Effect-o-pedia
Strixhaven
Limited formats will generally involve the same common gameplay effects which show up again and again. Use this guide to find out what common effects are in - and not in! - this format.
Board Wipes Bounce Counterspells Discard Disenchant Falter Fog Haste Life Gain Mana Fixing Mana Ramp Mass Pump Ping Mill Mind Control Threaten
Strixhaven Mechanics/Themes
Board Wipes
Effects that can kill all creatures on the battlefield.
Situational board wipes and rare instances in the Mystical Archive, but Deadly Vanity is an absolute bomb.
Bounce
Effects that return cards to their owners hand.
Bounce is somewhat underrepresented, likely due to the large volume of creature tokens. However, Bury in Books gets even better due to permanently dealing with creature tokens!
Counterspells
Effects that can counter your spells.
No hard counter exists in regular STX, only situational counters! Although, the Mystical Archives add a couple strong counterspells - including just regular Counterspell!
Discard
Effects that can force you discard cards from your hand.
Most discard is situational, but Go Blank has additional upside in the graveyard-matters environment of STX.
Disenchant
Effects that destroy artifacts or enchantments.
A large amount of disenchant effects are present, but seemingly not a lot of targets for them!
Falter
Effects that make it so multiple creatures temporarily cannot block.
No cards in this format have this effect!
Fog
Effects that prevent combat damage for multiple or all creatures.
No cards in this format have this effect!
Haste
Effects that can grant haste to creatures, or creatures that have haste.
First Day of Class
Hall Monitor
Mascot Interception
Retriever Phoenix
Tome Shredder
Awaken the Blood Avatar (Extus, Oriq Overlord // Awaken the Blood Avatar)
Lukka, Wayward Bonder (Mila, Crafty Companion // Lukka, Wayward Bonder)
Hofri Ghostforge
Lorehold Command
Oggyar Battle-Seer
Velomachus Lorehold
Some haste is present, but not a lot of splashy haste effects at lower rarities.
Life Gain
Gaining life!
Environmental Sciences
Explore the Vastlands (Wandering Archaic // Explore the Vastlands)
Essence Infusion
Leech Fanatic
Professor Onyx
Specter of the Fens
Tenured Inkcaster
Basic Conjuration
Bookwurm
Devouring Tendrils
Fortifying Draught
Honor Troll
Overgrown Arch
Springmane Cervin
Blex, Vexing Pest (Blex, Vexing Pest // Search for Blex)
Valentin, Dean of the Vein (Valentin, Dean of the Vein // Lisette, Dean of the Root)
Cram Session
Daemogoth Woe-Eater
Infuse with Vitality
Killian, Ink Duelist
Lorehold Command
Moldering Karok
Radiant Scrollwielder
Silverquill Pledgemage
Thrilling Discovery
Witherbloom Apprentice
Witherbloom Command
Witherbloom Pledgemage
Approach of the Second Sun
Revitalize
Swords to Plowshares
Primal Command
Weather the Storm
Lightning Helix
Lifegain is a central mechanic of Black-Green, so is heavily represented. The 1/1 pest tokens are excluded from this list, but are included in the Mascot Tokens section below.
Mana Fixing
Effects that fix for colors.
Environmental Sciences
Storm-Kiln Artist
Sudden Breakthrough
Accomplished Alchemist
Emergent Sequence
Verdant Mastery
Creative Outburst
Culmination of Studies
Elemental Masterpiece
Galazeth Prismari
Magma Opus
Prismari Command
Campus Guide
Letter of Acceptance
Archway Commons
Frostboil Snarl
Furycalm Snarl
Hall of Oracles
Lorehold Campus
Necroblossom Snarl
Prismari Campus
Quandrix Campus
Shineshadow Snarl
Silverquill Campus
Vineglimmer Snarl
Witherbloom Campus
Cultivate
A lot of poweful common lands will make fixing easier, while Green has some fixers at common and Blue-Red has incidental Treasure creation.
Mana Ramp
Effects that ramp mana.
A fair number of ramp effects exist which can help with the expensive spells in Blue-Red and the 8-Land clause for Blue-Green.
Mass Pump
Effects that pump all of a player's creatures.
A few mass pump spells exist, but nothing that looks format-warping.
Ping
Effects that can kill creatures with 1 toughness.
Only one true ping effect, making X/1s relatively safe from everything outside of Pest tokens.
Mill
Effects that can mill your opponent's deck.
Mill is very unsupported.
Mind Control
Effects that steal your permanents, permanently.
One situational Mind Control effect - watch out for your tokens!
Threaten
Effects that steal your creatures temporarily and grant them haste.
One Threaten with another situational in the Mystical Archive.
Strixhaven Mechanics/Themes
Mechanic: Learn/Lesson
All Learn Cards
Guiding Voice
Professor of Symbology
Sparring Regimen
Study Break
Arcane Subtraction
Divide by Zero
Dream Strix
Pop Quiz
Eyetwitch
Hunt for Specimens
Poet's Quill
Academic Dispute
Enthusiastic Study
First Day of Class
Igneous Inspiration
Retriever Phoenix
Field Trip
Gnarled Professor
Overgrown Arch
Cram Session
Rise of Extus
All Lesson Cards
Environmental Sciences
Expanded Anatomy
Introduction to Annihilation
Introduction to Prophecy
Mascot Exhibition
Academic Probation
Reduce to Memory
Mercurial Transformation
Teachings of the Archaics
Confront the Past
Necrotic Fumes
Illuminate History
Start from Scratch
Basic Conjuration
Containment Breach
Elemental Summoning
Fractal Summoning
Inkling Summoning
Pest Summoning
Spirit Summoning
Learn is a mechanic that, when resolved, lets you search for a Lesson subtype card in your sideboard.
At common, one Lesson card exists per college for each of their token Mascots. Situational uncommon and rare Lessons also exist.
Mechanic: Magecraft
Clever Lumimancer
Eager First-Year
Leonin Lightscribe
Archmage Emeritus
Symmetry Sage
Professor Onyx
Sedgemoor Witch
Storm-Kiln Artist
Dragonsguard Elite
Karok Wrangler
Extus, Oriq Overlord (Extus, Oriq Overlord // Awaken the Blood Avatar)
Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios (Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios // Journey to the Oracle)
Elemental Expressionist
Lorehold Apprentice
Lorehold Pledgemage
Prismari Apprentice
Prismari Pledgemage
Quandrix Apprentice
Quandrix Pledgemage
Silverquill Apprentice
Silverquill Pledgemage
Witherbloom Apprentice
Witherbloom Pledgemage
Spell Satchel
Magecraft is a mechanic that triggers whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell.
Not all instants and sorceries are here, but there is a higher concentration of them in STX than the average format.
Mechanic: Modal Double-Faced Cards
Wandering Archaic (Wandering Archaic // Explore the Vastlands)
Augmenter Pugilist (Augmenter Pugilist // Echoing Equation)
Blex, Vexing Pest (Blex, Vexing Pest // Search for Blex)
Extus, Oriq Overlord (Extus, Oriq Overlord // Awaken the Blood Avatar)
Flamescroll Celebrant (Flamescroll Celebrant // Revel in Silence)
Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios (Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios // Journey to the Oracle)
Kianne, Dean of Substance (Kianne, Dean of Substance // Imbraham, Dean of Theory)
Mila, Crafty Companion (Mila, Crafty Companion // Lukka, Wayward Bonder)
Pestilent Cauldron (Pestilent Cauldron // Restorative Burst)
Plargg, Dean of Chaos (Plargg, Dean of Chaos // Augusta, Dean of Order)
Rowan, Scholar of Sparks (Rowan, Scholar of Sparks // Will, Scholar of Frost)
Selfless Glyphweaver (Selfless Glyphweaver // Deadly Vanity)
Shaile, Dean of Radiance (Shaile, Dean of Radiance // Embrose, Dean of Shadow)
Torrent Sculptor (Torrent Sculptor // Flamethrower Sonata)
Uvilda, Dean of Perfection (Uvilda, Dean of Perfection // Nassari, Dean of Expression)
Valentin, Dean of the Vein (Valentin, Dean of the Vein // Lisette, Dean of the Root)
Modal Double-Faced Cards have two sides, you can choose which side of the card to cast.
Mechanic: Ward
Ward is a mechanic which counters spells and abilities unless your opponent pays an additional cost.
Theme: Mascot Tokens/Tribal
Inkling Tokens/Payoffs
Mascot Exhibition
Umbral Juke
Blot Out the Sky
Dramatic Finale
Inkling Summoning
Shadrix Silverquill
Spirit Tokens/Tribal/Payoffs
Mascot Exhibition
Ageless Guardian
Pilgrim of the Ages
Pillardrop Rescuer
Reduce to Memory
Stonebinder's Familiar
Stonerise Spirit
Strict Proctor
Blood Age General
Fuming Effigy
Illuminate History
Illustrious Historian
Pillardrop Warden
Hofri Ghostforge
Lorehold Apprentice
Lorehold Command
Lorehold Excavation
Make Your Mark
Quintorius, Field Historian
Returned Pastcaller
Spirit Summoning
Stonebound Mentor
Venerable Warsinger
Elemental Tokens/Tribal/Payoffs
Mascot Exhibition
Multiple Choice
Resculpt
Grinning Ignus
Will, Scholar of Frost (Rowan, Scholar of Sparks // Will, Scholar of Frost)
Elemental Expressionist
Elemental Masterpiece
Elemental Summoning
Magma Opus
Fractal Tokens/Payoffs
Serpentine Curve
Emergent Sequence
Leyline Invocation
Kianne, Dean of Substance (Kianne, Dean of Substance // Imbraham, Dean of Theory)
Biomathematician
Body of Research
Fractal Summoning
Kasmina, Enigma Sage
Manifestation Sage
Pest Tokens/Tribal/Payoffs
Callous Bloodmage
Hunt for Specimens
Sedgemoor Witch
Containment Breach
Professor of Zoomancy
Blex, Vexing Pest (Blex, Vexing Pest // Search for Blex)
Pestilent Cauldron (Pestilent Cauldron // Restorative Burst)
Valentin, Dean of the Vein (Valentin, Dean of the Vein // Lisette, Dean of the Root)
Beledros Witherbloom
Pest Summoning
Tend the Pests
Each of the five colleges have a dedicated mascot, listed and grouped here with both tokens and payoffs!
Spirits are also a major tribal creature type theme, and are included here.
Theme: Lifegain Payoffs
Several payoffs for gaining life are particularly prevalent in Black-Green.
Lifegain cards can be found in the Lifegain section, and Pest cards can be found in the Mechanic: Mascot Tokens section.
Theme: 8+ Lands
Blue-Green has several cards that have bonuses if you control eight or more lands.
Theme: Graveyard
Payoffs for Leaving Graveyard
Graveyard Recursion/Value
Mavinda, Students' Advocate
Pilgrim of the Ages
Pillardrop Rescuer
Stonerise Spirit
Brackish Trudge
Unwilling Ingredient
Ardent Dustspeaker
Efreet Flamepainter
Illustrious Historian
Pillardrop Warden
Tome Shredder
Ecological Appreciation
Lukka, Wayward Bonder (Mila, Crafty Companion // Lukka, Wayward Bonder)
Torrent Sculptor (Torrent Sculptor // Flamethrower Sonata)
Aether Helix
Deadly Brew
Harness Infinity
Lorehold Excavation
Radiant Scrollwielder
Reconstruct History
Returned Pastcaller
Venerable Warsinger
Biblioplex Assistant
Cogwork Archivist
Faithless Looting
Regrowth
White-Red has a significant graveyard theme, with Black-Green as well. A unique payoff for triggers when a card leaves the graveyard is supported in White-Red as well.