A Guide to the Five Schools of Magic

Every decision in Petty Wizards eventually comes back to the magic schools. Which Grimoires are you chasing? Which spells are your opponents likely holding? What does the board look like for each school’s set?

This guide breaks down all five schools — Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Wild — their strategic identities, and how to think about targeting each one. Whether you’re playing a new game or trying to read your opponents, understanding the schools is fundamental to playing well.

Earth — Steady and Controlled

Set size: 2 Grimoires. Earth has the smallest set in the game, which makes it the fastest to complete — but completing one set of 2 only gets you halfway to the win condition. You’ll need a second complete set from another school.

Earth spells tend toward resource control: effects that slow opponents down, force discards, or generate attrition over time. Earth isn’t the school you choose for high-burst damage. It’s the school you choose when you want to lock the game into a pace that favors you.

Best paired with: Air or Water. Earth completes quickly, and pairing it with a larger school gives you a strong one-two punch. Complete the Earth Grimoire set early, then grind toward the second set with a more established collection.

Threat level for opponents: Low until suddenly high. A player sitting on an Earth Grimoire set with half a Water set is dangerously close to winning. Don’t ignore the Earth collector.

Water — Adaptive and Efficient

Set size: 3 Grimoires. Water sits in the middle of the difficulty range for collection. Not as fast as Earth, not as demanding as Air.

Water spells focus on efficiency and counterplay. Effects that recover lost Mana, redirect damage, or punish opponents for overcommitting. Playing a Water-focused build rewards players who are patient and willing to respond rather than lead.

Water has natural synergy with the instant system. Because Water prioritizes reactive play, a Water deck often has room in hand for Counterspell or Dispel Magic. This makes Water players harder to target — they can punish aggressive plays before they land.

Best paired with: Earth (for a fast secondary set) or Fire (for threat diversity). A Water/Fire pairing is dangerous because you offer both sustained pressure and reactive defense.

Threat level: Persistent. Water players rarely spike into obvious danger — they accumulate advantage quietly. Watch them carefully.

Fire — Aggressive and Punishing

Set size: 3 Grimoires. Fire is the most aggressive school in Petty Wizards. Fire spells deal heavy Mana Burn, and Fire players are incentivized to keep pressing opponents into sacrifice territory.

The downside: Fire is loud. Once you’re identified as the Fire player, everyone at the table knows you’re the damage threat. Expect to be the first target for Counterspells and for aggressive opponents to try to eliminate you before your board state becomes dominant.

Fire players win by being faster than the defensive response. If you can burn two players’ Mana Shields down before anyone can stabilize, you create a chaotic board state where everyone is scrambling — and chaos often benefits the aggressor.

Best paired with: Earth (quick second set) or Wild (unpredictability to cover the aggression). Fire/Earth is a classic aggressive build: complete Earth fast, burn everyone down, win on attrition before anyone can stop you.

Threat level: Immediately high. Don’t let a Fire player accumulate Grimoires unchecked — they get harder to stop the longer they develop.

Air — Fast and Disruptive

Set size: 4 Grimoires. Air has the largest set in the game. Completing an Air Grimoire set is the most demanding collection challenge — but it also puts you tantalizingly close to a winning board once completed.

Air spells focus on speed and disruption: card draw effects, bypassing defenses, forcing opponents to respond to threats they weren’t prepared for. Air creates card advantage, which means Air players often have more options each turn than their rivals.

The challenge with Air is patience. You need four Grimoires before the set completes, and three of those four don’t contribute to your win condition at all. If you’re chasing Air as your primary win set, opponents who notice this will target the Air Grimoires in your Play Area specifically.

Best paired with: Earth (fastest secondary) or Water (for defensive backup during the slow Air accumulation). Earth/Air is a high-commitment build that, if it comes together, can be decisive — but it’s also high risk if opponents focus on disrupting the Air collection.

Threat level: Slow build, then decisive. An Air player with 3 of 4 Grimoires is a crisis — every opponent should be targeting them. If they collect that fourth, they likely win very shortly after.

Wild — Chaotic and Unpredictable

Set size: 1 Grimoire. Wild is unlike any other school. The Wild Grimoire is a single-card set — it completes the moment you play it. But one completed set on its own wins you nothing; you still need a second full set from another school.

Wild spells are defined by their randomness. The flagship Wild spell — Chaos Bolt — lets you pick the school of magic it becomes, turning it into any school’s effect at cast time. This flexibility is powerful but requires reading the board accurately: Chaos Bolt that becomes Fire burn in the wrong situation is wasted potential.

Playing Wild successfully means playing unpredictably. Wild cards are difficult to counter because opponents can’t predict what you’ll do with them. This psychological element — the uncertainty — is part of Wild’s value. A Wild player with two Chaos Bolts in hand is a threat to any player at any time.

Best paired with: Any school, but Fire especially. Wild/Fire gives you both the fastest Grimoire set completion (Wild = 1, Fire = 3) and the highest burst damage potential in the game. The combination is volatile but when it works, it ends games quickly.

Threat level: Wildly variable (pun intended). A Wild player is always potentially dangerous because you can’t read their hand. Take them seriously regardless of their board position.

How to Read the Table

Once you understand the schools, you can start reading your opponents. Watch what Grimoires they play to their area — that tells you which sets they’re building toward. Watch the spell school combinations that come off the discard pile — those hint at what spells remain in the deck.

If an opponent is two Grimoires away from completing Air and nobody else is close to winning, they’re the threat that needs to be addressed. If someone completes their Earth set quietly while you’re fighting with another player, you may have given them a free first set.