Last updated on April 6, 2026
Pensive Professor | Illustration by Billy Christian
Secrets of Strixhaven keeps delivering excellent cards, with Pensive Professor standing out.
Drawing cards when counters get put on it makes Pensive Professor an incredible support piece for +1/+1 counter decks—the archetype has been abusing Fathom Mage for years. But it’s an interesting card because of its infinite combo with Lyla, Holographic Assistant, which might improve more than a few decks.
The Combo
Lyla, Holographic Assistant | Illustration by Nereida
The combo is incredibly simple and requires only two cards:
Pensive Professor and Lyla, Holographic Assistant both need to be in play and you need a way to either draw a card or put a +1/+1 counter on the Professor.
Once a +1/+1 counter gets put on the Professor, you’ll draw a card. This triggers Lyla, which lets you put a +1/+1 counter on a creature. See where this goes? Slap the counter on the Professor, it draws another card, and you’ll have a very buff professor and your entire library in your hand in no time.
While the Professor becomes a formidable threat, the best way to win with your library in hand is Thassa’s Oracle, though lower Bracket decks might want Laboratory Maniac or Jace, Wielder of Mysteries.
Notably, Pensive Professor isn’t the first creature to go infinite with Lyla. This combo has been possible since the hologram powered on with Marvel’s Spider-Man; it also works with Fathom Mage and Benthic Biomancer. But the Professor might be the best option.
Pensive Professor vs Fathom Mage vs Benthic Biomancer
Pensive Professor, Fathom Mage, and Benthic Biomancer all draw a card when they get +1/+1 counters, so they combo with Lyla.
Straight away, Fathom Mage loses points for being a Simic () card which makes it harder to play. Since Pensive Professor and Benthic Biomancer are mono-blue, they work in any deck that can play Lyla—even with it in the command zone.
The cost of the cards also has to be factored in. Fathom Mage and Lyla, Holographic Assistant sharing a casting cost is awkward because it makes you choose which spell to cast rather than curving into each other nicely. At 3 mana, Pensive Professor curves into Lyla cleanly. While Benthic Biomancer wins the cost war at a mere 1 mana, its draw ability raises questions.
Benthic Biomancer doesn’t just draw a card when it gets a counter, it loots. You still get a very large creature and see your entire deck, but discarding as you draw means you sculpt your hand rather than just drawing all your cards. Since you can’t end the combo with more cards than you started with, it could leave you in a pickle where you can’t keep your Thoracle and the cards to cast it and countermagic. Now, looting could be an upside if you’re playing the combo in a deck with red cards like Cool But Rude or Magmakin Artillerist, but that’s a narrow use case.
This brings us back to Fathom Mage and Pensive Professor. Notably, evolve gives Fathom Mage the means to draw a card the moment Lyla hits play…unless you’ve already added a counter to it. If you’re holding Fathom Mage until you reach the combo that could be significant, but it seems unlikely that Fathom Mage wouldn’t accumulate counters. That leaves it more or less neutral with Pensive Professor’s increment as both might something else to get the counter.
With this in mind, the lower cost, fewer colors, and better relative mana value make Pensive Professor the best combo enabler with Lyla, Holographic Assisstant, even if a deck rocking it might play all three.
Follow Draftsim for awesome articles and set updates:
