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Top Ten Cards #5 from Strixhaven, #55 - #45

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Hello fans of Strixhaven! I hope your day is kicking butt good! Today is the final Top Ten in my epic 5 weeks I've decided to my favorite Fifty-Five cards! Deep sets that have tons of words should get more than one or two Top Tens, right? Right!

Today we are going to be counting down the cards from #55 - #45 inclusive.

Want to check out my older lists?

  • The first week I brought to you my Top Ten Cards from Strixhaven for the entire set, #11 - #1! That was a lot of the best cards from the entire set for casual kitchen table play including Commander. My top card in the set was a common, the first time that has happened in years. Check it out here!
  • The second week I brought to you my next 11 cards from #22 to #12 that included an honorable mention and cards that juuust missed my top ten proper. I know you want to check it out!
  • The third week I created a list counting down from #33 - #23 inclusive, which is pretty cool. It's my middle article. You can read it here!
  • In the fourth week I created that nasty good list from #44 - #34 which is rocking and socking. Like robots. Wanna check it out? It's here!

Alright enough with the flirting. Let's get to the article!

Honorable Mention #55. Honor Troll

Honor Troll

I hate the title of this card. Puns shouldn't be card titles save for Un- sets. But let's take a look at this Troll Druid. As you can see, it costs three mana and rocks vigilance, which is good in multiplayer formats like Commander where you can swing and keep up your guard for multiple attacks. As you gain life you gain an extra life, so this is pretty solid in any life gain brew. Nice stuff, right? And then wait, are you at 25 or more life? Likely in a life gain deck at 20 life and very likely in any Commander build. Then your Troll Druid is now a 4/4 for three mana, that's pretty and solid. Enjoy it!

#54. Heated Debate

Heated Debate

Check out this uncounterable burn spell! Getting to resolve your burn spell is key to killing an important planeswalker or creature at the kitchen table. It's very desirable for burn and other removal spells. It's also a reliable four damage for three mana which is fine for the cause, and more damage than an unkicked Urza's Rage which is just three for three, although it can hit a player. I'm very fond of this burn option for Commander and the like.

#53. Pilgrim of the Ages

Pilgrim of the Ages

Great name! Fun card! For three mana you can net a 2/1 Spirit that allows you to search your library for a basic Plains and then toss it into your hand when it arrives to the battlefield. Good value! But that ain't all! For six mana you can return it from your graveyard to your hand! That's good. Then you can recast it and then regather that Plains of a basic persuasion. It's a bit mana heavy which drops it on my list. But this thing has a lot of value and I can't wait to run in in a graveyard matters Orzhov deck as another self-recurring 2/1.

#52. Codie, Vociferous Codex

Codie, Vociferous Codex

CODIE!!!! You are so good to me! Love the name! Wanna use Codie as a leader of a Commander deck? You can't cast permanents, just lands and spells and fun stuff like that! No walkers of the planes or their allied creatures. No artifacts or enchantments. CODIE will also tap for four mana and make five and you will get to dig and get a free spell in a sort of cascade way. CODIE! You really are good, aren't you?

#51. Returned Pastcaller

Returned Pastcaller

Juuuuuuuussssssssssssst hitting outside of my top fifty proper is this fun Spirit Cleric! I like it lots, it's great value in decks that can about instants, sorceries, and Spirits. Did this Gravedigger or Archaeomancer arrive ready to party? Great! Now you return an awesome and key card for the card flow. I'm not sure about the color-shifted Izzet Chronarch but I like it as a card and new option for Boros builds that care about spells. Or Spirits. Enjoy the Pastcaller!

Alright now let's look at my top fifty!

#50. Zimone, Quandrix Prodigy

Zimone, Quandrix Prodigy

Who has one of the roundest numbers in her rankings? Zimone does! Let's unpack her stuff and see why she is on my list! She's just two mana for a 1/2 Human Wizard in Simic colors who is legendary. Her types are pertinent, her colors are great and this cheap uncommon could be a rad Commander! Let's look at those two abilities. Her first will tap herself, a mana, and you can drop any land from your hand. That's a bit pricey for cheap dorks who tap to drop a land, as they don't use mana, consider as a counter example Walking Atlas. What about her other ability? Another tap, this time you spend four mana for a card drawn like Jayemdae Tome. But if you have 8 lands (or more, which is likely in a modern Simic deck in Commander) then you'll net two cards for your tapping of the four mana and Zimone. She's cheap. She's legendary. She's got two abilities that tie together nicely. She's fun!

#49. Mascot Exhibition

Mascot Exhibition

I am sad that this card is missing two mascots - Fractals and Pests, but I like the idea of a mass, colorless, maker of tokens. It's seven mana for eight power of stuff including 2/1 flying and others. It's three solid bodies with three solid powers and you can add it into things that care about instants and sorceries like Izzet Spellslingers in Commander where you have cards like Guttersnipe and Young Pyromancer but not many ways of making dorks in those colors. I enjoy this a lot!

#48. Reflective Golem

Reflective Golem

I love Reflective Golem so much that I build an EDH deck around him and magecraft and the powers of Killian, Ink Duelist. Check it out here. There's little I can say here that I didn't already say then. I love it a lot!

#47. Rogue's Passage...er...Access Tunnel

Access Tunnel

Hello fans of making things unblockable at the kitchen table and in Commander! I hope your day is swell! Know what else is swell? Access Tunnel! And its ability to simulate the classic card Rogue's Passage. There are 85,311 Passages registered over at EDHREC.com! That's a lot! The Tunnel won't equal that! But it will have value in decks with saboteur abilities that trigger when they deal damage to a foe in combat like Thieving Magpie and friends. And those have low powers, so there is a great place for this card. I also like it in decks with lower-power Commanders that have combat damage triggers like Brago, King Eternal. This is hot there. That's a lot of places the Tunnel can be played so I expect to have a great casual cachet. Enjoy!

#46. Test of Talents

Test of Talents

Our penultimate card is this fun uncommon. It's half the cost of a Quash and has almost the same effectiveness! You can only counter instants and sorceries, but you will exile them all of the same card from their deck, graveyard and hand. The only difference is that final line that the person so countered and exiled draws a card for each card that was in their hand only, which is unlikely and worth the cost of admission at half off. Good job Test of Talents!

Now let's see what cycle hit my top spot!

#45. The Campus Cycle

Lorehold Campus

I really like that the Campus cycle takes the place of basic lands in the set for Limited. I really like this cycle a lot! Let's look at it. It always enters the battlefield tapped, it makes two enemy colors, you can spend four mana and tap your Campus land to scry 1. Now why is this cycle back here at #45? Well, it only scries one and it costs five total mana (four the ability and one for itself) to use. Scry 2 for the five mana? Scry 1 for three mana total? It would have hit a lot higher. But still, I really like this common-ish cycle of lands! Enjoy them!

Alright folks! I hope that you enjoyed my deep dive into 11 more cards from Strixhaven! Let me know what you though!

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