Class is back in session! After five long years Magic: The Gathering has returned to the plane of Arcavios in Secrets of Strixhaven. This school year, the world opens up as we explore five new off-campus destinations in addition to more classroom banter. While there isn't much in the way of deep lore to explore here, there's still plenty of notable flavor. Let's dive in!

A Not-So-Secret Rendezvous

Joined Researchers by Ryan Pancoast

My favorite card in the set deserves a subheading all of its own. Joined Researchers isn't just the most nostalgic callback in the set, it's also an important message about the state of Magic: The Gathering itself.

Five years ago, when Strixhaven: School of Mages was released, Magic was still coming off the fallout of War of the Spark: Forsaken, a novel that would have simply been forgotten if it hadn't ended the fan favorite pairing of Chandra Nalaar and Nissa Revane in the a way that implied Chandra's attraction to Nissa had been a phase all along.

It's no secret that back then, the cards themselves didn't explore queer themes, and a card like Secret Rendezvous resonated with a community frustrated at a lack of representation in the cards. Since then, Wizards has worked overtime to begin catching up, with the number of LGBTQ+ characters increasing with every set. Joined Researchers is a sweet nod to where Magic was just half a decade ago and a nod to the future of the game.

An Inkling of Change

Killian, Decisive Mentor by Billy Christian

The last few years have featured a number of art direction updates to worldbuilding elements as Magic has returned to plane after plane, and Arcavios is no different. Strixhaven's signature magic and the inkling mascots they create have both gotten a major visual update. Strixhaven: School of Mages featured ink magic that most often looked like a spilled inkwell, with amorphous light magic as a counterpoint.

This time around, the signature magic takes on a calligraphic style, mixing light and shadow, creating a much more unified style for the school. This is perhaps the biggest visual update in the set, but not the only one.

Lorehold gives us a new look for unbound spirits like Charging Strifeknight, as well as a wider array of statue styles for the classic Lorehold spirits. Quandrix merely tweaked the Fractals to have a more common polygonal look to the tessellating patterns, such as in Pterafractyl.

Prismari's elementals have moved out of the weird space (the Izzet elemental fusions like Gelectrode) and embraced the look of a living painting (as seen in Colorstorm Stallion. And then finally Witherbloom's pests have taken on new forms. While the classic style in the vein of Blech, Loafing Pest is still around, we also get crossbreeds with animal species like Shopkeeper's Bane.

Interdisciplinary Courses

Vicious Rivalry by Chris Rallis

The duality of Lorwyn Eclipsed lended itself to a number of 'paired' cards throughout the set. While our return to Strixhaven doesn't have that same duality, there are a few paired cards worth talking about.

Stone Docent and Borrowed Knowledge depict the before and after of a cheating incident during a Lorehold test. The Docent caught Esme's cheating attempt, and the flavor text on Borrowed Knowledge is her attempt to talk her way out of it.

Procrastinate and Stress Dream both feature an extremely relatable Prismari burrog named Krelg, who's procrastination has led to the bad dreams as they rush to finish their work.

Vicious Rivalry and Fix What's Broken features the same rival students, a Witherbloom orc and a Silverquill kor who appear to hurt their friends with their fighting. In the aftermath of their fight, they come together to undo the damage they wrought.

Brush Off and Flow State don't appear linked at first glance. They're both by the same artist and both feature a dark-skinned woman with the same, or at least a very similar hairstyle and magic style. I like to think this shows the same artist getting out her aggression and expressing herself. Brush Off, for an arts focused school spell, is also just the kind of pun that makes my brain happy.

Our sole pilot and vehicle pair in this set are Skycoach Conductor and Strixhaven Skycoach. Designed as Arcavios' version of an airplane, it's more aptly a bus with wings, and what human person with a soul could turn down an owl with aviator goggles? Skycoaches are a new and fun addition to Strixhaven, a long-range transportation method that also hits the school bus/train ride to school vibe a setting like this needs.

Guest Lecturers

Dirgur Focusmage by Andrew Mar

My favorite lore cuts in Secrets of Strixhaven are the guest lecturers, which is just a really fun idea and I promise I won't complain about Daretti not taking back up his professorship on Strixhaven.

Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer got a whole story in Off the Record, and we know at this point that this isn't our Ral, but an alternate one that seems to have been an Orzhov lawyer of some sort. What, exactly, this means? I imagine all will be revealed in the upcoming Reality Fracture.

The cycle of guest lecturers in the Commander decks are each from another world, teaching to a different school. Eiganjo Dynastorian is a Kitsune that appears to be teaching Kamigawan history and statecraft (the history of the dynasty). The Jeskai's kinetic elemental manipulation abilities are right at home among the Prismari. So, Dirgur Focusmage teaching their techniques (and spreading the Way) is perfect flavor.

Stensian Sanguinist is a fascinating choice, given how much more dangerous Innistradi Vampires are than Arcavios ones. However, there's no one better suited to teaching blood magic, and we've already seen Innistradi Vampires them on other planes in Thunder Junction.

Naktamun Lorespinner is my favorite of the bunch. Amonkhet is in the process of reclaiming their history. There's no better place for them to learn to do it, as well as teach what they know, than Lorehold College. That it is a Khenra, a people not seen in Aetherdrift due to the Amonkhet team not being in their slice of the color pie.

For Yavimaya Bloomsage, it would make sense that Quandrix would wish to learn from a living forest. I think I wish it had been more iconically Dominarian (a Yavimayan ape, a Llanowar elf), but the idea itself is fun.

Extra Credit

Homesickness by Caroline Gariba

The last flavor gems I want to talk about don't fall neatly into a single heading, so I'm collecting the rest here. Eternal Student is such a fun take on the concept of that forever student. The forever student was the guy (and let's be honest, it was usually a guy) who took a six-to-eight-year path to a four year degree, despite not really having life circumstances that would preclude it. It was more common when college was less expensive.

There are times where an effect from a spell will become so iconic that the spell's name will become the mechanic's name too, like Flash. Flashback is such a perfect reversal of that that I'm genuinely surprised this card hadn't been printed already.

Unsubtle Mockery is such a cool-looking spell, branching Prismari off the purely elemental path and into other kinds of magical artwork. The troll in the artwork is being hit by a wave of magical paint that is literally painting him into the canvas. It's cool and horrifying and awesome and a little bit cute all at once.

Intermediate Chirography and Advanced Reconstruction are such a clever take on the class subtype, which was originally meant for Dungeons & Dragons classes (aka jobs. The subtype is put to use with great effect here. I want to see classes for all five colleges now, representing what the core of the colleges are.

While the original Strixhaven: School of Mages featured a number of classic school tropes, the new setting goes back for second helpings.

Comforting Counsel is such a great use of the guidance counselor trope, especially in the wake of the Phyrexian Invasion. Social Snub is the perfect Mean Girls "you can't sit with us" reference. Practiced Offense is part of a number of sports-themed cards I don't have time to dive into but are all super fun (and yes, college-level sports are a big part of the American college experience).

Primary Research is very funny as an out-of-her-depth researcher attempts to learn from an active ghost battle. Graduation Day is an obvious and necessary trope. Group Project's big failure as a card is that there's nothing about a group member not participating. Homesickness is something we've all felt when staying away from home, and this is such a sweet card.

Finally, Rubble Rouser is a fun pun on rabble rouser, a term for a mischief maker. Rapier Wit is a play on the turn of phrase which means sharp witted, but with the literal sword instead of a metaphorical one.

Wrapping Up

Class Dismissed! While that's all I have to say about Secrets of Strixhaven, I wrote creative text for Marvel Super Heroes and I'm excited to dive into the lore of Marvel comics again!