Alchemy Secrets of Strixhaven Every New MTG Arena Card Rated
© Wizards of the Coast / Craig J Spearing
Key Takeaways
- Alchemy: Secrets of Strixhaven launched on MTG Arena on 19 May 2026, adding 30 digital-only cards to the Alchemy and Historic formats.
- The Mystical Archive is the breakout card: a mythic land that drafts a free format staple from a 25-card spellbook and stores it until you need it.
- Paradigm Shifter, Phoenix of Iteration, and Inspiring Easel form a compelling Izzet spells package.
- Graveyard archetypes get the most support, with multiple perpetual buff effects and recursive threats in black and green.
- Corpseweaver Prodigy is the most disruptive midrange creature in the set, shutting off opponent graveyard triggers entirely.
Introduction
Wizards of the Coast released Alchemy: Secrets of Strixhaven on MTG Arena on 19 May 2026, adding 30 new digital-only cards to the Alchemy and Historic formats. The expansion accompanies the physical Secrets of Strixhaven release and, as announced on the official MTG Arena news page, is headlined by three spellbook cards that tap into some of the most powerful spells in Magic's history.
The card set spans all five colours and most of Strixhaven's five colleges, with a heavy lean into graveyard synergies, {X} spell payoffs, and the Alchemy-exclusive Perpetual, Conjure, and Seek mechanics. Five new keywords also make their Arena debut: Opus, Repartee, Increment, Infusion, and Covercast.
Here is a full rating and breakdown of every card in the set.
The Three Spellbook Cards
Blood Age Muster
Blood Age Muster is a {R}{W} two-mana enchantment that conjures a random creature from a ten-card spellbook onto the battlefield whenever one or more cards leave your graveyard, permanently setting its base stats to 2/2. The trigger fires only once per turn, but in any deck that naturally cycles its graveyard through unearth, escape, flashback, or reanimation, this generates a free creature every single turn from turn two onwards. In Boros or Mardu graveyard decks, this is one of the strongest two-mana permanents available in the Alchemy format.
Paradigm Shifter
Paradigm Shifter is a {1}{U}{R} 2/2 Human Wizard (Mythic) that, when it enters, lets you conjure any card of your choice from the five-card Paradigm Spellbook. It also taps to produce two mana of any colour combination, restricted to instants and sorceries. A 2/2 for three is underpowered on rate, but the Spellbook offers genuine card selection and the mana acceleration means this functions as both a card advantage engine and a mana rock. Expect it to anchor Izzet spells lists.
The Mystical Archive
The Mystical Archive is the standout card of the entire release. This mythic land enters with no cost, drafts a spell from a 25-card spellbook that includes Force of Will, Ad Nauseam, Armageddon, and Smallpox, then exiles it face down. It taps for one colourless mana, generates two coloured mana for one additional mana to cast non-starting-deck spells, and for two mana puts the stored card into your hand. In effect, it is a land slot that stores a format-defining spell until you are ready to cast it. This is the kind of effect Alchemy formats are built around. Every blue or multicolour deck that can tolerate a colourless land should run it.
Mythic Threats
Corpseweaver Prodigy
Corpseweaver Prodigy ({2}{B}) is a 2/4 Treefolk Warlock (Mythic) with Deathtouch that exiles every creature an opponent controls when it would die, completely shutting off death triggers, graveyard recursion, and the opponent's Blood Age Muster or similar effects. Its Infusion ability then conjures Bridge from Below into your own graveyard at the start of your second main phase whenever you have gained life that turn. The asymmetry is brutal: your graveyard flourishes while theirs is neutralised. This is a first-pick, first-build card for black midrange.
Sundering Sentinel
Sundering Sentinel costs {2}{R}{R}{W}{W}, which is a lot, but what you get is a 6/7 Artifact Construct (Mythic) with starting intensity 2. When it enters, it deals X damage and gains you X life where X is its intensity, then intensifies. It then exiles itself at your end step and returns at your next upkeep with haste. Each loop through the battlefield, the intensity — and therefore the damage and life — increases. Getting it through turn one of the loop is the challenge; after that, it snowballs hard. A genuine late-game finisher in Boros control.
Ursine Guide // Ranger's Merit
Ursine Guide is a {2}{G} 3/3 Bear Druid (Mythic) with the Prepared keyword, meaning it has a back face — Ranger's Merit — a {3}{G}{G} sorcery that presumably conjures creatures onto the battlefield. The front face is solid: a 3/3 for three is honest in green. Decent in green stompy but not a format-warper on its own.
Standout Rares
Phoenix of Iteration
Phoenix of Iteration is a {U}{R} 2/1 Flying Elemental Phoenix with the new Opus keyword. Every time you cast an instant or sorcery it perpetually gets +1/+1, and if five or more mana was spent on that spell, you can exile and return it to the battlefield tapped. Critically, the trigger also works from the graveyard, meaning it self-resurrects in spell-heavy decks. This is the defining Izzet rare of the set — an early drop that scales throughout the game and is nearly impossible to permanently remove.
Consumed by History
Consumed by History is a {1}{R} sorcery that deals three damage to each creature while permanently giving unearth {5} to every nontoken creature that dies this turn. Two mana for a sweeper that clears the board and sets up a mass unearth payoff the following turns is extraordinary value. It is not quite a true sweeper against large creatures, but in aggro mirrors or against creature-heavy midrange it functions as a reset button that wins the next phase of the game as well.
Feed the Bog
Feed the Bog is a {1}{B} sorcery with Replicate {1}{B}. It permanently buffs all creature cards in your graveyard by +1/+1 and returns a target creature with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. Cast it twice via Replicate for three total mana and you buff your graveyard twice and return a creature. This is among the most mana-efficient reanimation spells available in Alchemy and a cornerstone of any black graveyard build.
Distracted Botanist
Distracted Botanist is a {1}{B}{G} 3/2 Frog Druid with Deathtouch and Lifelink. When it dies, every permanent card in your graveyard permanently gains the ability "when this permanent enters, draw a card and gain 1 life." Every future reanimation in the game — for the rest of the match — becomes a cantrip with lifegain. Pair this with the graveyard engine provided by Advanced Floral Invocations and you will never run out of cards.
Advanced Floral Invocations
This {B/G} Class enchantment operates as a three-level Landfall engine. Level 1 mills two cards on each land drop. Level 2 permanently buffs all creatures in your graveyard. Level 3, for a total investment of six mana in {B/G}, lets you cast creature spells and play lands directly from the graveyard, with a finality counter to prevent infinite loops. It is slow to reach full power but formats games entirely around its inevitability. The best Golgari build-around in the set.
Head of the Class
Head of the Class is a {W}{B} 2/2 Kithkin Cleric. The first spell you cast each turn that targets a creature has its coloured mana component reduced by {W}{B}, effectively making targeted instants and sorceries free of coloured mana. Its Repartee trigger also permanently grows it whenever you target a creature with an instant or sorcery. In a dedicated Orzhov targeting shell with cards like Glorifying Verse and Scintillating Encore, this is a two-mana card that funds your entire removal package.
Glorifying Verse
A one-mana {W/B} enchantment that grants Exalted and self-replicates via Repartee: whenever you cast an instant or sorcery targeting a creature, conjure a copy of Glorifying Verse into your hand. Stack three or four copies and every attack gains +3/+3 or more. The card generates its own critical mass and is almost certainly underrated at rare. Excellent in any creature-targeting spells deck.
Anina, Natural Parallelist
Anina is a {1}{G}{U} 1/3 Legendary Wizard that conjures a random creature card with mana value equal to X onto the battlefield whenever you cast a spell with {X} in its mana cost. She also taps for {G}{U} restricted to {X} spells, actively funding the engine. In a dedicated {X} shell — particularly alongside Scalar Scholar to reduce {X} costs — Anina creates a stream of free creatures from the mid-game onwards. Very powerful in the right build.
Variable Solutions
Variable Solutions is a {X}{G} sorcery with a clean, modal design. X=1 fetches a basic land. X=2 forces each opponent to sacrifice an artifact. X=3 conjures a creature with mana value 3. X=4 or more does all three effects plus gains 2 life. In the early game it is ramp; in the late game it is a tri-modal value bomb. An excellent utility card that justifies a slot in any green midrange deck.
Soovril, Patient Antiquarian
Soovril is a {R}{W} 2/3 Legendary Orc Cleric with Vigilance. It taps to put two time counters on nonland cards exiled from your graveyard this turn, granting suspend if they lack it. In a dedicated exile-from-graveyard shell — set up by Archaeomancer's Spade — Soovril turns exiled cards into timed threats that cannot be countered on resolution. Niche, but the stats are honest and the effect is unique.
Expansive Reapplication
A {X}{G}{U} instant (X cannot be 0). It counters a spell and conjures a random creature with mana value X onto the battlefield. At X=3, paying four mana counters a three-mana spell and deploys a 3-drop. At X=5, you generate a random 5-drop for six mana while denying a threat. Solid Simic tempo with the added benefit that the conjured creature is a surprise for the opponent.
Summitfest Closing Ceremony
A {3}{U}{R} instant with starting intensity 3 and the new Covercast keyword: whenever you cast another instant or sorcery that cost five or more mana, this card intensifies. At intensity 3, it produces 3{U} and 3{R} and draws a card — paying for itself and more. In a large-spell Izzet deck, this funds your next turn entirely. A strong build-around for a "big spells" variant of the archetype.
Galathul Galecaller // Corvid Squall
Galathul Galecaller is a {1}{U} 2/1 Bird Wizard with Flying, Flash, and Storm. Storm on a two-mana creature is worth paying attention to: later in a spell-heavy turn, it copies itself multiple times. The back face Corvid Squall adds additional reach. A genuine build-around for combo-adjacent Izzet strategies and one of the more exciting rares in the set for brewers.
Consumed by History Honor the Past
Honor the Past ({2}{W}) returns a creature with mana value 6 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield as an artifact — it is no longer a creature. This is a deliberately narrow reanimation effect. The upside is that artifact status changes the interaction profile, dodging creature-specific removal. A reasonable role-player in Boros reanimator that benefits from the permanent type change.
Uncommons Worth Knowing
Unbreakable Remnant Inspiring Easel Scalar Scholar
Unbreakable Remnant is a {W} 2/1 Spirit Soldier with Escape ({1}{W}, exile two cards). Each time it escapes, all copies you own permanently gain +1/+1. A second escape produces a 4/3 for one white mana; a third, a 5/4. Graveyard-fuelled aggro lists will love this. Inspiring Easel ({U}{R}) permanently forks a targeted instant or sorcery in your hand — one tap to activate during a sorcery window, and every future cast of that spell makes a free copy. Permanently upgrading your key spells without spending card slots is deeply powerful in Alchemy. Scalar Scholar ({G}{U}) is a 2/2 with Increment: on entry, every {X} spell you own permanently costs {1} less. An auto-include alongside Anina.
Interdisciplinary Studies Impose Hierarchy Scintillating Encore
Interdisciplinary Studies ({2}{U}) seeks a multicoloured card and lets you Learn, combining two forms of filtering into one flexible instant. Impose Hierarchy ({1}{B}) destroys a creature with mana value 4 or less and gains life equal to creature cards in the opponent's hand — efficient removal with a relevant life buffer. Scintillating Encore ({W/B}) permanently gives a creature +2/+0 and returns it to play tapped if it dies this turn, all for one mana. Excellent combat trick and value rolled into one.
Grave Studies Algorithmic Ferocity Archaeomancer's Spade Crescendo Conductor
Grave Studies ({B}{G}) conjures a Teacher's Pest onto the battlefield, then forces each player to sacrifice a creature — asymmetric if you are already ahead. Algorithmic Ferocity ({G}) gives a creature indestructible and a fight bonus equal to the number of high-mana-value cards in hand, scaling into reliable one-sided removal late. Archaeomancer's Spade ({1}{R}{W}) seeks two flashback cards directly into your graveyard and taps for {R}{W} restricted to non-hand spells, bridging graveyard setup and mana economy. Crescendo Conductor // Boltwave is a two-mana Orc Sorcerer with Reach and Prepared — reasonable filler for aggressive red lists.
Verdict
Alchemy: Secrets of Strixhaven is one of the more coherent digital expansions in recent memory, with clear archetype payoffs across the 30-card set. Graveyard strategies receive the most tools: Feed the Bog, Distracted Botanist, Advanced Floral Invocations, Blood Age Muster, and Consumed by History collectively form the backbone of what looks like a competitive Golgari and Boros graveyard archetype from day one.
The Izzet spells archetype also picks up significant pieces — Paradigm Shifter, Phoenix of Iteration, Inspiring Easel, and Galathul Galecaller form a coherent package. Meanwhile, The Mystical Archive and Corpseweaver Prodigy are the cards most likely to define the Alchemy metagame across the season, the former for its sheer power level and the latter for how fundamentally it changes the texture of games against graveyard opponents.
For {X} spell fans, Anina, Natural Parallelist and Scalar Scholar open up a new archetype from scratch. Whether it has the critical mass to compete with graveyard and spells decks remains to be seen, but the tools are now unambiguously there.
All Alchemy: Secrets of Strixhaven cards are available in the MTG Arena Store from 19 May 2026.