Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS) Limited Review: Colorless, Lands, SPG

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: 1.5
Comment: The payoff from attacking is high, but this set has no self-mill theme and the cost to bring it back is still relatively high, so I don’t recommend putting it in your deck.

Score: 2.0
Comment: A 4/4 trample reach for five mana is not that great in a two-color set; it only becomes a decent creature in three or more colors.

Score: 2.5
Comment: Entering for six mana, it can exile a nonland permanent with mana value of at least two by default, which is pretty good. Its activated ability also ties into cards leaving the graveyard, so it’s even more worth playing in red-white.

Score: 2.5
Comment: At X=2 it looks just okay, but it’s also a source of resources. If your color pair includes green for color fixing or you have extra dual lands, consider playing it.

Score: 2.0
Comment: A 6/6 vigilance body for seven mana isn’t bad, but make sure the number of colors you spend to cast it isn’t too low. If you cast it with only one color, you have to draw one and discard two.

Score: 3.0
Comment: The body is middling, and it’s also nice if you can pair its entering with your own prepared spells or your opponent’s unprepared ones, so it will certainly see plenty of play.

Score: 3.5
Comment: Since this set has so many prepared cards, the chance of reducing it to one mana or even drawing a card just by tapping it is quite high. Recommended.

Score: 2.0
Comment: The earlier you draw this creature, the better. In a two-color set you usually don’t need to worry about it growing.

Score: 2.5
Comment: I think two copies in a deck is about right. The first one is just a mana rock, and when you draw the second one it trades itself for an instant or sorcery for free, which also makes it a steady source of spells in hand.

Score: 2.5
Comment: It’s just a mana rock. It scores a bit higher in black-green when playing the Infusion theme.

Score: 3.0
Comment: Fetching a basic land on entering is decent value, and it’s also a 3/2 flying attacker. Good overall.

Score: 3.0
Comment: In a two-color set that also has the Converge theme, the pick priority of dual lands rises a bit further.

Score: 3.0
Comment: Same evaluation as the two-color slow lands; its pick priority in this set is also slightly higher. It’s also a nice card-filtering engine in the late game when both sides are at a standstill.

Score: 3.0
Comment: Although you have to take damage to help pay for the specific color in an instant or sorcery, in the late game it can also attack as a creature. Still good overall.

Score: 1.5
Comment: In this set only two lands, Skycoach Waypoint and Great Hall of the Biblioplex
, have some value for their abilities. Other than that it’s a colorless land, so I don’t recommend putting it in your deck.

Score: 3.0
Comment: If your deck has enough prepared creatures it is well worth playing, since being able to make a creature prepare repeatedly creates a big resource gap.

Special Guest (SPG)

Score: 3.0
Comment: In the Strixhaven environment, Archaeomancer’s value shines even more, and its poor body isn’t much of a problem.

Score: 4.0
Comment: Draw a card whenever you cast an instant or sorcery. The strength is beyond doubt.

Score: 3.5
Comment: Precisely because of this environment, its score goes up even more. What it makes are fliers, and if you leave it alone you could get your head beaten in by a flock of birds.

Score: 3.5
Comment: Draw a card every time one of your creatures dies, so you always come out ahead in resource trades. Remember that if it’s on the battlefield face down, you have to turn it face up before the creature dies, or it will be too late to trigger.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A 2/2 with flash for three mana is decent already, and it’s even better if it can copy a removal or burn spell.

Score: 2.5
Comment: In the vast majority of cases it’s just a mana accelerant, and you’ll rarely get to use the card-draw ability below.

Score: 4.5
Comment: A powerhouse in Commander. In Limited you can trade life for extra cards, and even without paying life, looking at three and taking one every turn is great too.

Score: 3.0
Comment: It’s a hard-to-remove creature on its own and delivers enough value. Note that it’s worded as a replacement effect, so something like a Fractal that creates a 0/0 and puts three counters on it would instead create two 0/0s with three counters each.

Score: 0.5
Comment: A classic Commander troll, but the condition of only being able to cast nonpermanent spells is too harsh for Limited deckbuilding. Only for dreamers.

Score: 0.5
Comment: This set does have decent card draw, but it’s probably not worth playing a one-mana Spellbook with no other benefit.

Score: 1.5
Comment: Like the sage above, its card-draw ability is very hard to use and it’s a colorless land the vast majority of the time, so I don’t recommend putting it in your deck.

This card will be released on MTGA as a replacement for Library of Leng. It’s on the Reserved List, but this isn’t actually a reprint of it, so there’s no problem.

Conclusion

Back in Strixhaven to experience an environment full of magic flying everywhere. Besides dual land support and artifact help, the Special Guests also include quite a few famous, versatile wizards. I look forward to everyone experiencing in Limited a special environment with even more instants and sorceries than ever before.