MTG Bloomburrow: Release Date, Spoilers, Commander Decks

As the first MTG set containing nothing but adorable critters and humanoid animals, many players are incredibly excited for Bloomburrow. Boasting visuals straight from a storybook, this set is arguably the most anticipated of 2024. Even with 2024 being a stacked year, Bloomburrow is undoubtedly a fan favorite.

With Bloomburrow’s August release date looming on the horizon, reveals are now coming in thick and fast for this set. Now that spoiler season has begun, players are being inundated with new cards every single day. With new cards, Commanders, mechanics, and more to keep up with, there’s certainly a lot to keep up with.

Thankfully, we’re here to help. Here’s everything you need to know about Bloomburrow!

Bloomburrow Release Date

To kick things off, as always, let’s take a look at all the important dates for Bloomburrow. Split between preview and gameplay events, a lot is going on, so it’s worth knowing what’s happening and when.

Here are all the dates you need to know for the MTG set Bloomburrow.

Bloomburrow Preview Events

Magic Story: July 2nd
Debut and Previews Begin: July 9th
Card Image Gallery and Previews Complete: July 19th
MTG Arena Release: July 30th
Global Tabletop Release: August 2nd

Bloomburrow Gameplay Events

Prerelease at Your Local Game Store: July 26th – August 1st
WPN Game Store Open House: August 2nd

Notably, the release date for Bloomburrow is happening somewhat earlier than expected this year. The same is true of Duskmourn: House of Horror. These surprisingly early releases are thanks to a new major set, MTG Foundations, that is releasing in November. While currently unconfirmed, it seems this release pattern may persist for some time.

Bloomburrow Spoilers

Now that the spoiler season for Bloomburrow is well underway, there’s an awful lot to assess and admire. If you just want to keep an eye on every new card revealed, our spoiler hub for the set has everything you need to know. If you’re looking for a deeper dive into all the latest and most exciting new cards, have a look at some of the below articles.

Bloomburrow Mechanics

On top of featuring plenty of new cards, Bloomburrow also has a plethora of new MTG mechanics. In total, Bloomburrow introduces five brand-new mechanics to MTG. Here’s a little bit about each one of them.

Expend – The new Expend mechanic tracks how much mana has been spent on spells during a turn. Should you spend enough mana to meet or pass the numbered Expend target, you’ll receive a triggered reward.

Forage – Forage is a new optional cost that can be paid in one of two ways. To Forage, you need to either exile three cards from your graveyard or sacrifice a Food token. Occasionally, you’ll also need to pay an additional cost in order to Forage in the first place.

Gift – When casting a spell with Gift, you can promise a Gift to an opponent. Should this action be taken the effects of the cast spell will be modified or upgraded. Cards like Garting Gust can Gift an opponent a 1/1 Fish token to change the spell’s effect. If Parting Gust is countered, the opponent doesn’t get the promised token.

Offspring – Much like Kicker, Offspring is a new optional cost that can be paid when casting a spell. Should the Offspring cost be paid, you’ll receive a 1/1 copy of the creature when it enters. Notably, this token copy of the creature has the same mana value as its non-token counterpart.

Valiant – Valiant is a triggered ability that activates when the creature becomes the target of a spell or ability. On the surface, this is fairly similar to Heroic, however, Valiant can only trigger once per turn.

Bloomburrow Commander Decks

Like most recent premier MTG sets, Bloomburrow launches alongside a quartet of preconstructed Commander decks. As usual, the exact contents of these decks won’t be revealed until the end of the set’s spoiler season. Thankfully, we have been given some details and the face Commanders to admire before then.

Animated Army – Helmed by Bello, Bard of the Brambles, the Animated Army aptly focuses on animating otherwise useless artifacts and enchantments into threats! While there are some catches and stipulations about what you can transform and when, this deck nonetheless packs a punch. With utility pieces pulling double duty as threats on the board, Animated Army offers a lot of value.

Family Matters – As Bloomburrow’s go-wide deck, this deck focuses on the new Offspring mechanic. Allowing you to double up by creating 1/1 token copies of creatures, this deck can quickly establish an absolutely massive board. This, in turn, buffs the deck’s main commander, Zinnia, Valley’s Voice into a scary flying threat.

Peace Offering – Unsurprisingly, as the name suggests, Peace Offering is a group hug-style Commander deck. Providing opponents with rewards as value while you enjoy the same, this deck is certainly going to be unique. Showcasing this unique strategy is the deck’s Commander, Ms. Bumbleflower, who offers great rewards for you and your opponents when you cast spells.

Squirreled Away – As the name suggests Squirreled Away is first and foremost a Squirrel Typal deck. Led by Hazel of the Rootbloom, this deck can quickly create a huge legion of Squirrels to overwhelm opponents with. Beyond just creating a massive board, it seems this deck’s new support cards will give Squirrel tokens extra added utility to fuel your game plan.

Imagine: Courageous Critters

Bloomburrow does not have a traditional Booster Sheet. Instead, this set has a unique series of cards called Imagine: Courageous Critters. Found exclusively in Collector Boosters and preconstructed Commander decks, there are 24 Imagine: Courageous Critters in total. Each of these cards is a reprint of a Planeswalker as if they had traveled to the plane of Bloomburrow.

According to Wizards of the Coast, only four Imagine: Courageous Critters can be found in the Commander precons. One of these cards can be found in each of the four decks. For example, the reprint of Tamiyo, Field Researcher, can be found in the Peace Offerings deck.

The remaining 20 Imagine: Courageous Critters can only be found in Collector Boosters. So far, we’ve only seen a few of these cards, however, hopefully, each one will offer compelling value and gorgeous art.

Bloomburrow Booster Fun

As if all the new cards and Commanders weren’t exciting enough on their own, Bloomburrow also features a plethora of Booster Fun treatments. Enhancing the collectability of the set, there are numerous enticing art styles to collect.

Showcase Woodland – As the core Booster Fun treatment, Showcase Woodland cards are uniquely Bloomburrow. Presenting a “fantastical storybook art style,” these cards look like they’ve just jumped off the page. Just like the storybook frames from Eldraine, it’s likely these cards will be especially popular.

Borderless Field Notes – Only found on “select rare and mythic calamity beasts,” Borderless Field Notes are one of the set’s chase variants. Similar to the Schematic Artifacts from The Brothers’ War, this art treatment aptly looks lifted from a field journal. While this card frame is rather simplistic, it should be great for showing off the calamity beasts front and center.

Showcase Borderless Mitsuhiro Arita – Similarly appearing to offer calamity beasts front and center, this artwork from Mitsuhiro Arita is incredible. Considering they’re “one of the most popular illustrators of all time,” these good looks aren’t a surprise at all. Unfortunately, it’s unclear how many cards will be getting artwork from Mitsuhiro Arita right now.

Borderless Anime – Once again the Borderless Anime treatment returns for Bloomburrow! While this Anime treatment is very fitting for Bloomburrow, it’s unclear how popular these cards will be. Recently, it seems support for this art treatment has been waning, so it remains to be seen how these new cards will fair.

Full-Art Seasonal – Last but not least, Wizards is also giving land their own Booster Fun treatment with seasonal lands! As the name suggests, this treatment gives each basic land four variants, one for each season.

Bloomburrow Products

For better or worse, Bloomburrow has a lot of products. On top of the Play Boosters, Collector Boosters, Bundles, and Commander decks, Wizards has created a brand new product. Dubbed the Value Booster, this new seven-card pack is designed as a budget way to enjoy the set.

With no guaranteed rare slot, the appeal of Value Boosters is suspect, to say the least. Currently, the price of this newfangled booster product has yet to be announced.

On top of the Value Booster, Bloomburrow also features a Starter Kit that offers two preconstructed decks to pit against one another.