Ral Zarek Takes On Brand New Color Identity In Secrets of Strixhaven

Last updated on March 10, 2026

Illustration by Billy Christian | Source: wizards.com

Secrets of Strixhaven’s first story dropped with another colorshifted planeswalker: Ral Zarek, done up in Silverquill finery as a professor and law mage.

New art shows Ral summoning inklings, magic associated only with Orzhov () mages of Strixhaven; though the birds in Ral’s illustration are distinct from the Inklings in the first Strixhaven set, they’re identical to those on the illustration for Killian, Decisive Mentor from the Secrets of Strixhaven Commander precons:

What Does Orzhov Ral Want?

Tome of the Infinite | Illustration by Joseph Meehan

Professor Zarek is clearly distinct from the original Ral Zarek—after all, the Lorwyn Eclipsed story concluded with Liliana Vess on Strixhaven meeting her colorshifted, mono-white variant. So, what could an Orzhov Ral desire?

A book. Specifically, Accounts of the Dawning Age: Vortex Formations and Egomagical Adaptations, by Scavrana the Oracle, which contains information about the birth of Arcavios’s five elder dragons, which hatched from the Snarls of mana formed at the plane’s birth and founded the school of Strixhaven. I suspect the text therein concerns those secrets of Strixhaven the set is named after and bet the collision of two planes that created Arcavios involved the Fomori.

Why Professor Zarek wants the book isn’t disclosed (though the next section contains some ideas) but the means he uses to obtain it suggests a deep desire; he manipulates an ambitious Silverquill student reporter, Jilesa, into tracking down the forbidden tome, only to planeswalk away with it and leave Jilesa and her friend to face the wrath of the vault’s guardians—a move so unlike the Ral Zerak we know it leaves no doubt this is a different character.

Why Are There So Many Colorshifted Planeswalkers?

Source: reddit.com

As noted above, this isn’t the first colorshifted planeswalker to visit Strixhaven; mono-white Liliana was, and we can trace the origins of these color shifted planeswalker to leaks concerning Reality Fracture, the last in-universe set of 2026 and the conclusion to the Metronome Arc, which is the overarching story from Wilds of Eldraine to Reality Fracture. Leaks from a survey in 2024 posted by redditor u/Electronic-Voice-613 revealed more details about the set than Wizard’s official announcement. Most notably, Jace creates an alternate Multiverse filled with “dystopian mirror reflections of familiar characters” and promises that “color-shifted characters have become his allies.”

Concrete story details are speculation, but mono-white Liliana in Lorwyn Eclipsed and Professor Zarek in Secrets of Strixhaven indicate the general premise holds true. It also appears that this set’s story will prime us for Reality Fracture, so this probably won’t be the last colorshifted planeswalker present in the story—for example, Garruk Wildspeaker will likely have a colorshifted doppelganger, as will Chandra Nalaar, per the image above.

Tying the leaks about Reality Fracture’s story with Professor Zarek’s appearance in “Off the Record” provides another clue as to what the book could be used for. Professor Zarek tells Jilesa he needs the book to study the “unique leyline configurations” of Arcavios. He’s potentially lying (he certainly lies about the motivation of fixing Ravnica’s leylines) but there may be a shred of truth here. Electronic-Voice’s leaks included a mention of Hexhaven, a mirror-version of Strixhaven; perhaps Jace cannot create it or his multiverse without knowledge of the snarls and the elder dragons they birthed. Whatever the case, it’s clear this set’s story will be crucial to understanding the events of Reality Fracture.