.
Japanese Mystical Archive treatments with a specialized Silver Scroll Foil treatment (a return of the School of Mages’special treatment) only appear in Collector Booster packs of any language, and only in Japanese. The rest of the Mystical Archives spoilers (released so far) can be seen below.
With many cards in the set, and the product list revealed, WOTC has also revealed a price point for each product coming to the Magic: The Gathering Secrets of Strixhaven (and these prices are reduced from the previous Universe’s Beyond Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set).
MTG Secrets of Strixhaven prices:
- Play Booster: $5.49
- Collector Booster: $26.99
- Commander Deck: $49.99
- Bundle: $57.99
- 60-Card Themed Deck: $23.99
- Pre-Release Pack: $27.99 – Includes five play booster packs and a Secrets of Strixhaven college-themed booster (including cards from the chosen college’s two colours), one small spindown SOS die, and a single sleeved foil rare/mythic rarity card (these replaced the previous date-stamped cards that typically come in the pre-release packs).
- Codex: $89.99 (launches May 15, after the main set) – Acts as the Secrets of Strixhaven set gift bundle, includes six play booster packs, a special SOS spindown die, and two collector booster packs. It also includes 20 traditional basic lands and two specialized Codex Bundle promo cards.
- Draft Night: $89.99 – Includes 12 play booster packs and one collector booster pack as a prize for who wins the Draft Night. The Draft Night bundle gives a group of four the ability to jump into a pick-two draft-format game series.
The rest of the cards from Magic: The Gathering Secrets of Strixhaven revealed on Tuesday’s livestream can be seen below (starting with the face Commanders of each of the five Secrets of Strixhaven pre-constructed Commander decks).
Magic: The Gathering Secrets of Strixhaven‘s full set release is on April 24, and a whole page of spoilers released so far can be found on the official site.
