Commander blueprint · Secrets of Strixhaven

How to build Lorehold, the Historian

Lorehold, the Historian makes any instant or sorcery cost two mana when it is the first card you draw in a turn, and its loot gives you that draw in every opponent's upkeep. So this build runs the most expensive spells red and white have, and spends its other slots choosing which one is on top.

Art by Joshua Raphael

What the deck is doing. Lorehold, the Historian is a five mana 5/5 dragon with flying and haste, and its two other lines are built to be read together. The first gives every instant and sorcery in your hand miracle : whatever the spell costs, you may cast it for two mana as you draw it, provided it is the first card you have drawn that turn. The second lets you discard a card and draw one at the start of every opponent's upkeep, and that draw comes before anything else in their turn has made you draw. At a four player table that is three miracle chances a round on top of your own draw step. So this list does the opposite of a normal spells deck. It holds 37 instants and sorceries outside the lands, and the ones it is built around are the most expensive it could find in red and white: Storm Herd and Furygale Flocking at ten, Insurrection at eight, and six more at seven. Most of the remaining slots exist to decide which of them is on top when the loot draws.

Every opponent's upkeep hands you the first draw of their turn

Miracle only asks whether the card is the first one you drew this turn, and it works on any turn, not only yours. On an opponent's turn you normally draw nothing at all, so the card Lorehold's loot draws in their upkeep is the first, and if it is an instant or a sorcery it can be cast right there for two. The spell resolves in their upkeep at instant speed, sorcery or not, before they have drawn for the turn or reached their main phase.

Two habits keep that window open. The loot needs a card in hand to discard, so never end your turn with an empty hand, and a land beyond this turn's drop is the natural card to keep for it. And any other draw you make earlier in that turn takes the slot, so the cards here that draw on demand (Mind Stone, Brainstone and Conch Horn) are used in your own turn after your draw step, never in theirs before the loot. Declining a miracle is allowed and costs nothing but the chance: the spell stays in your hand, and the cards in the next section put it back on top for the following upkeep.

Library of Leng turns the discard into the card you draw

Library of Leng says that when an effect makes you discard, you may put the card on top of your library instead of into the graveyard. Lorehold's loot is an effect, so you discard Storm Herd onto the top, the loot draws it straight back, and it is the first card you have drawn this turn. From then on the loot is not a gamble on the top card. Every opponent's upkeep is a choice of which spell in your hand to cast for two. It does nothing for a discard paid as a cost, so the card Big Score or Unexpected Windfall asks for still goes to the graveyard.

Penance does the same job without Library of Leng. Its cost is putting a card from your hand on top of your library, it needs no mana and no target, and it can be activated whenever you could cast an instant, including in response to the loot trigger or in your own upkeep before your draw step. Scroll Rack swaps cards between your hand and the top of the library, and because it moves them into your hand without drawing them, using it in response to the loot leaves the first draw untouched. Sensei's Divining Top's one mana ability reorders the top three. Its tap ability is a draw, so it stays unused on any turn you want a miracle. Conch Horn and Brainstone draw first and put cards back after, which makes them tools for your own main phase that stack the top for the next player's upkeep.

The same rule makes the wheels one sided. Reforge the Soul and Wheel of Fate have every player discard their hand and draw seven. With Library of Leng out you may put each of your discards on top, in the order you choose, so the seven you draw start with the hand you just threw away while everyone else gets a fresh one. Wheel of Fate has no mana cost at all, so the only normal way to cast it is suspend. Under Lorehold it is a sorcery card with miracle like any other.

Two mana pays for any spell, so the colour count barely matters and X is always zero

Miracle is an alternative cost of two generic mana. That has three consequences for the list.

The coloured pips on the big spells never get paid. The list has 29 red sources, seven short of what it takes to have two red by turn three nine times in ten, and half the cards asking for two red are ones you would rather miracle anyway: Insurrection, Improvisation Capstone, Furygale Flocking, Reforge the Soul and Thunderous Wrath. Of the other five, only Increasing Vengeance costs less than four, and it copies a spell, so it waits for one worth copying anyway.

Spells with X in the cost are worth nothing here. An alternative cost that does not mention X makes X zero, which is why Comet Storm, Martial Coup and every other X spell are left out. Entreat the Angels and Bonfire of the Damned keep their own miracle costs with X in them, so they work, but they need the mana a normal X spell needs.

Cost reductions come off the two. Ruby Medallion makes every red spell cost one less and Pearl Medallion every white one, so with the matching one out a miracle costs one mana, and a spell that is both colours, such as Lorehold Command or Borrowed Knowledge, costs nothing with both. Each Medallion also takes one off Lorehold itself. Mascot Exhibition is colourless and gets no discount. Molecule Man goes further and gives every nonland card in your hand miracle , creatures included, so a Sun Titan put back on top with Penance arrives in an opponent's upkeep for free.

A miracled Strixhaven Lesson keeps casting itself for free

Improvisation Capstone and Restoration Seminar have paradigm. The first time one of them resolves it is exiled, and at the start of each of your first main phases for the rest of the game you may cast a copy of it without paying anything. Neither card asks how it was cast the first time, so a two mana miracle in someone else's upkeep counts. After that, Improvisation Capstone exiles cards from the top of your library every turn until their mana values add up to four or more, and lets you cast any of them free, and Restoration Seminar returns a nonland permanent from your graveyard every turn. Both cost seven, which is why most decks cannot reach them early enough for the repeat to matter.

The free copy arrives at the start of your main phase, after your draw step, so it never takes the card you stacked for your own draw. It can take the one meant for the next opponent's upkeep, because Improvisation Capstone exiles from the top. Let the copy resolve before you put anything back with Penance. Restoration Seminar needs something worth returning, and in this list that is usually Sun Titan, Molecule Man, or a Library of Leng an opponent has destroyed, and if that card is destroyed again it comes back the next turn.

Every sweeper here can leave the dragon standing

The big spells are worth less if the board wipe that answers an opponent also costs you the commander, so every sweeper in the core list has a way to keep Lorehold. Austere Command picks two of four modes, and creatures with mana value three or less plus artifacts or enchantments leaves a five mana dragon alone. Divine Reckoning lets each player keep one creature, and its flashback means a copy discarded to the loot is a second sweeper later. Promise of Loyalty also keeps one creature per player, and the ones your opponents keep cannot attack you while their vow counters stay. Tragic Arrogance lets you choose what every player keeps, one artifact, creature, enchantment and planeswalker each, so you keep Lorehold, Library of Leng and Penance and pick the weakest of each for the others. Fiery Confluence is the fifth, and its damage mode chosen three times deals 3 to every creature, two short of the dragon's toughness.

Cast in an opponent's upkeep, a sweeper lands before that player's main phase and combat, which is the moment it does the most for the player casting it.

A shuffle throws away the card you put back, so the ramp is all artifacts

Everything above lives on the top of the library, and a shuffle undoes it. So there is no fetchland, no Evolving Wilds and no Land Tax. The extra mana comes from Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Boros Signet, Talisman of Conviction, Fellwar Stone, Mind Stone, Dragon's Hoard, Smothering Tithe and the Treasure from Storm-Kiln Artist. Path to Exile and Chaos Warp only shuffle the library of the player whose permanent they hit. The two tutors shuffle yours, so cast them before you stack the top. Enlightened Tutor puts its card on top after the shuffle anyway, which is how it fetches Library of Leng or Scroll Rack for the next draw.

Cards that exile your top card to play it are left out for the same reason. A card like Outpost Siege takes the top card in your upkeep, which is exactly the spell you put there for your draw step. The three lands that always enter tapped earn the delay. Elegant Parlor surveils 1 and Temple of Triumph scries 1 as they come in, so each one looks at the top before the next draw, and Needle Spires becomes a creature late in the game.

Which spells to cast on whose turn

Most of the big spells are better in an opponent's upkeep. Storm Herd makes a 1/1 flying Pegasus for each point of life you have, and cast in someone else's turn those tokens can block and are ready to attack on yours. Brass's Bounty makes a Treasure for each land you control, which pays for a whole turn of your own. Mascot Exhibition, Emeria's Call and Increasing Devotion all make creatures that will be untapped when your turn starts.

Insurrection and Heroic Reinforcements only pay off in your own turn, because haste does nothing when it is not your combat. Hold them for your own draw step, and put one on top with Penance or Scroll Rack after the last opponent's loot. Library of Leng is no help here, since the loot it works with draws the card straight back in that opponent's turn. Furygale Flocking works either way. In your draw step it makes two 3/3 hasty fliers for each opponent that attack that player, and in theirs the six Elementals simply stay.

The game ends in one of three ways. Storm Herd at a high life total plus Akroma's Will, cast with Lorehold out so it gets both modes, is a flying army with double strike. Insurrection takes every creature on the table for one attack. Or Approach of the Second Sun wins on its second cast.

Approach of the Second Sun comes back in about two rounds

The first Approach of the Second Sun gains 7 life and goes back into the library seventh from the top. Cast it again from your hand and you win, and a miracle counts, because it is cast from your hand. At a four player table you draw four cards a round with Lorehold out, three loots and your own draw step, so seven cards takes under two rounds even before Brainstone, Conch Horn or Mind Stone draw extra. Whether the seventh card turns up as the first draw of a turn depends on what else drew, and that is what Sensei's Divining Top and Scroll Rack fix once it is near the top.

The core list

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Library of Leng and Penance are in all three lists, so the rungs change what surrounds them

The engine is the cheapest part of the deck. Library of Leng is $3.24 and Penance $4.48, and both stay in every list, along with Lorehold, the expensive sorceries and the sweepers that spare the dragon. What moves between rungs is how many other ways you have to set the top, how fast the dragon arrives and how many Game Changers it takes to get there.

The budget list is ten swaps and $155.45, down from $374.69. Smothering Tithe and Enlightened Tutor are the only Game Changers in the core list, so with both gone nothing sets a bracket floor and the deck belongs at a bracket 2 table. Idyllic Tutor leaves as well, so this version has no tutor at all. The larger loss is Scroll Rack and Sensei's Divining Top, the two artifacts that set the top without drawing, $69.97 between them. Crystal Ball takes one slot and scries 2 for one mana a turn. Hidden Retreat takes the other and works like Penance with a catch: its ability needs a target instant or sorcery spell, so it can only be used while one is on the stack. Your own miracle is the moment for it. While Storm Herd waits to resolve, Hidden Retreat puts the next spell on top for the following upkeep. Insurrection becomes Mob Rule, which takes either the big creatures or the small ones. Akroma's Will becomes Inspired Charge, still two more power on every Pegasus but no protection for them. Wind-Scarred Crag and Boros Garrison replace Sacred Foundry and Sunbillow Verge, both entering tapped, and Make a Stand replaces Flawless Maneuver. The plan is the same, and it comes together less often.

The bracket 4 list is $952.13, and four of its ten adds make up $476.35 of that: Chrome Mox, Ancient Tomb, The One Ring and Mana Vault. With Lotus Petal, the fast mana is there to put Lorehold down a turn or two early, since every round the dragon is out is three more miracle chances. Teferi's Protection keeps it there. Gamble is a one mana tutor that shuffles, so it belongs in the first turns, before the top of the library is worth anything. Arcane Bombardment copies a random instant or sorcery from your graveyard each time you cast your first one in a turn, and that includes every opponent's turn, so the pile of free copies grows with each upkeep miracle. Drannith Magistrate stops your opponents casting their commanders and never touches you, because a miracle is cast from your hand. Farewell is the sweeper this rung adds, and unlike the five in the core list it has no mode that exiles creatures while sparing yours. That makes ten Game Changers, a bracket 4 deck by any count.

What the top rung gives up is patience at the table. A dragon on turn two or three with a miracle in every upkeep ends games early, and the bracket number is there to say so before anyone sits down.

FAQ

Can Lorehold, the Historian cast sorceries on an opponent's turn?

Yes, through miracle. A miracle is cast while its trigger resolves, and the timing rules for a card's type do not apply, so a sorcery drawn by Lorehold's loot in an opponent's upkeep can be cast right then for two mana. That is when this deck casts most of its sweepers and token makers.

Does Library of Leng work with Lorehold, the Historian?

Yes. Library of Leng applies whenever an effect makes you discard, and Lorehold's loot is an effect, so the discarded card can go on top of your library and the loot then draws it back. It is the first card you drew that turn, so an instant or sorcery can be miracled for two. It does not work on a discard paid as a cost, such as the one Big Score asks for.

What happens to X spells cast with Lorehold's miracle cost?

X is zero. Lorehold gives miracle , an alternative cost with no X in it, and when a spell is cast that way the only value X can take is 0. A card with its own miracle cost that includes X, such as Entreat the Angels or Bonfire of the Damned, can use that cost instead.

Does Scroll Rack count as drawing for miracle?

No. Scroll Rack moves cards from the top of your library into your hand without drawing them, so using it in response to Lorehold's upkeep trigger leaves that turn's first draw for the loot. Sensei's Divining Top is different. Its tap ability draws a card, so on a turn you want a miracle, use only the ability that looks at the top three.

What bracket is a Lorehold, the Historian deck?

Bracket 3 as built here. Smothering Tithe and Enlightened Tutor are its only Game Changers, and bracket 3 allows up to three. The budget list takes both out and sets no floor at all. The bracket 4 list carries ten, with Mana Vault, Chrome Mox and Ancient Tomb there to bring Lorehold down a turn or two sooner.

How much does a Lorehold, the Historian deck cost?

$374.69 for this list on 23 October 2026, with every card bought at the cheapest paper printing. Without Smothering Tithe, Sensei's Divining Top, Scroll Rack and Enlightened Tutor, the other 96 cards come to $218.52. The two cards that make the deck work are cheap: Library of Leng and Penance cost $7.72 together. The budget list comes to $155.45 and the bracket 4 list to $952.13.

Is Lorehold, the Historian in a Secrets of Strixhaven Commander precon?

No. The set's red and white Commander deck is led by Quintorius, History Chaser, a planeswalker that makes a 3/2 Spirit whenever cards leave your graveyard, so that deck is built around the graveyard. Lorehold, the Historian was printed in the main set rather than the Commander decks, and it cares about the top of your library instead. The upgrade guide for the precon is linked below.