Strixhaven stands apart from other Magic: The Gathering settings because of how it frames conflict through education, rivalry, and magical philosophy rather than pure warfare
We were trying to find a way to capture the concept of evolution through a mechanic, so we wrote down all the things we felt we needed to do that: A transformation A connection between the before and after A sense of an upgrade Improvement over time We then explored all the mechanics that played in this space: champion, monstrous, transform, threshold, level-up, etc
And then, in secret, another card was printed to rule all of these
Theres some silliness to be had here
This is the opposite sort of narrow to Wring Flesh and Borrowed Malevolence in that you generally don't want creatures
All my nonartifact creatures get +2/+2 as long as they share a color