Bloomburrow cards have only been available on Magic Online for just over 24 hours, and we’re already starting to see a bunch of new cards show up in various archetypes. Interestingly, one card in particular that has shined across multiple formats is Thundertrap Trainer. When we made our predictions for the best cards in the set, we included Thundertrap Trainer pretty low on the list. While it looked promising, how much better than Augur of Bolas could it be?
Well, early on, it looks like the answer is much better. Thundertrap Trainer has appeared in Magic Online League 5-0 decklists in Standard, Pioneer, and Modern thus far. The card simply has more utility than may appear at first glance.
Digging Deep
- Mana Value: 1U
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 1/2
- Text: Offspring 4 (You may pay an additional 4 as you cast this spell. If you do, when this creature enters, create a 1/1 token copy of it). When this creature enters, look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal a noncreature, nonland card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
When examining this card in comparison to Augur of Bolas, there are a couple important distinctions that make Thundertrap Trainer much stronger. First, the difference between digging four cards deep and three cards deep is significantly bigger than you might think.
The reality is, even in a deck with a high density of spells, it’s easy to whiff off of Augur of Bolas. Between lands and other creatures (including other copies of Augur of Bolas), missing on an Instant or Sorcery happens a lot. In fact, it’s become a running joke that Augur of Bolas frequently just puts the top three card of your library on the bottom as a result.
Thundertrap Trainer is much more likely to hit something useful. On top of that, it also hits any noncreature spell, not just Instants and Sorceries. In this sense, Thundertrap Trainer is actually closer in practice to Fallaji Archaeologist than Augur of Bolas.
This is a huge deal. In Standard, you can reveal Planeswalkers like Ral, Crackling Wit, which has already shown signs of promise. In Pioneer, Thundertrap Trainer can help you find Jeskai Ascendancy. This deck has also picked up steam recently, utilizing playsets of both Fallaji Archaeologist and Thundertrap Trainer. Not only does Thundertrap Trainer help find your combo pieces, but it even provides another target for Retraction Helix. For a more in-depth look at this surging archetype, you can take a look here.
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Additional Utility
- Mana Value: 1UU
- Rarity: Rare
- Text: You may sacrifice a nontoken blue creature rather than pay this spell’s mana cost. Counter target spell.
Finally, in Modern, Thundertrap Trainer has tons of extra utility given the cards that can surround it. At a baseline, you can reveal incredible artifacts like The One Ring and graveyard hate pieces out of the sideboard, such as Unlicensed Hearse. However, the presence of free spells and modal double-faced cards makes Thundertrap Trainer an incredible support card.
If you’re in need of more mana, Thundertrap Trainer can find Sink into Stupor. If you need to interact with the opponent’s combo, you can hope to find Flare of Denial. From there, Thundertrap Trainer sits in play as the perfect card to sacrifice to Flare of Denial.
Unlike Fallaji Archaeologist, Thundertrap Trainer even has the upside of being a Wizard. This makes it the perfect card to pair with Flame of Anor.
Ultimately, the difference between looking at four cards versus three cannot be overstated, and there are tons of ways to maximize the 1/2 body left over. This doesn’t even take into account the Offspring ability which can help in situations where you flood. Expect this card to be a staple of spell-based strategies for the foreseeable future.
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