Picture the scene. You've just entered your first Magic: The Gathering prerelease. A wide-eyed, bushy-tailed newbie, you tear open your very first packs, feeling that rush that ensnares all of us who take part in this hobby.
Tentatively you put together a deck. It's a confusing process, especially when you're not really sure of all the rules, but luckily this Secrets of Strixhaven set has five clear strategies to build around. You pick one and try to do the best that you can.
Now you come to your first match. All is going well, when BAM, the player across from you fires off an Armageddon on turn four, and all your lands are blown to smithereens along with your hopes and dreams of enjoying this new TCG.
Yes, that's right. Those mad-lads at Wizards of the Coast put Armageddon into Secrets of Strixhaven play boosters, in a Mythic Rare spot on the Mystical Archive bonus sheet.
The classic land destruction card is banned in all Constructed formats except Vintage and Legacy, and in Commander this is a particularly hated game-changer. That means that while everyone knows about this card, most Magic players haven't actually had a chance to see it in action.
But now it has a chance of showing up in Draft and Sealed matches, which means someone is going to come up against this thing in pre-release.
Luckily, there's nothing to make all your lands indestructible in this set that I'm aware of, making this more funny-but-annoying than crippling-and-frustrating, but it could still do work as a curve topper in an aggro deck. Just jam as many one and two-drops onto the board as you can, then set all the lands on fire so your opponent can't do anything to stop your assault.
Plus, it's not like every LGS is going to have a player with an Armageddon. While every play booster pack has a Mystical Archive card, less than 3% will have one at Mythic rarity. There are 15 possible mythics that could fill this slot, and you get six boosters at prerelease, so the odds of getting an Armageddon in your Sealed pool are 1.16%.
Still, it is going to happen to someone. I hope that someone isn't you!
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