Spoiler Highlight: Flow State on Competitive Formats

The first time we visited Strixhaven, Expressive Iteration quickly became a staple across multiple formats. It ended up banned in Pioneer in 2022 and later in Legacy in early 2023—both driven by the wide reach and card advantage the spell offered to archetypes already well-established in the competitive environment: Izzet Tempo decks in Legacy and Arclight Phoenix in Pioneer followed a Turbo Xerox shell that made it easy to find the right answers at the right time.

Iteration was part of the problem. In Pioneer, I tried lists of Phoenix running over 16 one-ofs in the maindeck and still found them with relative ease because between it and Treasure Cruise, the number of ways to dig deep was very high. On another occasion, I built a Grixis Control list with Lurrus of the Dream-Den that would have been a nightmare to pilot without an easy way to generate card advantage and find the right lands in the early turns.

The point is that Expressive Iteration was absurdly strong and dangerous to have in formats where decks were dominant, and our return to Strixhaven brings a new version of the card, now with extra conditions, but monocolored.

Flow State has the same mana value as its predecessor, but costing . The easier splashing, however, comes at a cost: basically, it's just a weaker Anticipate and requires an instant and a sorcery in the graveyard to achieve a similar effect to what Iteration provided—the best two cards among the top three for two mana.

For most archetypes interested in this kind of spell, the requirements are negligible. Most blue archetypes across all formats run some number of instants and cheap sorceries that make triggering it easy between cheap cantrips, removal, or discard effects. The only times it seems like a bad choice are if your deck isn't dedicated to having a relevant number of spells, or if your archetype could already run Expressive Iteration instead—that's the case for Modern, where the Strixhaven card is a staple in Prowess archetypes and some Control and Death's Shadow lists.

On the other hand, Flow State might not be an automatic inclusion in every deck. Accumulate Wisdom, for example, exists for Standard's Izzet Lessons, and having another effect dependent on the graveyard to generate value could hurt more than help the consistency plan if it replaced a card like Stock Up. The same logic applies to archetypes that feed on the graveyard, like Izzet Phoenix with Treasure Cruise, or some Dimir Control variants with Dig Through Time in Pioneer.

That doesn't mean the new card is bad. It's just not as busted as a reprint of Expressive Iteration would be, and its viability depends on how well each deck can meet its requirements and avoid using it as just an Anticipate as rarely as possible.

Izzet Lessons might even opt for Accumulate Wisdom as a more effective version of the new card for that specific strategy, but there's no shortage of other Spellslinger builds capable of extracting maximum value from Flow State.

Izzet Spellementals naturally wants cards in the graveyard to fuel its payoffs and runs a relevant mix of instants and sorceries. Prowess lists don't rely as heavily on the graveyard, but they also have plenty of spells to enable Flow State in the early turns. In both cases, including the new spell seems like an obvious addition that will further solidify decks in Tier 1.

Control lists are also candidates to run the new card, but there's competition: most of them only run a few sweepers and Stock Up as maindeck sorceries, and opt for cards like Consult the Star Charts for early filtering and mid-to-late game card advantage—there's room, but sorcery speed could get in the way at times.

Because all Izzet decks need in Pioneer is the possible return of Expressive Iteration in a format where Cori-Steel Cutter remains legal—and as it happens, maybe it wouldn't even be that relevant in the current Metagame.

We can split these archetypes into three categories: more aggressive Izzet Prowess, running Emberheart Challenger; Izzet Prowess aimed at broader reach, with Vivi Ornitier; and Izzet Phoenix.

Both Prowess lists run Academic Dispute for a small toolbox of Lessons in the sideboard, which includes Accumulate Wisdom. It's difficult to imagine the more Aggro version trading guaranteed access to two spells or swapping Heroes' Hangout for a card that costs one more mana.

The versions with Vivi Ornitier are more flexible in costs and even run cards like Stock Up and This Town Ain't Big Enough in some variants—they have the mana and the card types, but perhaps there aren't enough slots or reasons for Flow State to replace any piece or to become the choice for flexible slots.

The case for Izzet Phoenix, once the deck that benefited most from Expressive Iteration, comes from the conflict between Flow State's conditions and Treasure Cruise. No strategy in Pioneer fills the graveyard with spells as fast as Phoenix does, and of all the competitive archetypes in the format today, it is the best suited for Flow State. However, the Delve cost could create situations where it becomes just a glorified Anticipate at too high a cost to be worth the effort in an archetype where we want to sequence spells every turn.

Just like in Standard, the inclusion of Consult the Star Charts and sorcery speed make it harder for Flow State to find a spot in Control lists. In the Azorius versions—the most famous of the archetype in Pioneer today—the challenge is even greater because Rest in Peace is a common sideboard staple for the current Metagame, and the substitutes aren't as effective at dealing with graveyards in that strategy.

Flow State could serve as a complement, but it will hardly have the same impact as Expressive Iteration in a format where the original card is still legal. Prowess lists prioritize mana efficiency, and Iteration is already the only non-creature spell besides Cori-Steel Cutter costing two mana. Filling those slots too much would considerably reduce speed.

Outside of Prowess lists, most blue archetypes with a relevant number of spells have been focusing more on instants than sorceries and more on effects that draw cards to interact with Quantum Riddler than top-deck filtering that puts cards directly into hand. Perhaps a list that already runs many cantrips, like Dimir Frog, or one that can stretch the game with a more control-oriented route, like Izzet Wizards, might find a way to leverage it.

Treasure Cruise and Expressive Iteration are banned in Legacy, Ponder and Brainstorm are staples in practically every blue-based archetype, and the format has ample ability to put instants into the graveyard with Force of Will—a card that forces unfavorable two-for-one trades whose effects like Flow State compensate with cheap card advantage.

Dimir Tempo also runs Thoughtseize, and Izzet Delver runs Dragon's Rage Channeler and some number of Preordain alongside Ponder to complement the cantrips, so the cost to play the new spell is relatively low in these strategies, but not without its own challenges—Barrowgoyf and Murktide Regent are common threats in Dimir, and Regent is also very present in Delver variants, though that never stopped Channeler from being a staple.

Maybe Flow State won't be as absurd in Legacy as Expressive Iteration was; there are important concessions to using it, the competitive scene might be more prepared to deal with it than it was against Iteration, and just like in other environments, an Anticipate at sorcery speed isn't a card worthy of competitive settings.

That's all for today!

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Thanks for reading!