Secrets of Strixhaven Cards Moving Up Since Release

Germination Practicum | Art by Johan Grenier

Secrets of Strixhaven is now officially a few weeks old. This means that the market is adequately saturated with the new set's cards, enough for prices to tell us what's hot and what's not. With that, here are some cards that appear to have increased in price since the set came out!

Improvisation Capstone

At the time of writing, Improvisation Capstone is sitting at an average price point of $18.70. Additionally, the card has a current market price value of $17.75.

What this says to me is that Improvisation Capstone is a sought-after card with long-term utility in various formats such as Standard, Commander, and perhaps other longstanding formats. It appears, however, that the card's usage is still being theorycrafted within competitive formats. Whether this popular paradigm card will actually see play and be useful remains to be seen. However, as they often do in Magic, stranger things have happened. For that reason, I see this card staying pretty expensive for the foreseeable future... Or at least until a future print run of Secrets of Strixhaven hits retail. When that happens, I doubt Improvisation Capstone will sink far below $10, if at all.

Professor Dellian Fel

The newest uniquely typed planeswalker card, Professor Dellian Fel was an absolute hit in Limited during Prerelease. In my Prerelease event, anyone running Dellian who knew what they were doing seemed to dominate whenever the card hit the board. As a result, MTGStocks placed Professor Fel in their Weekly Winners article this past Friday, May 8th, namely due to the card spiking quite a bit. As of the time of writing, Professor Dellian Fel is sitting at an $17.14 average with a $15.80 market price.

Planeswalker cards, especially those that come with the first printing of a uniquely typed character, feel like they fluctuate pretty wildly along wide margins of value and loss thereof. While Professor Dellian Fel appears to be fairly powerful, especially with the capacity to destroy threats with its -3 ability, I am concerned. Creature destruction is nice, but it costs over half of the card's starting loyalty and doesn't appear to protect him against a large board state in any meaningful way. Professor Fel's ultimate loyalty ability is just a bit easier to achieve than many others, but if there's a large opposing board presence, I don't see him lasting long past activating that ultimate.

To this end, I fear that Professor Dellian Fel is a card that won't accrue too much more value beyond the hype of being a new character in Magic. Not only that, but I even foresee him sinking in price in the future. When the dust clears, more print runs of Secrets of Strixhaven are available, and players have inevitably moved on to the next new decks, I can see Professor Fel subsiding around the $7-8 mark in theory.

Erode

Speaking of creature removal, Erode has the potential to be one of the best pieces of white spot removal in the game. It is not only creature destruction, but it can answer a card like Professor Dellian Fel (see my analysis above). Furthermore, in formats that can handle it (e.g., with a surplus of indestructible creatures, like Commander), it can also serve as a ramp spell. Right now, Erode is selling at an average of $11.56, with a market value of $10.06.

In an environment that cares a ton about instant and sorcery spells along all color lines, Erode is one of those cards that will just improve in its utility. With consideration to how versatile it truly is, it looks to me like Erode will be up there alongside superb white removal to the tune of Get Lost, Path to Exile, and even Swords to Plowshares if there are enough good targets.

Will this card shift too much more in price? It's hard to say. Right now, it's on a very slight downturn in value, having started the weekend just under $13 and losing almost $1.50 by Sunday, May 10th. But as players are in fact still testing the waters in Standard and elsewhere, anything could happen, really.

Germination Practicum

The next card, Germination Practicum, is an interesting one, and one we have to, by association, compare with Improvisation Capstone in many ways. Like the Capstone, Germination Practicum has paradigm, which is an astoundingly powerful ability. But, unlike Capstone's mana value of seven, Practicum costs only five mana to cast. It's green, which feels like a color that is, relatively speaking, just getting better and better with every new set.

So why, then, is Germination Practicum not more expensive than Improvisation Capstone? Simply put, Capstone can provide a board state without any need for assistance. Meanwhile, Germination Practicum legitimately needs creatures on the board to be useful, and doesn't create any itself. In formats like Commander, this shouldn't feasibly matter. However, in Standard and other more competitive formats, it will come up more often than one might surmise.

For now, I would imagine that Germination Practicum will rise slightly for only a little longer. Then, it may dip further down once the next print run(s) of Secrets of Strixhaven reach shelves. Will it go lower than $6? I'm doubtful of that, but it could go down that far as a financial floor.

Conclusion

Secrets of Strixhaven is a really good set and there are a ton of strong cards therein. The fact that there are so many hits in the set will probably diminish some of these prices soon. However, overall, that's likely a positive for affordability and accessibility in the context of the game.

Nevertheless, let's open the floor to you, dear readers! What cards from the new set are you excited to use in any of Magic's various formats? Alternatively, are there any sleeper cards that you foresee gaining traction? Sound off in the comments below!