Nature is healing. Wizards of the Coast has dropped the first teaser video for the upcoming Secrets of Strixhaven Magic: the Gathering set, and given us a brief glimpse of the game's first new planeswalker character in years - Delian, Strixhaven's "youngest tenured professor ever".
Who is Delian? What are his powers, motivations, or goals? Why does he look like the morally gray love interest in a Romantasy novel series? Sadly almost all of that is under wraps, but details should emerge in the upcoming short stories that will accompany the MTG set.
Aside from his academic prowess, we know he's attached to Witherbloom College, the Strixhaven school focused on life (and death) magic, which attracts all the fantasy mall goths on the plane of Arcavios. So he'll have black and green in his mana cost, and - if Witherbloom has the same draft archetype as it did in the original Strixhaven set - abilities themed around gaining and losing life during your turn.
We're in a relatively fallow period for new planeswalker cards in Magic: the Gathering. The culmination of the Phyrexian invasion plot arc and the opening of the Omenpaths saw many classic planeswalkers lose their spark, and set design (and Universes Beyond) has deprioritized the card type.
The last totally new planeswalker character (not counting existing characters who sparked) was Kaito Shizuki, from 2022's Kamigawa Neon Dynasty. The Planeswalker Party commander deck in 2023 gave us the first cards for long-established story planeswalkers Commodore Guff and Vronos, Masked Inquisitor.
Lorehold College student Quintorius Kand sparked during the Phyrexian invasion and appeared as a planeswalker in 2023's Lost Caverns of Ixalan. And 2025 gave us the Aetherspark, which is a brand new planeswalker, but also a piece of equipment and plot maguffin rather than a character.
Who's your favorite Planeswalker? What do you want to see from a new Planeswalker in Golgari colors? Share your thoughts in the official Wargamer Discord community.