I have a confession: after Bloomburrow was announced, it took me roughly five seconds to decide that it probably wasn’t going to be my favorite set - and I’m underselling what I really felt. See, what I love in Magic lore are the Phyrexians and the Eldrazi and Nicol Bolas. The cutesy forest animals of Bloomburrow are a very very very far cry from that.

Here’s a second confession: after the Bloomburrow debut stream, it took me roughly five seconds to fall completely in love with the plane. It turns out I’m not immune to the wide-eyed charms of brave little mice and rabbits and frogs, and witnessing them stand bravely in defiance of monstrous beasts while protecting their cowering children - well, it woke something inside of me. It’s hard to articulate exactly what; perhaps a sense of nostalgia for a time when it was easy to believe in honesty and heroism and the idea that courage was all that was required to ensure that everything turned out all right in the end.

Oh, and the set mechanics looked like hilariously good fun. Let’s dive in and see!

Mechanics and Themes

Typal

This is one that will stick out to many players: BLB has many elements of a typal set. We’ll go into the specifics in the Archetype section, but for now just know that each color pair focuses on a specific animal, and there are many many many cards that encourage you to focus on one specific animal type. For example, Harvestrite Host  is a Rabbit that clearly benefits from putting lots of other Rabbits into your deck.

Wizards has added a few cards to make the typal theme feel less restrictive. Barkform Harvester is one of two artifact creatures that has the Changeling keyword, giving it all creature types. In addition, there is a cycle of “Duo” cards that represent creatures that have teamed up, thus giving the card two creature types. Glivedive Duo is a good example: a Bat/Lizard whose “enters the battlefield” ability also makes it effective in the different animal archetypes (as we’ll see below).

Note that although there are strong typal themes in BLB, it is not expected that a player simply draft all of one creature type before calling it a day. Each of the ten major animal types have a mechanical theme, and that’s what you’ll really want to focus on.

Expend 4

Expend 4 (in BLB it’s always 4) is an ability that triggers whenever you spend your 4th mana on a spell in a turn. The results are many and varied: Brambleguard Veteran turns your Raccoons into a vigilant fighting force, while Teapot Slinger simply scalds your opponent’s face. The upshot is that Expend is an aggressive-leaning mechanic that encourages players to cast their spells.

There are two additional details to keep in mind. The first is that Expend will only trigger once per turn; if you have a creature with Expend 4 and trigger it by spending your 4th mana in a turn, you won’t trigger it again when you spend your 8th. The second is that Expend can also trigger on your opponent’s turn if you have instants or spells with flash, making it a good way to startle an overzealous foe.

Unsurprisingly, Expend cards are found in the beatdown colors of Red and Green.

Forage

Fairy tale animals are often beset by the need to find enough food to survive the onset of winter, and this mechanic is represented by Forage. Spells with Forage allow you to either sacrifice a Food or exile three cards from your graveyard when you cast them. What do you get in return? Often the answer is value, as with Treetop Sentries and its card draw. Alternatively, Feed the Cycle grants you a reduced mana cost if you Forage. Whatever the effect, remember that it takes time to build up the resources needed to Forage - but the rewards will often be great.

Forage cards are found in Black and Green.

Gift

BLB is a happy place, so why not Gift your opponent a present so that everyone feels warm and happy? Gift is an optional cost the caster of a spell may declare. If they do, then the spell gains the additional effect: for instance a card or a Treasure or a, uh, fish. Why would you want to Gift your opponent these things, however? Because the effect of the spell will change depending on whether or not a Gift was given. With Gift spells, you’ll often have to balance the value of the added effect against the value of the present you’re giving to your opponent. With Mind Spiral, is it a beneficial trade to give your opponent a fish in return for stunning their best creature? Is using Dewdrop Cure to reanimate three cheap creatures instead of two worth the risk of your opponent drawing a powerful card? These are interesting questions that ask a player to weigh their natural optimism or pessimism against what’s likely to actually happen

 Or just play Jolly Gerbils and be repaid for all the Gifts that you throw around.

Gift cards are scattered throughout all five colors.

Offspring

Cute little animals often have cuter littler baby animals in tow, and you’ll witness that phenomenon in BLB as well. When you cast a creature with Offspring, you’ll have the option to pay two extra mana. If you do, then the creature enters the battlefield with a baby token version of itself that’s exactly the same - except it’s a 1/1. The obvious benefit: you get two creatures for the price of one card! For aggressive decks, this often means an extra attacker that has some sort of benefit: Flowerfoot Swordmaster is a good example. Other Offspring creatures such as Coruscation Mage have passive abilities that work well when doubled.

You’ll find creatures with Offspring across all five colors.

Threshold

A card with Threshold gains a buff if you have seven or more cards in your graveyard. These buffs can range from Nightwhorl’s Hermit’s unblockable attacks to Persistent Marshstalker’s annoying recursion. Notably, both creatures have their uses even before Threshold is met: one is an excellent defensive body while the other is a cheap attacker that an opponent needs to take down. That’s good, because dumping seven cards into your graveyard is not trivial to do - although BLB has a fair number of cards that make the task far easier.

Threshold cards are found in Blue and Black.

Valiant

Here comes the bravery! Creatures with Valiant have a beneficial effect that triggers the first time you target it with a spell or ability you control.  Note the use of the word “first”: you won’t be able to trigger a creature’s Valiant effect more than once a turn (although you will be able to trigger it once on your opponent’s turn as well). But the effects can be pretty great, ranging from Heartfire Hero‘s buff to Mouse Trapper’s tap ability.

How do you trigger Valiant? One-off spells work, and a Valiant deck is likely to have its fair share of instant pump spells. Better yet are permanents that can target your Valiant creatures turn after turn. The best of these? Believe it or not it’s Short Bow. Remember: equipping a creature counts as targeting it, which means Short Bow allows you to trigger a whole mess of Valiant abilities on your turn for the measly cost of one mana.

Valiant creatures are found in Red and White.

Class Enchantments

Class enchantments make a return! These enchantments have a fun frame and effects that grow stronger as you spend more mana into them. When should you do so? Why, whenever it makes sense to: perhaps you need a Class’s benefit on a specific turn, or perhaps you just have nothing else to spend your mana on. I’ll note that Gossip’s Talent provides valuable utility from the start, while Bandit’s Talent doesn’t feel all that strong until it’s fully powered up. Regardless, there’s a lot of  flexibility with Class enchantments, and that’s what makes them so very very strong.

Each color has one uncommon and one rare Class enchantment.

Archetypes

There are ten signature uncommon “Mentor” creatures representing all ten two-color archetypes. There’s also a cycle of ten hybrid uncommons that can slot into multiple archetypes, but which excel in their own two-color strategy. Let’s take a look at all of these cards!

White / Blue: Teamwork Flyers ( Birds )

Teamwork makes the dream work, or that annoying saying fittingly matches the theme of the White/Blue archetype that famously annoys opponents unprepared for it: flyers! Except instead of drafting a deck full of creatures with the appropriate keyword, the BLB archetype explicitly asks you to mix it up with earthbound creatures as well. Both Plumecreed Mentor and Seedpod Squire exemplify this idea: they’re flying creatures that buff their non-flying counterparts, thereby creating a two pronged attack force that can divide an opponent’s answers and leave them reeling. Of course any “A + B” strategy runs the risk of drawing the wrong combination of cards, so it’s important to have solutions in case you’re stuck with a board full of non-flyers. Feather of Flight is a nice little aura cantrip that lets a creature soar, and Waterspout Warden crosses the boundary between flyers and non-flyers by being both.

White / Black: Self-Life Change ( Bats )

It’s normal to expect your life total to ebb and flow over the course of a game; less normal to deliberately have it ebb and flow on your own turn due to effects under your control. Read Starseer Mentor however, and you’ll see that the rewards can be great: in this particular creature’s case, a slow but steady downward pressure on your opponent’s resources and life total. But Starseer Mentor won’t trigger that self-life change on its on. In order to accomplish that you’ll want creatures like Moonrise Cleric or Lifecreed Duo to provide a slow but steady drip of life. And if all this incremental life change isn’t fast enough to win you the game, play Moonstone Harbinger and quicken your clock considerably.

Blue / Black: Threshold ( Rats )

Oh rats - there’s a control archetype in BLB. Threshold may not naturally associate itself with a control deck, but it’s a mechanic that requires time to achieve, and if you want that time then you’ll likely need to pack your deck with counterspells and removal. The rewards are great however. Tidecaller Mentor goes from a reasonably priced creature with menace to one with considerable upside in the form of a bounce ability. Mind Drill Assailant and Mindwhisker are effective on a different axis: creatures that can dump things into your graveyard early that gain powerful effects once you achieve Threshold. And don’t forget that non-Threshold spells can be effective in this strategy as well - just read at Huskburster Swarm and giggle at the thought of casting it for a single mana.

Blue / Red: Non-Creature Spells ( Otters )

If you’ve played other Magic Limited formats, then you’ve almost definitely seen this archetype before: Blue/Red non-creature spells. The question becomes whether the archetype encourages a player to play fast or slow, and Stormcatch Mentor answers that question: a two drop creature with haste and prowess and an added ability that lets you cast your instants and sorceries as fast as you can. Tempest Angler goes hard in a different way, with a prowess-plus ability that adds permanent +1/+1 counters to the creature. And if you find yourself stymied in combat, Kindlespark Duo will give you another way to ping your opponent to death. Note that strategies like this often run into difficulties balancing creature and non-creature spells, so look for cards like Otterball Antics that provide both.

Black / Red: Opponents Lose Life ( Lizards )

These vicious lizards care about one thing only, and that’s making their opponents lose life.  If they do, then a variety of bonuses will become active. Fireglass Mentor gives you a powerful temporary draw effect that helps fuel an aggressive deck. Cindering Cutthroat gets just a little bigger if you cast it after your opponent bleeds, and its activated ability makes it easier for it to hit your opponent. It helps to have more consistent ways of hurting your opponent, and Agate-Blade Assassin is awesome at being a survivable two-drop that does exactly that. You’ll probably want to go bigger eventually however, and Frilled Sparkshooter is a very attractive option: four mana for (hopefully) four power and menace is a heck of a deal.

Black / Green: Forage ( Squirrels )

Nature and greed collide in a swarm of squirrels, Foraging their way into victory. Vinereap Mentor is an excellent enabler, a single card that allows you to Forage two and a third times (as it gives you a Food when it enters the battlefield, and a Food and a card in the graveyard when it dies). But what’s the payoff? Corpseberry Cultivator is one: a creature that grows bigger each time you Forage, that also lets you Forage at will once per turn. Bonecache Overseer is another subtle payoff that essentially lets you draw a card every time you Forage. You’ll also want creatures like Bushy Bodyguard which work in the early game (two mana for a 2/1) or the late (four mana for seven power across two bodies).

Red / White: Valiant ( Mice )

The heroes of the BLB story have a fitting theme with Valiant. Both Seedglaive Mentor and Veteran Guardmouse are powerful attacking creatures that become even stronger if you activate their Valiant abilities. The hard part is figuring out how to do so consistently, and for that you’ll want creatures like Brambleguard Veteran and Brave-Kin Duo, which have abilities that allow you to trigger Valiant once each turn. Do that, and your mice will swarm over any opponent foolish enough to stand in your way!

Red / Green: Expend 4 ( Raccoons )

Expend is fundamentally an aggressive mechanic that encourages you to spend mana, and Wandertale Mentor encapsulates that idea perfectly with a two drop that both taps for mana (allowing you to Expend 4 on turn 3) while also growing bigger to become a scary threat in the late game. Junkblade Bruiser is a good part of the late game as well as an offensive trampler that can grow scarily strong. This archetype may look straightforward; however there are a few subtleties. Brazen Collector is an incredible two drop that not only wins early combat; it also enables Expend 4 as soon as turn 3. And with all the cards flying out of your hand, you’ll likely want a way to get them back. Peerless Recycling is a great way to do so, giving you plenty of fuel for all your Expend 4 needs.

Green / White: Go-Wide ( Rabbits )

A straightforward strategy sometimes leads you straight to victory. Burrowguard Mentor is an almost laughable 1/1 on turn 2. But build out a board chock full of creatures, and it’ll trample over defenders and destroy your opponent’s life total. Playing one creature a turn may not feel fast enough though, which is why a 3-in-1 creature like Head of the Homestead is so appealing. You’ll also want to apply consistent pressure to keep your opponent off-balance and prevent them from stabilizing. Both Treeguard Duo and Intrepid Rabbit give nice temporary buffs that make it easier to attack while also expanding your board, ensuring a constant stream of rabbits that will doubtlessly overwhelm the opposition.

Green / Blue: “Enters the Battlefield” Value ( Frogs )

It’s always nice when the Green/Blue archetype feels new, and that’s certainly the case in BLB. Flicker or bounce (get it?) your own creatures, and let the sweet sweet value carry you to victory. Lilysplash Mentor and Pond Prophet are an obvious pair that work well to achieve this. You’ll want other ways to blink your creatures, and Splash Portal is an incredible way to do this: a cheap sorcery that gets you additional “enters the battlefield” value while also drawing you a card. You’ll also creatures whose text boxes make them ideal to flicker or bounce - but there are a ton of creatures like that in BLB, and I don’t think it’ll be hard to pick up a fair amount. More unique is Three Tree Scribe, which provides a nice payoff whenever any of your creatures safely leaves the battlefield (or is sadly exiled). Grinding out this value may take a while, but if you survive to the late game you’ll likely have victory well in hand.

Key Commons and Uncommons

White

Creatures

Brightblade Stoat: This two drop isn’t an obvious fit for any of the White archetypes. But it’s a good early non-flyer for White/Blue, an effective life changer for White/Black, and a nice creature to buff in Red/White and Red/Green. It fits into any White deck, and that makes it a very safe card to take.

Diftgloom Coyote: Creatures that are also removal spells are great (even if the effect ends up being temporary).

Star Charter: Okay, maybe this is only really good in a White/Black life change deck. But its effect is so advantageous that I’d at least consider the option of trying to make it work in any of the other White archetypes.

Non-Creatures

Banishing Light: Kids, once upon a time this card used to be an uncommon.

Crumb and Get It: A cheap but significant combat trick often feels like removal, and it’s great that this comes with the option to save your creature in return for a single measly Food.

Sonar Strike: Conditional removal spells like this aren’t always great. But this one matches so many conditions that I’m sure you’ll find a use for it somehow.

Blue

Creatures

Daring Waverider: This otter is having the time of their life, and you will too when you recast a removal or card draw spell for free.

Long River Lurker: This card is actually only really good if you have creatures with enter-the-battlefield effects. But there are a large number of those in BLB, which makes me believe that this card is… really good. And hey, worst case you might just win a game with an unblockable attacker.

Splash Lasher: Not only do you stun one of your opponent’s creatures with four mana (or two of them with six), you get a creature (or two) to boot. However the numbers work out, you’re likely to make life very inconvenient for your opponent, and perhaps fatally so.

Non-Creatures

Dire Downdraft: Three (or four) mana to not permanently remove an opponent’s creature feels pretty meh. But this spell isn’t card disadvantage - and I do think that BLB will have a fair amount of aggression and tokens, and this spell may be just what a Blue deck needs to survive to the late game.

Shore Up: This reprint remains a deceptively powerful instant. Remember: if you use one mana to neuter an opponent’s expensive removal spell (or snipe their expensive creature), then you are way ahead in mana efficiency.

Sugar Coat: It’s a shame to kill all those adorable little animals; let’s just turn them into cookies instead (and see if your opponent is cruel enough to eat their own cuties).

Black

Creatures

Bonebind Orator: Another two drop with really good utility if it dies (or if you mill it).

Thought-Stalker Warlock: Thoughtseize on a cheap menace creature is honestly kind of amazing. This works both as the top end of an aggressive Red/Black deck, or as a way for a more controlling Black deck to pick apart an opponent’s options.

Wick’s Patrol: This rat is on the expensive side of things, but its value is great: a little self-mill to power Threshold or Forage, a little -X/-X effect to snipe an opponent’s creature.

Non-Creatures

Feed the Cycle: Kids, once upon a time Murder was considered a premium removal spell. Now it needs to have upside, which is exactly what this card has.

Hazel’s Nocturne: Black has a ton of good removal, but sometimes you’ll also want some card advantage - and here’s one such card! This spell is even better in self-mill decks where you can treat your graveyard as a secondary library.

Nocturnal Hunger: See the very funny comment for Feed the Cycle above.

Red

Creatures

Quaketusk Boar: Sometimes you just need some strong aggressive keywords.

Reptilian Recruiter: Threaten effects can feel sub-optimal because they don’t play to the board. Well, this one does, and acts as a great top end for any aggressive Red deck.

Roughshod Duo: I do believe that a lot of Red decks will appreciate ways to push through combat damage, and a creature that can give other creatures trample does exactly that.

Non-Creatures

Might of the Meek: This card is obviously better in a Mouse-focused deck, but I suspect an instant-speed cantrip that also gives a creature trample has its place in a variety of Red deck.s

Rabid Gnaw: An instant speed punch is already good; this one also triggers Valiant and will probably end more than a few games.

Take Out the Trash: This isn’t the first time you’ve seen a two mana Red instant that deals three damage to a creature. Yeah, it still works.

Green

Creatures

Clifftop Lookout: Have you ever had to choose between casting a ramp spell and playing a creature to the board? Well, turns out the answer was a Frog all along.

Curious Forager: You’ll likely not want to play this on turn 3. You’ll want to play it later, get back an amazing card, and watch your opponent’s face crumble as you buy back the card that will kill them.

Galewind Moose: Colossal Dreadmaw didn’t just get outclassed; it got obliterated. Hold up Moose Mana and watch your opponent whimper in fear as they try to work up the courage to attack. And then win the game with a 6/6 trampler with vigilance and reach. Seriously, what is this creature?

Non-Creatures

Hunter’s Talent: Oh, it’s just an early removal spell that turns into an attacking buff and then a card advantage engine. I suppose that’s fine.

Overprotect: Combat tricks aren’t always great, but one that can negate an opponent’s removal effect or win you the game out of nowhere - well, those are pretty great.

Polliwallop: This card is considerably more expensive than typical punch effects. But it’s cheaper if you control Frogs, and being able to do twice your creature’s power in damage means that you’ll be able to take

Other Cards to Know

Mana Fixing

The mana fixing in BLB is… okay. A lot of the colorless options are slow, meaning I would recommend staying away from decks that are 3+ colors (unless you find an off-color bomb or really need to splash interaction.

Patchwork Banner: This artifact’s anthem effect means I’d consider playing it even if I didn’t need the fixing.

Naturally, Green has additional options - although not as many as usual.

This Section Will Save Your Life

Here are the common and uncommon creatures with Reach:

Clifftop Lookout: I guess this frog can jump pretty high.

Galewind Moose: I guess this… moose… can jump pretty high as well.

Treetop Sentries: The squirrels where I live already hunt down chicken wings, so seeing squirrels with bows and arrows makes me very uncomfortable.

Summation

Here’s what I’d keep in mind about Bloomburrow:

BLB has typal themes. However, it is not a full typal set. If you pick a creature and just take every card that mentions that type - well, I’m sure your deck will be okay. But if you want greatness, you’ll need to look beyond the creature types and recognize the archetype your deck wants to emphasize.

This set isn’t one that encourages splashing (although it’s not hard to do if you know what to look for and prioritize). Be that as it may, it is a set that encourages animal splashing. An aggressive Red/White mouse deck will benefit from the token makers found with White rabbits. Similarly, a Black/Green squirrel deck that likes to throw things in the graveyard can take advantage of Black rat cards with Threshold.

The overall sizing of creatures skews on the lower end of things. Little combat tricks will make a big difference during a fight, but if you really want to break a potential board stall you’ll want to really overload on your archetype’s mechanics and strategy.

There are a ton of ways to activate each archetype’s synergies. The key will be to find the most efficient ones, and in BLB that often means creatures that allow you to repeatedly activate your synergies.

Good luck!