Secrets of Strixhaven Draft Guide
A two-color college format. Pick your lane early and stay open one pip.
Draft Secrets of Strixhaven now — free, vs 7 AI bots →Secrets of Strixhaven format overview
Secrets of Strixhaven is a two-color archetype format built around the five colleges, each an allied/enemy pair with its own payoff. The format rewards committing to a college's gameplan by mid-pack one while leaving a one-pip splash open for a bomb. Removal is at a premium — efficient instant-speed answers wheel rarely, so prioritize them over vanilla beaters. Creature quality is fairly even across colors (white and red are marginally the deepest commons), which means signals matter more than raw color power: read what is coming late and move into the open college rather than forcing a favorite. Bombs are concentrated in the mythic college legends and high-rarity gold cards, so first-pick a bomb and let it pick your colors. Curve discipline beats greed here; the format is mid-speed, and clunky five-drop piles get punished by the more focused two-color decks. Tempo plays — cheap evasive threats backed by a few efficient answers — are the consistent winning shell. Use the simulator to practice reading the college signals across all three packs before a real event.
Splashing & fixing: Fixing is moderate. Splash only a single off-color pip for a true bomb, and only if you pick up gates/duals or a mana creature.
Archetypes
| Archetype | Colors | Game plan |
|---|---|---|
| Silverquill | WB | Aggressive flyers and incremental drain; close games in the air. |
| Prismari | UR | Spells-matter tempo; cheap interaction plus payoffs that reward casting noncreature spells. |
| Witherbloom | BG | Attrition and value; grind opponents out with lifegain/lifeloss and removal. |
| Lorehold | RW | Go-wide aggro with reach; flood the board and finish before the grind decks stabilize. |
| Quandrix | GU | Ramp and counters; build the biggest battlefield and out-size the table. |
Top 10 bombs (highest pick rating)
| # | Card | Rarity | Color | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Lorehold, the Historian | mythic | RW | 5.2 |
| 2 |  Professor Dellian Fel | mythic | BG | 5.2 |
| 3 |  Quandrix, the Proof | mythic | GU | 5.1 |
| 4 |  Prismari, the Inspiration | mythic | RU | 5.0 |
| 5 |  Silverquill, the Disputant | mythic | BW | 5.0 |
| 6 |  Witherbloom, the Balancer | mythic | BG | 5.0 |
| 7 |  Nita, Forum Conciliator | rare | BW | 4.8 |
| 8 |  The Dawning Archaic | mythic | C | 4.8 |
| 9 |  Emeritus of Truce // Swords to Plowshares | mythic | W | 4.8 |
| 10 |  Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall | mythic | U | 4.8 |
Best commons by color
White — best commons
- Shattered Acolyte
- Owlin Historian
- Ajani's Response
- Ascendant Dustspeaker
Blue — best commons
- Deluge Virtuoso
- Hydro-Channeler
- Landscape Painter // Vibrant Idea
- Textbook Tabulator
Black — best commons
- Ulna Alley Shopkeep
- Adventurous Eater // Have a Bite
- Burrog Banemaker
- Melancholic Poet
Red — best commons
- Rubble Rouser
- Expressive Firedancer
- Goblin Glasswright // Craft with Pride
- Heated Argument
Green — best commons
- Glorious Decay
- Shopkeeper's Bane
- Mindful Biomancer
- Noxious Newt
Color depth (avg common/uncommon pick rating)
| Rank | Color | Avg rating | Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White | 2.94 | 24 |
| 2 | Red | 2.91 | 24 |
| 3 | Green | 2.83 | 24 |
| 4 | Black | 2.83 | 24 |
| 5 | Blue | 2.75 | 24 |
Highest-rated removal
Derived from card text + pick rating, not hand-verified — use as a starting point.
| Card | Rarity | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Professor Dellian Fel | mythic | 5.2 |
 Erode | rare | 4.5 |
 Moment of Reckoning | rare | 4.5 |
 Suspend Aggression | rare | 4.5 |
 Withering Curse | mythic | 4.5 |
 Sundering Archaic | uncommon | 4.0 |
Deep-dive strategy
For the full archetype-by-archetype breakdown and pick-order theory, read our Secrets of Strixhaven draft strategy guide.