The grandest magical education establishment in the Multiverse is ready to welcome all Magic: The Gathering players. Strixhaven is the latest expansion to join the legendary card game, and is focused around the great mages’ university, where players will get to hone their magecraft and learn powerful lessons as they pursue victory on the tabletop.
To celebrate the arrival of Strixhaven, Wizards of the Coast have arranged the Great Strixhaven College Clash, which will pit several renowned YouTubers, comedians and streamers against each other as they vie to become the star student of Strixhaven. Each student will be mentored by a veteran Magic: The Gathering player, who will help hone their students’ knowledge of Magic lore and tactics to master the new expansion.
Here is the list of intrepid students and mentors who will be taking part in the Strixhaven College Clash, and the Colleges they’ll be representing:
Host – Alasdair Beckett-King
Narrator – Sue Perkins
Silverquill Student – Manga Saint Hilare | Grim artist and rapper
Silverquill Mentor – Louis Scott-Vargas (LSV) | Pro MTG player
Lorehold Student – Aoife Wilson | Head of Video at Eurogamer
Lorehold Mentor – Gaby Spartz | MTG player/commentator and content creator
Prismari Student – Jessica Pimentel | Actor and musician, well known as Maria from Orange is the New Black
Prismari Mentor – Amazonian | Full-time MTG streamer
Quandrix Student – Bilal Zafar (ZafarCakes) | Full-time Twitch streamer
Quandrix Mentor – MTGNerdGirl | MTG player/streamer
Witherbloom Student – Sofie Hagen | Stand-up comedian and writer
Witherbloom Mentor– Alias V | MTG player/commentator and content creator
The student-teacher pairings will battle it out across three episodes of quizzes, talent shows and MTG duels, with each pairing representing one of the five Strixhaven Colleges. The show kicks off 29 April with the Biblioplex Brawl, a knowledge quiz that will test students on specific college subjects (who’s for some Lorehold History?) as well as more general MTG knowledge.
After that first episode of budding rivalries, comedy and intense competition, one student will be eliminated from the show, with the remaining four making it through to the Talent Show on 7 May.
Here, the remaining students will be challenged to showcase their talents, which will range from some fresh raps and rhymes from the Silverquill faction, to powerful Prismari readings. Will the students do their respective houses proud, or tangle their tongues and tarnish their good names? I think we’re all secretly hoping for a bit of both...
Then, on 13 May, we get to the crux of the College Clash - the grand finale that will prove to the multiverse the true mettle of the contestants. The final three students will take each other on in an MTG Arena battle, guided by their esteemed mentors.
The final battle will utilise the new Strixhaven card set, so viewers will get to feast their eyes on the dozens of beautiful new MTG cards, as well as get to grips with the new rules and systems introduced by the set. With each student trained by a seasoned MTG mentor, viewers can be sure that it’ll be a memorable and mealy-mouthed Magic showdown.
So 29 April, 7 May and 13 May - save the dates. And if you want to jump right into the latest expansion you now can, because Strixhaven: School of Mages launched 23 April, and you can pick it up now at its official MTG website.
The college’s doors are now open...
