Magic: The Gathering is back with their latest set, Bloomburrow, releasing four new preconstructed Commander decks for US$47.50 (do note that prices do fluctuate based on the popularity of the deck). Each deck is packed with adorable creatures and the usual package of commander staples (Sol Rings, a good mana base and removal) that we’ve come to expect.
Instead of delving into the itty bitty details of each deck, we’ll be looking at each of the cute but powerful face commanders the decks come with, as well as the alternate commander provided in each of the decks.
Given the cute and unique nature of the set, we’ve also ranked the decks from easiest to hardest for players to pilot these decks to victory.
1. Squirreled Away
Hazel of the Rootbloom’s nutty activated ability to tap tokens and turn them into mana can result in an insane mana boost. The key thing is she doesn’t care what kind of tokens they are. In an ideal world, they are Squirrel tokens so they can combo with her other ability, but she also lets you tap Food, Treasure, and any other kind of creature or noncreature token. Her triggered ability makes sure you’ll have plenty of tokens too, as she makes a copy of one of them during your end step. If you choose to copy a Squirrel, she gives you two copies, meaning you’ll have even more mana on your next turn.
A reminder that the ‘Squirrel’ archetype in Bloomburrow also revolves around generating Food tokens, so there are plenty of synergies to be found just by cracking a few packs of Bloomburrow open!
Hilarious name and flavour aside, The Odd Acorn Gang focuses on beating down your opponents with a mob of Squirrels. It buffs them and draws cards when they hit opponents, making it a formidable aggro option of turning your little 1/1s into a formidable threat. The Gang’s synergy with other squirrel cards and its ability to draw cards ensures that your hand stays full and your board remains threatening. However, the deck itself doesn’t actually run that many Squirrel cards and Squirrel token generators, meaning this commander’s probably won’t reach its full potential in the deck.
In the end, Hazel might be the more powerful option due to her ability to generate mana and create tokens, but The Odd Acorn Gang offers a strong aggressive strategy with squirrels, albeit with the need to add a lot more cards that support that gameplan to the deck.
2. Animated Army
Bello, Bard of the Brambles animates your artifacts and enchantments into 4/4 indestructible creatures that draw cards on hit. Bello’s low casting cost allows for an early start in turning your board into a formidable army. With Bello’s ability, your permanents not only become powerful creatures but also provide card advantage through their card draw, making it difficult for opponents to recover. These creatures are also safe from most board wipes (darn you Farewell) during your opponents’ turns, giving you a resilient and aggressive board presence.
Wildsear, Scouring Maw probably has the scariest art of the bunch and his terrifying effect fits his look perfectly. Wildsear leans heavily into enchantments, using Cascade to chain powerful enchantments, potentially overwhelming opponents with commander damage due to Wildsear’s innate Trample. The Cascade ability lets you play powerful enchantments for free, creating a snowball effect that can quickly become overwhelming for your opponents.
However, overall Bello is likely to be the stronger commander for the deck, as while the deck does come with several good enchantments, to fully capitalize on Wildsear’s gameplan, you would have to swap a lot of the other cards in the deck.
3. Family Matters
Bird’s the word with Zinnia, Valley’s Voice. The bird of the ball gives creature spells you cast Offspring {2}, one of the new keywords from the set. In practice, this means you’ll get to pay two mana to get double the Enter the Battlefield effects of your cards, so your towering Sun Titan will be joined by an itty bitty baby instead of a fully grown copy. Not content just to give you value, Zinnia also gets boosted by +X/+0, where X is the number of creatures with base power 1.
Keep in mind that this means that if you buff or put counters on those tokens you’ll still get the power boost for Zinnia. Couple that with the low mana cost and innate Flying means this bird will be pecking out your opponents for huge commander damage quickly.
Don’t be fooled by Arthur Marigold Knight’s tiny appearance, he can cheat out powerful creatures just by attacking with an ally. The tiny warrior’s ability to bring powerful creatures into play without paying their mana cost can be game-changing, but to fully capitalize on his effect, however, the number of strong creatures in the deck itself hinders his potential.
Overall, Zinnia is definitely the better of the two, as Arthur just lacks the powerful payoffs in the deck needed for his high mana cost to be worth it. It is funny for him to attack with a tiny Bird token and have an opponent suddenly find a giant Inferno Titan swinging at them though.
4. Peace Offering
The delightful Ms. Bumbleflower appears as a ‘Group Hug’ commander, giving resources to opponents in exchange for powering up your own board. While her ability certainly would make you think that she leans heavily into the theme by giving your opponent cards, the +1/+1 counters (which you can put on Ms. Bumbleflower herself), will quickly make her a threat that could potentially one-shot opponents with commander damage, especially since she’ll be flying at them while she does it.
The deck itself also features plenty of cards with the new ‘Gift’ archetype featured in Bloomburrow, giving a new flavourful way to play the Group Hug strategy.
If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like helping others (you may want to rethink getting this deck), Mr. Foxglove might be more up your alley. This crafty fox isn’t a Group Hug card, but that doesn’t make it any less strong. It has solid stats with an amazing ability that will always keep your hand full of cards or get a creature onto the battlefield for free. While Mr. Foxglove isn’t too synergetic in the deck itself, it makes for a phenomenal commander in its own dedicated deck that can take more advantage of its abilities.
Similar to the other decks, Ms. Bumbleflower is the stronger of the two, as the deck is built around the group hug strategy. Mr. Foxglove would prefer a deck that can make use of its ability to cheat out creates for free instead.
Furry Planeswalkers
That’s the basic rundown of each of the commanders available in the prebuilt decks! In addition to the unique commanders each of the decks come with, veteran players will be happy to find ‘Bloomburrow-fied’ versions of planeswalkers that we all know and love in each deck as well.
With Bloomburrow being one of Magic the Gathering’s most hyped-up sets in a while, it’s a breath of fresh air to see four different commander decks with wildly different game plans. The decks are currently available for sale, but as the set (b)looms in actual play, the prices might fluctuate due to popularity so get them while they are still available.
When Marcus is not trying to full combo a song on his favourite rhythm games, he’s either reading or watching some obscure Japanese mystery show/novel. Don’t ask him how much his Arkham Horror collection costs either, it’s his most closely guarded secret.
Ted Chen
