Over the past week, the MTG community has been absolutely bombarded with spoilers. On Tuesday, decklists for the MTG Fallout Commander decks started to get revealed. As if that wasn’t enough, we got a massive sneak peek into a multitude of sets on Friday. Thanks to a preview panel at MagicCon Chicago, a boatload of information was revealed regarding Modern Horizons III, Outlaws of Thunder Junction and more.
Today, we are going to focus on a specific product that may have gotten slightly overlooked in the process of spoilers. The product in question is none other than the group of Bloomburrow Commander decks. The decklists have not been revealed yet and neither have the primary Commanders themselves.
Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t important information that can be gained from the deck boxes specifically. Each deck box provides a small blurb with regards to what each deck’s main focus is. Our goal is to dig a bit deeper into how each deck might function in practice. There’s a lot of room for speculation, so without further ado, let’s take a closer look at what each deck has to offer.
Family Matters
First up, we have the Family Matters Commander deck. This Jeskai deck’s description doesn’t give us a whole lot of information, but there’s still some speculation to be had. The “make offspring” portion of the card may sound a little strange, but this likely just means that the Commander is capable of making small Creature tokens in some capacity.
We’ve seen Commanders in the past, such as Atla Palani, Nest Tender, generate lots of Egg tokens, then provide a benefit whenever those Eggs die. This deck’s Commander could do something similar, but it does also mention that going wide is an important aspect of this deck, too. As such, a typal theme is likely in order. A Coat of Arms reprint would be quite nice, but only time will tell what new cards will be featured.
In addition to the description of the Commander deck itself, it should be noted that all four Bloomburrow Commander decks will come with three legendary traditional foils. Typically, decks in the past have come with two. More specifically, a primary and secondary Commander option. It’s not entirely clear what the third legend will be, but as pointed out above, it’s very possible that the primary Commander utilizes the Partner mechanic or features a Background alongside it. This would help explain why a third foil is given out across the board.
Read More: MTG Snow-Covered Wastes and Evoke Elemental Reprint Revealed!
Animated Army
Next, we have what looks to be my favorite of the Commander decks at first glance. Who doesn’t love a raccoon making great use of the trash it collects? The questions is, how exactly would a Commander deck focused on trash look mechanically? Well, it’s hard not to think of the recent Junk tokens from MTG Fallout when thinking of utilizing Trash in a valuable way.
Beyond that, the deck name “Animated Army” alongside the fact that the “do smash” part of the description suggests an aggressive nature to this shell, likely means that there is a good way to make your trash into potent threats. There are plenty of cards throughout MTG, such as Case of the Filched Falcon, that can “animate” an Artifact token into a threat. This deck’s Commander likely can do something similar, perhaps with Trample as a featured keyword instead of Flying.
Read More: Wizards Announces Return of Incredibly Expensive Commander Product!
Squirreled Away
This Golgari Squirrels deck is almost certainly bound to have players excited. People love Squirrels, but unfortunately, there is a lack of Squirrel Creatures in the world of MTG. Other than simply featuring Squirrels throughout the deck, this deck box’s description mentions hoarding tokens. My inclination would be that this is a flavorful way of showcasing the tendency for Squirrels to collect and gather lots of nuts.
Maybe we will see more Food token payoffs as a result in addition to Squirrel payoffs. Either way, as much as I love Squirrels in general, this deck is going to be hard pressed to compete with Chatterfang, Squirrel General. Chatterfang’s ability to create a wide battlefield from any type of token being generated is tough to beat. Not to mention, both Chatterfang and this deck’s Commander are Golgari-centric. At least we will almost certainly see some nice upgrades for Chatterfang decks in the process.
Read More: Innovative MTG Rakdos Vampires Deck Boasts Incredible Pro Tour Win Rate!
Peace Offering
Finally, we have Peace Offering. This deck box suggests a rather simple Group Hug theme. It’s interesting to see a +1/+1 counter theme meshed with a Group Hug focus, so it’ll be interesting to see how this is incorporated. Maybe you are able to benefit in some way from distributing counters to Creatures even beyond your control? I guess we will have to wait and see.
Once again, though, a group hug deck in Bant colors isn’t exactly the most original. Even iconic, old-school group hug Commanders like Phelddagrif utilize the same color combination. Regardless, the +1/+1 counter theme could help separate this deck from other group hug shells, and receiving some nice upgrades with new Commander cards is always welcome.
Bloomburrow looks to be a very cute and intriguing set. It isn’t releasing until much later in the year, but these Commander decks are sure to have people hyped for the time being.
Read More: Wizards Reveals MTG Fetch Land Reprints and New Free Spell Cycle!
