Earlier this year, an intriguing Courageous Critters showcase treatment was revealed as part of the Bloomburrow set. According to Wizards, the idea was to “envision renowned Planeswalkers and creatures were they to visit the plane of Bloomburrow!” We got to see a cool version of Jace, the Mind Sculptor with this treatment, which had plenty of players excited.
However, up until now, it’s been a bit of a mystery regarding where these Courageous Critters would show up and how we could collect them. Fortunately, in the Bloomburrow debut stream today, Wizards of the Coast provided some clarification on these cards. On top of that, a few more Courageous Critters spoilers were revealed. Today, we’re going to go over these previews and cover exactly where these cards appear.
Courageous Critters Exclusivity
When Jace, the Mind Sculptor first got revealed as a Courageous Critter, there was a lot of chatter about where these cards would be found. Would there be a Planeswalker bonus sheet for Bloomburrow? Would these cards be exclusive to collector boosters? Well, we now have our answer.
The majority of the Courageous Critter cards will be only found in Bloomburrow collector boosters. These cards will be available in both foil and non-foil. Similar to how most bonus sheets from previous sets have been handled, the tournament legality of the cards will not change.
Notably, based on the debut stream, it appears as though these cards will be available with borderless (like the Jace shown above) and foil raised anime treatments. We will likely be getting more information relating to the odds of pulling different variants of the Courageous Critters.
In addition to the Courageous Critters found in collector boosters, there will be four more that are exclusive to the Bloomburrow Commander decks. Each Commander deck comes with one of these cards in foil. Let’s take a look at one of the Commander exclusive Courageous Critters that has already been previewed.
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Tamiyo, Field Researcher
Tamiyo, Field Researcher can be found specifically in the Bant Peace Offering Commander deck. This Planeswalker is really cool. If you’re playing a deck with a lot of creatures, Tamiyo’s +1 ability can generate a lot of card advantage very quickly. What’s nice about Tamiyo’s +1 ability, though, is you can target opposing creatures as well. This means that if your opponent wants to attack Tamiyo with any of the creatures that you targeted, you will end up drawing cards in the exchange.
Tamiyo saw some play in Bant midrange shells back in Eldritch Moon Standard. In Commander, Tamiyo serves as a huge threat alongside Doubling Season. With Doubling Season in play, resolving Tamiyo lets you ultimate it right away, draw some cards, and have a permanent Omniscience at your disposal! Tamiyo currently sits at around $5 in its cheapest traditional form according to TCGPlayer market price. So, it isn’t the most exciting card from a reprint value perspective, but it’s still a cool inclusion, nonetheless.
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Chatterfang, Squirrel General
As evident by the presence of Chatterfang, not all Courageous Critters are Planewsalkers. Some are potent creatures. Chatterfang is an awesome Commander card. It rewards you for making tokens of all types by flooding the board with Squirrel tokens. Then, you can use Chatterfang to keep opposing Commanders and other problematic threats in check.
Chatterfang works perfectly alongside Hazel of the Rootbloom, the face Commander for the new Squirreled Away Commander deck. While Wizards of the Coast didn’t explicitly say that Chatterfang was part of this Commander deck, there’s a decent likelihood it is. Above, you can get a glimpse at what the anime treatment looks like artisticly.
This is the first time Chatterfang will be receiving a printing in paper outside of Modern Horizons 2, and its a great one to boot. Chatterfang has a price tag of roughly $11 in its cheapest form.
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Nissa, Who Shakes the World
If you’ve ever wondered what Nissa, Who Shakes the World would look like as a frog, now you know. Nissa doesn’t see a ton of Constructed play nowadays, but it was a force to be reckoned with back in Standard. Pairing Nissa with Hydroid Krasis proved to be an effective way to close games. So long as most of your lands are Forests, Nissa provides an enormous mana boost, while simultaneously helping you put pressure on the opponent.
Nissa is one of the Courageous Critters that can only be found in collector boosters. You can find traditional non-foil War of the Spark copies for roughly $4 but there’s a good chance this variant will be significantly pricier.
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Liliana of the Dark Realms
Lastly, we have another collector booster exclusive in the form of Liliana of the Dark Realms. All things considered, Liliana isn’t too strong of a card. Its +1 ability only helps you find lands, which isn’t too exciting for four mana. Its -3 can be used to remove an opposing creature which is nice, but unfortunately, Liliana only starts with 3 loyalty. Liliana does have some nice upside in a mono-black Commander deck if you can reach the ultimate, though.
Despite the fact that Liliana has its weaknesses, the card still has a hefty price tag. This is in part because of Liliana’s lack of reprints. Outside of a Secret Lair printing and a super expensive San Diego Comic Con variant, the card has only appeared in M13 and M14. Core set copies are worth about $16 a piece, making Liliana one of the better Courageous Critters we know of thus far.
These cards are truly gorgeous and should make cracking collector boosters even more suspenseful. It’ll be interesting to see how rare they truly are, as these cards could theoretically be worth a bunch of many if supply is low. Make sure to keep an eye out for any additional information that comes out about collecting Bloomburrow cards. But for now, let’s just admire these creative, reimagined designs.
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