Secrets of Strixhaven doesn't release until April 24th, but that hasn't stopped eager Magic: the Gathering players from brewing builds for all of its currently revealed commanders. The five legendary creatures who will be taking the helm of the Strixhaven preconstructed decks have already been revealed, and we've even made a list ranking them alongside their counterparts from the four Marvel precons.Surprisingly, it isn't Quintorious, Killian, or any of the other college student commanders who lead these decks that have captured the imagination of the community. Instead, players seem eager to build around Lorehold, the Historian, a red and white elder dragon that can enable some miraculous game plans.
The website EDHREC scours various popular deck building sites, including Archidekt, Moxfield, and Scryfall, to determine the number of lists that are recorded online for every commander in the game. Since it's possible to submit an online deck list without owning all of the cards you include, you're able to cook up a hypothetical deck containing revealed cards from future sets in the MTG release schedule.
According to EDHREC's stats, there are, at the time of writing, between 160 and 583 brews logged for each of the face commanders of the five Secrets of Strixhaven precons. Each of these cards is left squatting in the shadow of Lorehold, the Historian's massive wings, as she currently commands 1686 decks.
So what makes Lorehold, the Historian so popular, and why does she share her name with one of Strixhaven's five colleges?
To answer the first question, Lorehold is a hasty, flying 5/5 dragon for five mana (one of which must be red, and one of which must be white). While Lorehold is in play, every instant and sorcery in her controller's deck gains 'miracle 2'. This means that if the first card that you draw in a turn is an instant or sorcery, you can cast it immediately for only two mana. Lorehold also allows her controller to discard a card in order to draw a new one during each opponent's upkeep.
There's a powerful synergy between these two abilities, as the new cards that Lorehold, the Historian draws during each opponent's upkeep gain miracle 2 and can then be cast for a significant discount, allowing Lorehold's controller to slam out powerful spells turn after turn.
As for why Lorehold shares her name with the college, she's one of the five Elder Dragons who founded Strixhaven, so the history-based college of Archaeomancy is named after her.
If you're looking to learn some more about MTG's lore, there's always discussion about the game occurring on the Wargamer Discord.
You can also dig into Magic's history by reading our list of every MTG set.