Overnight MTG Strixhaven spoilers showcase power of Prismari archetype

Spoilers for the upcoming Magic: The Gathering Standard-legal set, Strixhaven: School of Mages, continued overnight with the reveal of Expression of Repetition, Magma Opus, and Expressive Artist. 

Scheduled to release digitally on April 15, the Strixhaven: School of Mages (STX) set contains five colleges representing color pairs at odds with one another. The Prismari College contains the mana colors Blue and Red, with a conflict of intellect vs. emotion, according to head designer Mark Rosewater.

Three Prismari College STX cards were revealed overnight during the second week of spoilers, featuring powerful abilities and cheap card draw advantage. 

Expressive Artist

Expressive Artist is a 4/4 Orc Wizard with Magecraft, a new mechanic in the STX set. The mechanic provides its controller with a bonus whenever an Instant or Sorcery spell is cast. The bonus for Expressive Artist allows the player to target a creature they control, and should that target leave the battlefield, it’s exiled and replaced with a UR 4/4 Elemental creature token. 

• CMC: Four UR Hybrid
• Type: Creature—Orc Wizard
• Rarity: Rare
• Stats: 4/4
• Magecraft: Whenever you cast or copy an Instant or Sorcery spell, target a creature you control. Until end of turn, it has “if this creature would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else.” And “whenever you exile this creature, create a UR 4/4 Elemental creature token. (This is a rough translation of Expressive Artist and some wording may be incorrect).

The Magecraft bonus on Expressive Artist is extremely strong, allowing players to target creatures with less power and turn them into a 4/4 token. The only drawback to Magecraft is that a player must cast an Instant or Sorcery spell first to trigger the mechanic’s bonus. 

Using a Flicker effect, or blink effect that exiles a creature and then returns it to the battlefield, allows players to cast a spell that triggers the Magecraft bonus on Expressive Artist while returning the original card that was blinked, along with a 4/4 token. 

Expression of Repetition

Expression of Repetition is another Prismari College archetype card that has an Uncommon rarity but is packed with value. It’s a Sorcery spell that allows its controller to look at the top three cards from their library. One of those cards is put in hand, one is exiled, and the other is returned to the bottom of the library. That player can then choose to “play” the exiled card if they want to. 

• CMC: UR
• Type: Sorcery
• Rarity: Uncommon
• Ability: Look at the top three cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand, one at the bottom of your library, then exile the rest. Until the end of turn, you may play the exiled card. (This is a rough translation of Expressive Artist and some wording may be incorrect).

Packed with card draw value, Expression of Repetition will be played in a number of Magic formats. It’s a cheaper version of Divination, providing two cards for one spell over the course of two turns. If one of the cards is a land, it can get exiled and played that turn. Expression of Repetition provides an advantage during all stages of a match, whether it’s to set up playing on curve during the early game or during the late game to prevent running out of gas. 

Magma Opus

Magma Opus is an expensive Instant packed with text. With a CMC of eight (6UR), it’s not the type of card players want to see in an opening hand. But Magma Opus has another option for players to choose at the cost of only two mana—discard the Instant and create a Treasure token. 

• CMC: 6UR
• Type: Instant
• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Ability: Magma Opus deals four damage divided as you choose among any number of targets. Tap two target permanents. Create a 4/4 UR Elemental creature token. Draw two cards. 
• Second ability: Pay two UR Hybrid—discard Magma Opus, create a Treasure token. 

Prismari College likes packing value into its spells. Magma Opus is essentially the Questing Beast of Strixhaven University. It also combos with Efreet Flamepainter, an STX spoiler from yesterday. Whenever Efreet Flamepainter deals combat damage to an opponent, its controller can cast an Instant or Sorcery from their graveyard without paying its mana cost. 

Players can choose their MTG college of choice when STX is released digitally on April 15 and via tabletop on April 23.