This new Magic the Gathering set can have all my money
Bloomburrow is ready to steal your hearts
This upcoming Magic the Gathering set might be my favourite ever and it’s going to bankrupt me. I am a sucker for cute animals and this set is taking advantage of our love of adorable critters, making Bloomburrow one of the most anticipated expansions in recent history.
Bloomburrow is set on a new plane in the Magic the Gathering universe, one where animals can talk, fight, and wield magic. They’re very different from other animal creatures we’ve seen on other planes, who are usually human-sized or bigger. These animals, frogs, rabbits, mice, and more, are sized how they would be in our world. Flowers are huge to some of these creatures and trees are like skyscrapers.
It’s a unique world where rival clans are at war with each other among the wilds of the plane. The set will include a lot of new characters, of course, but you will see some familiar faces, though in their animal form. Planeswalkers, for example, will appear but as cute and fuzzy alternate versions.
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Before we showcase a few of the cards available in this new set, it’s worth taking a look at the new mechanics and some of the themes you’ll find in Bloomburrow.
The standout of these new cards has to be the artwork. Wizards of the Coast has hired some wonderful artists to realise the world of animals and there isn’t one card that disappoints, from what we’ve seen so far. There’s a fairy tale style running throughout, which isn’t a surprise given we’re in a world of talking animals. Many of the cards have a lush painterly quality making each one feel like a miniature work of art.
With this being a plane of animals, Magic the Gathering’s designers have brought together quite the menagerie and they’ve all been matched with a pair of colours, to dictate how they’re played. Birds, for example, are white/blue because they are fliers; while rabbits reflect their environment using white/green. This is seen in the four Commander decks to be released alongside the set on 2 August.
As with all Magic the Gathering releases, you can expect the four Commander decks, Play Boosters, and Collector Boosters, as well as bundles, prerelease boxes, and the starter set featuring two standard decks.
For those who love new mechanics, we have two major mechanics debuting with Bloomburrow; Offspring and Gift. The former is a way to create tokens as if they were your card’s children, inheriting stats and bonuses from the parent card. Gift also uses tokens, but this time you can ‘promise’ them to your opponent when you cast a spell. Without the promise, however, the spell will play out slightly differently.
Now for the bit we’re all waiting for. Some glorious cards.
Personally, as a big fan of card art, this set has blown me away. Combining a range of lovely animals with various styles of art instantly stole my heart. Of course, I’m in it for the mechanics and the new lore drops, but this is the first set in a few years where I’ve wanted to collect every single card. Any piece of art in this set could make for a gorgeous print.
You can see the new border designs, as well as the dual colour border/backgrounds being used in Bloomburrow. As with other sets, some cards will be available through the Collector Boosters which have more chance to give you limited edition cards. Another cute feature for the new designs are the land cards which depict the changing of seasons as a little bit of flavour.
I think the introduction of so many animals is a surefire way to bring in new players, too, particularly kids who can enjoy the card art and the way each animal type has their own background and style of dress. Bloomburrow, more than any other recent set, feels like a fresh start for Magic the Gathering, and a perfect place to jump in. The full set comes to Magic the Gathering Arena this month on 30 July, but the physical set will be in stores on 2 August.
Topics: Magic the Gathering, Wizards of the Coast