Bloomburrow Commander Set Review

It’s Bloomburrow Commander Set Review time, baby!

If you love all things fauna, with lashings of Beatrix Potter and Redwall homage, then Bloomburrow is for you.

You can find other recent Commander set reviews here:

• Assassin’s Creed
• Modern Horizons 3
• Thunder Junction
• Karlov Manor
• Lost Caverns of Ixalan

Like usual, we’re not concerned with niche picks for typal decks. We’re analyzing how good these cards are more broadly, for brewing and collecting. Let’s get right into it. 

BLOOMBURROW: WHITE

I’m going to start off this review with some authenticity: I don’t think Beza is very good. Most of the time when you play Battle Angels of Tyr, it’s for token/myriad/angel synergies, and you have to be happy with a four mana 4/4 Flying with Myriad. Beza also costs four, and is a vanilla 4/5.

From one White card I’m down on to another that I love a lot: Caretaker’s Talent. White has some great card draw these days, and this Class adds a lot of value by giving you a one mana effect to copy a token you control, and then a nice anthem to try and end the game. There’s nothing bad to say about it. Stellar. 

Another cracking white card is Dawn’s Truce, the White Heroic Intervention. Yes, you do need to give a card to get the indestructible, but really, the hexproof is what you play the card for these days. The fact it can give us hexproof as well as our board will come in clutch. Competes with phasing cards for sure.

Essence Channeler is making me wanna build Ayli again, which is not what I need right now. It might be what you need, though. This might end up outperforming Voice of the Blessed. 

Jackdaw Savior is like Orah, which cares about Clerics, but instead it cares about flyers. It’s also one mana cheaper, and probably more flexible when it comes to the makeup of your deck. If it wasn’t clear… I’m into it.

The white season is mayonnaise is pretty flexible. I don’t love giving out cards for removing stuff, but when it’s likely to be nearly a 3-for-1 otherwise (factoring in the indestructible counter), it feels reasonable. If you play a tokens deck, and especially if you’re on Smothering Tithe, this seems perfectly playable.

Speaking of white cards that get better with Smothering Tithe, Starfall Invocation is one wrath I can’t wait to play with. Am I the only one that gets excited about wraths and removal? It feels like it, but when a wrath offers you a tempo advantage for playing it – reanimating one of your things – it doesn’t feel like there are many reasons to not just jam this. Love it.

Warren Warleader (no relation to Warren Soultrader) has a reasonable attack trigger, but it’s only reasonable and nothing more. Sure, if you get to 6, it starts popping off… but that’s at six. Not exactly winning the game for you anytime soon. Definitely a 1v1 card.

I wanted to just leave the Keanu Cyberpunk meme here, but my editor told me I had to write something.

Whiskervale Forerunner is decent card and mana advantage if you’re in a deck that has a lot of creatures and a Commander that can target your creatures. If you don’t have that targeting in the Command Zone, and you don’t run 35 or more creatures, then you’re going to miss on this a lot.

Top 5 White Common/Uncommons:

1. Parting Gust – It’s a straight up exile effect in mono white that can also double as a flicker to save your thing/buy back an EtB.
2. Feather of Flight – Many enchantress decks will rejoice at an Angelic Gift that also gives +1/+0 and can be cast at Flash speed.
3. Builder’s Talent – Weirdly good for Voltron decks that want an early game blocker and a way to pump their Commander.
4. Shrike Force – Flying, Double Strike and Vigilance with only one white pip makes the grade in quite a few strategies.
5. Dewdrop Cure – White has a lot of these effects, but trading a card to get a third creature back to play seems solid.

BLOOMBURROW: BLUE

Dour Port-Mage is a slam dunk for flicker decks, and is a solid way to re-use EtBs. It’s an on-board way to save your stuff from removal, too, which is sweet. I like this card a lot.

Eluge, the Shoreless Sea fits into a mono-blue build reasonably well, but does that mean you should run it? Probably not. It’ll do more work for you in a Xolatoyac deck that cares about Flood Counters. 

Kitsa, Otterball Elite won’t get built as much as the Izzet Otter, but it might actually end up more fun and interesting. Restrictions breed creativity, after all. How deep can you go in mono-blue?

I’ve discussed in the past why I’m high on Irenicus’s Vile Duplication: the fact it makes the copy fly. Mockingbird is a flexible clone with Flying, and is great in Bird decks and just all around decent elsewhere. 

If you’ve set your deck up for Aminatou’s Augury, you’ll be hype to play this. Otherwise it’ll probably be at or below rate, especially at sorcery speed. 

Season of Weaving is probably one of the stronger seasons, and it enjoys fab Wylie Beckert art, too. It doesn’t target, meaning you’ll not be fully blown out if someone removes something in response, and at worst can be six mana to draw five cards. It’s a bounce wrath when you want it to be, but quite often you’ll be getting a bunch of value instead. 

I generally don’t want to include these creature grouping cards in this review because they’re not playable outside of decks that care about them, but Valley Floodcaller is just good enough to get a nod. It has pseudo vigilance and gives the flash effect at a competitive rate. 

Wishing Well is the epitome of an everything or nothing card. If you sequence properly with it (and have a way to untap your artifacts, maybe when you cast spells?) then it can be a lot of value. If you draw cards in the wrong order, it’s not really going to feel worth the four mana. 

Top 5 Blue Common/Uncommons

1. Into the Flood Maw – A one mana Into the Roil in exchange for a tapped 1/1 token? Yes please.
2. Plumecreed Escort – Nice piece of interaction for Mutate decks, or flicker decks that tend to enjoy flyers.
3. Spellgyre – Having an on-rate piece of instant speed draw that has Counterspell stapled to it is good.
4. Shoreline Looter – Two relevant creature types on a looter.
5. Mindwhisker – If you can reliably turn threshold on and like to make copies of your stuff, this can shut a lot of decks off.

BLOOMBURROW: BLACK

Coiling Rebirth is pretty interesting. Five mana is a lot to ask to reanimate your thing, but would you exchange a card for a token copy of what you returned to play? I think outside of decks where those creatures have powerful swingy effects/win conditions, I think the answer is probably no. 

Cruelclaw’s Heist interests me for cEDH in the same way Apple of Eden did. It’s a good way to scope out hands before trying to win. Double black and sorcery kinda slows it down, though, so we’ll have to see. 

Darkstar Augur lets you Bob yourself twice as hard, twice as fast. I’ll Bob it into my decks for sure. What’s not to like?

If I learned anything from playing Massacre Girl (the original) it’s that people tire quickly of playing against guaranteed ways to throw a wrench in their game plan. So, I guess I’m saying that you should be prepared to listen to whining if you build this as a Commander. Is it good as a Commander? I think it could be, but I think it’s likely better as a supporting character in Massacre Girl, Known Killer. 

This art is very cool. It’s on a very cool card, let’s be honest. Think of this kind of like Underworld Breach, but in black, but for just creatures. While black does have access to this already, I just find it cool to see as a repeatable activation, on a two drop, with deathtouch. 

This card is essentially a free sacrifice outlet for you to do some silly stuff with. I don’t think the blight counter stuff is that great, honestly, especially in Commander. They’ll always pick the option you don’t want them to. 

Scavenger’s Talent is worth a look because the modes aren’t too expensive. I like that you can get Level 3 online quite quickly, and I like that you get some nice bonus value along the way for playing aristocrats. 

Season of Loss is very similar to By Invitation Only if you go for five of mode one. I think more commonly it’ll be three of one and then drawing for each of your things that died, but I like that late game the bottom mode becomes very attractive. 

This card is absolutely cracked, and if you can combine it with a form of unblockable from Access Tunnel or the like, then you can get this going… and going… and oops, everyone’s dead. 

Wick, the Whorled Mind is living that snailcore life. So much so that Snail tokens enter when Wick or another Rat enters. Eventually you can fling those snails at opponents while drawing cards, which is a nice value engine.

Top 5 3 Black Common/Uncommons:

1. Starscape Cleric – Offspring gives this way more playability and redundancy if you’re trying lifegain combos in Orzhov.
2. Persistent Marshstalker – Ensures one rat is always the problem rat.
3. Huskburster Swarm – Golgari Insect decks might enjoy a cheap fattie. Also crews Gitrog, Ravenous Ride reasonably well if you’re doing self-mill.

Yeah, that’s it. 

BLOOMBURROW: RED

The base mode of Artist’s Talent is just pretty okay, and leveling it up once gets you some nice cost reduction. That very same cost reduction can give you the spare mana to level it up a final time, which is nice synergy. I think this card is quite good. 

Flubs, the Fool aside, Byway Barterer will find a home in big mana Temur decks. I’m not sure I like it elsewhere, but it’s not a terrible rate. 

Dragonhawk definitely feels like more of a Standard card, I’ll be honest. At the same time, I do think it can find some decks to perform in, namely those that can haste it in or otherwise benefit from trigger stacking; Henzie, Isshin, Goro-Goro & Satoru, that kinda thing. 

Festival of Embers is a somewhat tamer take on Underworld Breach. If you have enough mana and primarily instants, you can set up a turn where you can sacrifice Festival of Embers while your spells are on the stack, therefore circumventing losing them when recasting them. If you’re playing Past in Flames already this might be worth a look. 

These two Lizards are a great example of “not quite there”, but otherwise fine in a Lizards-matter deck. The fact they only hit one opponent instead of multiple really holds them back. 

I want to say the red Season is pretty spicy, but does it earn that punderful introduction? Well, yes and no. It does a little of everything and in slightly medium ways. It’s very much a setup card, and I don’t enjoy telegraphing what I’m about to unleash in Commander these days. It gets you killed. 

Stormsplitter is fun. It’s an otterly unexpected access to a combo that’ll really slap your opponent’s silly. You’ll need a copy of Seething Anger and a sacrifice outlet, and then you can get yourself an army. It’s Time to Split!

Sunspine Lynx, or Price of Purrrgress as it’ll be forever known, is a neat little way to stop those pesky lifegain decks while providing a little reach in order to kill people. If you’re doing any amount of recursion, token making or flicker, this thing is a neat win condition. Mostly Mountain Rionya decks are going to have a great time with it, and I know I’m considering it for Hofri Ghostforge. 

Top 5 Red Common/Uncommons

1. Coruscation Mage – Spreading your pingers over two bodies is excellent in a world where single target removal answers problems. 
2. Hoarder’s Overflow – I like Connecting the Dots in some decks, and I like this in others. Pretty cool. 
3. Rabid Gnaw – Red gets its first cheap punch, and it’s really good removal for Commander.
4. Blacksmith’s Talent – Not very exciting for Boros, but outside of Boros this can be decent.
5. Harnesser of Storms – impulse draw for otters or spells, which might be what you want.

BLOOMBURROW GREEN

Fecund Greenshell is a nice ramp piece in a deck where you want to swarm the board with Scute Swarm or Saproling tokens from Avenger of Zendikar. It’s also a nice build-around piece for decks that favor big-butts. At this mana cost it’s certainly replacement level given green’s broad access to strong effects, but it’s also just solid enough for the average deck that I’d be interested in running it as a filler card.

For the Common Good is another card drawing me toward building Adrix and Nev, and that’s certainly not a bad thing. This is a really flexible token maker in decks that primarily focus on clone tokens, in my opinion. Coping 4/4 Beasts isn’t really that exciting.

Innkeeper’s Talent is a pretty fun piece for +1/+1 counters decks. Especially if you’re running some of the other Ward granters like Coppercoat Vanguard and Flowering of the White Tree, you can give yourself quite the impenetrable board. I like having half of Doubling Season on here as something to invest in if it feels safe. 

Are people still playing Scavenging Ooze? Well, if you are, then not having to hold up green every time can be pretty freeing with Keen-Eyed Curator. Still, there are other GY hate pieces I think I’d rather run.

Lumra, Bellow of the Woods doesn’t have Trample, which does get my hackles up. Still, it’s big beater, and it does come with a Splendid Reclamation stapled to it, with some cheeky self mill, so maybe I’ll choose the bear in the woods this time. Sorry Aftermath Analyst. 

I love Scrapshooter more than I maybe should. A three mana 4/4 enables Fanatic of Rhonas, and this one comes in and disenchants. Sure, you have to give a card to an opponent, but this opens things up for engaging political plays. Make a deal with someone behind. Smash who is in front. Park down a fantastic blocker for early game value pokes. Genuinely think this is underrated. 

Season: the Gathering is one of the more powerful Seasons in the right deck, which kinda makes sense; seasons by their nature are… green. If you’re in Enchantress, getting to nuke artifacts and then refill your hand or grant some beaters evasion is very, very exciting. I’ll be jamming this in Sigarda. 

A two mana dork that can pump itself to benefit from proliferate and other synergies when you don’t need the mana? Good. That same card but with ability to be two dorks later in a game? Great.

Thornvault Forager reminds me of the old Rebel tutor cards. Admittedly, those ones put those cards into play, but they also weren’t synergistic mana dorks too. I’d play this in every Squirrel deck. 

Top 5 Green Common/Uncommons 

1. Pawpatch Formation – Instead speed removal that can be “cycled”. 
2. Wear Down – I love this political removal. It’s so efficient, too – no excuse to not run some.
3. Overprotect – That’s a lot of value on interaction, perfect for getting a big token or Commander through.
4. Clifftop Lookout – in a deck with a lot of utility lands that doesn’t care about fixing, this might be better than existing options.
5. Hunter’s Talent – Cute removal and win condition for Aura-based Enchantress/Voltron to be honest.

BLOOMBURROW: MULTICOLOR

I’m fully prepared to field endless questions about running Lutri as a companion with this, and the answer is still no from me. But if you wanna do that in your own playgroup? Be my guest. I’d be fine with you running Lutri in the 99, though.

Alania as a card seems… kinda cracked? You can double up a Jeska’s Will and then cast two instants with it, while dropping two Otters for good measure. All for a simple few cards to opponents. I’m glad she costs five. 

Baylen, the Haymaker is for rabbit people in the same way that Jetmir is for cat people. I think I like Baylen more than Jetmir, surprisingly enough, and I think it’s because you have to still pack your deck with things to enable it, and because it has a single point of weakness. You know, unlike something like Voja. Much more balanced card. Halo Fountain, anyone?

Camellia, the Seedmiser is another auto-include for Squirrel decks, IMO, and it’s easy to see why. A three mana menace anthem, a way to cash in food, and a way to generate Squirrel tokens. She might just be better than the other Squirrel options in the CZ. 

Finneas, Ace Archer feels like the star of the Netflix Beatrix Potter adaptation/sequel we never knew we wanted. Do I want it? 

Either way, I think I want Finneas for my Selesnya tokens deck. He’s a very good attacker/blocker combo that can top up the hand. 

Apparently the sultai missive is to recline, Bisexually, on a big chair, while caring about the graveyard. The only thing this guy is missing is some bananas. Tasiglarb, the Golden Frog offers a different commander to Muldrotha and Tasigur if you’d rather just slam big spells and not worry too much about deck construction. And you like frogs.

Speaking of frogs, is Helga, Skittish Seer the first Bant Commander I’d actually consider building? She’s way less cracked than Chulane, and just slowly winds up over the course of a game to give you some decent mana. It’s not the end of the world if you have to recast her either as she still draws you cards. 

Escape to the Wild… for hugs! Hugs, Grisly Guardian is the aforementioned sorcery on a body, basically, costing a bit more to get going. It’s an effect I’m always happy to see in Gruul, and getting a second copy on a trampley body is quite nice.

The infamous combo deck, with infamous deckbuilding, infamous win conditions, and infamous at tables for striking terror into the hearts of all. This weasel can lead to some hilariously cracked decks that operate entirely as a glass cannon. You’ll just have to settle for being The Infamous Cruelclaw too.

Kastrel, the Windcrested is a really neat Birds Commander, actually. You get some mana advantage/recursion, a way to buff your board, and card draw rolled into one card. Probably the best Birds commander now. Ca-caw indeed. 

Lunar Convocation is some nice repeatable card draw that enables itself to make Bat Tokens. I think this card could be bonkers if it triggered on every end step, but I still kinda wish it did? Playable for sure, especially in a Lurrus deck that can’t take Erebos. Bleak-Hearted.

Mabel, Heir to Cragflame has had a lot of hype around it. She brings an equipment with her – is that just really good? I think it is, and you don’t even need to care about the Mice anthem. She makes a mini Sword of Vengeance type deal on entry, and slots very nicely into Nahiri, Forged in Fury and Kassandra, Eagle Bearer. 

Muerra, Trash Tactician is a reasonably unexciting Gruul card that just lets you do… more. Raccoons aren’t the most supported type, but if you jam some changelings and stack your deck with expensive card draw and overruns, you can turn that unassuming little army into a real fighting force thanks to getting so much mana for free. 

Ral, Crackling Wit has a stupidly good emblem, and it’s one you’re absolutely building around with Deepglow Skate and other effects to help you win the game. If you’re not doing that, he’s a not-terrible filler option for four mana. 

Vren, the Relentless stops graveyard shenanigans, is hard to remove, and shits out Relentless Rat tokens each turn. You need to run Curse of the Swine, Reality Shift et al to get the most use out of this, but that’s not so bad. You could run those anyways. Now we’ve had Disa for Tarmogoyfs and Vren, for Relentless Rats, which Standard/Cube all star is next?

Ygra, Eater of All is already seeing some brewing for 60-card formats, and it’s easy to see why. You just gotta get two more cats and you’re cooking on Cauldron-gas. 

In Commander, turning everyone else’s stuff into artifacts is the main draw, allowing you to use Creeping Corrosion and Seeds of Innocence to decimate boards. Scarier than it looks, in some ways, but also not as powerful outside of combo potential as you’d fear.

Zoraline is a much cheaper to cast and less scary Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher. If your playgroup thinks Carmen is too strong/keep removing her, maybe give Zoraline a go instead. Flying/Vigilance 3/3 is also just a great stat line. 

The only uncommon I care about here is Monastery Electromancer. Goblin Swiftspear. Otterly outrageous nicknames, sure, but WHAT IS THIS CARD?!

BLOOMBURROW: THE REST

Patchwork Banner is a new standard (heh) when it comes to three mana rocks. I’ve also found Heraldic Banner a touch underplayed, but Patchwork Banner outcompetes it in the vast majority of decks, especially those in more than one color. Wow, what a great mana rock. 

Heirloom Epic is a way to get your creatures tapped in order to draw a card. The main “draw” here is tapping your stuff, which in some decks, is hard to do outside of combat and crewing vehicles. You can combine this with Halo Fountain for maximum value. 

Fountainport is a very flexible utility land in a deck that pumps out tokens. Whether you’re making Offspring, jamming with Adeline, or wanting to spend less than a War Room in a deck like Hofri, Fountainport has you covered. 

Three Tree City. The big land of the set. Is it good?

In short, yes, but it’s never going to be as good as Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. You need to be four wide, in-type, to make this mana positive, and at that point, your board is likely in a good position. Nykthos can often provide more here, and doesn’t lock you into typal.

All I’m saying is, it’s a really good card, but quadrant theory dictates it takes a little longer to get online than you might hope.

In the starter decks are two new creatures. Bria, Riptide Rogue is adorable, and updates Shu Yun, Silent Tempest for 2024. If you want to do some unlockable spellslinger shenanigans, Bria has you covered. You can also jam her in the 99 of the other Otter Commander.

Finally, Burke, Long Ear of the Law. Burke is kind of like the Kalonian Hydra, except a fair bit worse. Playable in a rabbits deck, but otherwise I’m not keen.

END STEP

We traveled far and wide, surveilled under every log and mushroom, and had plenty of tea and cakes. The Bloomburrow set review is done, and I’m ready to start brewing. 

What will you be cooking up?