Secrets of Strixhaven
What's New
📜PrepareNEWCreatures with a second spell tucked in the corner — when the creature becomes prepared, you get a castable copy of that spell in exile.▶
- A preparation card is one card: a creature with a smaller second spell (the prepare spell) printed in an inset frame.
- Becoming prepared is the trigger event — when it happens, a copy of the prepare spell appears in exile, and you may cast it (normal timing rules for its card type).
- Casting the copy makes the creature unprepared — it can be prepared again later for another copy.
- The exiled copy lives only as long as the creature stays on the battlefield and stays prepared: creature dies or leaves → copy vanishes uncast.
- In every other zone (hand, library, graveyard) the card is only its creature self — tutors for instants can't find it, and it counts as one card for all purposes.
- Only the current controller of the prepared creature can cast the copy — ownership doesn't matter.
| Can I cast the exiled prepare spell any time? | It follows its own card type: an instant copy casts at instant speed, a sorcery copy only on your main phase with an empty stack. |
| Can a creature be prepared twice to stockpile copies? | No — a permanent that's already prepared can't become prepared again until it's unprepared. |
| Does the deck-building limit care about the prepare spell's name? | No — the card's name is the creature's name. The prepare spell's name doesn't count against four-copy or singleton limits. |
| Can opponents respond? | To the trigger that prepares the creature, yes; and to the prepare-spell copy once cast, yes — it's a normal spell on the stack. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (Only creatures with prepare spells can become prepared. When one does, its controller gets a copy of the inset spell in exile and may cast it; casting it makes the creature unprepared.)
Rule 722.2a
The inset frame of a preparation card is called a “prepare spell.” If a rule or effect refers to a card, spell, or permanent that has a prepare spell, it refers to an object for which these alternative characteristics exist, even if the object currently doesn’t use them.
Rule 722.3c
As a permanent with a prepare spell gains the prepared designation or phases in prepared, its controller creates a copy of that object in exile, except that copy has only the characteristics of that permanent’s prepare spell, ignoring other exceptions to the copying process that apply to that permanent.
Rule 722.4
In every zone, a preparation card has only its normal characteristics.
Likely interactions
☠️ Killed in response
Remove the prepared creature and the uncast copy in exile ceases to exist — the spell dies with the creature. Once the copy is on the stack, though, killing the creature doesn't touch it.
722.3c
🔄 Flicker
A flickered prepared creature returns as a new, unprepared object — and its old exiled copy is gone. It must become prepared again from scratch.
722.3c
🪞 Copy
Clones of a preparation card get the inset spell (it's copiable) but not the prepared designation. And what the exiled copy looks like when a *modified* copy becomes prepared gets genuinely strange — the copy process has special exceptions here.
722.2b · 722.3c
⚖️ Ask the Judge →☠️ Ability removal
A prepared creature that loses all abilities, stops being a creature, or turns into something else entirely stays prepared — the designation and the exiled copy both survive.
722.3a
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
📈IncrementNEWCast a spell for more mana than this creature's power or toughness, and it grows a +1/+1 counter.▶
- It checks mana actually spent, not the spell's printed mana value — cost reductions hurt it, additional costs (kicker, commander tax) help it.
- The spent mana must beat either power or toughness — whichever is lower is your bar.
- It's an intervening-'if' trigger: the comparison is checked when you cast and again when the trigger resolves — pump the creature big enough in response and the counter fizzles.
- The counter arrives before the spell resolves — and arrives even if that spell gets countered.
- Spells cast for free spend zero mana — zero beats nothing, no trigger.
| Does a countered spell still grow the creature? | Yes — increment triggers on casting; the counter lands regardless of what happens to the spell. |
| Do convoke, delve, or improvise payments count? | No — those reduce what you pay; increment only sees actual mana spent. |
| Once per turn? | No limit — every qualifying cast triggers it. |
| Can opponents stop it? | Yes — grow the creature past the mana spent in response (the trigger re-checks on resolution) or remove it. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (Whenever you cast a spell, if the amount of mana you spent is greater than this creature's power or toughness, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Rule 702.191a
Increment is a triggered ability. “Increment” means “Whenever you cast a spell, if this permanent is a creature and the amount of mana spent to cast that spell is greater than this creature’s power or this creature’s toughness, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.”
Rule 702.191b
If a creature has multiple instances of increment, each one triggers separately.
Likely interactions
🪙 Cast for free
Cascade, 'without paying its mana cost,' or a Paradigm copy: zero mana spent, so increment never triggers — the printed cost is irrelevant.
702.191
🪙 Cost changes
What 'mana spent' totals to with X costs, kicker, hybrid payments, and stacked cost modifiers is precise but fiddly arithmetic.
702.191
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
♾️ParadigmNEWResolve it once, and it exiles itself — then hands you a free copy to cast at the start of each of your turns, forever.▶
- The spell must resolve to start the engine — counter the original cast and nothing is set up.
- Once it resolves, the loop is independent of the physical card: even if the card leaves exile, the free copies keep coming.
- Each of your precombat main phases, a copy appears in exile and you may cast it free; decline and that copy evaporates (the loop continues next turn).
- Resolving a second copy of the same name doesn't double the engine — 'first time' means first time.
- Unlike old Epic effects, Paradigm doesn't stop you casting other spells.
| What if the original is countered? | No resolution, no engine — the card just goes to the graveyard. |
| Can opponents respond to the free copy? | Yes — the delayed trigger and the cast copy both use the stack normally. |
| Does casting the free copy trigger cast-abilities? | Yes — it's genuinely cast (magecraft and friends see it), but zero mana was spent. |
| How often? | Once per turn, at the start of your first main phase, for the rest of the game. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (Then exile this spell. After you first resolve a spell with this name, you may cast a copy of it from exile without paying its mana cost at the beginning of each of your first main phases.)
Rule 702.192a
Paradigm represents two spell abilities, one of which creates a delayed triggered ability. Paradigm means “If this is the first time a spell you control with this spell’s name has resolved this game, at the beginning of each of your precombat main phases for the rest of the game, create a copy of this object in exile. You may cast the copy without paying its mana cost” and “Exile this spell.”
Likely interactions
☠️ Countered
Counter the original and the engine never starts. Counter a free copy and you've stopped one turn's copy — the loop fires again next turn.
702.192
⚡ Exile hate
Removing the exiled card doesn't stop the copies — the delayed trigger, not the card, powers the loop.
702.192
🪞 Copy
How Paradigm interacts with spell-copying and name-changing effects turns on exactly which object resolved first — real corner-case territory.
702.192 · 707.10
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
🧪InfusionNEWA bonus that switches on if you gained life this turn — any amount, at any point.▶
- Infusion is an ability word — a label, not a rule; each infusion ability is ordinary rules text.
- The check is binary and historical: did a life-gain event happen this turn? One life is enough, and losing more life than you gained doesn't undo it.
- The infusion card didn't need to be around when the life was gained — the game just checks the turn's history.
- Gaining life several times doesn't stack the bonus — on or off, once per check.
| I gained 2 then lost 10 — is infusion on? | On. It checks whether a gain happened, not your net life change. |
| Can opponents turn it off? | Not retroactively — a life-gain event can't be undone. They can only prevent the gain before it happens. |
| When does it reset? | Each turn — the 'this turn' memory clears when the turn ends. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (Infusion — [Effect], if you gained life this turn.)
Rule 207.2c
An ability word appears in italics at the beginning of some abilities. Ability words are similar to keywords in that they tie together cards that have similar functionality, but they have no special rules meaning and no individual entries in the Comprehensive Rules.
Likely interactions
⚡ Life swaps
Exchanging life totals counts as gaining life for whoever went up — that switches infusion on.
207.2c
⚖️ Ask the Judge →⚡ Multiplayer
Team formats complicate 'you gained life' — a teammate's gain isn't automatically yours.
207.2c
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
⚔️ReparteeNEWTriggers whenever you cast an instant or sorcery that targets a creature — yours or anyone's.▶
- Only instants and sorceries count — casting an Aura or activating an ability that targets a creature does nothing.
- Whose creature doesn't matter: your pump spell and your removal spell both trigger it.
- A spell targeting several creatures still triggers each repartee ability once.
- The trigger resolves before the spell — and resolves even if the spell is countered or its target disappears.
| Does it care if the spell resolves? | No — casting is the trigger. Countered spell, dead target: the repartee effect still happens. |
| Targeting a creature card in a graveyard? | No trigger — 'creature' alone means a creature on the battlefield. |
| Once per turn? | No limit — every qualifying cast fires it. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (Repartee — Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell that targets a creature, [effect].)
Rule 207.2c
An ability word appears in italics at the beginning of some abilities. Ability words are similar to keywords in that they tie together cards that have similar functionality, but they have no special rules meaning and no individual entries in the Comprehensive Rules.
Likely interactions
☠️ Countered
Counter the instant that triggered repartee and the trigger still resolves — it went on the stack above the spell the moment it was cast.
207.2c
🪞 Copy
Spell copies put directly onto the stack aren't *cast*, so they don't trigger repartee — but casting a copy (like a Prepare spell from exile) does.
207.2c
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
🎼OpusNEWEvery instant or sorcery you cast gives the base effect — spend five or more mana on it and you get the premium version.▶
- Like Increment, opus counts mana actually spent — printed mana value is irrelevant. X costs, kicker, and taxes push you toward the 5-mana tier; discounts pull you away.
- Whether you get base and premium or premium instead depends on the card's wording — read for the word 'instead.'
- It triggers on casting and resolves before the spell — a countered spell still pays out.
- Free-cast spells spend zero mana: base effect only, even on a huge spell.
| Does a 6-mana spell cast for free hit the premium tier? | No — zero mana was spent. The threshold reads your payment, not the card. |
| Does ward or other post-cast mana count? | No — only mana spent to cast the spell itself. |
| Can opponents respond? | Yes, to the trigger and to the spell — but the mana-spent amount is locked at casting. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (Opus — Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, [effect]. If five or more mana was spent to cast that spell, [bigger effect].)
Rule 207.2c
An ability word appears in italics at the beginning of some abilities. Ability words are similar to keywords in that they tie together cards that have similar functionality, but they have no special rules meaning and no individual entries in the Comprehensive Rules.
Likely interactions
☠️ Countered
The opus trigger is already on the stack above the spell — countering the spell doesn't stop the payout.
207.2c
🪙 Cost reduction
Cost reducers actively fight the premium tier — a 5-mana spell discounted to 4 spends 4. Whether you can decline a discount is a real judge question.
207.2c
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
What's Returning
🔍SurveilRETURNINGLook at your top N cards; keep any on top in any order, bin the rest — fueling Flashback and the graveyard decks.▶
- Cards go library → graveyard directly: that's not discarding (hand-only) and not milling per se — but it fills the yard all the same.
- You may keep all of them on top, in any order — surveil never forces anything into the graveyard.
- In this set it's the delivery system: it plants Flashback spells in the graveyard for later.
| Is surveilling into the graveyard 'discarding'? | No — discarding is only from your hand. Discard-triggers don't fire. |
| Can opponents respond mid-surveil? | They can respond to the spell or ability that surveils — once it's resolving, the looking and sorting can't be interrupted. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (Look at the top N cards of your library. You may put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.)
Rule 701.25a
To “surveil N” means to look at the top N cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.
Likely interactions
⚡ Trigger counting
Abilities that watch cards hitting your graveyard, or that count surveils, care about exactly how the event is sliced.
701.25d
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
♻️FlashbackRETURNINGCast the spell from your graveyard for its flashback cost — then it's exiled for good.▶
- The flashback cost is an alternative cost — you pay it instead of the mana cost, but the spell's mana value stays its printed cost.
- Normal timing still applies: a flashbacked sorcery is still a sorcery.
- However the spell leaves the stack — resolving, countered, fizzled — it's exiled, never back to the graveyard.
- It doesn't matter how the card reached your graveyard (surveil counts!) — flashback works regardless.
| If my flashbacked spell is countered, does it return to the graveyard? | No — exiled. Any exit from the stack exiles it. |
| Can I flashback at instant speed? | Only if the card is an instant — flashback doesn't change timing rules. |
| What's the spell's mana value when flashbacked? | Its printed mana cost — the flashback cost doesn't change mana value. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
Rule 702.34a
Flashback appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents two static abilities: one that functions while the card is in a player’s graveyard and another that functions while the card is on the stack. “Flashback [cost]” means “You may cast this card from your graveyard if the resulting spell is an instant or sorcery spell by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost” and “If the flashback cost was paid, exile this card instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack.”
Likely interactions
🪙 Alternative costs
Flashback is itself an alternative cost, so you can't stack another one on top — but mandatory additional costs still must be paid, and optional ones (kicker) still may be.
702.34
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
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