Magic: The Gathering's newest expansion set is Strixhaven: School of Mages, which takes place in the elite university of Strixhaven. The school is split up into five competing campuses, each dominated by two enemy colors; the green-blue school is named Quandrix. In this school, primal nature and cold formulas combine to form breathtaking laboratory creations.
Quandrix students like to say that "math is magic," and in gameplay terms, this school likes to use the new ward ability, make 0/0 Fractal creature tokens, distribute +1/+1 counters and put a lot of lands onto the battlefield. The newest Strixhaven spoilers make this wonderfully clear.
Blue and green mana together embody the "Simic" color combination, named after the Simic Combine guild of Ravnica. Often, these colors care a great deal about generating card advantage, creating +1/+1 counters, experimenting on creatures and getting a lot of mana, and the Quandrix school certainly has all those lessons on the syllabus.
Manifestation Sage is the Quandrix entry in a cycle of rare hybrid cards, a 2/2 Human Wizard that can make a 0/0 green and blue Fractal creature token. Then, that Fractal gets +1/+1 counters equal to the number of cards in hand, elegantly fusing green and blue mana in one effect. Many of the Quandrix cards that make Fractals will have a unique way to determine how many +1/+1 counters a new Fractal creature token should get, and sufficient card advantage will certainly fuel Manifestation Sage's own Fractal token.
This school likes to ramp mana, and Quandrix Cultivator is a 3/4 Turtle Druid that can search the library for a basic Forest or Island and put it onto the battlefield untapped. Unfortunately, this can't get nonbasic cards with basic land types (such as the Triomes from the Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths set), but at least the fetched land will enter the battlefield untapped. And in a dedicated two-color deck, trilands aren't urgently needed anyway.
Recent previews also showcased a modal double-faced Quandrix card named Augmenter Pugilist, a 3/3 with trample that becomes a mighty 8/8 if the player has eight or more lands in play. Many Quandrix cards will get a big bonus if the player has 8+ lands in play, and Quandrix Cultivator can help with that. Echoing Equation is this card's other side, a sorcery that will turn all friendly creatures into a copy of target creature on their side, even if that card is legendary -- meaning Echoing Equation won't get disrupted by the game's legend rule. What's better than one Simic finisher? How about an entire board of them.
The instants and sorceries of the Quandrix school can do it all: make creature tokens, distribute +1/+1 counters, bounce permanents, draw cards, counter spells or even get cards back from the graveyard. Body of Research is a color-heavy sorcery that will make a single 0/0 Fractal token, which is par for the course where Quandrix students are concerned. This earns its status as a mythic rare for its ability to create Fractals that get a +1/+1 counter for each card in the player's library. Even during sessions of booster draft Limited, that Fractal can easily get 20 or more such counters -- and even more in Constructed.
A 25/25 Fractal can stare down the famous Marit Lage token and survive, though players may be concerned that the Fractal has no evasion or special abilities. Fortunately, these colors can easily grant that Fractal trample or flying to push game-winning damage. A massive creature can easily be chump blocked all day long, which diminishes its value. Body of Research is splashy, but it needs some help if that titanic Fractal plans on finishing off the opponent properly.
Aether Helix is another sorcery, which can generate some card advantage when it both returns a permanent to its owner's hand and returns a permanent card from the caster's graveyard to their hand. Rummaging around the graveyard can really keep the Quandrix deck fueled, and this card's first effect can even bounce lands, something the player should keep in mind.
Decisive Denial is a cheap modal card that can counter a non-creature card unless its controller pays {3}, a combination of Mana Leak and Negate. The other mode will allow a friendly creature to fight an opponent's creature. Neither mode is especially powerful, but having two options on a single cheap card is quite flexible.
Golden Ratio is a straightforward sorcery, allowing the caster to draw a card for each creature that has unique power stats. Having a 1/2 creature, a 2/2, and a 3/5 will net three cards, for example. This card encourages the player to distribute their +1/+1 counters strategically, so all their creatures have different power than each other. A few other Strixhaven cards also care about the power and toughness of creatures in creative ways.
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