What Happens in Strixhaven: School of Mages? 

Hey everyone! Thanks for coming by to learn about What Happens in Strixhaven. I see a lot of people still trying to justify the forbidden books being present on campus so I just wanted to clarify my position and address some of the more common comments: 1. First, I misremembered my Harry Potter. That library did have a restricted section, not forbidden. (I believe I was thinking of the Forbidden Forest? Anyway, Hogwarts has a whole bunch of other problems we'll talk about another time.) I think I'm still right about Doctor Strange though. They had books literally covered in chains that nobody was supposed to read, right in the same library as the other regular books. 2. There is a vast difference between "forbidden" and "restricted." I understand having restricted content within a school library. People have pointed out the Mystical Archive version of Day of Judgement, which does contain flavor text referencing a "restricted archive," where things get locked away...which only further confuses the point. 3. If something is restricted, it means certain people can have access under certain circumstances. To me it would still be unwise to have this content stored adjacent to "regular" books, especially in a school that doesn't seem to be hurting for shelf space. 4. If something is forbidden it means nobody should have it, not even "advanced students," not even the professors or deans. If the Elder Dragons declare it to be forbidden and it is their school, then (to me) that would be an ironclad law. Who are we to question the wisdom of such majestic creatures? (Also, pls step on me Beledros) 5. Some people have suggested that even forbidden stuff must be kept around, on hand, for "reference" or to "be able to better stop bad guys." None of this seems to be true per the story. Nobody was even taking the Oriq threat seriously, except Liliana, and only because one of their agents tried to kill her while casually stealing a book. If these tomes MUST be kept somewhere on the plane, then they should probably be with one of the dragons - and indeed, we learn Beledros has a bunch of material safely tucked away in her nest, though we never learn what. 6. Obviously they needed a motive for Extus to attack the school, and they needed a means for him to summon the Blood Avatar, and it was convenient to just make the information he wanted be contained within the school's library. If I was going to offer a re-write of the story, I would put the focus on the Oracle. Perhaps Extus believes he needs to kill her to take her place, or needs to impress her by deviating from one of her prophecies. Summoning the blood avatar (a relic of the past) would then be a way to 'surprise' her predictions of the future, for example. 7. Let me close by saying as always, I love Magic, and only wish to see its story be worthy of representing the best card game every made. I put forth my criticism in the hopes that someone, somewhere, understands that just because this is effectively a "kid's card game," it doesn't mean it doesn't deserve all the respect and care that Marvel gives its properties, on screens both big and small. (pls step on me Wanda)

this sound so much like a 90s highschool teen movie. where two siblings move to a new town and enter a new highschool. Although connected inseperable they are interested in different clubs and estrange themselves. Ultimately they have to come back together to fight of the big bad bully, the sexist gym teacher and uncover a plot to mix cheap imported food into the schools cafeteria lunch. And of course distroy the blood avatar with their combined strenght.

Classic Lili, she feels bad about Gideon and her go-to plan is "do some necromancy about it, but maybe non-evil this time?"

Garruk: Stops watching the twins as he deems them safe WIll: Literally loses a leg shortly after

Theory: as the Biblioplex is a catalogue of every spell in the Multiverse, the whole "forbidden magic books" section in the Biblioplex is a representation of the Banned & Restricted List from Wizards of the Coast, and Extus is just an angry Magic player who's against the company deciding what cards should be played or not

Liliana: visits the necromancy dragon to seek help in bringing her friend back to life The dragon: "That's stupid, your stupid" Liliana: suppressing sobs "but that's the ONE thing I'm good at"

The Mystical Archive version of Blue Sun's Zenith shows students being taught about how the suns work on Mirrodin, so it seems more likely that all the students are aware that planeswalkers and other planes exist, which is interesting.

Liliana complained about walking, but we both know that she just summoned a zombie chariet

"How could you grow up so close to this degree granting college founded by elder dragons and still be untrusting of outsiders"... sounds like someone who didn't grow up in a college town.

I like how this cycle of elder dragons completes the cycle from tarkir, by adding the eneny color pairs

Letter of Acceptance flair text: '- You are a wizard, Rowan. - Ok. - You are a WIZARD. - Yes, I am. - I know it's hard to believe... - FFS, I'VE ALREADY KNEW THAT!'

I personally really love all the school puns in the set and that people make when talking about the set.

These recent sets really make me wish we'd go back to two pair blocks. Seriously it would give a better way to flush out and balance mechanics and the story wouldn't feel like six seasons of a series crammed into an two hour movie.

My theory about the "forbidden magics" is about the colors. Notice that "Awaken the blood avatar" is a red-black spell and it is the only spell with colors that don't belong to the Strixhaven colleges. I think Strixhaven is suppressing all magics that do not conform to its colors and that would also explain why the population of the plane are so weary of Lukka they just want to keep their heads down and avoid the notice.

This is why I go to the Tolarian Academy. All you have to worry about there is time being broken--being broken--being broken--nekorb gnieb--nekorb gnieb--nekorb gnieb--nekorb gnieb--being broken.

Liliana finally learned her lesson. Her story began with trying to save someone using magic, and now she is tested with the same thing but stronger, but realizes what she truly needs to do. Her story has come full circle!

So ... Lukka is the new Tibalt. And in the last set, Tibalt is sort of the new Oko. Therefore, my prediction is that in the next set, Lukka will do something about/with an Elk.

"How could you grow up in the shadow of the enormous, dragon-founded, degree-granting institution of education and still be like: 'We don't want no mysteries around here.' " My friend, welcome to every college city in the state of Kentucky.

I think it would be really funny if Lilliana was just teaching a class when Jace or Chandra or another Gatewatch member walked in on tour and just really wanted to attack Liliana, but couldn't since she's a professor.

I'm actually really looking forward to Liliana's story here. Trying to learn from her mistakes with Josu, to find a safe way to bring Gideon back

Wait did Nicole get married?! If so, congrats!

A brand new Magic Arcanum is the perfect thing to wake up to!

I genuinely love that Liliana got bounced and Rowan got tapped, It's great seeing Magic's game mechanics incorporated into its story.

Lilliana is such a fascinating character. I'm a huge fan. Hope this is not the last we hear from her.

Maybe Kasmina somehow got into contact with Karn when it comes to the Phyrexian issue and she is meant to make sure that the planeswalkers are well educated so they will have more chance to defeat the Phyrexians? After all, Karn didn't really explain much when it comes to his preparations during the story of 'Dominaria', so maybe that's his plan beyond the Sylex?

I swear if Kasmina is a personification of emrakul, used to monitor the planes to determine when they are "ready" I will loose my mind in 6-7years so 18-21 set in the future.( thats like 50-70 secret lairs)

I wanted Liliana to be mentally scarred for a little longer. Also, we know the only reason she got bounced is because she would've bodied the Blood Avatar and Extus.

You and the commander format are the only things keeping me connected to Magic at this point. Love the way you tell the story!

I like having so many story spotlights. It's crazy that we used to have just 5 and before that none (i.e. no card for Heliod killing Elspeth).

Petition to start calling it “Mustache Moment” and making it as long as you want

A classic Arcanum story video. Awesome. And Strixhaven too. I hadn't heard enough about the story, since it was so overshadowed by "CHOOSE A COLLEGE IT'S SO EXCITING GUYS LOOK ENEMY COLOR PAIRS".

Liliana in Strixhaven was a pleasant surprise :)

I really love the mustache minutes. See what i did there, Ryan?

I can't wait for liliana to meet garruk again.

Prof Onyx reveals her true identity Ravnica citizens: Multiverse PTSD Kaya: "Oh shit. Seriously Liliana. You promise"

I haven't read the stories, but just based on this, Kasmina feels like she fills the role that Tamiyo had during Shadows block, an enigmatic observer who prefers not to get involved. Both are in the UG color identity, and both are associated to study and learning.

I absolutely love this arc that that wizards is doing with Liliana. Anyone else see her being a good guy in like the next 3 sets lmao

Lillanna is to much of a good guy at heart to stay doing nothing when the next major threat to the multiverse comes along

I’m actually really fond of the Strixhaven story, and adored the resolution to Liliana’s personal journey

Ryan's back in full swing baby, and we're all way too stoked to have it. Can't wait to hear a video on Atraxa! Maybe Krenko next?

The mustache minute is always on point 😆

Literally going through old videos of yours and then finding this upload "less than 30 minutes ago". What a timing!

I read the story for this set it’s better than some of the other recent ones in my opinion

Another nice video! I really love how you summarize the events and try to place them with the cards. Well, I really like the story for this plane, it's almost relaxing to read. Nice pace and, as you pointed, have littles (but few) plot holes. But the only thing I couldn't stomach was the ending. Liliana Vess, has she forgotten that she has a bounty over her head? Yeah, I know that she gave the veil to Kaya and feing dead, so she, technically doesn't have one, but wasn't she suppoused to live with another name anonymously? I really loved the snippets of her story here, and I'm glad she let go of the idea of necromancy, the most powerful tool in her arsenal, the source of her troubles and fame, and maybe even the idea that it gives, a very normal one (for her), dead is the not end for the living. But here she face the truth, that Gideon is dead and he is not coming back. For the twins, it is nice to see them as individuals and not as an extension of the other. Growth in brains for Will, and growth in power for Rowan, I hope they will not go as the tipical "You don't understand me anymore" and try to face their problems on their own... An the villain... I try to think of him of an echo, a distorted will for beyond the plane, a mere pawn for someone who sees in the future and knows the real consecuences for destroying the learning place of the multiplane.

Honestly the whole idea that the biblioplex has spells from around the multiverse is the most interesting part for me. And judging by the mystical archive version of Despark’s flavor text, it does seem like the average student does know about other planes and planeswalkers. Also given how recent that event was, who’s the one collecting these spells? Does Despark imply that Kasmina was on Ravinca even after most of the other planeswalkers jumped ship or was there someone else associated with Strixhaven who witnessed that event?

I think it's worth mentioning that Kasmina seemed to keep an eye on everyone, so she must have known who Liliana was. If she truly cared she would have protected it from a Bolas henchmen

Maybe Extus needed the extra Red and Black mana and only the one in the Hall of Oracels had that combination, as it looks to be more refined and houses mana of all 5 colors (as it effect to add any color of mana implies). So there is no other Snarl that has the mana pairing he needed to summon the Blood Avatar.

That was an awesome summation! This is the first time I have actually tried to follow along with the lore and this was a blast! :D

You have no idea how long I have waited for this video.

Really a great channel you got going. Aside from the oddly entertaining videos of spice8rack you are pretty much the only channel that i see talking about the lore of the game and a few of my friends have been drawn into the game by overhearing these when i watch.

Was waiting for this one! Another great story from the best Magic Channel there is.

Just a note about the students knowing about the planes and planeswalkers, In Dina's side story published on the Magic site she mentions that the Biblioplex essentially fills ITSELF with all these extraplanar magical tomes, like its actively making copies of spells from other planes. and she also mentions when going through a book that a spell component she needs doesnt seem to be on Arcavios, meaning most of the students definantly know about other planes existance. we dont get any confirmation that they know about Planeswalkers but some of the Archive cards like Despark seem to imply they would.

So glad your doing these videos I haven’t played or caught up with the story since war of the spark now I’m trying to get summaries because apparently there doing the brothers war and I read all those books years ago and hopefully urza comes back thanks for doing these vids and keep them going!

So glad I found this channel. I had recently come across these videos on TCGPlayer’s channel but then realized there weren’t any new uploads. Love these videos behind the lore.

Love your work man i've been following you since you started and i'm impresed how you tell the stories. Good Job

I've been here since the beginning, i was watching back when you uploaded to tcgplayer. It's incredible to see how far you've come and grown.

Everything about Liliana is awesome... As is this video! Awesome video Ryan and Nicole!

Nice, the cards get so much more fun knowing these little backstories!

Well, if i remember correctly, When Liliana and Witherbloom talked about bringing Gideon back to life, that chapter gave me the idea that necromancy seems to be a forbidden subject, something that becames more ironic when we learn that the most famous necromancer from the lore was a student and is now a professor on Strixhaven

I play a lot of cardgames and one of my favorite expansions in Hearthstone was schoolomance, a school of mages, so strixhaven lore is really getting me hyped to play more mtg! Your video is awesome as aways!

Yayyy more story line. Best videos on youtube

Hey! Fairly new mtg player here! I got into the lore thanks to this channel, this was the first short story I read from wizards and I'm pumped to see the spice you throw into it 😆🤣

I think Strixhaven missed out on one little thing. For a magic school with it's own history college it was missing the best magic history teacher and storyteller out there, Magic Arcanum's Ryan of course. I hope the next time we return to the plane that you get your own card. You deserve it. Your videos are great!

I really, really enjoyed this lore video. I definitely need to catch up on your other lore videos.

The official MTG youtube channel put history first.... AND I WAIT FOR YOUR BECUASE YOU ARE AWESOME AND BETTER STORYTELLER ANDI LOVE YOUR CHANNEL !

Nice video! The suggestion you make about having the forbidden books locked in a vault is pretty much exactly what WotC did with Candlekeep and I appreciate that.

18:30 I think I can understand this. It might come off differently in the source material but if everyone on the plane is obsessed with understanding everything it would make sense that they're afraid of things that they're incapable of understanding. Personally I really like this set. I hope we get more Liliana story going forward.

You're The Man! Your story telling skills, are Top Shelf behind the glass level.

Been waiting for this. Thank you, Planeswalker!

As a librarian one of our big things is archival work in the field. You'd be surprised how many terrible and cursed things I've found filed away over the years. It's important to preserve things even if we don't necessarily agree with them, because they may contain ideas or thoughts we may need in the future. Kind of an "In case of emergency break glass." So I'm all for magic schools putting "Forbidden " books in their library. We have banned books week here. But our banned books are lame stuff like "Catcher in the Rye", and "Where's Waldo." If I could find Waldo and Summon the Blood Avatar, I would.

Love the lore content, always looks out for you guys

Another great story. I'm glad the story and story cards align better 👍

I might be wrong, but I think it’s possible that Strixhaven was created by Urza. The snarls seem like threads that stick out of the edge of a hastily woven cloth. If so, it kind of makes sense that the plane is a vast, chaotic mess outside of the school. Urza just threw it together in order to create an army of mages to perhaps fight the Phyrexians. Of course, this was before the mending, so Urza didn’t know that the army would be stuck on strixhaven. This may be related to Kasmina, too. She’s the leader of a secret planeswalker organization that’s “preparing for a looming conflict”, and uses somewhat cruel means to ignite sparks. That sounds a lot like Urza. Maybe he taught her at some point in the past, and she managed to keep herself young after the mending?

Thanks for telling me the lore in an audio version so I can listen at work instead of reading it.

About the elder dragons and the ur dragon: all dragons in the multiverse are related to the ur dragon, as the ur dragon is an avatar for all dragons

Great vid, Ryan! As usual, outstanding 🙌🏽👏🏽😁

Thank you Ryan and Nicole for this video. I have read most of the stories and books from mtg, and this last stories, kaldheim and mostly strixhaven, felt really bad to me. Too much inconsistency, the planes feel like they never left the draft idea and so their concepts feel so disjointed. I really enjoyed this video, getting the details i missed in the stories and really love the reminders on the loose strings from past stories like Lukka hearing voices in Ikoria. Keep up the good work both of you! Cheers!

When you said that last line about Lorehold, that cut deep

yay! story time! thank you!

I always enjoy listening to the story of magic and how the cards help tell it as well. not to interested in that many cards for my decks having liliana plainswalker would be awesome I find her entire story is beautifully written. thanks for the video have fun.

At the library I work for we have a lock cage for old books and "forbidden" books. Like The Anarchist Cook book. You can still read them but you would taken to a secure staff area.

Great stuff as always ! For my money, you could make it a mousctache hour or two I would still like it ! Keep up the good work!

i do like the ranting at the end. i guess to hear more of it, it can be changed to mustache moment

Strixhaven had just one job, answering the question: "What do people do when they know about the multiple planes in the Multiverse but cannot Planeswalk?" And, by the final part of the video, I see that that part isnt answered. Sad.

You have such an incredible voice for story telling!

Oh sweet the added maze hunters back to D&D in strix Haven there actually an old first edition monster that I used to use. They have been seen in print form since the 70s

Technically it did have history already. Archavios is a combination of two planes that collided and the remnants of both planes are still there in archeological areas

I have never clicked on something so fast!

omg finally. been waiting for this video for so long. thank you.

On the subject of the restricted section, the archive card Day of Judgment gives us some additional flavor text insight. The takeaway I get is that some spells are too dangerous to be casually passed around, but might be suitable for study by more senior and responsible mages.

Just getting back into MTG and the lore is both overwhelming and amazing at the same time. It's making me want to crack open some of my boxes :)

I can see Rowan and Will going the way of Urza and Mishra. A Siblings War, if you will. Also I thought Will was pretty lame before but STX really made me interested now that he's not just "generic blond man #1246" with his ice prosthetic and cane. Also Billy Boyd voices him so thats pretty cool.

Reading the flavor text on Blue Sun's Zenith makes me think that knowledge of other planes is readily available to those who look.

I can't wait to see how wotc tip ties around the spaghetti monster in the moon in the upcoming return to innistad

15:22 As the brother to an amazingly smart and more succesful sister, this hit really hard.

this was almost as entertaining as actually playing Strix. Well done.

My theory: Extus was a New Phyrexian sleeper agent or someone in his group. He compromised the Snarl with his ritual to serve the grander plans for the Mother of Machines...

Wow pretty cool story. Cooler than I thought just playing with the set on mtg arena

Hi Ryan. On your question about whether the inhabitants of Strixhaven know about planeswalkers - there are Kor at Strixhaven. These are a race who are generally believed to have uniquely originated from Zendikar (the Rathi Kor were brought to Rath by Volrath from another plane). For example, they are not seen on planes that contain multiple humanoid races like Mirrodin, Ravnica, Fiora, Amonkhet, Shandalar, Kaladesh or Kaldheim. We have seen other races that only appear on one plane such as Aetherborn, Kithkin and Azra. Assuming that this remains true, this likely points to the idea that planeswalkers (like Kaya who can transport people) brought them there. They would be walking announcements that planeswalkers exist. What do you think?

When it comes to the potential importance of the oracle, two things immediately come to mind. 1.) In the art of her card, the object that sits in her hands looks exceedingly similar to the various Snarls, a bright orb surrounded by tendrils of power. 2.) The back of her card implies that the oracle is not near the college, hence a journey needing to be made. Similar to a journey one might make to visit any other Snarl. 3.) Her card shares the same colors as Kasmina, another mysterious Strixhaven figure. Typically sharing colors isn't that big of a deal. However, due to Strixhaven's identity being inherently tied to color pairings, therefore I feel more confidant than usual to rely on this to make a connection to Jadzi. If we could accept that as the oracle for Strixhaven she maintains and makes use of a Snarl as well as her having a meaningful connection to Kasmina, then I theorize she uses the Snarl to tap in to the inherent creation force of this plane of magic to seek through the other planes to locate potential students. This idea of the oracle having to look outward to other plains instead of at her own has the added benefit of also explaining why the oracle wouldn't have actionable intelligence of what was going on with Extus.(An explanation I like over the idea of Jadzi knew all along it would end the way it did so she didn't care.)