How Strixhaven REALLY Effects Timeless and Historic

Disclaimer: They also announced Library of Alexandria after I wrote this article, so it will not be included in this discussion.

During their debut stream, Wizards of the Coast spoiled some mystical archive cards that will be added to Arena to be crafted and played with in their Arena formats. Some of these cards have already stirred up the community equally in excitement and worry, and I am going to go over the most talked-about cards and see if the community is correct in their excitement. It is important to note that at the time of writing, Survival of the Fittest has not been added to Arena but has been announced. The meta I talk about in this article could be completely different from the one that is around once Survival is added. 

Force of Will

Force of Will is by far the card causing the most conversation. Since I can almost confidently say this card will be pre-banned in Historic, this section will solely be focused on the card's effect on the Timeless metagame.  This card, originally printed in the set Alliances thirty years ago, has become a staple in any format it’s legal in. Though it sees a lot of play in Commander, especially in CEDH, Vintage, and Legacy is easily where it sees the most play. Being able to protect any of the insane combos you can pull off in these formats for the cost of one life and one card makes this, without a doubt, the best combo protector in the game. This combo protection is where a lot of people begin to worry. 

Show and Tell has been on a bit of an upswing as a deck since falling off a little because of the printing of Strip Mine and Force of Negation. The main issue is that Force of Negation is the exact opposite of Force of Will. While Force of Will is an incredible combo protector, Force of Negation is fantastic at killing those combos. Being able to protect your Show and Tell for free is a huge upgrade to the deck, and now has a way to fight back against Force of Negation.  With Force of Will being added, it isn’t ridiculous to assume Show and Tell might come back to that S-tier status it once held. 

Another point I’ve seen from the community is UB Reanimator. This deck ruled legacy with an iron fist for almost two years before they finally banned Entomb and ended its reign of terror. The concern from the community comes with the fact that Timeless has Entomb and Reanimate, and Mono-Black Reanimator is already arguably the best deck in the format. Just like show and tell, you can easily protect not only your Reanimate/Entomb, but also freely protect whatever creature you Reanimate out. This may be unpopular to say, but I do not think Reanimator will be an issue with Force of Will present in the format, despite the Mono-Black iteration being so good. Looking at the pre-ban lists for Legacy Reanimator, Timeless is still missing many crucial pieces that made the deck as powerful as it was. Cards like Daze, Murktide Regent,  Animate Dead, and Archon of Cruelty are not currently craftable on Arena. Now, some of these cards are actually present in the power cube, meaning at any point they COULD be added to Timeless. 

As it stands currently, I think Reanimator will be better, but not meta-shaking. If you want to play a reanimator deck, the current mono black build using cards like Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord, and Saint Elenda are probably going to be your best bet and, as I will mention in the next section, may get better upon the release of Strixhaven.

Vampiric Tutor 

In our next section, I will be going over the second most talked about card, Vampiric Tutor. Now, I won’t harp on this card for too long. Although I agree this is a very powerful addition to the game, I do believe that it will be pre-banned in Historic and restricted in Timeless (though that has not been announced). 

If it is not restricted, however, we can only assume all mono-black decks will receive a massive boost in power-level and will almost definitely make black the most powerful color by a large margin. This card has been around in paper for only a year less than Force of Will and has made a very similar impact, being banned in legacy, restricted in vintage, and a must include for any CEDH deck in the color black. 

If I am correct and it is restricted in Timeless, then it’s a much more interesting conversation. Demonic Tutor doesn’t see as much play as someone from the outside looking in would assume it does. Spending two mana on just grabbing a card is very good and powerful enough to get restricted, but not powerful enough to see play in every single black deck in spite of that restriction. Vampiric Tutor, however, is a level above Demonic Tutor. Even though the card doesn’t go directly into your hand, you can still search for a card at instant speed. The timing restriction between both these cards is definitely going to make a bigger difference than one would think at first glance. The card will essentially serve as an extra copy of Necropotence, Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord, Reanimate, Entomb, Show and Tell, and any other card you need for whatever situation you find yourself in. Demonic Tutor isn’t a must include for every black deck, only for those who need it. I could see Vampiric Tutor being a must-include for every deck that runs the color black.

Smallpox

Speaking of black cards, the final card I would like to add to this section is a smaller one, but one that I could definitely see being used. Smallpox is the star of this section and, in my opinion, is being heavily underrated. The effect of causing your opponent to discard a card, sacrifice a creature, and then sacrifice a land is nothing to sneeze at, even if it is symmetrical. 

I could definitely see this card fitting in a deck that might not necessarily care about their lands being sacrificed, either because of the small mana curve of the deck or because the deck doesn’t have lands being in the graveyard as a downside. For Timeless, I could see this fitting into the Golgari Lands deck. Cards like Wary Zone Guard and Icetill Explorer are great ways to get a sacrificed land back later in the game, and Exploration is a great way to make sure you’re ahead enough on lands to afford the loss. 

However, Historic is where this card will really shine. Jund Midrange is the best deck in the meta at the time of writing. It is a deck that could definitely fit this card into its list and jells very well with the multiple goyfs you run in the list (Barrowgoyf and Pyrogoyf specifically), as well as Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger. This is only what could be done with the decks currently in the meta. I haven’t even touched what fun brew could come from this card being added to the format. This card may not be a staple like the two mentioned above, but it is definitely one to keep an eye on.

This bonus sheet is going to be one of the most impactful sheets Wizards has added to MTG Arena in quite a while (not counting anthologies). The fact that they haven’t even announced all of the cards within the sheet makes me very excited about what historic and timeless could look like upon the set's release.