Written by Steps
So boys and girls, it’s already that time again! Strixhaven doesn’t release until April but the news and speculation never stops. We already know that the set will be based around a school for mages with 5 different schools of magic within it. Rosswater let us know that this was magics take on the genre and was a bottom up design and not a reskin of something we already knew (such as Harry Potter). While I was trying to think of what each school would focus on for their magic, I found something interesting. I saw a post that talked about Esior, Fathis, and Keleth from commander legends possibly being from the same plane as Strixhaven. That got me thinking…
First off, it wouldn’t be unlike Wizards to drop hints for upcoming sets into a set like commander legends. But upon looking into it more, I think they were on to something. They just didn’t keep going with their looks. I believe these are more than just 3 familiars from Strixhaven but the familiars of the heads of each school. If we Go back to War of the Spark where Kasmina showed up ( Kasmina is the only know person from Strixhaven as it stands right now but more to come on her soon) On the card Kasmina’s Transmutation you can see what looks like Esior coming from next to her! (See left) Not only does this let me in on what school of magic these blue wizards use but that those Partner commanders in commander legends were partners for more than one reason!
But let’s dig one step further! The card name for Esior is Esior, wardwing familiar… why wardwing? That would be because the Blue house in Strixhaven will be called Wardwing! Then if we look at the other 4 colored familiars in Commander Legends we get an interesting pattern. Just look below…
BDC BREAK: I’ve been debating the color scheme in Strixhaven. The two frontrunning speculations are either mono-color or Shard colors. I think this observation pushes it ever closer to mono color. It makes sense. D&D has 9 schools of magic. MTG has 5. The school would, at its base, go back to those five types of mana for there wizardry school. And the strongest template for a teacher at this school is Kasmina who is all blue mana and Esior may well be her familiar.
Also, it’s been revealed or spoiled that there will be five commander decks for this set. Does that mean we’re getting five mono-colored commanders? And, as with Kamina, are they to be planeswalkers? Of, of course, that means they can be played as commanders?
So to me, it’s as good as solved. All 5 are from unknown planes, all 5 have a name of a school. It fits together so nicely. Wardwing is your blue school, Shadowcat for black, Emberclaw for red, Wolvid for green, and Sunmane for white. And my thought is those familiars will be the familiar for each head of their respective school.
Let us know what you think in the comments below and make sure to follow us here for more speculation and thoughts on all things Magic the Gathering and DND!
AoE Table Top 