Back at MagicCon Amsterdam, a preview panel revealed a bunch of unique spoilers for both Bloomburrow and Duskmourn. Despite the fact that MH3 just recently released and MTG Assassin’s Creed isn’t even out yet, Bloomburrow is set to make its debut in less than a month. This next premier set has tons of players excited. Who doesn’t love a collection of cards focused around cute animals?
While most Bloomburrow previews don’t start until next week, that won’t stop players from speculating about what unique ideas Bloomburrow will bring to the table. To help aid our predictions, MTG Head Designer Mark Rosewater recently released his Bloomburrow teaser. Mark Rosewater commonly gives out a collection of hints for each premier set before most spoilers come out, and Bloomburrow is no exception.
Today, we’re going to focus on some of the most interesting tidbits of information provided. The goal is to analyze these hints and see what cool mechanics and designs might end up being featured. There’s a lot to unpack with this teaser, so let’s dive right in.
Returning Noncreature Subtype
Kicking things off, we’re going to discuss potential options for a noncreature subtype that is making its first return. As such, we need to look at subtypes that haven’t appeared in a multitude of sets that could still fit Bloomburrow thematically. As such, something simple like Equipment doesn’t fit. Presumably, neither does a subtype like Cartouche, which is clearly specific to the Amonkhet storyline.
Notably, subtypes can also appear on predefined tokens, such as Food tokens. This leads us to what seems to be the most likely token to appear in Bloomburrow: Junk tokens. Junk tokens appeared in MTG Fallout and have yet to be featured in any other set. Obviously, Junk tokens are exclusive to a Universes Beyond product for the time being. However, Mark Rosewater made it clear in his Blogatog earlier this year that Universes Beyond mechanics are fair game for other products.
In some cases, they may need to be renamed or are otherwise unlikely to appear in a premier set. This would most likely occur with mechanics that are tied to the lore of the crossover, such as rad counters from MTG Fallout. Junk tokens, on the other hand, are rather basic. On top of that, they fit perfectly in a world full of Raccoons.
We already know that one of the Bloomburrow Commander decks is centered around a Raccoon and making trash. We also know Raccoons play a role in the main set, given the hint that the rules text “if you control a Raccoon, you may discard a card” appears on a card. So, seeing Junk tokens appear is not too far-fetched.
Some players have suggested that Blood tokens could be coming back, since Bats are part of the set, too. Blood tokens have returned in various Commander sets since Crimson Vow, so this seems less probable. Still, it’s possible Mark Rsoewater was implying that this is the first time the subtype will be returning in a new premier set, in which case Blood tokens making an appearance wouldn’t be crazy.
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Tweaked Mechanic from 2013
Another interesting hint was that a mechanic from 2013 is getting tweaked. This likely implies that the mechanic debuted in Gatecrach, Dragon’s Maze, or Theros. Once again, this narrows things down quite a bit. We’ve seen many previous mechanics get tweaked in newer sets (Discover as an alternative to Cascade, for example), so this isn’t too surprising.
When it comes to different options, one ability stands above the rest: Heroic. One player made a great point, highlighting that Mark Rosewater in a Blogatog post from May mentioned that an upcoming set would examine how to rework Heroic. Bloomburrow seems like a great set for a similar mechanic, showcasing small animals boasting their courage.
We’ve also already seen a spoiler in Might of the Meek that would trigger Heroic perfectly. The question then is, how would the mechanic be adjusted? Maybe the creature with the new mechanic gets a bonus whenever a specific small creature type is targeted by a spell you control. This would work well with the theme of small creatures like Mice rising up to face bigger foes. A simpler change could be to have the new version of Heroic trigger off of abilities, not just spells.
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Newly Costed Murder
Another hint that has sparked some debates is the fact that the rules text “destroy target creature” and nothing else will be appearing on a card with a new mana cost. Obviously, this points to Murder being adjusted in some way. There are a few directions Wizards of the Coast could go with this one.
The first is two make Murder cost two mana. It seems very unlikely that a strictly better Murder at two mana will appear. After all, that would completely negate the need for players to use previous two-mana removal spells with minor downsides, like Go for the Throat and Doom Blade. However, making a double-colored variant, such as a Murder but with a UB mana cost, could be feasible. This would be very similar to Terminate,
Otherwise, Wizards of the Coast could make a Sorcery speed version similar to Damn without Overload. Being a Sorcery is a big downside, so seeing a two-mana mono-black Murder variant printed this way wouldn’t be shocking.
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A Ten-Card Cycle?
One of the more interesting parts of the teaser, we now know a ten-card cycle which “acts as typal glue” is on the way. Being ten cards, it would make sense that there would be one card for each color pair. Revisiting the Changeling mechanic could serve as typal glue, but this is rather unlikely to happen and wouldn’t necessarily require a ten-card cycle.
What sounds like a really cool idea that could be implemented is to have a card in each color pair represent two creature types teaming up. We know from the hints that there will be a Rabbit Mouse in the set, which makes this idea more realistic. With so many unique creature types featured in the set, having a synergistic card for each color pair that rewards you for drafting two specific creature types would be nice.
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Other Hints to Look Out For
Overall, these clues give us a brief sense of what to expect during spoiler season. From the various examples of rules text given, we can uncover some themes that might not have been so obvious. Beyond the potential for Junk tokens, the text “for each other Squirrel and/or Food you control” as well as “create X tokens that are copies of target token you control” suggests a major token theme throughout the set.
Meanwhile, the text “whenever one or more other creatures you control leave the battlefield without dying” and “where X is the number of creatures you opponents controlled that were exiled this turn” makes it sound like a flicker/exile strategy may be in order. A card that was recently leaked, Parting Gust, happens to play well with both of these abilities (though the card could turn out to be fake).
There are plenty of other neat hints given in the teaser, including a variety of creature types and card names. Personally, I’m a sucker for amusing and funny names like “Hop to it.” This set is bursting with flavor, and I’m here for it. Make sure to tune in for a slew of previews in the coming weeks, as these hints will begin receiving more context.
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