Secrets of Strixhaven’s spoiler season has finally concluded, leaving the set looking like one of the best of 2026. Between the new Prepare callbacks, five amazing Commander precons, and the Mystical Archive bonus sheet, there’s tons to get excited about. The main set, in particular, is absolutely loaded with bombs that could see play in multiple formats.
While it’s still early days, here are our picks for the best MTG cards in Secrets of Strixhaven.
Honorable Mention: Traumatic Critique
While it’s a bit specific, Traumatic Critique has a ton going for it. Even without the X cost involved, drawing two cards and discarding one is something that a lot of Standard and Commander Izzet decks are interested in doing. This, alone, might be enough for the card to see play, but the extra mana investment pushes it over the top.
Traumatic Critique also happens to be an instant speed Fireball, dealing damage to any target so long as you have mana to spend. Since you’ll still be drawing cards, Traumatic Critique essentially becomes a removal spell that replaces itself. This makes the card particularly threatening when partnered with the new Resonating Lute, doubling your mana for instant and sorcery casts.
That said, in order to make Traumatic Critique work well, you need a heck of a lot of mana. Thrill of Possibility-style effects, despite being extremely popular in Commander, don’t usually break out in competitive formats either. Considering how fast Standard is right now, Traumatic Critique might not be good enough, but it’s definitely still worth watching.
6 | The Dawning Archaic
Getting The Dawning Archaic into play is a challenge, but the payoff is certainly worth it. A 7/7 with Reach will be difficult for aggressive creatures to get around, and attacking with it provides immediate and powerful value. You don’t necessarily need to cast this card for free for it to be worthwhile, either. Even at four mana, The Dawning Archaic is an extremely good deal.
What really makes this card viable, however, is that there are competitive decks out there that are basically designed to power this card out already. Standard’s Izzet Spellementals is a perfect home for this card, as its game plan already revolves around loading up the graveyard with instants and sorceries. Thanks to this, the card has a real chance of seeing some play in Standard, Pioneer, and beyond.
5 | Improvisation Capstone
In Commander, Improvisation Capstone is absolutely ridiculous. The card essentially Cascades for free value every single turn, allowing it to absolutely take over games where you can resolve it without dying. In the longer, grindier Bracket 3 and below games, resolving this isn’t difficult, and the value it provides will catapult you ahead. You don’t even need to build around this card to make it work, making Improvisation Capstone seem like a clear upgrade to any and every Bracket 3 and lower red Commander deck.
In competitive MTG, Improvisation Capstone seems a lot more suspect. Most seven-mana spells need to win the game immediately, and this particular one does quite the opposite. This could be a great finisher for reactive Standard control decks, but at the time of writing, the format is far too fast for a deck like that to thrive. As a result, Improvisation Capstone will likely be relegated to Commander, but it will make a name for itself there.
4 | Planar Engineering
Unlike Improvisation Capstone, Planar Engineering is set to make an impact in both Commander and Competitive Magic. As a supercharged Cultivate, Planar Engineering could easily see play in almost every green bracket 3 or lower Commander deck in existence. The card also fuels popular Landfall cards like Icetill Explorer and Ramunap Excavator, setting up even more land drops.
In Standard, Planar Engineering can set up blisteringly fast combo kills in Mono Green Landfall. Combined with Mossborn Hydra off a Llanowar Elves start, Planar Engineering can deal 32 damage as early as turn three. Even outside of this, the sorcery still does ridiculous things in Landfall, growing your other Landfall triggers, and instantly turning on Earthbender’s Ascension. It likely won’t be a four-of in the strategy, but between this and its Commander applications, Planar Engineering looks great.
3 | Erode
While Erode is unlikely to make a significant impact beyond Pioneer, the card could do some serious damage in Standard. Offering a one-mana answer to the format’s most problematic permanents, Erode is the most efficient removal option in the format by far.
This will likely be enough to let the instant see play, but Erode isn’t super well-positioned in the format right now. Because most of the cards that require removing come down early, Erode pairs poorly with decks like Simic Rhythm and Izzet Lessons. Removing Planeswalkers, however, is an often underrated piece of text that’s extremely important. From Kaito, Bane of Nightmares to Ral, Crackling Wit, the card type has an overlooked impact on current Standard.
Outside of constructed, Erode is an instant add to white decks in Commander at every bracket level. Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile are already auto-includes, and Erode adds a third card of the same type. The downside for these cards has a much smaller impact on multiplayer formats like this, making the upside far more lethal. This, alone, will make Erode a card to watch in Secrets of Strixhaven.
2 | Witherbloom, the Balancer
Some Commanders, no matter how you build them, just end up being inevitably broken. That certainly seems to be the case for Witherbloom, the Balancer, who hits the board a lot faster than its eight mana value looks. Curving out with a mana dork and a Badgermole Cub, for example, lands this Dragon on turn three. Considering that Witherbloom can supercharge Nature’s Rhythm-esque spells, the card even has a strong chance of seeing Standard play.
Thanks to Witherbloom’s Affinity shenanigans, this was even one of the first Secrets of Strixhaven cards to cause a price spike. Going infinite with Sprout Swarm, Witherbloom can easily set up infinite creature tokens as early as turn three. Even without this combo, however, Witherbloom is definitely powerful enough to have even cEDH potential.
1 | Flow State
Of all the spoilers in Secrets of Strixhaven, Flow State was the card that was discussed by the community the most. Drawing lots of Expressive Iteration comparisons, Flow State offers an Anticipate-style effect that grants two cards with an instant and a sorcery in your graveyard. The floor for this card is reasonable, and enabling its conditions is easy. You won’t be able to get full value for this card outside of Legacy on turn two, but Flow State looks like a card that will revolutionize multiple formats anyway.
In Standard, both Izzet Prowess and Spellementals have an easy upgrade here. Both of those decks struggle with card advantage and direly want to multispell, making Flow State the ideal inclusion. The same is true for Pioneer Phoenix, which led to Expressive Iteration being banned from the format.
That said, Legacy is the format that stands to get the most from Flow State. Between Force of Will and Daze, getting an instant into your graveyard is a free roll. Enabling Flow State from there is extremely easy, allowing Delver decks to keep themselves stocked up in the early turns. Delver has caused multiple cheap card advantage spells to be banned in Legacy over time, and Flow State looks eerily similar to a lot of cards on the current banlist.
Tons of Other Powerful Cards
While these seem like the most powerful cards, Secrets of Strixhaven seems like a particularly strong set. All kinds of other cards, like Resonating Lute, Vastlands Scavenger, and Decorum Dissertation could make waves across Standard and Commander.
Of course, while this is our take on the best MTG Secrets of Strixhaven cards, actually predicting the future in MTG is always an impossibility. Anything from an overlooked combo, to a chain reaction of metagame adjustments could put the most unexpected card in the hot seat. Whatever ends up succeeding, it will be a hell of a ride.
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