Intorduction

Hello guys! Márcio (@KbolMagic) here to talk about the Bloomburrow set for Limited.

The lore of this set is about tiny creatures, like Rabbits, Mice, Lizards, Weasels, Birds, Otters, Possums, Frogs, Racoons, Bats, and Hamsters. In this article, I will go through the new mechanics introduced in this set, the common cards that I think will be more present in Limited, a ranking of colors and archetypes, and my top 10 strongest cards of this set for Limited.

Mechanics

This set comes with a pack of new abilities, it is a set designed for Standard but it has also a lot of potential for Limited.

Enter

Enter is not much of a new mechanic but a rephrasing of the Enter the Battlefield ability. Enter the Battlefield is a specific trigger condition for triggered abilities of cards that do something when they enter the board.

Historically Enter the Battlefield was always present on magic cards, even having an acronym: ETB. Magic is constantly evolving, and lately, the cards are tending to have more and more text on them. I think that the decision to change the “Enter the Battlefield” text to “Enter” was taken with that in mind.

Offspring

This ability is an additional cost to cast a creature spell, if this additional cost was paid, it creates a 1/1 token that is a copy of that creature when it enters the battlefield. 《Tender Wildguide》 represents very well the Offspring ability, even graphically as his art comes with a little possum baby attached to it. These possums can go wild if left unchecked, getting a +1/+1 counter every turn.

Valiant

This is an ability that triggers when a card with Valiant becomes the target of a spell or ability for the first time each turn. 《Emberheart Challenger》 is a very strong creature with Valiant. It allows you to exile a card from the top of your library and play it until the end of the turn when it becomes the target of a spell or ability for the first time each turn.

Gift

Gift is a mechanic that gives a specific gift that the card is describing to an opponent in order for you to do an extra ability of your card. 《Starfall Invocation》 is a good example of a card with this ability, as you can gift a card to your opponent to return a creature you controlled that was destroyed with it to the battlefield.

Forage

Forage is an extra cost that you can pay by exiling 3 cards from your graveyard or sacrificing a food. 《Feed the Cycle》 is a card that gives you an option of foraging or paying an additional mana to cast the spell.

Expend

Expend functions as a mana expenditure tracker for the current turn, triggering abilities upon reaching predefined mana thresholds solely from casting spells. It disregards mana used for activated abilities or untapped lands. Activation occurs upon reaching the designated cost. 《Bark-Knuckle Boxer》 is a card with Expend 4, and when you spend the fourth mana total to cast spells during the turn it gains indestructible.

Class

The Classes type of cards were already present in previous sets. Just like 《Caretaker’s Talent》, they are enchantments that can level up if they meet the proper condition, becoming stronger while keeping the text from the previous levels.

Top Commons of the Colors

Now that the new mechanics of this set are properly presented, I am going to talk about my favorite commons of each color. While picking cards to build your Limited deck, whether it is on Sealed or Draft, you need to focus on creatures and removal spells, while building a balanced mana curve and prioritizing the synergy of the archetypes.

With that said, don’t overlook common cards, they’re the most plentiful and deserve your full attention.

White

White is strong in this edition, the Offspring ability is very present in this color and I expect it to be one of the best mechanics of the set.

《Banishing Light》 is a card that was first introduced in the Journey into Nyx edition, in Bloomburrow it got downgraded from uncommon to common. It is a premium removal spell, as it removes a permanent card from the game for 3 manas. 《Sonar Strike》 is another removal for White in the common slot. It is usually not as good as 《Banishing Light》, but it might get the job done, especially because there are many tiny creatures in this set.

《Intrepid Rabbit》 is a very solid creature card, for 3 mana it is a 3/2 creature that gives +1/+1 a creature when it enters. The strong point of this common card is when the Offspring cost is paid, it creates a 1/1 copy of it, giving another +1/+1 to target creature.

《Warren Elder》 is one of the common creatures that called my attention the most in this set. This edition is full of tiny cheap creatures and white is full of tokens. A creature that can be used as a mana dump to pump all your creatures seems pretty good to me, especially because the ability can be activated during combat.

《Crumb and Get It》 is a pretty good card especially if you are playing with creatures with Valiant, it is a cheap combat trick for just one mana.

Blue

It was especially hard to make the common list for Blue in this edition. The usual counterspells like 《Dazzling Denial》 are good and playable, but especially because this edition has a bunch of cheap creatures entering early in the game, reactive cards like this might be a bit too slow.

《Finch Formation》 is an interesting creature for Blue, it is far from being the strongest common creature in the set, but Blue usually tries to win the game with evasive creatures, and having the option of getting an extra flier can make this card playable. 《Skyskipper Duo》 is another interesting creature, it can help to blink good creatures with ETB abilities while also being a descent flyer.

《Pearl of Wisdom》 is a good 《Divination》-like card that has a reduced cost if you control an Otter-type creature. It is a decent card, especially if it is cast for a reduced cost.

Black

As usual, Black excels in the amount of removal spells it has available for Limited. 《Savor》 is one of them, the fact that it’s instant means it can be used as a combat trick, and summed up with the fact that the set is filled with little creatures that should be dealt with makes this card great, especially with the forage mechanic.

《Early Winter》 is another removal for Black, it is a bit expensive but it solves pretty much any threat exiling it. 《Nocturnal Hunger》 is another Removal Spell that can deal with pretty much anything, really good card and it is also instant speed. The fact that you lose life here is also relevant to the Bat archetype.

In the creature slot, 《Bonebind Orator》 is a good 2 drop that can give you some extra resources when it is in the graveyard. There are some cards like 《Daggerfang Duo》 that can mill cards in this set, and because of the forage ability. This can be a good addition, especially for the Black-Green and Black-Blue archetypes. 《Glidedive Duo》 is another common creature that caught my attention, a 3/3 flier that has a drain ability that is relevant for both Lizards and Bats archetypes and it has both of these creature types.

Red

《Take Out the Trash》 is one of the best removal spells of the set, the fact that you can cycle a card if you control a raccoon is also pretty relevant for Limited. In the same line, 《Agate Assault》 is also a nice common removal, 4 damage with the versatility of also dealing with artifacts. 《Might of the Meek》 might be a relevant card for the valiant mechanic, making it trigger while redrawing a card.

《Steampath Charger》 is a nice Red creature with Offspring that is pretty good especially in the Lizards archetype because it deals damage directly to the opponent. 《Kindlespark Duo》 is also really good for similar reasons, except you can constantly deal damage to the opponent, a really good common creature for Red. 《Roughshod Duo》 is nice in most Red decks but goes better in the Red-Green Raccoon Archetype.

Green

I liked Green in this edition, it has both some good removal spells and creatures. 《Longstalk Brawl》 is one of the green removal spells, it gives your creature a +1/+1 counter for just one mana, can trigger valiant, this is a pretty strong card. 《Polliwallop》 is another good removal spell, the reduced cost if you control a frog is very relevant if you are in the frog archetype.

《Three Tree Rootweaver》 is a good ramp/fixer creature. This edition is more about small cheap creatures, so ramp spells will be more relevant in strategies like Red-Green that are trying to go a bit over the top with bigger spells. I like 《Bakersbane Duo》 and it is a really important card for the forage mechanic. 《Treeguard Duo》 is very interesting, especially if paired with creatures that have trample and go-wide strategies.

Color Ranking

In this section, I will rank the colors of this set in the order of my favorite to the least favorite ones. Overall I think the colors of this edition are pretty balanced.

White wins the first spot for me but it is a close call. The fact that it has really good removal spells and pairs well with other colors, summed up with the good quality of creatures, makes me want to play this color the most.

Green for me has the biggest range of creatures, making it good in both go-wide or go-big strategies, good enough for the second spot.

Black pairs up really well with other colors, the removal spells here are really good and cheap. Red takes the fourth spot, The quality of the common cards here added up with the versatility of the removal spells, makes Red a good color to play in aggressive strategies.

Blue for sure disappoints a bit in the common cards for this edition, picking up the last position of the list. If you would also take into consideration the uncommons, this position might change since it has pretty decent cards for this slot.

Archetype Analysis and Ranking

Bloomburrow archetypes are all about the tribes of the little creatures presented in this set. In this section I will analyze the archetypes for limited and talk a little bit about their gameplans and also rank them in the order of my favorite archetype to least favorite archetype according to my first impression of the set.

#1 GW Rabbitfolk

This archetype is trying to swarm the table with as many creatures as possible. It does so, by generating tokens, taking advantage not only of the Offspring mechanic but also from cards like 《Head of the Homestead》.

《Burrowguard Mentor》 is the card to represent this archetype, becoming a large creature with trample if you control many creatures. 《Finneas, Ace Archer》 is also a card you are looking for if you are playing this archetype, making it possible for rabbit creatures and tokens to become bigger when it attacks.

#2 BG Squirrelfolk

This archetype is all about resource management. It uses a bunch of the forage mechanic to extract card advantage from your food and graveyard. It is a mid-to late-game archetype and cards like 《Vinereap Mentor》, 《Feed the Cycle》, and 《Camellia, the Seedmiser》 are what you are looking for when playing these colors. I expect BG to be good against the more aggressive strategies with tough creatures and cheap removal spells and some food to possibly gain the extra life you need to reach the late game.

#3 RW Mousefolk

I think this is one of the most aggressive strategies for Limited in this edition. Red-White is trying to finish the game as fast as possible with cards like 《Mabel, Heir to Cragflame》, while also taking advantage of the Valiant ability with 《Seedglaive Mentor》 and 《Veteran Guardmouse》. I expect that these fast aggressive strategies will do well in this set.

#4 BR Lizardfolk

Together with the mousefolk, Black-Red Lizards is an aggressive archetype. It is focused on the early to mid game and tries to gain some advantage from abilities that trigger if an opponent loses life during the turn. Cards like 《Fireglass Mentor》, 《Thought-Stalker Warlock》 and 《Gev, Scaled Scorch》 are what you are looking for when playing these colors.

#5 WB Batfolk

White-Black Bats is all about you gaining life or the opponent losing life in a turn. It is full of cards that trigger some ability if this condition is achieved in your turn. Cards like 《Zoraline, Cosmos Caller》 and 《Moonrise Cleric》 can assist in being able to trigger the abilities of other important cards of this archetype, like 《Starseer Mentor》.

#6 RG Raccoonfolk

Raccoons are trying to be the big creatures in this set. The mechanic that represents this archetype the best is Expend, as we can see in 《Muerra, Trash Tactician》 and 《Wandertale Mentor》. Cards like 《Hugs, Grisly Guardian》 are some bombs you will be looking for when playing this archetype.

#7 GU Frogfolk

Green-Blue Frogs are trying to take advantage of the enter ability of your creature cards, like 《Pond Prophet》, so you can “Blink” and return these creatures to the board again for another enter trigger. 《Clement, the Worrywort》 and 《Lilysplash Mentor》 are cards that can help you to make your creatures re-enter the battlefield.

#8 WU Birdfolk

Flyers and other evasive creatures are usually a really good strategy for Limited as they can overcome a board stall situation. Nevertheless, the Bird archetype is not one of my favorites in Bloomburrow, I don’t see much synergy in cards like 《Plumecreed Mentor》 that can only give counters to creatures without flying when I’m trying to fill my deck with a bunch of flying bird creatures.

Apart from that, flyers are still a strong and valid strategy in most Limited sets, and Bird cards like 《Kastral, the Windcrested》 and 《Salvation Swan》 can still make this archetype a viable option for draft and sealed.

#9 UB Ratfolk

Rats in this edition are trying to get 7 or more cards in the graveyard, so they can achieve the Threshold. Cards like 《Tidecaller Mentor》 and 《Mindwhisker》 are cards that will take advantage of this mechanic. 《Vren, the Relentless》 is a good reason for you to play this archetype if you manage to get your hands on one of these.

#10 UR Otterfolk

Blue-Red Otterfolk is trying to cast noncreature spells to make cards like 《Stormcatch Mentor》, 《Tempest Angler》, and 《Alania, Divergent Storm》 more powerful. This archetype is not one of my favorites of this edition but can be viable with careful deckbuilding.

Top 10 Most Powerful Cards

#10 《Innkeeper’s Talent》

This card reminds me a lot of 《Ozolith, the Shattered Spire》, from the March of the Machine set. I think just like that card was a powerhouse in that set, this card will have the possibility to go out of control really quickly.

#9 《Valley Rotcaller》

This card goes well with all the archetypes that pair up with black. The fact that it has Menace makes it easier to attack, the drain life ability is especially good for the Batfolk and Lizardfolk archetypes. 《Valley Rotcaller》 can go really out of control if you manage to keep attacking with it.

#8 《Valley Questcaller》

This is the lord of a bunch of creatures in this set. It is really strong and goes really well with all the archetypes that use White as one of its colors. Besides making all the creatures strong, the Scry ability can also be very relevant for card selection.

#7 《Starfall Invocation》

A Sweeper for 5 mana is enough to change the tides of a game, this one lets you bring back a creature you controlled that was destroyed this way by gifting your opponent a card.

#6 《Dragonhawk, Fate’s Tempest》

A 5 mana 5/5 flying creature that allows you to exile cards from your library and deals 2 damage for each card exiled by the end of the turn is a very powerful card.

#5 《Season of Loss》

The Season card cycle of this set gives you 5 “Pawprints”. This is a representation of the amount of points that you can spend the way you like as you resolve these cards. The fact that you can play this card as a “Wrath Effect” makes it great. Also the versatility of choosing what to do with the other modes, drawing cards, or making your opponent lose life makes this card great.

#4 《Season of the Burrow》

For me this is the best Season card for Limited, you can make 5 Rabbits or get an indestructible permanent and Rabbits, or exile a creature and get Rabbits, or get an indestructible permanent and exile a creature. The bottom line is this card is strong any way you choose to play it.

#3 《Warren Warleader》

In the go-wide strategies, this card is a must-play. The Offspring token here is really relevant as it has the same ability of 《Warren Warleader》 as it attacks. But if cast only for 4 mana, giving all your creatures +1/+1 or making a token is really strong anyway.

#2 《Maha, Its Feathers Night》

A really strong flying creature for 5 mana, the fact that it makes the toughness of all your opponent’s creatures 1 makes any combat a win or a trade. Be aware that you can play it post-combat so that you can do some kind of attack with your smaller creatures and just kill opponents’ damaged creatures when you play 《Maha, Its Feathers Night》 in your second main phase. The Trample and Ward ability are just extras that make this card even stronger.

#1 《Sword of Fire and Ice》

Much like in the MH3 play boosters, the play boosters of Bloomburrow can have Special Guest cards. There is a 1.5% chance that a card from The List will appear in place of one common, and in the case of Bloomburrow, that consists of a Special Guest card. There is a total of 10 Special Guest cards in Bloomburrow and one of them is 《Sword of Fire and Ice》. This is a very powerful card for Limited and it can be played in any color combination that you are in. If you have a chance to Draft or put one of these in your Sealed deck you must do so.

Conclusions

Bloomburrow is a set that is full of flavor. The themes of the recent standard sets have been very different from each other lately, and I think a great part of the merit goes to the design team for these sets, which is doing a good job of making them so unique. The pace of the format seems to be pretty fast, and the amount of strong creatures can build up to very aggressive strategies. I would prioritize synergy over the raw power level of cards, as I think synergic decks will be the way to succeed in this edition.

With that said, Bloomburrow is a one-of-a-kind set, kindred themes have always been a part of magic history, and all these new kindred archetypes of this format are a good shift and a breath of fresh air from the usual elves and goblins. I hope that with this article I could help you to understand a little bit of this edition. I can’t wait to play more of it and dive deeper into the archetypes in the upcoming weeks. See you guys next time!

Marcio Carvalho (X)