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Strixhaven: School of Mages

Strixhaven
Facts
Placement
Plane
Arcavios
Other
Symbol description
A Strix
Design
Mark Rosewater (lead) ; Andrew Veen ; Ari Nieh ; Daniel Holt ; George Fan ; Sydney Adams ; Yoni Skolnik
Development
Yoni Skolnik (lead) ; Erik Lauer ; Ian Duke ; Mark Gottlieb ; Daniel Holt ; Ken Nagle ; Michael Hinderaker ; Andrew Brown ; Ben Hayes ; Kazu Negri ; Ari Nieh ; Andrew Veen ; Chris Mooney ; Reggie Valk
Themes and mechanics
Modal double-faced cards , Lessons , " instants and spells matter", enemy colors , creature tokens
Keywords/​ability words
Learn , Magecraft , Ward
Zendikar Rising
Zendikar Rising Kaldheim Strixhaven: School of Mages
Challenger Decks 2021
Challenger Decks 2021 Strixhaven: School of Mages Strixhaven: School of Mages ; Mystical Archive

Strixhaven: School of Mages, often shortened as Strixhaven, is the 87th Magic expansion. It is set at the Strixhaven school on the plane of Arcavios. It was released on April 23, 2021.

Set details

Strixhaven: School of Mages is a bottom-up enemy color faction set based on “instants and spells matter”. Creatively, the design of this set is Magic’s take on the magical school genre. Each one of the featured colleges represents one of Magic’s enemy color combinations, with their character and mechanics. Cards associated with the different colleges feature separate watermarked insignias. This set contains 275 regular cards (105 commons, 80 uncommons, 69 rares, 21 mythic rares) and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. The basic lands are numbered outside the main set and therefore don't appear in the draft boosters.

Alternate card frames have another card number than the original version. Borderless planeswalkers are numbered #276-279, borderless elder dragons are #280-284, and extended artwork cards are numbered #285-365. Basic lands are #366-375. The Buy-a-Box card is #376 and the Bundle promo is #377. The FNM-treatment cards from the Universal promo pack are numbered #378-382. There are no showcase cards in this set, as the Mystical Archive fills that position.

This set introduces the term mana value as a wording change for converted mana cost. Also, "shuffle your library" is shortened to shuffle, and "activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery" is shortened to "activate only as a sorcery."

Storyline

Strixhaven is the most elite University in the Multiverse. It features five colleges founded by the elder dragon whose name each college bears: Silverquill ({W}{B}), Prismari ({U}{R}), Witherbloom ({B}{G}), Lorehold ({R}{W}), and Quandrix ({G}{U}). The five colleges battle it out with their takes on magic. Several planeswalkers, each with their motivations, have sought out Arcavios and Strixhaven as their refuge. They are confronted by the Oriq.

The cards that represent the Story Spotlights in Strixhaven are:

MagicStory

Marketing

Strixhaven: School of Mages is sold in regular 16-card Draft Boosters (one card being a marketing card). A Mystical Archive card appears as a bonus card in each Draft Booster. These Mystical Archive cards don't replace another card of the same rarity in a pack. So you can get multiple rare cards in a draft booster.

In addition, the product line includes five bi-colored Theme Boosters, Collector Boosters (including three Mystical Archive cards, one certified Japanese version), Set Boosters (with a Mystical Archive card and a Lesson card), the Strixhaven: School of Mages bundle and five Commander decks.

The packaging of Strixhaven: School of Mages features key art of Will and Rowan Kenrith. The Draft Boosters feature artwork of Killian Lu, Rootha Squallheart, Dina, Quintorius Kand and Zimone Wola. The Theme Boosters feature art from Clever Lumimancer ({W}{B}), Spectacle Mage ({U}{R}), Professor of Zoomancy ({B}{G}), Lorehold Apprentice ({R}{W}), and Quandrix Apprentice ({G}{U}). The Collector Boosters feature the art of the Mystical Archive Memory Lapse and the Set Boosters feature original art of the battle between the Strixhaven residents and the Oriq.

With the release of Strixhaven, 55 cards were rotated into The List, many of which were thematically or mechanically linked to the set. In 5% of the Set Boosters, the marketing card is replaced by a minigame card.

Mystical Archive

Mystical Archive is a separate set of cards associated with Strixhaven: School of Mages. It is similar to the Masterpiece Series but the cards appear more frequently in the boosters of the main set. In Mystical Archive, Wizards of the Coasts has reprinted 63 of the most famous instants and sorceries of all time in specially designed showcase frames and at all rarities. Strixhaven Draft and Set Boosters contain one Mystical Archive card, and Collector Boosters have at least three. These will only be legal in formats that they are already legal in. They are not part of the Standard environment. However, the cards may be used in Limited events.

Events

Promotional cards

Tokens and emblems

The sixteenth card in the boosters is a token creature card or an emblem, with advertisements on the backside. It can also be a helper card with a standard card back. There are a total of nine tokens and emblems:

  1. {B/R} 3/6 Avatar creature with haste and "Whenever this creature attacks, it deals 3 damage to each opponent," for Awaken the Blood Avatar.
  2. {U/R} 4/4 Elemental creature, for Elemental Expressionist, Elemental Masterpiece, Elemental Summoning, Magma Opus, Mascot Exhibition, Multiple Choice, Resculpt, and Will, Scholar of Frost.
  3. {G/U} 0/0 Fractal creature, for Emergent Sequence, Fractal Summoning, Kasmina, Enigma Sage, Kianne, Dean of Substance, Leyline Invocation, Manifestation Sage, Biomathematician, Body of Research, and Serpentine Curve.
  4. {W/B} 2/1 Inkling creature with flying, for Blot Out the Sky, Dramatic Finale, Inkling Summoning, Mascot Exhibition, Shadrix Silverquill, and Umbral Juke.
  5. {B/G} 1/1 Pest creature with "When this creature dies, you gain 1 life," for Beledros Witherbloom, Callous Bloodmage, Containment Breach, Hunt for Specimens, Pest Summoning, Pestilent Cauldron, Professor of Zoomancy, Sedgemoor Witch, Tend the Pests, and Valentin, Dean of the Vein.
  6. {R/W} 3/2 Spirit creature, for Illuminate History, Illustrious Historian, Lorehold Command, Lorehold Excavation, Make Your Mark, Mascot Exhibition, Quintorius, Field Historian, Reduce to Memory, and Spirit Summoning.
  7. {C} Treasure artifact, for Creative Outburst, Culmination of Studies, Elemental Masterpiece, Galazeth Prismari, Ingenious Mastery, Magma Opus, Prismari Command, Storm-Kiln Artist, and Sudden Breakthrough.
  8. Emblem for Lukka, Wayward Bonder.
  9. Emblem for Rowan, Scholar of Sparks.

The College Boosters of the prerelease packs contain the following s double-sided tokens:

  • {W/B} 2/1 Inkling creature with flying — {B/G} 1/1 Pest creature with "When this creature dies, you gain 1 life"
  • {W/B} 2/1 Inkling creature with flying — {R/W} 3/2 Spirit creature
  • {U/R} 4/4 Elemental creature — {R/W} 3/2 Spirit creature
  • {U/R} 4/4 Elemental creature — {C} Treasure
  • {B/G} 1/1 Pest creature with "When this creature dies, you gain 1 life" — {W/B} 2/1 Inkling creature with flying
  • {B/G} 1/1 Pest creature with "When this creature dies, you gain 1 life" — {G/U} 0/0 Fractal creature
  • {R/W} 3/2 Spirit creature — {U/R} 4/4 Elemental creature
  • {R/W} 3/2 Spirit creature — {W/B} 2/1 Inkling creature with flying
  • {G/U} 0/0 Fractal creature — {B/G} 1/1 Pest creature with "When this creature dies, you gain 1 life"
  • {G/U} 0/0 Fractal creature — {U/R} 4/4 Elemental creature

Themes and mechanics

In place of the abandoned block model, R&D has found a new way to tie together the three non-core premier sets in a single Magic "year" (aka the fall, winter, and spring sets—using northern hemisphere seasons): they share a common mechanic. For Zendikar Rising, Kaldheim and Strixhaven that is modal double-faced cards. Unlike the other two sets, there is no hard rule as to the nature of the MDFCs. This is the first time sorceries and instants were printed on the back face of a DFC.

Strixhaven is the first set centered on an "instants and spells matters" theme. It is designed around five enemy color pairs, which despite the many years of Magic has not been done before as a large expansion - Apocalypse, the other enemy color set, was drafted as a counterpart at the tail end of Invasion block, and likewise with Eventide and the Shadowmoor block. Unlike the Ravnican guilds, the Strixhaven colleges aren’t built around the similarities of the two colors, but rather around their conflict.

A new mechanic is Magecraft, an ability word that causes an effect whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell. Another new mechanic is Learn (You may reveal a Lesson card you own from outside the game and put it into your hand, or discard a card to draw a card.). Both of these tie into the higher "spells matter" gameplay, which was previously limited to blue and red.

Ward is a new evergreen keyword. Whenever a permanent with ward becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays an additional cost.

Strixhaven also has a creature token theme in the form of mascots for the colleges.

Card types

The Set introduces the Inkling and Fractal creature types and the Lesson spell type. Pests appear for the first time outside of Mirrodin. Spirit and Elemental round out the token mascot quintet.

Compared to Kaldheim and Zendikar Rising, there are fewer Rogues and Warriors for the Party. Instead, the three other major spellcaster classes (Shaman, Druid, Warlock) return, joining the Party's Wizard and Cleric. There are more than twice the amount of Warlocks in this set as there are in Magic's history. The specially-reserved subtype Elder, last seen in Theros Beyond Death, returns for the Founder Dragon cycle.

Food tokens return in the associated Commander product. They are made by Chef Gyome.

Draft Archetypes

The draft archetypes are designed to be significantly different from those on Ravnica, due to the strong association with color pairs from the Guilds and their play style.

Cycles

Strixhaven: School of Mages has twenty-five cycles.

Modal double-faced cycles

Vertical cycles

Pairs

Mega cycles

Reprinted cards

Besides one futureshifted card, there are no reprints in the base set. R&D decided to use the Mystic Archive for reprints.

Functional reprints

Preconstructed decks

On the same date, five Commander decks are released, which are flavorfully connected to the main set. This is Commander 2021 aligning with Strixhaven: School of Mages.

Notable cards

Banned and restricted Cards

  • Divide by Zero, a combined counter and bounce spell at no cost to card advantage, was banned in Standard in January 2022. Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, which allowed graveyard recursion of spells at the cost of countermagic, was made into a monster by a spell that countered without "countering". The ban occurred at the same time as Alrund's Epiphany, a card that had drawn far more player outcry for its oppression of diversity in Standard, but Wizards stated that Divide by Zero would still have bolstered blue control decks on its own.
  • Expressive Iteration combines card selection of blue with the impulsive draw of red, creating an efficient draw spell that tends to be "draw two of three top cards". It powered blue-red decks across all formats, but as Pioneer uniquely also has Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time, it was deemed that the Delve spells could stay and Iteration was the Izzet draw spell to be banned for Pioneer and Explorer in June 2022. Legacy also banned it in March 2023 to weaken Izzet Delver's card advantage.
  • Grinning Ignus, a reprint from Future Sight, forms an infinite loop with Birgi, God of Storytelling from the previous Kaldheim set. In Standard, this combo appeared infrequently for lack of available payoffs, while non-rotating formats with access to storm had similarly powerful combos and sufficient means to interact with them. Alchemy had the first and lacked the second, leading to a deck that "fell outside [Wizards'] format goals." Despite the power to rebalance cards in Alchemy, Wizards found that every rebalancing option would eliminate the combo as if it were banned, so it was simpler to ban Grinning Ignus on July 5, 2022 — the first-ever ban in Alchemy.

Misprints

References

External links