Magic: The Gathering is about to take everyone to school with the upcoming Strixhaven: School of Mages set, based on the in-universe college of the same name. This school is split up into five competing sub-schools, each of which is centered around two enemy colors of mana. The Prismari school is home to blue and red mana, while the Witherbloom school feeds on black and green.
In this game, black and green mana combine to embody the eternal cycle of life and death, where new growth must take root in the rot of dead plant and animal matter. In turn, that new growth will die too. Black-green decks can make disposable creature tokens, ramp mana and dig up treasure from the graveyard — and the Witherbloom school adds a few unique twists to that game plan.
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The Creatures of the Witherbloom School
Together, black and green mana form the Golgari color identity, named for the Golgari Swarm guild of Ravnica. Such colors often draw power from the graveyard in a variety of ways (such as Dredge and Scavenge abilities), ramp mana, create an aristocrat token deck and far more. In Strixhaven, the Witherbloom students can do all that in their sleep. These brilliant rot-mages have taken things a step further, drawing additional power from gaining or losing life (as per their colors). Many black and green Strixhaven cards, as a result, involve paying or gaining life in equal measure. It’s all a natural cycle, after all; for someone to gain vital life energy, someone else must lose it.
Overgrown Arch is simple but effective, a 0/4 blocker that can hold off early Lorehold aggressors for cheap. It can tap to gain one life, which will modestly but consistently fuel the Witherbloom school’s “life totals matter” concept. Once Overgrown Arch outgrows its usefulness, the player can pay {2} and sacrifice it to learn, one of several new mechanics in Strixhaven. Even plants can teach a vital lesson to attentive students.
Blood Researcher is a 2/2 with menace to push damage, and gaining life means putting a +1/+1 counter on it for free. That’s some serious payoff, especially on a body with menace, and Overgrown Arch can fuel Blood Researcher again and again. This could prove to be a real powerhouse in games of booster draft Limited for a mere common.
Witherbloom Apprentice is part of an entire five-card cycle of Apprentices, and like its four peers, Witherbloom Apprentice has the magecraft ability. Each magecraft trigger will make each opponent lose one life while the Apprentice’s player gains one life, which can slowly but surely tilt the game in the Witherbloom player’s favor (and it fuels Blood Researcher).
Flavor-wise, Arrogant Poet is actually a Silverquill creature, but due to its mono-black color identity and effect, it works just as well in a Witherbloom deck. A 2/1 for {1}B is merely passable, but paying two life to gain flying is a solid deal, especially if the player can derive benefits from losing life like that. After all, Witherbloom magic cares about gaining life and losing it.
The Festering Spells of Witherbloom
A variety of green and black cards deal with lifegain, life loss, pumping creatures, making 1/1 black and green Pest creature tokens and more. Pestilent Cauldron is a great start. It’s a black artifact that can tap and discard a card to make one of those Pests; when the Pest dies, the player gains one life.
Or, the player can pay {1} and tap to mill each opponent, according to how much life the Cauldron player has gained this turn. Lastly, the player can pay {4} and tap to exile four cards from any graveyard and draw one card. This card synergizes with itself nicely, but it has another side: a sorcery. This is a modal double-faced card, a concept introduced in Zendikar Rising.
Restorative Boon is Pestilent Cauldron’s other face. It can return creatures, lands and planeswalkers from the graveyard to the hand, then allow each player to gain four life. Giving the opponent life points may sound awkward, but the caster gains four life as well. This can fuel their Witherbloom cards in many vicious ways, while the opponent probably can’t cash in on their new life points so easily.
Fortifying Draught will gain the player two life up front, then give a creature a power/toughness boost according to how much life was gained this turn. Imagine casting Restorative Boon and then this, giving a creature +6/+6 on top of everything else. Devouring Tentacles is a sorcery that allows the caster to make their creature “bite” another creature or planeswalker; that is, fight it without taking damage in return. If the enemy creature or planeswalker dies, the Witherbloom player will gain two life. That dead creature will fuel abundant new growth with its fresh rot.
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