Strixhaven is all about the Mystical Archive, soaking up the attention and a lot of the value in the set. However, that doesn’t mean the rest of the set is worthless. It just means that the opportunities aren’t quite as obvious. We want to look at the Strixhaven cards that are either super unique or have clear Commander appeal. 

Sometimes we’ll want to get the Foil Extended Art (or borderless) treatment, or for other versions, we’ll want the cheapest regular nonfoil. Depends on the card and the reprint risk, plus some other factors. Let’s dive in!

Culling Ritual ($2 regular/$2.50 foil/$4 Extended Art/$10 Foil Extended Art) – These are already in a lot of EDH decks and it’s not hard to see why. It deals with a lot of hated permanents, from cheap mana rocks to solving the problem of token decks. As a bonus, it’s semi-free, giving you back the mana if you just kill a Sol Ring, a Mana Crypt, a random Signet, and someone’s Land Tax. Being two colors does limit the decks that it goes into, but that hasn’t stopped 2500 people from listing it just since Strixhaven came out.

I’ve picked up two FEA copies for personal decks and I think this is a fantastic long-term hold. I’m less worried about reprints these days than I used to be, mainly because I make sure to diversify. It’s rare for me to be too all-in on a single card, and that’s a strategy I think you should make use of as well. I could be talked into either the FEA or the basic versions, as both are solid long-term.

Storm-Kiln Artist ($1/$2) – More than five thousand people have registered this card as part of their Commander deck online, and that’s one of the top cards from the set. As an uncommon, there’s no special version past the foil, making this a much easier decision about what to get. Spells are a very popular subtheme for Commander, and this is one of the best creatures to add to a spell-based deck. 

Depending on what you’re doing with your artifacts, this does all sorts of fun things. My favorite might be mixing these Treasure tokens with the effect of Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer. All kinds of goodies await, and remember that the way Magecraft is worded, casting a Storm spell will give you a Treasure for each storm copy. Thousand-Year Storm is also a lovely combination.

Archmage Emeritus ($2/$2/$4/$9/bundle foil $3.50) – Buying a Strixhaven bundle (formerly known as a fat pack) gets you the alternate-art foil of this, but there’s a FEA version that I’d be concentrating on. This feels a lot more like a Commander reprint to me, something to accompany Talrand, Sky Summoner. Having a cantrip on every one of your spells is ridiculously good, and yes, the Archmage will attract removal almost immediately.

When you play cards like this, you’re expecting heat, so playing this when you have a counter handy will be great, especially when that counter immediately draws you a card. Go forth and enjoy it with this card.

Codie, Vociferous Codex ($0.50/$1/$2/$5) – I have to admit, five-color spells isn’t going to get a much better Commander than this. There’s a whole lot of cool things you can do with red/blue spells but rainbow is a different animal entirely. No other five-color legend enables this sort of thing, and being able to cascade off of everything you do, in addition to mana fixing, is really strong. I also really enjoy the restriction of Codie’s first line, locking down a lot of things you can do and can’t do.

Usually, I don’t advocate picking up the commander, it’s better to get the accessories for a certain legend because other decks play those cards too, but this is so unique, so special, that getting the FEA copies for $5 or so seems like a slam dunk. There’s issues with Codie, mainly that there’s no haste or protection built in, but here we go.

Wandering Archaic ($9/$10/$12/$31) – Perhaps the easiest addition to any Commander deck, this is colorless and charges a tax for goodies. It’ll either eat a removal spell with a tax, or get you value when other people get frustrated. This is expensive for a FEA rare, the fourth-most expensive card in this set that isn’t from the Mystical Archive.

It’s never going to be cheaper, either. We know that the big cards have an early dip and then start to rise, and that’s the pattern here. Being a rare, there’s twice as many of these as any Mythic, but because so many people are keeping these in decks (and buying them for decks) the price is creeping upwards. 

Dragon’s Approach ($2.50/$4) – You may think this is a bad card, but every other ‘a deck can have infinite copies’ card has gone on to become quite expensive. Approach is a godawful card in the abstract, requiring 15 mana to tutor through your deck to get your first free Dragon. Strixhaven isn’t going to be opened a lot in paper, though we’re cracking a whole lot of non-Draft boosters in search of the Mystical Archive. While I think that this has growth potential, I just can’t advocate moving in on foils. The card is just SO BAD.

Let me paint a different picture for you. You have a stack of a card just like this, and then a new Commander comes along that literally doubles the impact of the card. Foils jump to an absurd price, but blessed few people pay that price and so the value drop back down within a week. The card went from $3 to $5, not enough to make selling individual copies worth it, and buylisting might get you a profit of a nickel each. That card is Persistent Petitioners: 

Jumpstart gave us a commander to double up the Petitioners, and you can see when the spike hit, but the interest just wasn’t there to keep the price high long term. Dragon’s Approach would be lucky to have a spike like this. As a result, I’m staying away, and buylisting any copies that show up in my Set or Collector Booster boxes.

Cliff (@WordOfCommander) has been writing for MTGPrice since 2013, and is an eager Commander player, Draft enthusiast, and Cube fanatic. A high school science teacher by day, he’s also the official substitute teacher of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at a GP and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.

There’s a lot of things clamoring for our attention right now in Magic. Another overhaul of the OP program, stores are finally starting to open up, Modern Horizons 2 is starting previews soon…making this the perfect time to pay attention to Strixhaven’s mini-set, the Mystical Archive.

Some of these cards are surprisingly underpriced, and it’s time we take a look at what’s worth buying. It’s possible that these go a little lower in price, so you may want to be patient, but I’m calling attention to it all now.

It’s also worth saying that I’m paying attention to nonfoils and foils equally. If one version seems underpriced, that’s where I want to be. Play patterns also account for some differences, but I’m not committed to foils, etched, or plain copies. 

Time Warp (Mystical Archive $14, MA Etched $21, MA Foil $34) – I’m looking harder at the foils here, because as you remember from my piece six weeks ago about The Math of Strixhaven, you got a traditional foil mythic rare 4.8% of the time in a Collector Booster, and one foil Time Warp is found every 309 packs. These aren’t easy to find at all. I know that the Japanese alternate-art is consuming all of our attention, but that card is actually MORE common than the English version. (Every language of packs can open JP alternates, but only English packs can open the English yellow frame version.)

It’s also worth looking at the nonfoil for the simple reason that the price has never been lower, and that always has my attention. Time Warp is included in just over 9,000 Commander decks online, and has the benefit of not exiling itself like a lot of other extra-turn cards do. Other versions haven’t really taken much of a hit, even the M10 version from more than ten years ago has only fallen $3. 

Abundant Harvest ($2/$3/$7) – I didn’t know this was a brand-new card, and I’m not sure why. It’s brand-new and doesn’t exist anywhere else. Yet, anyway. It’s also worth noting that this is getting played as a four-of in Legacy Miracles decks, causing the prices of the foil JP alternate to skyrocket recently. Those should settle back down before too long, but when there’s a leading indicator like that, and this is such a unique card, that this is a very tempting card to buy for the long term. My only concern is the risk of being printed in a regular frame, likely as a common, as Adventurous Impulse was. Oath of Nissa was often called ‘the Green Ponder’ during its time in Standard, to the point that it was included on Pioneer’s initial Banned list. 

If this doesn’t get reprinted, I wouldn’t be shocked for this to be in the $5/$7/$15 range within a year.

Crux of Fate ($3/$5.50/$7) – The English version of this card is admittedly Jason Felix’s demonstration of his ability to copy fan art, and I’m admittedly not sure what that means for the price of the card long-term. I’m skeptical that the plagiarism will result in the card itself being cheaper, but I could also see this version being held back from going too high because of that same factor. Really, for me, this comes down to the announcement last week about Adventures in the Forgotten Realms: Tiamat, the newest five-color dragon.

Dragons were already a popular tribe, but Tiamat offers some amazing opportunities in that arena. One of the best accessories you could run in a Dragon deck is Crux of Fate, since it’ll kill every non-Dragon on the table. The JP alternate version started a lot higher and is showing no signs of decreasing. Keep in mind that it’s already in 13,000 Commander decks online, and that’s before the Dragon frenzy that will show up this summer. Tiamat and the anticipation of Dragon goodness is why the price of the foil from Fate Reforged went up $2 this past week as well.

Regrowth ($0.75/$1.50/$3) – You may be thinking that this is a basic card, and not worth it, but twenty-two thousand people bothered to put it into their decks online, which means a lot more folks have done that. Bala Ged Recovery is more expensive, it’s in 14k decks, but it’s a more versatile card. 

Regrowth is worth it as a brick-worthy spec, especially as one of the cheapest rares in this subset of cards. There’s a surprising number of people who like to collect full sets like this, and that’s why I’d also listen if you wanted a stack of Urza’s Rage or Compulsive Research. If you prefer to get in on cheap foil mythics (remember, one every 309 packs) then you’re aiming at Increasing Vengeance and Channel, each of which can be had for under a buck on TCGPlayer.

Growth Spiral ($1/$2/$3) – Spiral is in 20% of all Commander decks with blue and green in them, as well as being good in some Modern and Pioneer decks. Right now, your only choices for a premium version are the pack version and the sweet FNM frame, as well as the JP alternate art. Granted, both the promo and the original features some amazing work by Seb McKinnon, but these new versions are awesome too. I could be talked into any of the MA versions, but I will gravitate towards the cheapest nonfoil or the most expensive foil when it comes to Commander specs. 

Cliff (@WordOfCommander) has been writing for MTGPrice since 2013, and is an eager Commander player, Draft enthusiast, and Cube fanatic. A high school science teacher by day, he’s also the official substitute teacher of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at a GP and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.

In late September/early October, rotation is going to happen for Standard. I don’t know the exact date yet, but it’s whenever the big fall set comes out. In years past, pre-pandemic, cards that are rotating out of Standard start to slide around February, and there is often a delightful window to acquire some of the best as Standard-only players sell off their cards and move on to the new format. 

It’s not clear that the same patterns hold this year, given the lack of paper play. However, given that the sets rotating include some of the most powerful sets in recent memory, it’s worth taking a peek and making some tentative plans. I’m not buying yet, unless something screams at me, but I do like to consider these things well ahead of time and make a note of where I’d like to buy in.

What I’m looking for is cards with high levels of Standard play and good levels of Commander or Eternal play. Hopefully, as Standard players sell off, there will be an opportunity to gain value by buying at the lows.

Fabled Passage ($9 original/$13 foil/$24 extended art/$50 foil EA) – I’m aware this was reprinted in Core Set 2021, but this is a budget fetchland, the only one that’s Pioneer legal. It’s not a perfect land by any means, but it’s registered in 55,000 EDH decks online. If you’re thinking that it’s weak compared to ‘real’ fetches, I invite you to consider the sheer number of decks that play Evolving Wilds (166k) and Terramorphic Expanse (135k) as compared to Polluted Delta (76k). I’m actually thankful that this was reprinted, because it gives us second chances at picking this up cheaply. 

The reprint risk is real, as we’ve already seen and we got a reminder of. This is one of very few cards in the four-version era (regular, foil, EA, FEA) to be reprinted in all four versions, and even with the same art. Still, look at where it was when the reprint hit in June 2020:

It doesn’t look like Fabled Passage is going to go down again at rotation. The slow climb upward is likely due to casual players popping their copies into Commander decks instead of trying to sell them someplace. If you’re comfortable with the reprint risk, this could do very well for you. Remember that the FEA version was more than $100 for the time that people were drafting Throne of Eldraine.

There’s a recent wrinkle: an old-border foil that stores will be giving out to players as a reward for spending $50 in the store! It’s not clear how many copies there are going to be, or how long this promotion is going to go on, but I think this is a wonderful card to pick up as copies start getting dumped on the market. Dumping is the right word, as people are going to go buy stuff, then run home and throw the card on eBay. If we’re lucky, it’ll fall as far as $25, a price at which I’ll fill cart after cart and just be patient. 

Ruinous Ultimatum ($4.50/$5/$8.50/$19) and Eerie Ultimatum ($3/$4/$7/$17) – Both ultimatums are in more than 8k decks on EDHREC, for all they aren’t played much in Standard. Each of them has been on the rise for a few weeks now, and that’s something you want to be on top of.

These being three colors, it’s trickier to fit into decks, but it’s worth it. I imagine that five-color decks use this the most, but even the FEA versions are up $5 in the last few months. Those versions of the card won’t be going down at rotation, but these cards would be a delight to pick up in a larger quantity.

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon ($33 all the way up to $230) – Ugin is a powerful force in Standard, giving ramp decks an ultimate out and a way to clean up pretty much everything on the board. It’s hard to argue that midrange is playable when ramping a little offers something so ridiculously powerful. The price on Ugin has been going up steadily for the past few weeks, but it’s hard to say if that price is on the rise because of Standard play or because it’s in 15,000 Commander decks. Clearly we’ve missed out on the lowest price for Ugin, back when Core 2021 was new:

However, missing out on the lowest price in the past just makes us ask ‘Is this the lowest price right now?’ and the answer is clearly yes. You’ve got multiple special versions that are dividing interest, so your play here should be to pick up plain ol’ nonfoils. Hopefully prices drop a few bucks on those.

Sublime Epiphany ($3/$4/$7/$14) – This has moderate Commander demand and is in enough different Standard decks that I’m watching out. The cheapest versions are up a dollar or so in the last couple months:

This is a card that will always have some sweet things to do, and it’s worth holding the mana open for this sort of five-for-one. One of these modes is a little questionable, but can be quite handy when you’re facing down a Time Stretch with a Double Vision trigger! With the demand profile that it has, and the small amount of Standard play, I’m hoping this falls back into the $2 range but I’m not holding my breath too hard on that. It’s already had a small bump since Valentine’s Day–there might not be much of a sell-off, and that means it’s time to get in.

Cliff (@WordOfCommander) has been writing for MTGPrice since 2013, and is an eager Commander player, Draft enthusiast, and Cube fanatic. A high school science teacher by day, he’s also the official substitute teacher of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at a GP and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.

It’s been a week of having Strixhaven in hand, and the Mystical Archive prices are settling out. There’s been some outliers, and some runs, and you can always get lucky and find certain things at a ridiculous price thanks to someone not paying attention, but that’s not worth counting on. 

My attention has been on the gorgeous Japanese alt-art foils. Etched foils have shown to be underwhelming, an interesting aesthetic choice and a nightmare for the people who have to code six versions of a card into assorted databases. The English versions are just as rare (and that’s an important point to come back to) but it’s time to compare how played a card is with its current price, and gain some value now that supply is at such a high point.

Please remember that these are current prices, and while they might fall another 10-20%, these are relatively rare cards, only found in about 25% of Strixhaven collector boosters. Note that the traditional foil English versions are precisely as rare, but the lack of a title bar and no banana-yellow frame color mean that the JP alternates look much more like works of art. I understand if you prefer cards in your language, I only have English versions in my cubes, but these are just breathtaking:

Swords to Plowshares (current price for JP alt art in traditional foil: $30) – There are a few versions of this card that are more than $30, but those are judge promos or Unlimited and older. This is one of the all-time staples, efficient, powerful, exiling for a single mana with a pithy drawback of a few life points. Most white decks make space for it, a full 52% of decks registered on EDHREC and it hasn’t even been in a Commander product since 2017. Thirty bucks is too cheap.

Chaos Warp ($40) – The mythics of the Mystical Archive are hyper-rare in foil, taking 309 packs on average to get one of a specific mythic. Chaos Warp has not been reprinted in foil since it was in Commander’s Arsenal in 2012, though it’s been in a ton of Commander decks since then. Being in so many precons has goosed the numbers on EDHREC, but still, that’s 70,000 people who took the time to say it’s worth including. This is not the cheapest mythic in the Archive, but it’s one with a whole lot of upside.

Krosan Grip ($12) – Commander players loathe having other players mess with their plans. Dovin’s Veto is one of the most popular spells in Commander, because you want to say no and ignore the protestations of other players. Krosan Grip is the same way, allowing you to kill that annoying thing without any fear that counterspells or other tricks will prevent it from going away. This is also one of the arts that really helps players remember what it is, as it echoes the original spell quite fondly:

Counterspell ($45) – Notable is that there’s less than 20 vendors on TCG with copies of this available. Counterspell is all over the place in Commander and Cube circles, and this just looks badass. It’s not iconic like the original ‘womp-womp’ art is, but damn it’s pretty. I fully expect this to be $60+ within a month.

Putrefy ($6) – Honestly, this should be more expensive already. It’s one of the more popular ones, percentage-wise, and I dearly love picking up the cheapest parts of sets with a wide delta. Importantly, this is a rare, so it’s only in every 150 packs, because if it was an uncommon, it would be every 36 packs. That’s why I don’t want to be buying any uncommons yet. That market, I want to be super patient with before buying bricks of a card.

Crux of Fate ($30) – As a mythic, there’s never going to be a huge quantity of these, but there’s been a sneaky drain on foil Dragons as of late. Foil Nicol Bolas, the Ravager is down to a handful of copies. Foil Dragonlords are draining. The good Kamigawa dragons have all seen recent gains in original foil. Dragons are one of the top EDH tribes (full disclaimer, I’m one of those people with a Dragon deck and I love it) and this art is gorgeous. Also, getting the alt-art is way better than having the copy-paste job that Jason Felix did for the global version. What I’m saying is, things that are good in tribal Dragon decks have a lot of fans, and this is both iconic art and fantastic gameplay.

Natural Order ($40) – There’s not a huge number of Commander decks that play this, it’s more of a Cube card or a combo piece in Legacy Elves. A card that’s run as a 3- or 4-of in Legacy, with roughly 1200 Collector Booster boxes needed to make a playset? Doesn’t take many of those players, plus the collectors, for this to spike pretty hard. Plus, this is some pretty cool art, as opposed to ‘majestic tiger’ art that’s been on every version of the card. EMA foils are $40 or so, and the judge foil is $70. This new version will surpass both of those.

Blue Sun’s Zenith ($30) – Again, this is a mythic of a mid-tier card in Commander. Lots of printings of this already, so you’re dealing with people who’d want to upgrade what they have from Mirrodin Besieged foil or Masters 25 foil. I can’t imagine this stays cheap forever, and TCG has a real mix of people who expect this to be $60+ and a few others who are trying to undercut everyone else and get the quick sale. That’s a valid tactic right now, trying to cash in before others do too. It won’t last much longer, though, and you should be ready for the increase that will come along.

Cliff (@WordOfCommander) has been writing for MTGPrice since 2013, and is an eager Commander player, Draft enthusiast, and Cube fanatic. A high school science teacher by day, he’s also the official substitute teacher of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at a GP and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.