Having just moved into a new house, I came a few days late to Bloomburrow Limited.
My initial reaction to drafting was, well, not good. This may have been the set I had the least desire to fire up my second draft of in Magic's history. Generally, I don't like formats focused on creature synergies. They often become about picking the right creature types, smashing them together in a tight curve, and trying to run over your opponent before they run over you.
However, as I forced myself to do a second, third, and fourth draft, it steadily got more enjoyable. My initial ranking after a draft or two would likely have had Bloomburrow in my all-time bottom-three draft formats. To add some context, I've drafted every draft format in the game's history.
Bloomburrow's cute animal theme is all well and good, but I found it hard to track what pumps rabbits and mice, but not rats and the like, at the start of the set. The cards are wordy and, at times, unintuitive. For instance, this little rat:
I read this card and assumed I needed a threshold to loot. I passed it maybe five times before I figured out that it turns off rather than on when you have a threshold.
Regardless, the format has some depth. Once you learn the cards, you can navigate your way through the creature types and perhaps pivot from GW Rabbits into RW Mice or UG Frogs. You need to understand what's happening and what the cards do. It's not a great set to go into unprepared and read as you go like I did with some of the commons.
The format is about creature combat and either outsizing your opponent, going over your opponent with flying creatures, or going wide with tons of tokens. It's a simple play style. While the games favor people who play combat well, there are a lot of cheap, powerful rares that fit into some typal decks. If you're unable to interact with, say, a Valley Questcaller early, then you're going to be in trouble.
After a few drafts, I figured out that you want to take what you're given. With the new draft structure, there are a lot of rares to go around these days. As we delve more into this new world of Play Boosters, you want to be flexible, pay attention to signals, and be ready to pounce at the first flag post you identify as a clear signal that an archetype is underdrafted at your table.
Powerful gold uncommons are the easiest way in most sets to identify that, but there are other indicators in Bloomburrow since it's a typal set. Perhaps green seems a bit shallow, but the frog cards are moving around the table and blue seems wide open; that generally means there are a bunch of rabbit and squirrel drafters going BG and WG at your table. Despite green being overrepresented, the cards you want for your frog deck won't work as well in those other archetypes, so you can ignore that green is in demand and focus on the fact that your cards will likely still be there.
Removal is important, but this is not a set for expensive removal. Five-mana removal has never been so bad; the games in this set are all about mana efficiency. Spending five mana to kill a powerful two-drop that has already produced value over several turns is not a winning method. This makes the cheap good removal premium and irreplaceable.
Speaking of mana efficiency, I like to keep a low curve in this format since there are plenty of ways to sink mana with mechanics like offspring and class enchantments. While I played exclusively Arena thus far, you can get away with playing one or two extra expensive spells in Bo3.
Mana is not great in this format, as we have no true dual lands. I like to always play Uncharted Haven unless my deck is high on one-drops, which is possible but even some of those have offspring and play more like three-drops.
Let's take a look at a couple of my trophy decks.
This deck tried to ignore what my opponent was doing and ensure I started off on the right foot then keep it on the gas pedal. Having both Seasons was a major reason I was successful with this deck. I was passed Season of Weaving in the middle of pack two, but by keeping myself predominantly in white, I was able to pick and splash any broken rare I got, and there were a lot. Having played more now, I like to change my build by a single card and add the Finch Formation over a Brave-Kin Duo, but the Duo was fine. Intrepid Rabbit is the MVP outside of the Seasons, and it's my pick for the set's best white common.
I learned from this draft that you want to find some rares in this format since the commons are tame.
This is a strong frog deck, not because of how strong frog is, but because I had a few rares. Blue seemed to be the only underrepresented color in all of the drafts I did in the aggregate. Blue is solid, and while it may be the weakest color, or one of the weakest, the format is well-balanced. If you see an open lane, take it and get rewarded.
I mostly played Kitnap like a copy of Dehydration, as I never want to give cards to my opponents. In most close games, you're not going to want to give your opponent an extra card. During the times you're far ahead or far behind, you may want to give them the extra card, but keep in mind one of the huge reasons a card like Mind Control is so good is taking a card for a single card, making it an on-board two for one. Once you give your opponent the extra card, you're not coming out ahead on cards, mostly just mana.
This was a complete deck. It was able to play interactive Magic and had solid rares, synergies, and a reasonably good curve.
I'm not sure how much more of Bloomburrow Limited I'll play. It's not my cup of tea, and while I'm starting to enjoy it more as I unlock the nuances of the format, the format isn't that deep and there aren't any decks I'm that excited to draft. Generally, I'll have a bias for one or more archetypes that suit my play style. I don't have preferences with Bloomburrow, which may be a good thing for the win rate, as I'll look to draft the open archetype, but it doesn't excite me when it comes to having fun.
When I finished my first and second drafts, I thought I was going to strongly recommend not bothering with this set, but this is a solid format for playing ten or so drafts. I'd stop drafting when you stop enjoying the set.
The new pack structure kept me playing. The juiced-up play boosters allowed me to play with new rares every draft, which made it more interesting for me. Without Play Boosters, I may have quit this set after two or three drafts. While Play Boosters may make Sealed worse, they continue to make my draft experience more enjoyable.
I'm not sure how many more drafts I'll do of Bloomburrow. If you enjoy typal stuff, this will be a pleasant experience. Bloomburrow is a polarizing format, which is fine given how many sets are hitting the shelves these days, and not every set will be for everybody.
Until next time!
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