General (SOS) Secrets of Strixhaven

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Skycoach Conductor, a blue Restoration Angel! Compared to Resto, here are my pluses and minuses, knowing they don't actually compete with each other for a slot in most Cubes:

Pros:
1. Can be played a full turn earlier, easier to split the mana
2. Vigilance is cool!
3. Spells-matter support
4. More blue creatures have ETBs in my Cube

Cons:
1. Costs double blue pips if you want to use it in the same way as Resto
2. 1/1 less stats
3. Blue is a much more competitive color in my Cube
4. The art is theoretically cool but it's wonky to my earlier point

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I think all the Strixhaven Archives are spoiled and once again I'm very grumpy that so many of the best arts have no English-language version available.
 
I was planning on skipping the prepared cards, now I actually have to think a bit harder cause that owl looks great!

This is kind of where I'm at. I don't like how visually similar they are to Adventures still, but it's a really neat and resonate ability. It reminds me of the excitement my friends got when I explained that planeswalkers "can cast spells just like you", and casting wizards who themselves cast famous or interesting instants and sorceries is really neat.

The owl gives a bunch of points to the following for me, all of which I liked but wasn't fully sold on until now:

 
Yeah I am pretty on the fence about the Prepared mechanic as a whole. I don't really know the etiquette of referencing cards that haven't officially been spoiled here, but there was a leaked Emeritus in Black that I truly believe to be the best of the bunch by a large margin. If I was going to include any, it would be that one
 
I'm probably just skipping out on Prepared cards for my cube; just not a fan of memory mechanics in paper Magic outside of its Limited environment where it's more commonly featured. The card frame is way too similar to Adventures (same issue I had with Omens from TDM) and I much prefer that mechanic to use my cube complexity points on.
 
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Behold, what black mages truly want: Sign In Blood every turn, forever.

Unless the green Paradigm spell is completely wild, this is probably the best card in the cycle and it isn't even close.
 
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What a weird little sidequest card. I'm curious what spell+creature combo would justify running this?
Having the mana available to hit both abilities is really hard, but in a mono red deck just imagine playing a lightning bolt in response to your top decked goblin guide on turn 4 and then doubling both of those.

I think the confusion my players will have about the "target creature spell" is going to make this a "maybe" instead of a "hell yeah" as it rightfully deserves, but I love this card dearly. A couple other leaked cards are really hyping me up but I'll wait until there are cleaner versions to go off about them.
 
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