Bloomburrow Commander decklists are all getting revealed today, and there’s plenty to look forward to. We’ve already seen the face Commanders for each Precon, so we knew we were in for a treat. Today, we’re going to focus on the Commander deck with a popular theme as old as time: group hug.
The Peace Offering deck led by Ms. Bumbleflower rewards you for helping out your opponents in little ways. Everyone benefits, but you get to control the show. Now, we know the other new Bloomburrow Commander cards that will be joining forces with Ms. Bumbleflower to bring the group hug action to your next Commander night. Let’s start by taking a look at the secondary Commander, Mr. Foxglove.
Mr. Foxglove
- Mana Value: 2GWU
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 3/5
- Text: Lifelink. Whenever Mr. Foxglove attacks, draw cards equal to the number of cards in defending player’s hand minus the number of cards in your hand. If you didn’t draw cards this way, you may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield.
Mr. Foxglove is a neat card with a brutal attack trigger. In some instances, you’ll want to attack the player with the most cards in hand to help you refuel your hand. This works well with all the Bloomburrow cards that let you Gift a card to an opponent.
Of course, alongside Ms. Bumblefoot, you’ll likely be drawing a lot of cards as is. Fortunately, if you’ve got a full grip of cards, you can then put in any huge monster from your hand directly into play when Mr. Foxglove attacks instead. Cards like Survival of the Fittest can ensure you always have something impactful to put into play.
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Twenty-Toed Toad
- Mana Value: 3U
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/3
- Text: Your maximum hand size is twenty. Whenever you attack with two or more creatures, put a +1/+1 counter on Twenty-Toed Toad and draw a card. Whenever Twenty-Toed Toad attacks, you win the game if there are twenty of more counters on it or you have twenty or more cards in hand.
Twenty-Toed Toad is such a fantastic name for an MTG card, and the card itself isn’t half bad either. Attacking with two or more creatures is trivial, so Twenty-Toed Toad generates a flow of card advantage pretty reliably.
The fun part comes if you can attack with Twenty-Toed Toad when it has twenty counters on it or you have twenty cards in hand. This is difficult, but definitely not impossible. When it comes to counters, using a card like Bristly Bill, Spine Sower can help Twenty-Toed Toad rack up counters real fast. Funnily enough, Twenty-Toed Toad combos with Enter the Infinite, assuming you get to attack with it. New alternate win conditions are always exciting, and this card is no exception.
Steelburr Champion
- Mana Value: 2W
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 1/1
- Offspring 1W (You may pay an additional 1W as you cast this spell. If you do, when this creature enters, create a 1/1 token copy of it). Vigilance. Whenever an opponent casts a noncreature spell, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Next in line, we have Steelburr Champion. Steelburr Champion isn’t the most exciting card, but it does work well with Ms. Bumbleflower. Obviously, with Ms. Bumbleflower in play, the goal is to cast two spells in a turn to generate card advantage. However, you also get to put +1/+1 counters on your creatures when you cast spells and give them Flying.
Steelburr Champion provides two threats for five mana that will likely grow quite large over the course of a multiplayer game. As such, these threats are perfect to give flying and get some big attacks in. There aren’t many special synergies here, just some burly bodies to deal damage with.
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Tempt with Bunnies
- Mana Value: 2W
- Rarity: Rare
- Text: Tempting Offer- Draw a card and create a 1/1 white Rabbit creature token. Then each opponent may draw a card and create a 1/1 white Rabbity creature token. For each opponent who does, you draw a card and you create a 1/1 white Rabbit creature token.
Tempt with Bunnies is another card that isn’t outrageously impressive. Still, it’s a flavorful inclusion that, once again, lets your opponents in on the card-drawing action if they would like to partake. Tempt with Bunnies may appear in the group hug Commander deck this time around, but it’s also a nice addition to a deck with a basic token theme.
For instance, pairing this with Cadira, Caller of the Small can enable you to flood the board with Rabbits in no time. Throw in a Coat of Arms effect, and you’re in business.
Perch Protection
- Mana Value: 4WW
- Rarity: Rare
- Text: Gift an extra turn (you may promise an opponent a gift as you cast this spell. If you do, they take an extra turn after this one). Create four 2/2 blue Bird creature tokens with flying. If the gift was promised, all permanents you control phase out, and until your next turn, your life total can’t change and you gain protection fro everything. Exile Perch Protection.
Well, we finally know the card from Gavin Verhey’s 12 Commander hints that Gifts an opponent an extra turn. As it turns out, our inkling that it would appear on a Teferi’s Protection-style card was correct to an extent. Perch Protection is a really sweet design. If you’re ahead on board, casting it to make four tokens is totally fine. If you’re behind, though, you can wait for a big attack, cast it while Gifting the extra turn to the opponent at the table with the weakest board presence, and give yourself a force field until your next turn.
In some games, if you can bait out an all-out attack from someone, Perch Protection could have dire consequences for that player. See, the extra turn comes out of nowhere, so you may be able to Gift it to someone else in a political manner and have that player get a big swing in at the player that attacked you. This card is all-around a sweet design.
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Bloodroot Apothecary
- Mana Value: 2G
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/3
- Text: Toxic 2 (Players dealt combat damage by this creature get two poison counters. A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game). When Bloodroot Apothecary enters, you and target opponent each create a Treasure token. Whenever an opponent sacrifices a noncreature token, that player gets two poison counters.
Bloodroot Apothecary is a funny card that punishes your opponents for sacrificing noncreature tokens. Most notably, this card completely shuts down your opponents’ opportunities to sacrifice excess Treasure tokens, which can be very useful in the face of Smothering Tithe or Dockside Extortionist.
Bloodroot Apothecary seems like a great fit with Kibo, Uktabi Prince as your general, too. You can provide the opponents with artifact tokens that they can’t crack without getting poison counters. From there, casting a card like Scrap Mastery can straight up win you the game on the spot! Bloodroot Apothecary is a strong hate piece as is, and any poison synergies can take it to the next level.
Communal Brewing
- Mana Value: 2G
- Rarity: Rare
- Text: When Communal Brewing enters, any number of target opponents each draw a card. Put an ingredient counter on Communal Brewing, then put an ingredient counter on it for each card drawn this way. Whenever you cast a creature spell, that creature enters with X additional +1/+1 counters on it, where X is the number of ingredient counters on Communal Brewing.
Communal Brewing is yet another card that gives your opponents card advantage, while providing a big benefit for you in the long run. In a multiplayer game, all of your follow-up creatures will be pretty large. If you have any +1/+1 counter synergies, Communal Brewing becomes even stronger. This is a great inclusion in a Shalai and Hallar deck, since all future creature spells you cast with Shalai and Hallar in play will let you dome an opponent for some damage. It takes some work to get Communal Brewing going, but it can certainly be worth putting in the effort.
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Octomancer
- Mana Value: 3GW
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/3
- Text: Gift an Octopus (You may promise an opponent a gift as you cast this spell. If you do, when it enters, they create an 8/8 blue Octopus creature token). At the beginning of each end step, create a token that’s a copy of target creature token that entered the battlefield this turn.
Octomancer is a cool card that, at minimum, lets you and an opponent of your choice each get an 8/8 Octopus token the turn you play it. In a dedicated token deck, though, Octomancer can really get out of hand. Interestingly, because it triggers on each end step, you’ll get a creature token out of the deal if an opponent produced creature tokens during their turn. It’s easy to get a bunch of tokens out of the deal as the game goes on, especially if you have ways to make creature tokens at Instant speed.
Fisher’s Talent
- Mana Value: 2GU
- Rarity: Rare
- Text: (Gain the next level as a sorcery to add its ability). At the beginning of your upkeep, look at the top card of your library. You may reveal it if it’s a land card. Create a 1/1 blue Fish creature token if you revealed it this way. Then draw a card. GU: Level 2: If you would create a Fish token, create a 3/3 blue Shark creature token instead. 2GU: Level 3: If you would create a Shark token, create an 8/8 blue Octopus creature token instead.
Lastly, we have Fisher’s Talent. This enchantment gives you a solid flow of cards, and any lands you reveal will result in you making tokens. You’re incentivized to Level up this bad boy so you can start making 8/8 tokens. Interestingly, if you Level up Fisher’s Talent all the way, cards like Shark Typhoon that would make small Shark tokens now make 8/8 Octopi instead. As such, it’ll be fun to see how players go about abusing Fisher’s Talent moving forward.
While some of these cards aren’t overwhelmingly strong individually, there are some spicy designs here. If you’re a fan of group hug decks in general, Bloomburrow is surely a welcome environment. Between the Gift mechanic from the main set and the two excellent Commander options that the Peace Offering deck gives you, there’s plenty of room to build some fun decks to play at your local game store.
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