Hey all - the Secrets of Strixhaven precons have been out for a little bit. Have you had a chance to play them? Any surprise hits? Made any key upgrades?
I suspect that the Witherbloom and Lorehold decks are struggling to close games, Prismari's killed people out of nowhere and been sent back to the stone age with a board wipe, Silverquill's doing above average but killing it if you're good at politics, and Quandrix doing generally well with consistent sources of big mana and draw.
Witherbloom just seems to be too unfocused, having you spend a lot of time trying to piece together an engine that ultimately yields value but no clear win condition. I also think that [[Dina, Essence Brewer]]'s passive and active kind of work against each other. Her passive asking you to generate fodder to sacrifice one per turn, but her active asks you to have fewer, fatter fodder for more specific lifegain or counter synergies.
I think reworking the deck with cheap fat creatures like [[Hunted Horror]] or [[Kalakscion, Hunger Tyrant]], paired with double-value effects like [[Madame Null, Power Broker]] and [[Varolz, the Scar-Striped]] combined with evasive creatures or creatures that really want counters can be the way to go. You could even have a soft Station theme to make use of the fat fatties before you sac 'em.
Lorehold I think has a lot of room to grow over time, and it's packed with evergreen reprint value. I just think that if you're not drawing [[Moonshaker Cavalry]], you're going to struggle to close games. Even a few additional evasion abilities for your go-wide will go a long way - cards like [[On Wings of Gold]] and [[Ferocity of the Wilds]] come to mind.
Prismari's [[Rootha, Mastering the Moment]] does exceedingly well with extra turn or extra combat tricks. She's slower to start but very explosive mid game. She'll probably have the hardest time recovering from a wipe though. It's no secret that cards like [[Full Throttle]] are a total powerhouse, but have you considered cards like [[Energy Tap]] to make sure you can get big spells earlier? Also really like [[Ghired's Belligerence]] for the deck, as it can turn your opponents' dorks and tokens into fat flying elementals on your board.
Silverquill - out of the box, this deck is full of suboptimal cards that are actually really fun politics plays. You're not hard staxxing anyone but doing some subtle rewards/deterrents for partnering with you or going against you. [[Killian, Decisive Mentor]]'s one turn goad plus card draw is surprisingly potent. I just hope everyone put a [[Duelist's Heritage]] in the deck!
The Quandrix deck's primary question to its pilot is sequencing. Which X spells are you going to effectively sacrifice early to start powering up [[Zimone, Infinite Analyst]]? Some of the cheap X or XX creatures you might even consider paying X=0 for, just get Zimone some counters as soon as she comes out in preparation for future turns. Quandrix has an easier time keeping their board safe than Prismari with upgrades, being able to use cards like [[Ripples of Potential]] and [[Heroic Intervention]]. Like Lorehold, you'll probably need a few more pieces of evasion, with cards like [[Garruk's Uprising]] and [[Open into Wonder]] being great includes.
I've got articles out for all 5 precons highlighting new cards, notable reprints, and upgrade guides - check them out if you're interested!
What's been your experience so far?