Schools of Magic: Commander; White

It's been a while since I've talked about the schools of magic, but last Friday Commander was finally released, and I thought I would look through the cards in this set! If you want to look at all the cards you can find that here, though I won't be doing any of the cards that I've already looked at.

White

As a reminder, the three schools of white magic are:

Hieromancy: The magic of law and order.

Soul: Healing and support magic.

Divine: Spells that represent divine might.

 

Afterlife: Here's a strange spell to start us off with. This deals with killing a creature and leaving its spirit behind - sounds almost like Soul magic. However, it does seem to be an offensive spell, so I'm going to place this as Divine magic.

Akroma's Vengeance: This is classic Divine magic. It has an angel (though she is artificial, she still counts) visiting her wrath on the world.

Alliance of Arms: This is the first new spell completely designed for Commander, and it's a neat one. It's easy to place as Hieromancy, considering the fact that it summons soldiers.

Arbiter of Knollridge: He is a Hieromancer from my favorite Block! (I realize I talked about Lorwyn Giants before - in Lorwyn terms he would straddle the line between Focus and Might, with a slight leaning towards Focus because that covers their lawmaking abilities)

Archangel of Strife: A Divine creature that uses Hieromancy.

Austere Command: Another Lorwyn card, this one is Kithkin Alchemy there, here it is placed under Divine magic.

Bathe in Light: Light spells tend to fall under the Divine school, and this is no exception.

Celestial Force: With its healing ability, this is Soul magic, even if it is on an unusually large creature.

Congregate: Soul magic with a slight Divine flavor.

Crescendo of War: Another new spell, this changes the rules, making it Hieromancy.

False Prophet: Despite his name, this is still considered Divine magic. Despite the name, Divine magic does not always have to mean the intervention of a god or angel.

Ghostly Prison: By this point, the fact that this is Hieromancy should be obvious.

Hour of Reckoning: Not only is it a Wrath effect, it also has a distinct Divine flavor.

Jotun Grunt: The cumulative upkeep for this is kind of strange, but overall the flavor feels like Hieromancy.

Journey to Nowhere: If you look back at my first White magic blog, I had a tiny bit of trouble placing Pacifism. This is actually a much clearer example of the type of Hieromancy that I was talking about there.

Lightkeeper of Emeria: Angels are Divine magic, and this one is using Soul magic when it comes into play.

Martyr's Bond: Another new spell, this one has a slight Divine flavor, but I believe it is unimportant when the effect is so clearly Hieromancy.

Monk Realist: I love the flavor of this guy. Monks generally aren't thought of as being realists, but this one uses that realist attitude to gain wisdom! Regardless, this feels like Divine magic to me.

Mother of Runes: As stated before, support magic tends to be part of the Soul school.

Oblation: I had to look up what the word oblation means, and the fact that it is an offering to god makes this a clear case of Divine magic.

Oblivion Ring: Another card that I talked about during the Kithkin blog, this is another example of the type of Hieromancy shown in Journey to Nowhere.

Orim's Thunder: Hey look, a vaguely multicolor card! The basic effect is Divine magic. If you kick it (pay the kicker cost) then a bit of Red Elemental magic gets mixed in.

Path to Exile: This is a variation of the O-Ring style of Hieromancy.

Pollen Lullaby: I'm not sure about this one, but it might be Hieromancy.

Prison Term: On the other hand, this is 100% Hieromancy.

Return to Dust: Very clearly Divine magic.

Righteous Cause: This is a mix of Hieromancy and Soul magic; it creates rules that cause you to gain life.

Serra Angel: While I have spoken about this before, I'm going to slightly change my previous opinion and say this is pure Divine magic.

Shattered Angel: First created for New Phyrexia, I previously said that this was Hieromancy. That remains largely the same here, but it also has a bit of Soul flavor in it.

Soul Snare: An interesting new spell, I think this is primarily Hieromancy, with a bit of Divine flavor.

Spurnmage Advocate: Despite the abilities cost being a Soul effect, everything else about this card feels like Hieromancy, so that's where I'm placing it.

Storm Herd: While it has some nice synergy with Soul magic, this spell is clearly Hieromancy.

Voice of All: I really don't like the art for this card, especially compared with the rest of the Voices. Despite my feelings on the art, this is a good card and a good example of pure Divine magic.

Vow of Duty: Part of a new cycle, this is pure Hieromancy. The entire cycle has a slight Hieromantic feel to it.

Wall of Omens: A tricky one to place; walls and other creatures with defender are usually Hieromancy or Soul magic, but the overall flavor is Divine. Because of that, I'm placing this as a purely Divine spell.

Windborn Muse: It changes the rules, therefore it must be Hieromancy!