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)

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

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.

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.

"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.

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

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

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!'

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!

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.

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

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

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.

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

"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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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".

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.

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).

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

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

Liliana in Strixhaven was a pleasant surprise :)

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.

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)

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?

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

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

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.

The mustache minute is always on point 😆

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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'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.

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!

Yayyy more story line. Best videos on youtube

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

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?

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 have never clicked on something so fast!

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!

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.

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

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.

I got to this video as I am preparing my Strixhaven Dungeons and Dragons campaign with the new Strixhaven Curriculum of Chaos. I may not know how much MTG canon that story is. But characters like Jadzi the Oracle have much more lore to them in the module. I haven't played MTG in years but I love this setting, and I loved the video!

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

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

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.

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 really enjoyed the story, and am happy about the closure that Lilliana seems to have found. I just hope it lasts a good while. I doubt this is the last time we will ever see or hear from her in the Magic Story but I worry that another non-friendly planeswalker might one day find her at the school. Or Garruck, when visiting the twins, might run into her. Its one thing if Nissa or Jace find her, but any other character might not take it well.

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

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

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

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

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

Love the lore content, always looks out for you guys

I don't play MtG anymore, but I enjoy your run down of the stories within the lore of MtG. Great job !

Been waiting for this. Thank you, Planeswalker!

You have such an incredible voice for story telling!

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

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.

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?

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 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.

With this, I mean, honoring Gideon's words and becoming a tacher, I'd actually love if we saw a color shift that represents this in our next Liliana card. Much how Nissa is mostly green but has also been Simic and Golgari, something of the sort. Seeing an Orzhov Liliana would be awesome, or even without black entirely.

I would kinda like the the scenario where Lily somehow resurrects Gideon not as we know him but as a zombie (probably still stronger than a regular 2/2) and planeswalks with him everywhere looking for ways to give him back his consciousness. Maybe even run away cause the rest of the Gatewatch didni't like it this much. Gideon as a legendary white and black zombie creature would be cool in my opinion. Great video!

Top quality as always, comment is good for algorithm, best mustache of all YT

Excellent video! I liked the strixhaven story much more than the kaldheim one; it seemed more focused to me.

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

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

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 :)

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

YES YES YES YES. My Favourite youtube channel is posting something

yay! story time! thank you!

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.

Bring on the moustache monologue. Viva la moustache! Also loved the whole bit about restricted vs forbidden research. I really wish this was how it was approached.

the teachers knew that liliana was a planeswalker, you learn that on the witherbloom side story, the whole lorehold and history is also learned a bit on the lorehold themed side story, where we see quintorious searching for the ancient city of the elephant people ( that has been lost), so lorehold documents the history of life of every relevant individual from the plane, i think that's his goal on being the history dragon that was born on the beginning of the plane.