Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS) Limited Review: Blue

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS) holds its Prerelease events on April 17, 2026, and releases officially a week later on April 24, 2026. Want to know more about how each card rates and plays in Limited? Then check out this series of SOS Limited reviews!

• For the mechanics, see this article: Secrets of Strixhaven Mechanics Breakdown

Rating Scale

5.0: Unconditional first pick, gives a near-winning advantage
4.5: Unconditional first pick if you’re in the right colors, gives a huge advantage
4.0: First-pick value, plays extremely well with the color pair’s theme, can be the deciding card to splash/switch colors or move into a color pair
3.5: Top uncommons and commons of the set and other sufficiently strong cards that fit the color pair’s theme well, can be the key card for moving into a color pair
3.0: Important cards for the color pair’s theme, plus other above-average cards, which you’ll want in your final deck
2.5: Average, usually a decent curve filler
2.0 to 1.0: Below average, generally leave it out, can be used as filler if necessary but not in large numbers
0.5 to 0.0: Unplayable, basically don’t play it, it will only help you lose

Ratings

Score: 2.5
Comment: Performs excellently in tempo-oriented blue-red. It can remove a threat, protect your own creature, or redo a prepare, all of which are very good.

Score: 2.0
Comment: Limited is still mostly creature spells, and four mana is just too clunky.

Score: 3.0
Comment: It shores up your ground defense and can burn off spare mana to make a 3/3 flying soldier. It’s a decent common creature in blue, and ward 2 in particular makes it harder for your opponent to interact with it effectively in combat.

Score: 2.0
Comment: A combat trick leaning toward protection, hard to trade up with, so it’s somewhat worse than other tricks.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A creature that gains tempo, which performs better in aggressive archetypes in draft; not recommended in sealed.

Score: 1.5
Comment: A combo-style card, not recommended for Limited.

Score: 4.0
Comment: Copy once on entering, then crush your opponent with an army of creatures every turn. A big bomb in sealed; in draft it depends on whether the pace of the environment allows playing like this.

Score: 5.0
Comment: Comes with flying and can kill your opponent in 2-3 turns, and it can also use Power 9 !

Score: 3.5
Comment: Steadily gives your teammates flying, and each turn lets you trigger Opus with one more spell. I personally expect this card to have a very high win rate, and it will be a priority pick for blue-red.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A creature counterspell is bound to have its uses, and holding up two mana answers many threats. A must-play if you’re playing blue.

Score: 1.5
Comment: Mill is hard to pull off in Limited with only uncommons and commons, and the 0/2 body can barely take part in defense.

Score: 2.5
Comment: The condition is harder to meet in Limited, so just treat it as plain looting, but with common instant-speed card draw already around, this one looks ordinary.

Score: 1.5
Comment: Spending one mana to make a token that is only a 1/1 at minimum with no extra ability is not great.

Score: 2.5
Comment: The effect is very flexible, and you have to watch out for this card’s existence on both offense and defense.

Score: 2.0
Comment: The body’s combat strength is a bit poor, and the ability to adjust the top of your library doesn’t matter much in Limited.

Score: 2.5
Comment: In the mid to late game it can generate a wave of resources, and may even be one of your ways to close out the game.

Score: 2.5
Comment: The body is weak in combat, it gives you room to splash another color, and being able to cast only instants and sorceries makes it usable as a pairing for prepare.

Score: 3.5
Comment: The enter-the-battlefield loot filters out cards you don’t want, and later you can make two 2/2s for five mana to widen the board, or even three 3/3s for seven mana in the late game.

Score: 2.0
Comment: A weak body that is only a marginal filler, though in the late game you can also use spare mana to draw cards.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A Counterspell with a heavier color requirement, not recommended in large numbers.

Score: 2.0
Comment: You can see it as draw 2 for four mana, draw 4 for six, with no effect on the board; in sealed it’s a passable way to refill your hand.

Score: 3.0
Comment: It bounces on entering, which can gain a lot of tempo, and it would be even better if it couldn’t be blocked.

Score: 2.5
Comment: Its strength depends on the support of prepare instants and sorceries, and the body itself has no combat ability.

Score: 2.0
Comment: If you can pick a card that pays off for Opus, it’s a pretty good pairing.

Score: 2.5
Comment: Reaching toughness 10 is somewhat difficult and may require pairing with high-toughness creatures from other color pairs, but drawing 2 on entering is very nice.

Score: 3.5
Comment: It starts with only 0 power, but at least you reliably draw two cards or even more.

Score: 2.0
Comment: Only suitable for aggressive decks. It can temporarily ignore your opponent’s threats, but it can’t negate abilities.

Score: 2.5
Comment: Instant-speed draw 2 is very nice, a resource point that lets you lean toward control in Limited.

Score: 2.5
Comment: It can send a card back to the top of the library; if it’s a less important creature your opponent may choose to put it on the bottom, and it can also remove the opponent’s blocker on offense.

Score: 3.5
Comment: You have a chance to steal a lot of damage with this card, and you can get one more prepare or ETB creature trigger.

Score: 3.0
Comment: An average flying soldier body, and being able to loot for one mana is very useful.

Score: 2.0
Comment: Moving counters costs mana, and if it comes down late it has no time to grow at all.

Score: 2.0
Comment: A bit low-impact for three mana, and it grows rather slowly.

Score: 1.0
Comment: The only use I can think of is a super-control deck, scaring your opponent to death and making them want to concede.

Conclusion

This set’s blue creatures focus on evasion and resource generation, and none of them trade well. But you can make more use of instant-speed spells to trade for your opponent’s resources, and you can also use spells that give you more cards in hand, making blue a good partner for splashing in every color pair. Worth mentioning is that blue’s instants can all take opponents by surprise, which should bring plenty of surprises in matches. I think blue-red Opus or blue-green big creatures decks will both perform well.