During the Housewarden meeting of Book 2 Crowley emphasizes how Savanaclaw’s losses of the past two years—the two years since Leona became Housewarden—are negatively affecting the futures of its students.
There is a fan theory that Crowley intentionally put Savanaclaw against Diasomnia in the first round of the tournament two years in a row in order to lay the groundwork for Leona’s overblot. Leona asks Crowley what his intentions are and Vil seems suspicious of Crowley’s plan to retire Malleus (“It reeks of some kind of unconscious bias on your part”).
Savanclaw is not put against until the final round in Book 2, in contrast to previous years, resulting in Leona and his team taking “a beating from every other dorm on the way to the finals.”
While this fan theory has yet to be proven or disproven in game, there is precedent for Crowley manipulating Leona through his concern for his dorm’s students: it is how Crowley forces Leona’s participation in the Fairy Gala event, saying, “Savanaclaw has many beastman students, and I imagine that temperature changes do them no favors. They’d have trouble staying active. Your dorm’s performance and energy would plummet drastically. Are you willing to accept that risk?”
Ace realizes during Halloween that Leona “actually look(s) out for (his) people,” which Leona also says to Malleus: “I like to think I look out for my guys.”
Savanaclaw’s students being ignored by pro league recruiters ever since he became Housewarden (as a result of being put up against Diasomnia in the first round, twice) is the motivation behind Leona’s plans to take out Malleus in Book 2, which Ace catches onto immediately: “How well they do at the Spelldrive tournament could make or break their careers. If that’s their motive, well, it isn’t hard to understand where they’re comin’ from.”
Leona says that “when someone comes in clutch (during a spelldrive match), they get time in the spotlight, and they can make a name for themselves even outside of our school. The school’s support for spelldrive can sometimes be reflected in students’ grades, too. Each individual victory carries more weight for our club than for others.”
Jack acknowledges that the past two years of the tournament have been the dorm’s greatest moments of shame, broadcast to the whole world in real time when they were knocked out without scoring a single point, by Malleus: “The older dorm members won’t ever forgive that.”
When asked what he wants to do in the next year Leona says, “Level up the spelldrive team and win the national championship,” and Cater responds, “it’s supposed to be what YOU want…”
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 