Ever since Bloomburrow Prerelease began, players have been aware of some key problems facing the set’s Limited formats. By virtue of being a set built around 10 different two-color creature types, some degree of linearity was inevitable. Players weren’t prepared for just how linear it would be, however.
Complaints of feeling railroaded by the set, especially in Draft, have been common in the last few weeks. So far these have been based purely on anecdotal experience, but now there are some real numbers to back them up. One player has carried out a thorough data analysis on the set, which lends a lot of weight to the community’s concerns.
The Problems With Bloomburrow Limited
That player goes by mtgds. They run an MTG blog largely discussing Limited from a Data Science perspective. Their latest post, ‘Ride the Rails: Measuring openness and the degree to which Limited is on-rails,’ dissects Bloomburrow’s curious Limited environment, confirming the concerns of many players.
The post begins by defining the concept of an ‘Openness Index.’ In simple terms, this is a metric for determining how many two-color decks a given card can slot into. To divine the Openness Index mtgds used 17Lands, looking at the frequency that cards appear in each two-color archetype.
Looking at every relevant set since 17Lands began, mtgds comes to the conclusion that Bloomburrow has the lowest average Openness Index of them all. To put it another way, the set has the highest number of cards that only fit in a small number of color pairs. Naturally, a set like this would feel linear to play. When you’re not including most cards in most decks, your pool of viable options is going to be shallow.
Normally, hybrid mana cards improve a set in this regard, however, Bloomburrow’s hybrid mana cards don’t help much. Cards like Tempest Angler and Head of the Homestead are just too specific to go in multiple archetypes. Even if their mana costs say they can.
The People Weigh In
While these results were unsurprising, a lot of players were happy to see them regardless. They confirmed many of the feelings players had about the problems facing Bloomburrow Limited.
“IMO, it kind of confirmed a lot of the fears people had about the set when it was first fully spoiled.
- Mana fixing is extremely scarce and weak. Heavily encouraged to play 2-colors, discouraged to splash or play 3 colors.
bokchoykn
- Tribal-based format. 10 tribes with their own respective mechanics and synergies. Raccoons don’t necessarily play particularly well with Frogs, etc…”
These points were raised very early on in the thread, but they really get to the heart of the set’s problems. Bloomburrow, unlike most recent Magic sets, lacks any kind of dual land cycle. For a set built around two-color combinations, this is a baffling decision. Even Thunder Junction had the Ping Deserts for fixing. this means that decks using three or more colors aren’t really viable, leaving players with two-color as their only option.
The second issue is how insulated the two color combinations are. Since each is focused on a particular creature type, the number of options players have within those colors is also limited. It’s easy to get stuck in a lane when playing, especially in a Draft. In turn, this can lead to repetitive games and a boring format. For some, however, Bloomburrow’s simplified Limited format is actually a positive.
“Great read. I suspect the nature of BLB limited being more on rails is more of a feature than a bug though. The set’s at the beginning of a new rotation and is a clear “onramp” into magic (I know several people IRL who have picked up the game because of Bloomburrow). Because of that I suspect its a lot easier to learn to play limited in BLB than it would be in say MH3.”
Livid_Jeweler612
This is an excellent point, and almost certainly true. Bloomburrow’s linearity makes it easy for new players to roll up and try it out. Along with Foundations later in the year, this is part of a clear push to get new blood into the game. In that respect, it was very likely a worthy sacrifice on WotC’s part. Even if enfranchised players will grow bored of it quickly.
Read More: Fishy Bloomburrow Uncommon Breaks Into Magic’s Toughest Format
