Magic the Gathering's next set, Strixhaven, is scheduled to officially launch on April 23, with pre-release beginning the week before. Today we will reveal three new cards from Lorehold college.

These red and white cards are in keeping with the theme of Lorehold college itself, Archaeomancy, which concerns the search and study of ancient books and artifacts that power Magic. Lorehold also has a reanimation theme, and this idea can be seen in the following three cards. The first card is the "Stone-bound Old Man" revealed at Lorehold College:

A 3/3 for three mana is not a bad starting point for any card (even if the mana requirements are strict), and adding a reusable ability is not bad either. Certainly a single "tearing thing" is not a game changer, but it would help keep the consistency of decks that use it. It may not be powerful enough to be employed in Standard, but it will be in many draft and sealed decks.

Of course, you will need a way to get cards out of the graveyard. Returned Pastcaller:

A 4/2 flyer for 6 mana is a stretch. But don't write off this Spirit Cleric just yet. Being able to return a Spirit, Instant or Sorcery to your hand when it enters the battlefield is extremely useful.

Returning utility cards like Glass Gasket and Unravel, straight burn like Frostbite and Redcap Melee, and options like Clarion's Spirit to your hand can cause serious headaches for your opponents. There are some things that can be done. Returning artifacts would have been a nice addition as well, and definitely fits the College's flavor.

The last card we'll reveal today is Radiant Scrollworker:

This Dwarven Cleric is the logical fruition of Lorehold's philosophy, giving you a chance to cast an instant or sorcery from the graveyard every upkeep instead of a single shot. If you can protect this 2/4 for long enough, you can turn a sufficiently large graveyard into a formidable arsenal; Radiant Scrollwielder is a card that would be especially useful in a red-white burn deck, but the utility aspect is certainly valid as well.

The price of the retrieved spell must be paid. And it is random. However, as with "Returned Past Call," this can make for impressive utility and burn options. While there is no option to return the Spirit, giving lifelink to an instant or sorcery played this way is a sweet touch and could make the life total fluctuate significantly.

These last two cards are both clerics, which could be interesting in a tribal deck, but the shift to red (clerics tend to be mostly white and black) might ruin the idea unless accompanied by more cleric friends.

Standard is in a pretty healthy state right now, with a good mix of viable decks ranging from pure aggro (white and red mono decks) to complete nightmares like Sultai Control (UBG). Arne Huschenbeth's skillful handling of Dimir Rogue and his win at the Kaldheim Championship will likely increase the popularity of this deck.

While there is no obvious Boros (RW) deck that these Lorehold cards would easily fit into, a graveyard-filling Dimia Rogue deck could make perfect timing. Alternatively, Cycling in Jeskai (RWU) is a viable option, but these cards clearly do not fit the cycling theme.

The Strixhaven release draft and sealed event will take place on April 15 at MTG Arena and Magic Online.