There are a lot of things that make Bloomburrow special. Not only is it the first all-animal set, but it’s jam-packed with gorgeous art, amazing flavor, and powerful new abilities. For us here at MTG Rocks, Bloomburrow also marks our first time debuting exclusive spoilers.
We’re always excited to talk about the most interesting cards hitting the scene, and now we get to reveal some ourselves!
We have two new uncommon cards to show off for the upcoming Bloomburrow release. Both of these cards look interesting in a Draft environment and could play a larger role in themed Commander decks that can take advantage of their creature types or of the Forage ability.
Let’s take a look at the first-ever reveal of Plumecreed Escort and Curious Forger!
Plumecreed Escort
Plumecreed Escort is a Bird Scout with a rather standard, but interesting ability. This 2/1 flier can essentially come in and give another one of your creatures Hexproof in response to a removal spell.
This is a surprisingly adept creature. Having strong Rattlechains vibes, Plumecreed Escort is both an evasive threat and a piece of protection. This plays exceptionally well in a tempo-style deck that wants to use a lot of permission combined with small, evasive threats to control and close the game before your opponent can find their footing.
Even though Plumecreed Escort is likely to be a strong blue uncommon in Limited, this card has a lot of game. It would not surprise us at all to see this card appear in a low-to-the-ground tempo deck in the Standard format. Plumecreed Escort, at its best, is a blowout. You get a body, and you get to render an opponent’s card irrelevant.
Since the Standard format will be rotating once Bloomburrow hits the scene, the Standard format is going to lose some power. That could be the perfect window for Plumecreed Escort to make a bigger impact than many players may expect.
Otherwise, any Bird decks that may become popular thanks to the creature type support coming out of Bloomburrow will likely make use of Plumecreed Escort. The card is not nearly as good in Commander as it is in other formats, but Blinking effects could allow you to keep up protection if your Commander gets targeted by removal.
Curious Forager
Just as Plumecreed Escort had some Rattlechains vibes, Curious Forager has some serious Eternal Witness vibes. Sadly, this Squirrel Druid is not as good as the iconic Magic card, but could still be interesting for decks that specifically want to Forage.
To recap, Forage is a new mechanic commonly found on Squirrelfolk in the world of Bloomburrow. If you can pay the Forage cost of either exiling three cards in your graveyard or sacrificing a Food Token, you can get an additional payoff. In this case, Curious Forager allows you to return a permanent card from your grave to your hand. Considering that this is generally pure card advantage, the payoff to Curious Forager is usually worth it.
Outside of decks that specifically want to synergize with Squirrels and Foraging, we expect that Curious Forager will likely just be a Draft card. That said, there are some cards that have been revealed already that synergize with Forage. Those cards are the ticket to Curious Forager’s success.
The already spoiled Camellia, the Seedmiser, for example, is an example of a strong synergy with the Forage mechanic in Bloomburrow. Foraging allows you to sacrifice Food, which will be replaced by Squirrel tokens. Heck, this even enables an infinite combo in Standard post-rotation.
If there is enough Forage support in the set, Curious Forager could turn into a Standard legal Eternal Witness with an upside. This is, admittedly, probably a stretch, but it is a possibility.
That’s it For Now!
We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to introduce Plumecreed Escort and Curious Forager from Bloomburrow to the world! Plumecreed Escort has some Standard potential, and Curious Forager looks like a fun limited uncommon that could see some Commander play in synergistic decks.
Bloomburrow officially releases August 2nd, but prereleases begin July 26th.
Read More: Magic’s First Legendary Weasel Casts Spells For Free