Spoiler season has been steadily rolling out for Magic: The Gathering’s return to the magical school of Strixhaven, and the set’s looking pretty magical so far. The five schools have all prepared some powerhouse spells, and today, we get to add a few to the mix.
Wizards of the Coast sent over two cards for Game Informer to premiere; one that seems like a solid removal option for Silverquill and Lorehold players, and a flier sure to wreak havoc in a Quandrix or Prismari set-up. Check out Stand Up for Yourself and Encouraging Aviator.
Stand Up for Yourself is a solid 3-cost removal spell, able to take out one of your opponent’s heavier hitters. There’s not really anything fancy or intricate to do here, but you don’t always need that. Sometimes, you just want the ability to take something off the board, and Stand Up for Yourself will do it. Also, fantastic use of perspective and framing in the art from Nathaniel Himawan here.
On the Blue side, there’s Encouraging Aviator, a 2/3 Bird Wizard for Blue plus Two, with Flying. At the Uncommon slot, this could already be a handy offensive tool for the Blue player trying to get over the top of their rival’s defenses, but the Aviator brings a little extra help to the table in its prepared spell, Jump.
“Prepared” spells are a new mechanic for Secrets of Strixhaven, attaching well-known Magic spells to the creatures of Strixhaven. When prepared, the creature may cast their spell for the associated cost and at the designated speed, but it’ll have to become prepared again to keep doing it. You can read more about the mechanic’s nuances here, but for our purposes, this means Encouraging Aviator can use the classic Alpha spell Jump to bring a friend along on a flying attack.
It’s a potent card, then, that could become a middle-game nuisance for anyone playing against a deck with some solid Blue options, and notably dodges removal like Stand Up for Yourself. I’m a fan! And the owl-frog combo painted by Oriana Menendez for this card captures the magical wonder of Strixhaven very well. This return to the spells of Strixhaven seems like a fitting follow-up to the similarly whimsical Lorwyn Eclipsed from earlier this year.
For the rest of the currently revealed Secrets of Strixhaven cards, check out the gallery here. The set officially opens for class on April 24, with pre-release festivities occurring at a local game store near you the weekend prior.
