Gladiator Secrets of Strixhaven Previews
Provided by Wizards of the Coast Prepared by Ellesandra Avaidon
Overview & Purpose
This Lesson Plan serves to prepare you to tackle the new release coming to MTG Arena on May 19th, including two new preview cards that are sure to make an impact.
Education Standards
- You are able to read this
- You agree this bit is funny
- Respect Fleem at all times
- Consider Cow Tech
Card: Advanced Floral Invocations
Much like those of us with a “C’s-get-degrees” attitude, you can ignore most of this class after the first step. When looking for applications for this card, it really does come down to how your deck takes advantage of Lndfall granting you more cards in the graveyard. This can come from Reanimation (which Level 2 of the Class also helps with), or even just from Crucible effects like Wary Zone Guard. As far as my personal expectations when it comes to homes for this card, I want to try it in Lands Midrange - where it can serve as a very cheap initial investment to start churning through your deck, then also a late game engine with Level 3, re-casting all of the creatures milled or that have otherwise died to make a real impact.
To look at another potentially interesting axis - I know that there have been more Dredge-like builds of Threeanimator in the past. I wonder if a card like this that can start making your value threats go tall can benefit that deck outside of just providing a fair amount of self mill.
Card: Corpseweaver Prodigy
ALERT - ALERT - This is not a drill, Corpseweaver Prodigy conjures Bridge from Below. If you are not familiar with the card, what you need to understand is that it has powered some very poweful graveyard-based decks in Legacy and Modern (until its eventual ban). This fact doesn’t mean much when it comes to analyzing this card from a Gladiator standpoint, but it is worth noting that folks are going to be biased purely bythe thought of the bridge itself.
This Treefolk Warlock, however, must be quite thecarpenter, since each turn they can scale the amount of bridges you have while also incidentally preventing your opponent’s creatures from dying. I do expect to see this card in Aristocrats strategies - most of their Blood Artist effects gain you life, making the infusion fairly easy to trigger, and even generating just one bridge makes each card into a Doomed Dissenter. If Corpseweaver Prodigy is able to trigger even once more, that likely means your opponent is dead. And while graveyard hate does definitely have its presence, the number of targets this card will present to your opponent may push their resources a bit too far to manage.
Verification
Steps to check for student understanding
- Is the Gladiator team thankful to Wizards of the Coast for once again supplying preview cards? (Yes or No)
- Will these cards (and others) be joining MTG Arena on May 19th? (Yes or No)
- How many copies of Bridge from Below will your Corpseweaver Prodigy make?
Closing activity
Interacting with this lesson and/or the Gladiator discord reminds folks that Gladiators come from all backgrounds. The community we bring together allows the Arena to be a place where all of us can shine.
Do something nice for someone who isn’t yourself. Be a union of foices that speak out with positivity in your hearts and souls - and play some gosh-dang Gladiator.