Welcome back to the Epic Experiment!
Strixhaven has just come out on MTG Arena and I have gone head first into the set in order to try and figure out what is what with the latest set. Initially, my response to previews was lukewarm. However, having now played a number of events on Arena there are some interesting cards that have not seen much in the way of some love that may be of interest.
As someone who is typically a Green player (I love me some sweet sweet Sultai), I have been very preoccupied with Red and White as of late. I think this stems from the typical assertion that this combination is not very good in Commander and other Casual multiplayer formats and I seek to prove otherwise. However, there has recently been a brand new Red and White Commander that has really caught my attention that has been largely ignored. Today I’m going to point you towards a very intriguing Dwarf Cleric by the name of Hofri Ghostforge!
Hofri was largely ignored during the preview season in part because of the deluge of cards, but also because people became completely absorbed with the Mystical Archive cards. Consequently, Hofri was largely missed or dismissed by most of the Magic community. However, I decided to try my hand at a Sealed league and found myself with Hofri in my pool. I had underestimated the card and was just jamming it because it was Limited and you should jam all your on colour rares and mythics. I really hadn’t given it any thought.
However, all of a sudden I started to notice the effect it had on the game. With Hofri and a Dream Strix in play, I had a powerful tool to go and find impactful lessons in my sideboard. Hofri’s card says that when a non-token creature dies, you exile the creature, then you get a copy back, but it is now also a spirit, and it even gets a little +1/+1 boost. So, when Dream Strix dies, I get to go and find a Lesson and I get my Dream Strix back again. This interaction was immensely impactful in my game, and so I thought to myself… is there something more to explore with this card here?
I turned to Brawl and immediately put together a Brawl deck to see how I could exploit Hofri. My first question was to address how does Red/White keep up with some of the other colours who are better able to ramp? My solution was simple. Solemn Simulacrum, Pilgrim of the Ages, and Farfinder are exactly the sort of cards I wanted. All three go and search up a land and put it into my hand, meaning I can be assured to hit my land drops and advance my board. You can now get double value out of them thanks to Hofri when they die. The discovery of Pilgrim in the Strixhaven set felt like a big win since it was overlooked and brand spanking new. Not to mention it is an integral part of White’s plan to be able to keep pace with the other ramping strategies.
Next, I was looking for some other really interesting Enter the Battlefield (ETB) triggers to exploit with Hofri. Solemn Simulacrum was once again at the fore of that discussion, but Basri’s Lieutenant, Skyclave Apparition, and Charming Prince all fit the bill nicely. The Lieutenant was key in order to power up some of our smaller creatures, while Apparition was very potent removal, and Prince is just good value.
Now, while Hofri likes to exploit all these ETB triggers once the creatures die, I didn’t want to simply rely on my opponents killing my creatures. If I was waiting for my opponents to get the job done the effectiveness of the deck was going to be seriously hampered. So, I went looking for ways to sacrifice my own creatures for value. Normally in EDH we get things like Ashnod’s Altar, Skullclamp, Woe Strider, and Viscera Seer as easy ways to sacrifice creatures. However, in Standard, we aren’t so lucky. What I did find were things like Weaponize the Monsters and Relic Vial to get the job done. I particularly like Weaponize the Monsters as a form of removal to blast smallish creatures out of the way, or to give you that final reach to torch an opponent who has been able to stem the bleeding. I had forgotten about Weaponize, but I will revisit it for Commander as I suspect it has some further utility.
Now, the piece de resistance was yet another Legendary creature from Strixhaven – Quintorius, Field Historian. Quintorius is the perfect teammate for Hofri because whenever a creature is exiled from the graveyard, you are able to net a spirit. When a creature dies, moving to the graveyard Hofri’s ability activates. The creature is exiled from the graveyard, activating Quintorius’s ability. We now make a 3/2 spirit token. Finally, Hofri’s ability finishes up and we get the token spirit copy of the original creature that just died. To get a 3/2 and your token off the death of one of your creatures is tremendous value and can really help pull you ahead in the game.
To make matters better Quintorius and Hofri both provide bonuses to your spirit tokens meaning that you get hasty, trample 5/3’s instead of regular old 3/2’s… but I digress.
Lastly, there are some other really high synergy cards that fit nicely into the strategy that can’t be overlooked. Zephyr Boots is the most underrated piece of equipment I have seen in ages. The fact that it is a 1 mana equipment, equips for a mere 2, and provides evasion and card selection if you deal combat damage is a whole lot of goodness packed into a very affordable Mana Value. Luminous Broodmoth provides a redundant effect should Hofri get removed from the battlefield , but can also be a formidable presence in the air.
Illustrious Historian is another rather anonymous card from Strixhaven that packs some punch. It comes down early and can get aggressive (or be a speed bump), but then when it dies can hop right back out of the yard thanks to Hofri. Then, after the token dies and the original Illustrious Historian is returned to the graveyard you can pay 5, exile it, and make a 3/2 spirit token… all the while playing nicely with Quintorius.
Outlaws Merriment provides a steady stream of fodder to use as sacrifice material for Relic Vial and Weaponize the Monsters. One neat little benefit is that Merriment makes a Cleric token in one third of the time. You can sacrifice them to the Vial for added benefit.
Lastly, but certainly not least, with all the sacrificing of creatures to make good use of Weaponize the Monsters, Blood Aspirant runs the real risk of running away and becoming a must answer threat. All in all, you start to see a collection of underplayed cards that synergize in an interesting way. You can check out the full Brawl list I was running here.
The long and the short of it is that with Hofri, we have a mythic that almost completely fell by the wayside. As we approach the in paper release of Strixhaven, Hofri is available for between $2 and $3 on TCGplayer, meaning he is very budget friendly. Also, based on some early results, Hofri could provide an interesting, flexible, and fun shift for those of us who are tired of playing the same Red and White equipment decks.
Thank you everyone. If you want to hear more about my thoughts on Strixhaven, or any other Commander related topic, check out The Epic Experiment on iTunes, Google Podcast, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere else you find your podcasts.
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Strixhaven is officially out on Friday, so it’s time to note the best of the best so you know what to look for while you’re cracking packs! While these cards might not be the rarest of the rare, these will all absolutely help you build your next favourite deck.
Enough with the introduction – let’s get to the good stuff.
I am shocked this card is not getting more heat. Daemogoth Titan may have the highest potential to destroy the Standard meta-game in my opinion.
First, the mana cost. Four of green or black will help make sure you never get mana blocked again. Second, this is a non-legendary creature, so you can pack your deck with four of these bad boys.
Most people may find this card useless because of the sacrificial aspect of this card. However, Witherbloom’s whole base mechanic is sacrificing Pest cards. If you are packing a Beledros Witherbloom, Valentin, Dean of the Vein, or any Pest generating card (which there are plenty), you will have plenty to sacrifice, letting you boost your health along the way. As long as you set up your deck with plenty of Pest building, you are going to be doing fine by this guy.
Also, with a 11/10 creature, you aren’t going to need to play the long game. If you are able to get some spot removal, such as Heartless Act or Murder, you will be able to clean your opponent’s board, and swing with the heavy hitter.
I put Vanishing Verse and Rip Apart together because they are very good for similar reasons. Vanishing Verse and Rip Apart both have a two mana cost that have great removal possibilities. These puppies will become household names for W/B and R/W decks accordingly, I am sure of it.
Don’t hesitate to pick these two up if you like Orzhov or Boros. You will not be disappointed.
Ah, a return to the days of annoying blue decks. Test of Talents at the right time could absolutely destroy your opponents hand. This is especially true if you see a key to an opponents combo chain about to be used. At a two mana cost, this card could destroy an opponent’s entire strategy, especially if they have no exile play capability.
Just make sure to hold onto this card until you really need it. You don’t want to use it too quickly and find out that their battle strategy was actually something else all along.
Silverquill Silencer is absolutely bananas. For a two mana cost, having a 3/2 that is able to drain your opponent’s health is unheard of. Not only that, but it is a great meta killer. With it’s name drain ability, any other Strixhaven decks are useless since most cards have the name Prismari, Witherbloom, Silverquill, Lorehold, and Quandrix.
As long as you are familiar with the meta, you can pull this kind of shenanigan with any deck. All you need to know are what cards in the deck are likely to have four copies, and are pivotal to the deck’s combo set up, and wait. Your opponent will either need to rethink their entire strategy, or be willing to sacrifice life to get it jump started. Either way, it is going to be a quick trip to the end game, especially if you have four of these in your deck.
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Strixhaven is nearly here! With less than a month left until it’s release, let’s take a look at the cards we know are going to change the tide of the game.
SPOILER WARNING! If you don’t want spoilers for the cards in the Strixhaven set, then stop here!
STOP HERE! SAVE YOUR GENTLE EYES!
With that out of the way – let’s dive into it!
To start off, we have some faces you have seen before from the cover work. These legendary casters are at the top of their classes – and rascals to boot. These casters will be clinch pieces to keep the college of your choice together. Mix these in with the college deans, and the headmasters, and you will be dominating the field one spell at a time.
Ah, these beauties. The Mystical Archive will not disappoint with reprints like these.
The Mystical Archive is a special series of reprints, including 63 cards from Magic’s past release sets. Expect to see classics reprints like Shock, and some rare gems in there as well. Make sure to keep an eye out for these when your cracking packs – you never know what you might find.
Let’s not forget about the educators at the school! Deans are double-sided, double coloured legendary creatures. There is a dean for every college, for every field of study.
Ever worried you are going to get mana-blocked out of your legendary creatures? Never again. With the versatility of multiple colours, it hammers home one great lesson – get yourself a card that can do both.
A brand new system in the Magic universe are the Lesson cards. Lessons are special sorcery cards that can be pulled from outside the game into your hand. There are numerous cards that will allow you to Learn, which allows you to draw a Lesson card. This can be immensely helpful when you are in the process of building your board at any point of the game. Keep an eye out for these cards while your cracking packs – they could be immensely useful.
We got some familiar faces coming into the land of Strixhaven! Not only have the Kenrith kids and Liliana returning in this set, Lukka has made his way from Ikoria to make an appearance. While Rowan, Will, and Liliana have a bit a place in the world of Strixhaven, it will be very interesting what part Lukka has to play in all this…
We got dragons, baby! Not just dragons though – they are also the headmasters of the five colleges.
That’s right. The head honchos.
Not only do these big baddies have some great personal abilities, they are pivotal to a proper college deck. They will offer huge benefits to help you make your college deck blow past your enemies. If you’re thinking of making a college deck, do yourself a favour and pick up your corresponding dragon. You’re going to need it.
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Ready to go back to school? Strixhaven has all your collegiate needs to get started in the world of Magic! Just be ready for their application process – I’m told it’s rigorous.
Choose your college colours! Each college at Strixhaven has special focuses, allowing you to find your favourite play style with ease.
Love yourself a red/white combo with spiritual capability? Then Lorehold is your college!
If you are a sucker for green/black, then join the biology majors in the college of Witherbloom!
Control and power aren’t mutually exclusive – just ask those in the Quandrix college, where blue/green reigns supreme.
Whoever said that passion and magic don’t mix? A good red/blue deck can infuriate your opponent, which is Prismari’s specialty.
Like destroying your opponent in both power and persuasion? Then a good black/white deck from Silverquill will do you just nicely.
Strixhaven also is the return of Masterpiece cards! These beautiful card sets will be the talk of the community – if you are able to get your hands on them.
Strixhaven will be available for purchase on April 23rd! Make sure to pre-order now!
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