Bloomburrow just had its full release. While I'm not looking forward to Limited this go-around, as I'm not a big fan of formats that focus solely on creature types and creature synergies, Limited is much like pizza in that even at its worst it's never actually bad.
Bloomburrow seems to be shaping up nicely for Constructed lovers and could shake up some formats. Creature-focused sets generally lead to more aggressive gameplay, which has been missing in Standard.
Let's take a peek at some more potential Constructed bangers.
Darkstar Augur
Darkstar Augur is a juiced-up Dark Confidant. A huge selling point of Dark Confidant is that it's a two-mana creature, which pressures the opponent to have access to removal early or they're unable to keep up with the extra cards, creatures, and threats that follow Dark Confidant. A three-mana Dark Confidant isn't quite as scary. However, Darkstar Augur is unique in that for an additional mana, we can get a second, smaller copy threatening to give the controller three cards per turn.
You want to be at the top of your curve with this card since the first copy you draw will start digging you to more cards, which means more copies of itself, essentially allowing you as many cards as life you can afford to pay.
This is a powerful effect and, coupled with a nice low-curve Darkstar Augur, may be one of the most powerful cards in the set.
Fortunately, Bloomburrow's focus on creatures and even the offspring mechanic gives lots of cards a lower effective CMC even though you're able to spend mana. I'm interested to see where Darkstar Augur lands, but I'm confident it's going to be a great Standard card and potentially even beyond.
Keen-Eyed Curator
It's no question that Keen-Eyed Curator is a Constructed-playable card. The only downside is that double-pipped casting cost.
Keen-Eyed Curator has a sizable body for a two-drop and threatens to get out of control while digging through the trash and devouring different card types.
Its ability to keep the opponent's graveyard in order and threaten their life total makes it an absolute banger for any deck that can consistently cast it and wants creatures in play. While I hate how graveyard hate has been tacked onto tons of cards over the past five or so years, this is a great design for that effect. The graveyard removal is on point with flavor and because it costs mana the effect comes at a price to progress your board unlike, say, Graveyard Trespasser which was at a serviceable power level and costs no mana to make sure graveyards were empty.
Green-focused aggressive decks will replace Scavenging Ooze in all formats with this raccoon. If functional decks can consistently cast Keen-Eyed Curator on turn two, we'll definitely see it in Standard.
Mistbreath Elder
Mistbreath Elder is an aggressive, slanted one-drop that is difficult to parse. While it plays well with enters-the-battlefield triggers and the new offspring mechanic, I want to punish my opponent's life total with a creature like this, and as long as this creature is on the battlefield it's nearly impossible to keep others there too unless you're playing a particularly dense amount of one-drops. The upkeep trigger forces you to bounce another creature on the battlefield you control, so it won't play well curving itself into, say, Keen-Eyed Curator. You'll be forced to lose tempo on the early turns, which can end in disaster if your opponent is holds removal to two-for-one you after you bounce something.
When I first read the card, I thought it was fantastic, but after thinking about the kinds of decks I'd want to play it in and what they're trying to accomplish, I now think Mistbreath Elder may end up being a bad card.
I'm curious to see if anyone can make this card work effectively, but I'm skeptical.
Pawpatch Recruit
Bloomburrow keeps providing one-mana, rare, green creatures, and unlike Mistbreath Elder, I'm interested in Pawpatch Recruit. Pawpatch Recruit provides a two-powered cheap creature that scales into the game because of its offspring mechanic. On turn one or three, this is going to be a potent play that pressures the opponent to interact with it while it's still alone on the battlefield.
Pawpatch Recruit will punish interactive decks by providing more counters as the opponent tries to pick apart your threats with targeted removal. The best way to play against Pawpatch Recruit will be with sweepers and having a battlefield presence of your own.
I can imagine putting down a Llanowar Elves on the play and following it with Pawpatch Recruit on your second turn with offspring, quickly getting an advantage over opponents who led with a tapped dual land only to find themselves staring down three creatures that need removing.
I'm excited about Pawpatch Recruit in lower-curve aggressive decks. While Llanowar Elves will almost always be the best play on turn one, it's nice to see a one-drop that synergizes with it rather than competing for that turn one play.
Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest
Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest is one of my favorite card designs from Bloomburrow.
I don't think it's as powerful in the format's context as previous five-mana dragons, but I do like that it doesn't snowball you to a big battlefield and instead provides value in the form of cards we have to spend mana on.
Despite that, Dragonhawk still provides value when it enters, so you don't have to worry about removal making the card unplayable. If left unchecked, it will likely run away with the game. When you have powerful five-drops that leave behind on-the-board threats, it makes it more difficult to interact with, since you have to spend extra mana and cards cleaning them up. When you kill Dragonhawk though, you'll be up mana in the exchange, even if you're down a card and some life.
Because Dragonhawk isn't difficult to interact with, it likely won't be good enough for Standard outside of grindier, slower match-ups. We'll probably see it in small numbers in Standard at the top of the curve or in the sideboard for midrange mirrors when you want to go bigger.
It's a solid card, and I love this kind of design, but nothing to write home about.
Ygra, Eater of All
As I'm combing through Bloomburrow, I keep coming back to Ygra, Eater of All. I first read the card as a way to shut down opposing creatures. If you want to kill Ygra, the ward cost will likely make you sacrifice one of those creatures, but you can avoid that if you have food of your own lying around.
Ygra likely plays best against interactive decks that don't have creatures in play. It will be essentially hexproof if your opponent is unable to create a food token to sacrifice. In addition, you can grow Ygra with food of your own.
This is a neat design that will play well against creature decks and even better against a control deck. While I'm not sure what five-drops will be at the top of the food chain moving forward, Ygra can throw its hat in the ring as a creature that has the potential to cause some serious problems.
It's also an excellent tutorable creature target for various cards like Traverse the Uvenwald because it can sweep the battlefield of creatures.
I'm certain we'll see Ygra played in Standard. It's too unique and powerful to sit on the sidelines.
Three Tree City
Last but not least, we have Three Tree City. Three Tree City's closest resemblance is Nykthos, but in many cases, Nykthos will be a superior choice since the mana pips will likely outnumber the creatures. However, Three Tree City can use multiple creature colors to add to its total, but it's hard to find a reason to put Three Tree City in your multicolor creature-type decks and have enough mana to support a colorless land.
While the comparisons to Nykthos aren't completely unfounded, this card is overhyped in that regard. We may see a copy here and there, but this is mostly lands-in-EDH-staple territory rather than an exploitable, 60-card all-star.
I'm sure someone will prove me wrong, as this can be utilized with specific tokens, but I don't see myself ever registering this card in a competitive Constructed environment.
Bloomburrow is a cute set with lots of interesting cards. I'm most excited to play Kitsa, Otterball Elite. Darkstar Augur is also an exciting card to try and build around.
While Bloomburrow looks exciting to explore for Constructed, I'm less enthusiastic about it for Limited. However, I'll dip my toes in the Limited format this week and follow up with a review of the format and how to approach it.
See you next time!
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