Every Magic: The Gathering set has cards that break into Standard, new commanders that immediately get players brewing, and plenty of limited bombs that are just objectively strong. But one of my favorite ways to really sit inside the theme of a new set is by building a Horde Mode deck around it.
Horde Mode gives a set room to feel like more than just a collection of cards. It turns the mechanics, creature types, and flavor of a plane into a co-op experience where your Commander pod has to work together against an automated enemy deck. For Secrets of Strixhaven, that meant building a Horde deck around one of the most chaotic things that could happen on a magical college campus: the mascots getting loose.
Welcome to Mascot Rush!
What Is Horde Mode In Magic: The Gathering?
Horde Mode is a lesser-known casual Magic format where the human players work together to defeat an automatically piloted deck made up mostly of token creatures. It is a fun, themed game mode that gives your Commander pod a break from the constant sweat cycle of normal multiplayer games.
Instead of fighting each other, everyone is working together to survive wave after wave of creatures, spells, and whatever nonsense the Horde deck throws at the table.
How Do You Play Horde Mode?
Horde Mode is extremely easy to set up. The human players share one life total and each player brings a normal Commander deck. I say normal, but I would not recommend bringing a Bracket 5 cEDH deck to infinite combo the Horde deck into oblivion, because that kind of defeats the entire purpose.
For the most fun experience, Bracket 2 decks and lower-powered Bracket 3 test decks are probably the sweet spot.
The players set up and play almost exactly like a normal Commander game, with one major difference: the table gets three setup turns before the Horde starts attacking. This gives everyone a chance to get a creature on board, start building a defense, and prepare for the first wave.
After those three setup turns, you reveal cards from the top of the Horde deck until you hit a nontoken card. All revealed tokens enter the battlefield, and the nontoken card resolves immediately unless a player counters it. Then, all creatures controlled by the Horde gain haste and attack right away.
The players win once they completely mill out the Horde deck, or, in the case of my custom Horde decks, once they meet the special win condition.
After winning the first round, you can reset and move on to Round 2. Round 2 plays almost exactly the same, except the Horde reveals cards until it hits two nontoken cards instead of one. That means the board gets wider, the attacks get scarier, and the table needs to work together even harder to survive.
Secrets Of Strixhaven Horde Mode Deck Overview
Like I said before, I like building Horde decks with special themes and custom rules for each set. For Secrets of Strixhaven, I wanted to highlight all five schools while also using their mascots to create a chaotic campus-themed experience.
That is where Mascot Rush! comes in.
This deck is built around the idea that Strixhaven’s magical mascots have been set loose, and now the players have to contain the problem before the entire campus gets overrun. It is not just about defeating random creatures. It is about surviving a magical school prank gone horribly wrong.
The Story Behind Mascot Rush!
It is that time of year again. The school year is coming to an end, which means the upperclassmen are ready to start pulling their senior pranks.
Unfortunately, somebody took things a little too far.
The school mascots have been set loose across Strixhaven, and what probably started as a harmless prank has quickly turned into a campus-wide disaster. Now it is up to you and your fellow classmates to stop the mascots before the situation gets completely out of hand.
Think of it less as destroying the mascots and more as capturing them so they can be returned to where they belong. This is Strixhaven, after all. A little magical chaos is expected.
Secrets Of Strixhaven Horde Mode Deck Build
This deck consists mostly of Strixhaven mascot tokens. To build Mascot Rush!, you will include 11 copies of each mascot token and 4 copies of each named mascot.
These are the only creatures in the deck, which helps keep the theme focused. The entire point is that the mascots are running wild, so every creature in the Horde deck should support that idea.
On top of the mascot package, the deck also includes 3 copies of each school charm to represent the five colleges of Strixhaven and add a little extra magical flair to the experience. Finally, the deck runs 4 copies of Procrastinate, because at the end of the day, you are still a student. Maybe the danger of a campus full of escaped mascots does not feel urgent right away.
At least, not until they start attacking.
Full decklist availabile here: Mascot Rush! decklist
Mascot Rush! Special Rules
Since the Horde deck is piloted automatically, there are a few decisions that need special rules. These rulings are meant to keep the deck moving smoothly while still making the experience feel chaotic and flavorful.
Procrastinate: Roll a D6 to determine X.
Charms: Each charm uses its modes in order each time it is cast.
Fractal Tokens: Since Fractals are technically 0/0 creatures, each Fractal token enters the battlefield with a number of +1/+1 counters equal to the current round. In Round 1, they enter as 1/1 creatures. In Round 2, they enter as 2/2 creatures, and so on.
For example, the first time Lorehold Charm is cast, it uses the first mode. The second time it is cast, it uses the second mode. The third time it is cast, it uses the third mode. If another copy is cast after that, the pattern starts again from the beginning.
Special Rulings
Prismari Charm: When the Horde surveils, look at the top two cards of the Horde deck. Put the stronger card onto the battlefield and the other into the graveyard. Then, put one additional card from the top of the Horde deck onto the battlefield.
Quandrix Charm: Counter the next spell a player casts unless that player pays 2.
Repartee Triggers: Repartee triggers happen every other turn after the turn the permanent enters.
Opus Triggers: Opus triggers happen every other turn after the turn the permanent enters. This does not trigger the upgraded Opus effect.
Horde Healing: When the Horde heals, put a token creature from the graveyard back on top of the Horde deck.
Winning Against Mascot Rush!
Because this deck has self-healing and creature return built into it, Mascot Rush! can take a little longer to defeat than a normal Horde deck. To keep the game from dragging too much, I built this deck around a special win condition.
In my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Horde Mode deck, for example, the players only needed to take out all four copies of Baxter Stockman to win. Mascot Rush! works in a similar way.
To win against this deck, the players need to account for all of the named mascots by getting them into the graveyard. Since the deck is built around flavor, I like to think of this less as killing the mascots and more as capturing them so they can be safely returned to their proper places on campus.
Once all of the named mascots are in the graveyard, the players win.
Final Thoughts
Mascot Rush! is meant to be a chaotic, flavorful Horde Mode deck that brings the energy of Secrets of Strixhaven to the table in a different way. Instead of simply building around the strongest cards in the set, this deck leans into the magical school setting, the five colleges, and the ridiculous idea of a campus overrun by escaped mascots.
It is silly, swingy, and exactly the kind of casual Magic experience that works best when everyone at the table buys into the theme. Whether you are looking for a break from normal Commander nights or just want a new way to enjoy Secrets of Strixhaven, Mascot Rush! gives your pod a fun co-op challenge with plenty of magical mayhem.
For more Magic: The Gathering coverage, tabletop releases, and upcoming TCG sets, be sure to check out our 2026 TCG and Tabletop Gaming Release Calendar, which we will continue updating throughout the year.
