We have our first big lore teaser for Magic: The Gathering's Secrets of Strixhaven set, and let's get started. very strong. A great storytelling podcast called “Off the Record” just launched and started building the world in a great way, but one clear change caught the attention of fans. Ral Zarek is now the school's Orzhov instructor, and for the first time he is not associated with Izzet's red or blue colors (apart from a brief red monochromatic outing in Modern Horizons 3).
This change was met with a wave of speculation from fans, especially after the solid white Liliana was revealed at the end of the Lorwyn Eclipsed story. Could this be another preview of the MTG Reality Rift set, which looks set to increasingly revolve around alternate realities and could introduce color-changing cards as a result?
Orzhov Ral Zarek, or alternate reality Ral?
Fans on Reddit were quick to point out in the podcast story that Ral's mannerisms and deceptive behavior do not match the Ral Zarek we have known since Duel of the Planeswalkers in 2012.
If we're putting two and two together after the monochromatic Liliana was revealed at the end of the Lorwyn Eclipsed story, which takes place at the Strixhaven school, Ral and Liliana could be two Planeswalkers released in the Secret of Strixhaven set, and they'll both be colored differently than you'd normally expect. Alternatively, we could also see a recolored Planeswalker leading each of the five Strixhaven colleges, which would be a huge reveal and would certainly require more teasing before the set launches.
Of course, this is purely speculation, but there's tons of evidence from Wizards of the Coast to back it up, which makes it even more exciting!
Although not explicitly related to the ongoing storyline, I should highlight the reference to the Orzhov comma, a play on the Oxford comma that now canonically exists in Magic: The Gathering. This is absolutely the best kind of humor.
Reality crack plan development
We can't forget that there's also an MTG Reality Rift event set to launch later this year. There's still no update on Jace's status after his failed attempt to fix the multiverse, but we suspect he will still play a role in the set of events and resulting story.
MTG Reality Fracture is currently scheduled for release on October 2, 2026.
Ral Zarek, representing Silverquill, is the second example of an iconic Planeswalker color change, even if it's not officially part of the card design (yet). We are therefore leaning towards a reality rift event linked to the existence of a proposed alternate reality.
We already know from the ending of the Lorwyn Eclipsed story that a white version of Liliana exists alongside the black version, but Izzet Ral's status after the events of Bloomburrow is still unclear, at least not based on this lore update.
Magical purists are now well fed with this latest lore dump, and Secrets of Strixhaven, coming off the back of the poorly received TMNT Universes Beyond set from a lore perspective, already appears to be making up for it.
- franchise
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Magic: The Gathering
- original release date
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August 5, 1993
- number of players
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2+
