General (BLB) Bloomburrow Spoilers

As part of Magiccon Chicago, WOTC has begun showing off cards from a few sets coming out between now and September. Bloomburrow was first to be previewed!
GHC0OLvXUAAG449.png

RW Equipment Legend. According to WOTC: "We highlight that each of the color pairs are focused on different creature types in #MTGBloomburrow. Red/white is mice."

GHC0Y_cXgAAZ66B.png


GHC0ummXUAAaFOT.png

Eat your heart out, Splendid Reclaimation!

They also revealed some art. I'm not sharing all of it now, but these two are... interesting.
GHC0GuiXcAAVq2M.png
GHC094VXsAAZOCo.png

Jace and Ral are Furries????

Jace is also desparked, essentially confirming that the "desparked Planeswalkers" thing is temporary. This is good, because the "one Planeswalker per set" rule has largely been a disaster so far.

This set looks very cute, and I'm excited to see more in the future!
 
I wanted to take a quick guess as to what the main tribes for each two-color pair will be. I'm not going to share all of the art and packaging images that I'm using as sources, but I will be linking any individual cards.

We already have confirmed that WR=Mice thanks to Mabel, Heir to Cragflame. That leaves WU, UB, BR, RG, GW, WB, BG, GU, and UR.

The new player starter kits feature two legendary creatures: Bryke, Long Ear of the Law and Bria, Riptide Rogue. Given the fact that we have already gotten Otters and Rabbits roughly in these colors with similar abilities back in Wilds of Eldraine, I think it's safe to say that GW is Rabbits and UR is Otters. Additionally, one of the commander decks is GB Squirrel Tribal.
en_1evbxdebdnag_04.png


So now we have:
WR– Mice (Confirmed)
BG– Squirrels (Confirmed via Commander Precon)
GW–Rabbits (Very Likely)
UR– Otters (Very Likely)

WU– ???
UB– ???
BR– ???
RG– ???
WB– ???
GU– ???

Looking at some of the set packaging, we can see the following animals prominently showcased:
–Bats
–Frogs
–Birds
–Badgers
–Racoons
–Lizards
28c0611a3f.jpg
en_vl460708bzr4.png
en_1evbxdebdnag_02.png
fdd807bcb6.jpg
en_1evbxdebdnag_01.png
218062aa1c.jpg
baf4e7af7c.jpg


Frogs are pretty clearly UG. Birds are probably UW, as that's where they have historically been in the past. Lizards are probably RB, as the Lizard art revealed so far feels very in-tune with those two colors. Now things start getting tricky. Bats feel like they should be WB, as that's where they existed in Lost Caverns of Ixalan. However, the bat art we have so far feels very UB. I feel like Blue is more likely to have two flying tribes than White. That leaves Badgers and Raccoons. I don't honestly know where to place these two. Both have historically been placed in RG. The RG commander deck is led by a Raccoon, but the Badger art so far looks very RG. If I had to make an educated guess, I would say that Raccoons will be the RG deck, and Badgers will exist on the plane but not be a major tribe. While they could be the WB tribe, there's just nothing about them that feels White or Black, and they've only ever starred on Red or Green cards. That said, they obviously will be making an appearance here, I just don't think they will be a major tribal theme!

So, here's the final list!
WR– Mice (Confirmed)
BG– Squirrels (Confirmed via Commander Precon)
GW–Rabbits (Very Likely)
UR– Otters (Very Likely)
WU– Birds (Likely, Commander Deck Leader)
BR– Lizards (Likely, Revealed Art)
GU– Frogs (Likely, Revealed Art)
UB– Bats (Somewhat Likely, Revealed Art. Could also be WB)
RG– Raccoons (Somewhat Likely, Commander Deck Leader)
WB– ???

I believe Foxes, Badgers, and Capybara will all appear in the set in some quantity without being part of a tribal theme (with the first two already having been confirmed!) I also believe that Cats, Dogs, Deer, and Spiders may make an appearance in some capacity. Sheep and Goats also feel like a realistic option, although I am under the impression that they may be steering away from domestic livestock for this set. My guess is that if one of these animals is represented as a color pair, it will be WB Cats.

What do you all think about my list?
 
1708748806971.png

I like it, but I think you're overthinking it a bit. The badger shown looks like it could be WB based on how its using death. Plus, it fits into the Redwall trope of badgers being loving, caring berzerkers who will stop at nothing to protect their family. In the absence of another tribe, why not slot badgers into WB? Love the analysis, though, and I'm super hyped for both these cards and this set.
 
When they make a tribal set that doesn't support any previous tribal sets...

Give me Lorwyn or Onslaught!!!
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I wanted to point this out, but could never have done it as eloquently as this diagram :’)

I wanted to take a quick guess as to what the main tribes for each two-color pair will be.?

I believe Foxes, Badgers, and Capybara will all appear in the set in some quantity without being part of a tribal theme (with the first two already having been confirmed!).

What do you all think about my list?
That said, Badgers in the Redwall series feel more {R/W} to me, proud warriors that are closely associated with the bloodwrath condition. “The Bloodwrath is a mental condition characteristic of badgers but not limited to the species. It causes the afflicted to go berserk with rage for a short period of time, leading to extraordinary acts of aggression, destruction, and violence.” Alternatively, they could be {B/R}. Looking at the released badger artwork, we clearly see the purple crackle so often used to depict black magic in the back, and the badger’s right arm is glowing red.

Now, one species you already mentioned that would fit {U/B} to a tee are the sly and self-serving foxes. We know Jace is blue, and unless they throw us for a loop, black makes sense as a second color (edit: not for Jace per se, but for foxes in general), considering the historic depiction of foxes in literature. If that’s the case, this could put bats back into {W/B} again.

It is funny that they confirmed Bloomburrow being a tribal set, then proceeded to show us more than 10 tribes… Keeps us guessing, I guess!

On a side note: Bloomburrow was my most anticipated set, because I love Redwall, but tribal probably is my least favorite theme. I am conflicted!
 
Last edited:
When CARDNAME enters will for sure be the templating going forward.

We will have to get use to it. It will take time. Eventually it will be fine.

I like mana value now.
 
Enters the Battlefield has been clunky wording since the day they switched to it. I don't mind the change, but it's an annoyance to have all these thousands of cards that are all worded differently than new ones coming out. I wish they figured out years ago that one word is less than three.
 
Having the burn spells all correctly worded is really nice because it kind of matters. I'll still have to re-do like 100 of my proxies or something.

EDIT: I just checked and it's 133 cards in my current list. Ouch.

EDIT2: Do we think it'll still be "leaves THE BATTLEFIELD"?
Honestly, that's what I like too. I reworded all proxies and making them more clear for my players. I even added reminder text.
 
I added a ton of reminder text to all of the rares and mythics with set mechanics and then I had someone ask me what Equip did.
Ouch. The worst part for me was the way they're printing things that feel so unintuitive: uncounterable spells and Ward, or Damage can't be prevented and Protection(esque effects).

Like, I should not feel tempted to add reminder text to a Questing Beast. There's already too many damn words on that.
 
The way that they worded Ward is really punishing and unintuitive compared to shroud and hexproof.
 
I love this setting and I love all the art so far. I was already pretty hyped about "Mouse Plane" but knowing there'll be frogs, lizards, and bats to play with is even better. Playing these alongside Eldraine cards will be VERY cozy. Like, I want to play this in a blanket fort.
 
Yup, it appears to be my favorite setting of 2024 as well. However, I really hope the tribal components won't be too dominant.

With 10 different creature types competing, I think their best bet would be to include a lot of cards with a "choose a creature type" clause, rather than a lot of "Frogs you control get +1/+1" stuff.

Who knows, we might get a version of the Collection mechanic from Ravnica: Riptide Edition (which would reward building a squad of differently-typed critters).
 
With 10 different creature types competing, I think their best bet would be to include a lot of cards with a "choose a creature type" clause, rather than a lot of "Frogs you control get +1/+1" stuff.

Who knows, we might get a version of the Collection mechanic from Ravnica: Riptide Edition (which would reward building a squad of differently-typed critters).

Like the party mechanic from Zendikar Rising?
 
Yup, it appears to be my favorite setting of 2024 as well. However, I really hope the tribal components won't be too dominant.
We get a lot of cute animal art to cube with, which is much better than cowboy Oko.

I do think WotC has gotten much better with their tribal designs, though. "Derps you control get +1/+1." isn't their only idea anymore.


Reasonable base costs that aren't overwhelming when reduced.


Simply including the guys in play is a big improvement over the Lorwyn designs.


A lot of tribal cards are playable outside of one deck because they have multiple effects and/or reasonable stats.


Other.

"Choose a creature type" or some kind of party mechanic add a lot of flexibility.

I had to skip a ton of cool cards making this list so that it wasn't too long.
Code:
otag:tribal format:vintage -t:sliver not:reprint sort:date
 
Top