This week we're joined by Wizard and author of the story for Secrets of Strixhaven, K Arsenault Rivera! She's contributed to the Magic Story since Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and has been a frequent guest of the podcast over the years since. We talk about writing the students of Strixhaven, as well as catching up with Chandra and Ajani after they've both been through so much.

We had to do some very unusual recording for this episode, so if things sound weird, I did my best!

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

This week is the final episode discussing the web fiction of Secrets of Strixhaven, including the two side stories for Silverquill and Witherbloom! The stories explore the rocky relationships between the people of the world and tackling grief and loss in different ways. You should read both of them, because they're so good! We also give some thoughts about the overall experience of the stories for this set, and what we're looking forward to in the future.

Read "Winnowing Season" by Emma Mieko Candon: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/secrets-of-strixhaven-winnowing-season

Read "Down to the Lake, Alone" by Isaac Fellman: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/secrets-of-strixhaven-down-to-the-lake-alone

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

Secrets of Strixhaven's main story may have concluded with a tremendous cliffhanger, but the side stories begin with one, as we meet Rootha on the literal edge of a cliff! From there we explore Coin Empire ruins with Quint and the perilous world of post-grad life with Zimone. Listen along as we give a summary of what happened in the side stories, and talk about how the characters have grown and changed in the years since Strixhaven.

Please read the side stories!

"A Living Flame" by Aysha U. Farah: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/secrets-of-strixhaven-a-living-flame

"Field Studies in a Future Tense" by Seanan McGuire: http://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/secrets-of-strixhaven-field-studies-in-a-future-tense

"The Math of More" by Alison Lührs: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/secrets-of-strixhaven-the-math-of-more

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

The story for Secrets of Strixhaven is complete, and this week we're going to talk about just what happens with the rampaging archaic, the mysterious Oracle, and the tangle in reality that we're all about to jump into. This is a story you do not want to miss, and you can read all of it at MTGStory.com! So go do that! It's really good!

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

It's time for the main story of Secrets of Strixhaven! This six episode story is written by returning author K Arsenault Rivera, who is following up with the Strixhaven students last seen during Lorwyn Eclipsed, including the Lorwyn elf Lluwen who is struggling to adjust to life on a new plane. What starts as field work for the students, now in their second year, becomes a disaster and a mystery with the reveal of an angry, giant Archaic slumbering under Titan's Fall. Plus, there's a budding romance!

You should read the Secrets of Strixhaven story on MTGStory.com!

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

The Planeswalker's Guide to Secrets of Strixhaven has been released, and along with it a whole host of lore for the world outside of the university! Strixhaven is just one location in the wider world of Arcavios, a plane of dual natures and dueling wizards, marked by six millennia of war and six centuries of peace. Across the Vastlands are countless opportunities for enterprising young mages to make their name, and we're going to tell you about the most exciting locales for field work and internships!

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

Surprise! The story of Secrets of Strixhaven begins in earnest on March 23rd, but we got an early side story last week that has sent Vorthoses into a tizzy. A student journalist is tasked with interviewing a mysterious new Silverquill faculty member, Professor Ral Zarek, but what she uncovers may never be read (or blue).

We spend most of this episode speculating on what the heck is going on and what we might expect from the story of Secrets of Strixhaven with the information we have so far, and delve a little into that fractured reality of Reality Fracture.

Read "Off the Record" by Valerie Valdes: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/secrets-of-strixhaven-off-the-record

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

Do you ever look at your Magic cards and think "What does all this really mean?" This week in our Magic 102 series, we're discussing the building blocks of Magic, the card types and core mechanics of the game, and what they mean to the flavor, worldbuilding, and story. Magic is a game, but it's also a storytelling experience, where you are a powerful mage locked in battle with other powerful mages, casting spells and summoning creatures, and this episode will explain how that translates to the cards.

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

Hello all our listeners! We just turned eight years old, which is very young for a person and very old for a podcast. We're celebrating our anniversary with a special episode featuring all five co-hosts and also Jay, co-host emeritus to talk about the past year of the podcast, our favorite moments and episodes, and what we're looking forward to in the next year.

Thank you so much to all our Patreon supporters who have kept us recording weekly episodes since 2018! We wouldn't be here without you. If you'd like to help keep the podcast running, you can join at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and receive exclusive access to our Discord server and early episode releases!

Welcome to the world of Magic story! In the spirit of our Magic 101 series, this week we're giving listeners an updated basics of Magic lore, including understanding what the multiverse is, the planeswalkers who inhabit it, and what happened during the Mending and Spark Rupture. If you're looking to learn more about this wonderful fantasy setting, this is your place to start.

MTGStory.com

MTGLore.com

MTG.Wiki

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast!