Secrets of Strixhaven Leaks Imply Incoming Colorshifted Liliana

Last updated on December 18, 2025

It's almost official: Liliana Vess, Magic's most iconic Swamp-loving planeswalker, will return in a 2026 MTG set…

… as a white Magic card!

For about a year, MTG players have been gathering leaks about a “White Liliana.” It's not fully,  officially confirmed yet, but the Lorwyn Eclipsed’s story finale this week pretty much confirms what players have been guessing at: In 2026, there will be a “color-shifted” Magic set in which we'll see Liliana going Plains.

Let's follow the breadcrumbs that brought us here, but big “Spoiler Warning” first:

– SPOILER WARNING! –

This article covers a lot of unofficial leaks – proceed no further if you'd rather stick only with WotC's official information.

The Oldest Breadcrumb: The November 2024 “Hexhaven” Survey

Liliana, Untouched by Death – Illustration by Terese Nielsen

I haven't been able to track down the exact reddit post that first brought this up one year ago, but in the following months several posters referenced having seen a post discussing a Wizards marketing survey from November 2024, describing an alternate Arcavios / “Hexhaven” angle, with color-shifted versions of well-known characters.

“They sent a survey about a “potential upcoming set” about Jace creating a new multiverse,” wrote u/MoneybagsMelbs ten months ago, referencing that 2024 survey. “It said it would be set on an alternate Arcavios with a school named Hexhaven based around the allied pairs. A white healer Liliana was also used as an example.” According to u/MoneybagsMelbs, the survey also included mock-ups of a white card using the Oath of Liliana art.

Other posters in later threads also made reference to having seen mentions of the same survey.

Breadcrumb #2: Mark Rosewater Confirms A “What If” Set In the Short List

“A “what if” set is on the short list,” said Magic's Head Designer Mark Rosewater in his personal blog back in February this year. “If we do it, it wouldn’t mess with the color pie.”

For those that don't usually interact with Mark's blog, he has stated Ad Nauseam that he always writes from the PoV of what is public information. Of course he knows perfectly well if such a set is in production, and when it would be released.

When Mark says “Is in the short list,” it can mean anything from “Literally in the short list; no such set has been greenlit, but it's very likely that it will,” to meaning “We have been working on it for a year; we just haven't announced it yet.”

But a “What If…” Magic set is exactly the sort of set where you'd find a white Liliana.

Breadcrumb #3: Fan-Favorites Will Return In Reality Fracture

This one is 100% official, right from the horse's mouth: Last September, WotC revealed its 2026 line up at MagicCon Atlanta.

About Reality Fracture, the MTG set we'll get in October 2026, WotC said (emphasis added):

Reality Fracture is the epic conclusion of the current arc of Magic Story. Following a showdown in the Meditation Realm at the end of Tarkir: Dragonstorm, the fate of the Multiverse lies in the hands of those who seek to reshape it. Fans can expect to see some of their favourite characters return in this set that might just reshape the Multiverse.

And So We Arrive at The Present Week…

… where a ton of details were revealed, both officially and not.

Lorwyn Eclipsed’s Final Scene

This is the big loaf of bread that our crumbs have been foreshadowing: The the “post-credits” cliffhanger, so to speak, at the end of Lorwyn Eclipsed | Episode 7, and which is 100% official.

After the Lorwyn story is more or less neatly tied up, Liliana Vess (who is a professor in Strixhaven, and students call her “Professor Vess” so she's not hiding her real name), hears a knock at her office door.

And these are the final chapters (emphasis added):

“Cautious, [Liliana] rose and moved across the office, straightening her jacket as she went. She opened the door with an easy tug and froze, staring at the woman at her threshold.

She was tall, with broad shoulders and a figure accentuated by the tight fabric of her tailored white gown and corset. Her black hair fell around her shoulders in loose waves too perfect to be anything but calculated, and she was smiling a warm, almost sisterly smile.

Worse yet, she was doing it with Liliana's own lips.

Liliana could only stare as the white-clad version of herself stepped past her into the office, pausing to lay a hand briefly across Liliana's own and say, in a soft voice, “Maybe close the door, dear. We need to have a conversation.”

The door swung shut with a sound like a tomb closing, and everything was silence.“

The Hexhaven Survey Shows Up…

Remember when I said I was never able to track down the original post about the 2024 survey?

Luckily for us all, yesterday u/Electronic-Voice-613 posted what they saved from that survey. As with everything you find online, it's never a bad idea to add a generous pinch of salt since there's no receipt that lets you confirm the survey was real. And, even if real, WotC could have completely changed their plans if the survey's results told them that players hated the concept – that's kind of what surveys are for!

But, having said that, this is what u/Electronic-Voice-613 shared about what Hexhaven is (according to the survey), where we also see that Jace is behind it all…

Source: Reddit

… and, specifically about Chandra and Liliana, there are two excerpts that say:

• What if Chandra were a cold and calculating ice mage instead of the defiant fire mage we know and love? Or, what if Liliana had dedicated herself to the healing arts rather than her signature necromancy?
• Build a new deck around Liliana the healer instead of Liliana the necromancer. Augment your collection with a touch of icy Chandra's calculating cold, rather than the familiar fire she usually slings.

… And It Has Pictures!

Keen readers may have noted that the survey excerpts mention that “Hexhaven Liliana” is a healer, but they don't mention anything about her color. Black has a lot of lifegain effects, as anybody that has run into a Blood Artist can attest… and, in fact, we already have the very black Liliana, Untouched by Death that can heal you.

But u/Electronic-Voice-613 also shared some pictures that they claim were included in the survey, including a white test card that features Liliana:

Source: Reddit

Wrap Up

Liliana, Heretical Healer – Illustration by Karla Ortiz

There's a lot of alternative explanation of why, at the end of the Lorwyn story, Liliana bumps into herself dressed in white.

It could be an illusion: Jace is the current Big Bad, and he did a pretty good impersonation of Ashiok back in Thunder Junction.

It could be a changeling: After all, this is how Lorwyn's story ends, and shapeshifters are kind of their thing.

And I'm pretty sure WotC's story team could come up with several other plot twists and this being about somebody (or some thing!) that just looks like Liliana. In short, WotC has not confirmed anything about Liliana in upcoming sets, other than what you can read in Lorwyn's ending. And if you go by the 2024 survey's pictures, Liliana shows up on a creature (not a planeswalker).

Then again…

… yeah: Let's totally do this, Wizards. Let Liliana loose across the planes, and the Plains!