Draft Trainer

Strixhaven: School of Mages Limited Quiz

Answered: 0/20
Accuracy: 0
Containment Breach
Average Picked At: 9.45
Total Times Picked: 113
Average Last Seen At: 6.72
Total Times Seen 1100
Pro Rating: 0.0 // 1.5
Pro Comment: This is kind of a bad lesson. This format is surprisingly low on both Enchantments and Artifacts – it has 4 Enchantments – two of them are Rare, and 13 artifacts 4 of which are rare, and less than half have a mana value of 2 or less. Because this set is so heavy on Instants and Sorceries, those card types got wittled way down. That means this isn’t as good as it would be in a normal format. Still, you can probably pick it up pretty easily, so having it as an option when you do run into those cards isn’t too bad.
Pilgrim of the Ages
Average Picked At: 7.58
Total Times Picked: 335
Average Last Seen At: 6.67
Total Times Seen 2240
Pro Rating: 2.5
Pro Comment: This doesn’t exactly fix for you, since it is White and can only get Plains, but it does make sure you hit your land drops, and that’s always a nice thing to do with a 3-drop creature. It also gets extra value from the fact that it isn’t interested in staying in the graveyard, and in the late game it can give you a nice mana sink creature that can block all day and continue to thin out your deck. RW is the best home for this, since it likes to leave the graveyard and has the Spirit type. I think this is a solid Common.
Double Major
Average Picked At: 6.88
Total Times Picked: 42
Average Last Seen At: 5.31
Total Times Seen 257
Pro Rating: 3.5
Pro Comment: This is cheap enough that I think I can get behind playing it all the time in UG decks. Sure, copying your 2/2 with it won’t feel amazing, but it is perfectly fine, and if you can copy your 4 drop with it you’ll be in pretty good shape in terms of what you get in return for your mana. UG is a ramp color pair too, so having the extra mana to do this is reasonably likely. Overall, I don’t think this it is amazing -- after all, you need to pair it with something else for it to even do anything.
Mortality Spear
Average Picked At: 4.23
Total Times Picked: 156
Average Last Seen At: 3.73
Total Times Seen 522
Pro Rating: 4.0
Pro Comment: This is excellent. Even if it was always 4 mana to destroy a nonland permanent this would be an easy B – that’s just well worth it. But, this will frequently cost only two mana, which is just absurd. This is one of the best Uncommons in the set.
Necrotic Fumes
Average Picked At: 6.84
Total Times Picked: 112
Average Last Seen At: 5.19
Total Times Seen 750
Pro Rating: 3.5
Pro Comment: So, this isn’t the most amazing removal spell ever -- you have to two-for-one yourself to use it AND its a Sorcery, but it is kind of passable for your main deck if you don’t get any Learn. It will be absolutely great to grab when you DO “Learn” though, as it is a removal spell that can deal with anything, and that’s a nice thing to be able to Wish for.
Culmination of Studies
Average Picked At: 9.11
Total Times Picked: 38
Average Last Seen At: 6.09
Total Times Seen 359
Pro Rating: 1.0
Pro Comment: So, UR is all about having a bunch of mana, so pumping significant mana into X will be easier than it might first seem. So the lands give you treasure, and that will make it easier for you to cast the spells you draw for Blue cards you hit. Hitting Red cards damages the opponent, and sometimes this will just be able to close them out. If you’re a straight up UR deck, virtually every card in your deck will give you one of these effects. But the question becomes, how much mana do you need to spend to feel like this is working out for you? If you pay 6 total mana and exile 4 cards, there’s a good chance you’ll do something like get a treasure, draw a card, and do 2 to your opponent. That’s...not very good. I think the main plan with this is to really have it be a win condition in the late game when you have a ton of mana – and UR can certainly do that -- but that also means it is pretty terrible in the early game.
Igneous Inspiration
Average Picked At: 2.80
Total Times Picked: 161
Average Last Seen At: 2.74
Total Times Seen 347
Pro Rating: 4.0
Pro Comment: This will frequently feel like “3 mana, kill something, draw a card” and that’s going to be pretty great. This is another premium Red removal spell.
Practical Research
Average Picked At: 7.12
Total Times Picked: 154
Average Last Seen At: 6.03
Total Times Seen 935
Pro Rating: 3.5
Pro Comment: This is pretty close to being Rain of Revelation, and that was a pretty great draw spell. Sometimes you won’t want to discard the instant or sorcery, especially if you ended up with a couple lands you don’t need, but you still end up seeing a lot of cards for a reasonable cost, and -- importantly, at instant speed.
Honor Troll
Average Picked At: 6.79
Total Times Picked: 112
Average Last Seen At: 5.83
Total Times Seen 865
Pro Rating: 3.0
Pro Comment: Increasing the amount of life you gain is nice, especially because BG has lots of ways to gain life. This Troll becoming a 4/4 isn’t going to be impossible, but you shouldn’t count on it either. It is mostly going to be a ⅔ with vigilance and a decent life gain enhancer.
Eyetwitch
Average Picked At: 4.94
Total Times Picked: 144
Average Last Seen At: 4.28
Total Times Seen 589
Pro Rating: 3.0
Pro Comment: One-mana 1/1 Flyers often aren’t really worth it in Limited because they are so quickly outclassed, but this has quite the useful death trigger. So you will need to have picked up a few Lessons for cards like this to be at their best, but it is nice you can rummage with them in a pinch. This will feel like drawing a card often enough that I think it is pretty good! Also not a bad place to stick a +1/+1 counter.
Divide by Zero
Average Picked At: 4.34
Total Times Picked: 178
Average Last Seen At: 3.85
Total Times Seen 513
Pro Rating: 3.5
Pro Comment: This seems quite good. It will be capable of bouncing anything that isn’t a token, and virtually all of the spells in the format, and while that isn’t exactly “removal,” it does give you some tempo and a way to interact, AND it will replace itself most of the time by giving you a Lesson, or rummaging in a fail case.
Reckless Amplimancer
Average Picked At: 9.86
Total Times Picked: 303
Average Last Seen At: 8.63
Total Times Seen 3030
Pro Rating: 2.5
Pro Comment: So, this is a bear with some nice late game upside, especially for decks that are either capable of producing a lot of mana or capable of putting +1/+1 counters on stuff. Or even better, both! UG is the Green color pair that will be the rampeist, and I really think it is going to want some late game manasinks, and this definitely delivers. Now, it isn’t especially efficient to pump this thing, but it is something to do with your mana. And, obviously, +1/+1 counters make it more efficient too. This is just going to be a solid two drop for pretty much all Green decks.
Stonebinder's Familiar
Average Picked At: 10.79
Total Times Picked: 112
Average Last Seen At: 8.47
Total Times Seen 1287
Pro Rating: 1.0 // 3.0
Pro Comment: It is generally too difficult to really make this thing work. It mostly ends up being a one mana 1/1. You can end up in some Lorehold decks where it does more than that, but they are few and far between.
Returned Pastcaller
Average Picked At: 5.01
Total Times Picked: 143
Average Last Seen At: 4.49
Total Times Seen 602
Pro Rating: 4.0
Pro Comment: This seems really good to me. RW in this set is about the graveyard, strange as that may seem, so this will generally have no problem returning something. It does only have two toughness so it dies to a lot, but because you returned something that still means you’re getting a 2-for-1, and if your opponent can’t deal with it, this hits pretty darn hard in the air.
Extus, Oriq Overlord
Average Picked At: 1.43
Total Times Picked: 28
Average Last Seen At: 1.57
Total Times Seen 37
Pro Rating: 4.5
Pro Comment: The Extus side here is very strong. A 4-mana 2/4 with double strike is a playable card already, and his Magecraft ability makes all of your instants and sorceries get you back a creature from the graveyard, which is some pretty serious upside. Meanwhile, Awaken the Blood Avatar also isn’t too shabby. Obviously casting it for 8 isn’t so good, but if you can even sacrifice one creature and cast it for 6, I think it will feel pretty nice. You get a 3/6 with a powerful attack trigger and make your opponent sacrifice a creature. Now, I think 95% of the time or more, you’ll just be going with Extus. BUT, by putting it on the other side of a powerful creature, it just ends up being additional upside on an already great card.
Crushing Disappointment
Average Picked At: 11.70
Total Times Picked: 281
Average Last Seen At: 9.63
Total Times Seen 3544
Pro Rating: 1.5
Pro Comment: This isn’t amazing. 4-mana to draw 2 at instant speed is alright, and it is nice the life loss is symmetrical, but I tend to have a hard time getting behind this kind of card draw in Limited. It is pretty inefficient and expensive, and by choosing to spend 4 of you r mana to cast this you probably already paid some life in a way -- since you didn’t add to your board with that mana. Then, paying more life can be surprisingly painful. Again, it is nice that it can give you some reach against some opponents, and in BG especially you’ll be able to gain enough life that you don’t need to worry about it, but I still think this is a card that gets cut a reasonable chunk of the time.
Beledros Witherbloom
Average Picked At: 1.54
Total Times Picked: 28
Average Last Seen At: 1.88
Total Times Seen 35
Pro Rating: 4.0
Pro Comment: You know, for an elder dragon, I gotta say, I’m not ultra impressed. 7-mana for a 4/4 flyer is kind of a rough rate, and while getting a 1/1 Pest every upkeep -- which by the way, includes your opponents -- while getting those tokens is nice, the other ability on this card will basically never come up in Limited! There just won’t be a reason to use all that mana by the time Beledros is out there. Now, I don’t think he’s bad, left unchecked he floods the board with PEsts and attacks pretty hard in the air -- but he’s also incredibly fragile at only 4 toughness -- lots of stuff in this set can kill him. But generally, you will get at least one Pest out of it before he dies, so there’s that.
Bury in Books
Average Picked At: 5.18
Total Times Picked: 414
Average Last Seen At: 5.22
Total Times Seen 1706
Pro Rating: 3.0
Pro Comment: Totally Lost is usually a kind of passable card, and this is mostly a better version of it. Sure, it can only target creatures, but Totally Lost does that 90% of the time anyway, and the fact that this gets discounted to only three mana when you hit an attacking creature is pretty good. Remember, when you put something back in your opponent’s deck, you’re actually trading 1-for-1, not just getting tempo out of the deal, and the fact they will usually have to wait a whole turn to get that card is nice. This seems like a pretty good Blue common, I think you always run the first copy.
Fervent Mastery
Average Picked At: 10.22
Total Times Picked: 36
Average Last Seen At: 6.89
Total Times Seen 377
Pro Rating: 0.0
Pro Comment: So, even with the RW deck liking stuff in the graveyard, I don’t think this is very good. First, 5 to search up 3 cards and then discard 3 randomly is pretty bad in Limited. You spin your wheels to search up some stuff, and then you don’t even know if you’ll keep them! Now, if you cast this for 4 that’s obviously better, and sometimes your opponent won’t actually be able to do the benefit you offer them there, so that’s a thing I guess? But mostly this is a really bad, expensive tutor, that just won’t do what you want it to way too often.
Mage Hunter
Average Picked At: 7.19
Total Times Picked: 86
Average Last Seen At: 5.32
Total Times Seen 847
Pro Rating: 2.5
Pro Comment: This seems solid. There are lots of instants and sorceries in this set, but there probably aren’t enough for this to be incredible or anything. It has alright stats and will punish your opponent some if it sticks around.
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