General (BLB, BLC) Bloomburrow Testing/Includes Thread

[TrainmasterGT]

This is a testing/includes thread. Post pictures using /ci or a text list using /c with what cards you plan to include and what cards you plan to test.​

Including:



Including if I Open:


Unstable Cubicorns:


Testing:


So, this set is weird. A lot of the cards are hard to evaluate, mostly because of their obtuse abilities. While I think this can make cards more interesting, it can also make them significantly harder to cleanly fit into a Cube design. The gift mechanic is a great example of this. Gift cards provide a minor upside in exchange for giving the opponent some advantage, usually a card or token. It's not really obvious when it's worthwhile to give the opponent extra stuff to marginally power up a spell. Perhaps this will be something that comes out in the wash of gameplay. Likewise, many new cards have a lot of text that doesn't always add much to much in practice. For example, the constructed prospect "white Siege Rhino" Beza, the Bounding Spring has an ability that amounts to a larger Timely Reinforcements // Sunset Revelry. The card is cool, but it's way busier than it needs to be.

I don't necessarily think this is a complexity creep problem. The coolest new mechanic in the set, Offspring, plays with the idea of paying an extra cost to get a 1/1 copy of the creature spell you're casting. Many of these designs have complex abilities that are worth copying on an extra, smaller creature. There's a lot of cool space with Offspring and I definitely wish it had been explored a bit further in the set design.

Overall, I'm a bit disappointed with this set at first blush. There are a lot of cool ideas here, but nothing seems like a true slam-dunk. I have a feeling that this set is going to be fairly popular out of the gate thanks to the cute aesthetic, but I'm not sure how many of these cards are going to become beloved.

What are your plans for this set?
-GT

 

[Nanonox]

I love the art and vibe of this set. This to me is close to peak MTG that I fell in love with. It has some elegant and simple card designs alongside great art. I won't be testing as much from other sets, but I really don't mind and still enjoy what this set brings to the table.

Includes



Inscho suggested the otter as a replacement for Jace, VP to remove a flip card and I find that a great idea. Having a potentially sizeable body with which to attack and encouraging you to go for a big turn is perfect for my cube goals.
The talent is an early threat that then provides card advantage and a potential win condition. It also triggers all of your noncreature abilities itself, making it a great looking include. These two combined make me want to revisit a more pushed Prowess theme in the cube. These two fit nicely in both aggressive and more defensive decks which is great (compared to Monastery Swiftspear that is just aggressive).



This little guy packs a serious punch. One damage per landfall trigger is a great rate for a one drop and the Offspring ability means it could double. If anything, I am worried it might be too much damage with fetchlands and others. I am excited for a Black lands matter card though, so I am willing to accept a pretty easy to answer power outlier.



So this Talent allows me to create artifacts, turbo mill myself and then turn itself into a sacrifice outlet and reanimator spell all for a low mana commitment. Seems really good with the Black themes I support and isn't prescriptive. You are on your own for finding the best shell in which to slot it in since it is so open-ended (any permanent sacrificed mills 2!). I also appreciate being able to mill out an opponent. I have a small mill theme going in Blue (Hedron Crab, Jace, the Perfected Mind and Mesmeric Orb) and the Talent will fit right in!

Interested



A 2/3 flyer that draws a card every turn is solid. An extra body for a single mana seems like a bargain, especially one with evasion. I can see just about any deck wanting this. Control can use the extra body as chump blockers in a pinch, tempo and aggro love the evasion and even low to the ground combo decks could slot it in.



Escape 3 to cast a creature isn't that demanding, especially when it comes on a 2/2 deathtouch body. I really like the effect, but just like Emperor of Bones, there is a lot of text on the card (at least this one explains Forage and Finality counter).



I view this as a less narrow Grapeshot. There are other cards with this effect, but being able double up the effect thanks to Offspring is a big plus.



This is a nice self-contained +1/+1 counter card. I quite like distributing a counter every turn (especially since it works the turn you play it). The Ward 1 is easy to reach and a nuisance but not game breaking. The ultimate is cool because it works with Planeswalkers meaning you get to unlock some pretty crazy scenarios from a very reasonable card.

Neat (but unlikely)



These are pretty cool Storm payoffs! Too bad they are a tad expensive for what my decks generally want.



Aftermath Analyst has been one of the most busted and interesting cards from recent sets. Stapling a body + mill to Splendid Reclamation has been a winning combination. The bear has some of that too, but 6 mana isn't exactly where I want this on the curve.



This is cool because it gives you infinite fodder for all your ETBs effects (be it Spirited Companion or Impact Tremors).



That static and the emblem are quite something! This card makes you want to go for it, but I'm afraid it will be a dream more often than not to be worth it.



The stats and ability on this is nuts! Returning any nonland permanent with <= 3 MV for 2 mana every turn will let you run away with the game in my cube. It's too snowbally for my tastes, but the possibilities are intriguing.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

A 2/3 flyer that draws a card every turn is solid. An extra body for a single mana seems like a bargain, especially one with evasion. I can see just about any deck wanting this. Control can use the extra body as chump blockers in a pinch, tempo and aggro love the evasion and even low to the ground combo decks could slot it in.

This is one of my favorite Offspring cards, I'm glad to see other people like it as well!

Escape 3 to cast a creature isn't that demanding, especially when it comes on a 2/2 deathtouch body. I really like the effect, but just like Emperor of Bones, there is a lot of text on the card (at least this one explains Forage and Finality counter).

I think Osteomancer Adept is a much cleaner card than Emperor of Bones. The fact that you get to keep the creature and can easily use the activated ability multiple times makes this feel like a build-around engine. In contrast, the Emperor is simply an efficient beater with upside. Plus the art is better!

This is probably my pick for "finality counter two drop!"

 

[ravnic]

I love Bloomburrow. Not only is it by a thousand miles the aesthetically most pleasing set of 2024 (not even that hard), it also delivered on so many themes I enjoy, hybrids and threshold standing out the most.

Slam dunks that mostly replace former tag: placeholder s and will be added right away even though the summer update has passed:



Mockingbird is exactly the Ninja enabler with general late game use I've wanted for a while. Sorry, Spectral Sailor, you were always okay.
Mindwhisker isn't a clean replacement, but I've always wished there was a good blue threshold card at my power level.
And the Assailant does what Dimir Strandcatcher did but without the corny multiplayer text.

Then I will also add one of these:



Kinda sad they only gave me two white cards with that gain or lose trigger. I will replace Field-tested Frying Pan with one of them though, judt not sure which one. Charter seems a little bit too strong, witness is just not that exciting.

Likely to be added with my next update:



I'm just not sure what I want to cut for it, so the otter will wait a bit. Maybe, if I open a foil version at prerelease, I'll just force the issue.

Decent chance to make it in at some point:



Don't love more token creep but this other is really cool and I'll add him if Firebrand Archer turns out a little bit too weak. But I'm careful as red aggro is already tier 1 in my meta.
Diresight is just Read the Bones with a sprinkle of graveyard synergies. But that minor upgrade isn't worth cutting a retro frame card for me.

Only when the stars align:



If my summer update doesn't prove succesful in that people still wont draft mono blue, and if this card (preferably the field notes version) turns out somewhat cheap, I could see this card as a slight power outlier that pulls people in at some point.



With 4-5 cards at the very least making the cut, Bloomburrow is more successful than every other ser this year (MKM zwo cards, OTJ zero cards, MH3 three cards) regarding my cube. That's a lucky happenstance, since it is, as I said, also the most appealing to me in terms of flavor.

 

[Nanonox]

I think Osteomancer Adept is a much cleaner card than Emperor of Bones.

100% agree, but the Emperor is more exciting for me because the ceiling is so high. Through the Breaching a big creature every turn with a counter theme is really cool and it it’s a self-contained engine with the Adapt and the GY exile.
That said, it’s too complex I think for it to earn its spot.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

100% agree, but the Emperor is more exciting for me because the ceiling is so high. Through the Breaching a big creature every turn with a counter theme is really cool and it it’s a self-contained engine with the Adapt and the GY exile.
That said, it’s too complex I think for it to earn its spot.

For sure! Part of the reason why I'm off of emperor is the fact that a lot of the card's value is tied up in the ceiling. In my Cube, there isn't the support for a card that needs to get +1/+1 counters every turn to unlock its full potential. It can do some funny things with Ornerry Tumblewagg, but that's about all I can remember off the top of my head.

I love Bloomburrow. Not only is it by a thousand miles the aesthetically most pleasing set of 2024 (not even that hard), it also delivered on so many themes I enjoy, hybrids and threshold standing out the most.

Bloomburrow has a very pleasant aesthetic. I'm also happy to see the Hybrid common cycle! There's good news on that front as well– Mark Rosewater has confirmed on his blog that the common Hybrid cycle is going to be tool the designers will continue to use in the future!

Then I will also add one of these:

Kinda sad they only gave me two white cards with that gain or lose trigger. I will replace Field-tested Frying Pan with one of them though, judt not sure which one. Charter seems a little bit too strong, witness is just not that exciting.

I think Star Charter looks like a lot of fun to play. Even if it ends up being too powerful, the build-around potential makes it look like a great choice for a test!

 

[Phone]

I was going to seal up the cube for a 6 month relax cycle but Bloomburrow hits basically all my points.

Already slotted into the cube:

I love the offspring mechanic and having a landfall punisher is fantastic. I'm so stoked for this card.


Replaces Emperor of Bones as others have said for complexity reasons.


Offspring is so sweet and frankly Black needed more bobs. They have so little viable card draw in Vintage cube (I know there are a lot of black draw cards, just none that fit my needs)


I haven't seen this one. It feels like a Vendillion Clique that gets to see the drawn card first.


Dope card is dope. I love baneslayers and dragons. And the art is cool.

Needs to find a home:

I have a tokens/populate subtheme, so I'm really intrigued by this card. I looked at it in UNF and it just felt discordant. Now with the new flavour and the proliferation of populate cards in my cube this comes back in.


I really hate the name of this card. Jacked feels so slang-like and like this card kept its testing name. Regardless, it seems cool as hell and I'll be making a Ravenous reminder text version for my cube.

Overall, less inclusions than MH3 but I like this a lot better. All of these inclusions feel natural and cool, whereas a lot of the MH3 cards felt forced by being better versions of something else already.

 

[Brad]

Mark Rosewater has confirmed on his blog that the common Hybrid cycle is going to be tool the designers will continue to use in the future!

That's great news. I love the flexibility of hybrid cards. I did find it a little awkward that one cost while another cost . The casting demands on those costs are very, very different.

Considerations:

How strong is nerfed Restoration Angel? I'm worried it's still too strong.


Escort OP?

Twenty-Toed Toad looks like he doesn't know what he's doing, but he's still trying his best to seem tough.


Consumed is a maybe. I like that it's kinda inefficient removal to hit an Eldrazi and I like that it has GY synergy, but the combination feels just a bit better than what I want my titan removal to look like.

Some nice 1B removal in this set for those of you who aren't protecting Eldrazi.


Season ramps straight into an 11 drop and has other nice options.


I've kinda been wanting some combat tricks lately and Overprotect looks nice.


Glarb is a maybe, but the other ones perfectly fit my themes. Cutthroat seems good enough, given the flexible cost and my multicolor theme.



Great flavor, great mechanical themes, great execution of tribal. Really good set on all fronts.

 

[BoBguyjoe]

I've got two cards:


Coruscation Mage was drafted and played today in an izzet breach deck and the player loved it. He always played it for 4 mana. The 4 power extra body was relevant and of course the 2 damage each spellcast closed out games.

I forgot to print out Jacked Rabbit so nothing to say on that yet, but I can't wait for it to see play.

 

[MilesOfficial]

Lovely aesthetic in this set. Much lower in terms of total inclusions for me compared to most sets in the last few years, but I'm very happy with what we got. As a reminder, the context I'm coming from is a 720-card Cube that's Legacyish power-level that has mostly fair Magic. All comes out to ~10 cards from the main set and 6 from the Commander set.

Instant All-Stars:


These Talents are so delightful! The art and the abilities are fantastic, and I'm thrilled to get some low-MV enchantments that have so many different things going on while not being terribly confusing. Jacked Rabbit is the second 2MV token enabler we've gotten this summer that helps keep up the very popular tokens-matter sub-theme in my playgroup.

Happy Includes:


Dour Port-Mage, Mockingbird, and Darkstar Augur are all on the cusp of the "instant all-stars" category. The Dour frog is a one-card archetype enabler, a favorite Cube card style of mine. Mockingbird is an aggressive clone that lets you go tit-for-tat with your opponents. Double Flying Bobs is so good it hardly needs any introduction. I do really love the offspring ability, what a novel keyword!

Tender Wildguide is instantly one of my favorites of the many 2MV mana dorks we've gotten recently. I like the modality, I love the art, and being able to put counters on itself is a fantastic way to get additional value out of your mana dork when its ramping ability is no longer as relevant. It's not a revolutionary card that opens up new archetypes, though.

Testing:


Gev, Scaled Scorch and The Infamous Cruelclaw coming out in the same set is cruel. Gev is the kind of Rakdos card I've been dreaming about, an aggressive enabler that makes you prioritize good mana to get him out on curve. Cruelclaw is the kind of one-card build-around I love so much, and his story potential is off the charts. Right now I'm leaning towards Gev, but he's in testing for a reason.

Hazel of the Rootbloom is a bit slow and expensive of a tokens-matter payoff card, but I'm right now trying to decide between her and Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh, a novel card with similar faults but that supports the legends-matter theme instead. I like both!

Wildsear, Scouring Maw is super neat! Not sure how it'll stick around, but since finally taking out Dragonlord Atarka left me wanting another Gruul high-end card and this feels pretty exciting to speculate on.

Pick-Ups for the On-Deck Binder:


I adore Kitsa, Otterball Elite, especially how much it does without being overwhelming to read. HOWEVER!! I finally felt like I was in a good place with my selection of 2MV looters with Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Ledger Shredder, Rona, Herald of Invasion, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, and Duelist of the Mind. I think I like all of these better than Kitsa? Maybe Duelist, but that feels like a mistake?

 

[ravnic]

Coruscation Mage was drafted and played today in an izzet breach deck and the player loved it. He always played it for 4 mana. The 4 power was relevant and of course the 2 damage each spellcast closed out games.

You mean "the 3 power", right?

 

[Nemo]

There's good news on that front as well– Mark Rosewater has confirmed on his blog that the common Hybrid cycle is going to be tool the designers will continue to use in the future!

I haven't put hybrids into cubes yet due to the scarcity of hybrids that I like. If they do a common cycle here and there, this could change. I largely ignore the gold sections of new sets, because they're gentally more wordy and fit into less decks. But hybrid cards could become very interesting over time if they print a bunch of commons.

 

[Seeker]

Tempted by:


Suspect the latter won't happen.

My very limited experience with Offspring also makes me wonder if I want Iridescent Vinelasher because it genuinely does seem pretty good, but cheap aggressive black creatures have burned me far too many times before...

 

[StrionicAdventurer]

Let's start with Multivalent, my peasant cube:

Slam Dunks:

> Bestial Menace
Bestial Menace is a pet card of mine that I used to play alongside Cone of Flame because I like counting. But the hybrid cost on Head of the Homestead is valuable enough to make the switch, and the beautiful art doesn't hurt either.

> Whirler Rogue
I love Threshold, I love Surveil, and I love hybrid cards. So this is a very exciting card for me! Meanwhile, Whirler Rogue is here as a fun target for Flicker decks, but I don't think I need it alongside Wing Splicer. Wing Splicer is easier to splash, so she stays.

> Plaguecrafter
A very splashable threat that gives players a little treat if they deal damage, and the activate Menace makes him a good Equipment carrier. Plus he's a cool lizard. This switch is going to create a sub-switch: Bloodcrazed Hoplite will come out for Accursed Marauder.

I have to say I am extremely excited by the talk of including hybrid cards as a regular, recurring thing in sets moving forward. This cycle of cards was among the most appealing for me in the whole set, and I could honestly include more of them if I really wanted. It's nice to see hybrid cards that aren't Ravnica-themed, since I like to include as broad a range of Magic settings as possible in this cube.


Regular Dunks:

> Rip Apart
Does this cube really need to run Seedglaive Mentor AND Hero of the Nyxborn? Probably not, but don't @ me. Meanwhile, Rip Apart is just a generically good spell, and I'm already running Lightning Helix in the "generically good spell" slot for this color pair.

> Raving Visionary
I like Shoreline Looter's aggressive play pattern more than Raving Visionary's passive play pattern. Shoreline Looter is really fun to equip with Mask of Memory or Mystery Key, and doesn't demand mana for the looting effect. Plus, this is a huge art upgrade. Shoreline Looter might have my favorite art in the set.

> Patagia Viper
I'm a big fan of Lilysplash Mentor, since it allows Flicker decks to bleed into Green for the first time in the cube. Green has plenty of good flicker targets but I think this big frog will signal the possibility of a fun Bant Flicker deck in the cube. A very exciting change for me!

> Seize the Spoils
Sazacap's Brew is the only card here I feel conflicted about. On the one hand: beautiful lizard art, a nice rummage card that plays well with Heroic, and also I love the text "gift a tapped Fish" because it's just funny. Also, this card is more modal than Seize the Spoils and costs less. However: it's the only gift card in the cube, and I think it's a complex enough mechanic that I'd like to include more. Possibilities include Dewdrop Cure, Nocturnal Hunger, and Wear Down.

Like a lot of y'all, I'm a huge fan of the aesthetic quality of this set. I like to see bright, beautiful colors on my Magic cards, and I love the minimalized anthropomorphization of the beast-folk in this setting. Every day I get closer to having my whole Red section taken up by Lizards and Dinosaurs.

 

[Mown]

Likewise, many new cards have a lot of text that doesn't always add much to much in practice. For example, the constructed prospect "white Siege Rhino" Beza, the Bounding Spring has an ability that amounts to a larger Timely Reinforcements // Sunset Revelry. The card is cool, but it's way busier than it needs to be.​

I don't know about "way busier", it's inherently a wordy ability that's fairly easy to parse. I think you could ditch the treasure ability, but even if you asked me three years later I think I'd remember what this card does except specifically the number of fish tokens it makes and the fact that they are fish. The set has some kind of annoying "cool ability" + "middling tribal ability" designs that could be cleaner for my purposes, but this is a tribal set all things considered. I don't think the set is any busier than the average modern set. I especially like all the Offspring cards which largely have very straight forward and simple abilities, even if none of them really appeal to me mechanically. I don't really understand why you'd call them complex.

---

Transitioning to a physical copy, so these will be more of a "maybeboard cards for future considerations". Maybe there will be some sets with significant enough new cards that I will want to update it immediately, but Bloomburrow does not offer anything interesting enough by itself.



Kitsa and Trailtracker Scout are the two cards of greatest interest to me. Kitsa, Otterball Elite is a bit overloaded for my tastes, but every ability outside of vigilance is one that I care about in my environment. Trailtracker Scout is a neat mana dork that plays into the sequencing theme by maybe holding back cards so you can get to 8 mana, and it has synergy with manamorphose, frantic search, etc. 8 mana also seems difficult enough to reliably achieve that I'm not too concerned about games getting repetitive from the same card being replayed over and over, although the abiltiy does feed into itself in a way I don't entirely love.
I think I marginally prefer Stormchaser's Talent to Triton Wavebreaker, but I find both of them kind of replaceable.
Rottenmouth Viper I am kind of undecided on. I like it as a kind of reasonable cheat target that you can try to get into play through other means as well, and I've wanted more cards that work well with Lightning Greaves. That said, why does this card ask for 4 life instead of 3 like every other instance of this effect, including two of them in this very set? Can I ask for some consistency?
Hazel's Brewmaster is a cool build-around I don't have the density for right now.
Byway Barterer looks like a fun card to try and optimize, I like that cantrips let you go into your new hand up one card so it's easier to trigger again.
Emberhearth Challenger is a solid prowess creature. I haven't really looked at how easy it is to trigger and how it compares to others in my list.
Dreamdew Entrancer is a cool flicker target.

 

[ellogeyen]

I really like the flavor of Bloomburrow! I'll definitely add some cards to my Jeskai Cube, although I don't know where I'll draw the line exactly, these cards peaked my interest, in order of likelihood (likely to unlikely):

 

[Nemo]

Kitsa and Trailtracker Scout are the two cards of greatest interest to me. Kitsa, Otterball Elite is a bit overloaded for my tastes, but every ability outside of vigilance is one that I care about in my environment.

If you have Kitsa and Reckless Charge or Berserk, you would briefly care about vigilance for the purposes of maximizing your attack. I think vigilance is a reasonable inclusion on this card design.

I'll buy a copy of Kitsa. It's 8 lines of text, 37 words, 51 with prowess reminder text. This is approximately the upper end of how much text I tolerate, but it's a pretty tempting card. Even if it was just a 1/3 looter it would be solid.

I have to say, the blue two drops in this set are insane as a group. Some cubes could fill that slot in their cube from this set alone.

 

[Mown]

If you have Kitsa and Reckless Charge or Berserk, you would briefly care about vigilance for the purposes of maximizing your attack. I think vigilance is a reasonable inclusion on this card design.

Yeah it's certainly a relevant piece of text, I was more so trying to say that the three abilities in isolation are all interesting (if we ignore the 3 power requirement for copying that is enabled by prowess).

 

[Morphling]

I will not disagree that Osteomancer Adept is a simpler design than Emperor of Bones and I will also concede they have some apparent similarities (CMC, P/T, + reanimate using finality counters) but they do not really do the same things at all, gameplay-wise. Edit: Art-wise, I'd probably call it even..I mean, both of these arts are pretty badass, imo.

I think Emperor just has much more you could actually do with it in games, so I am loathe to swap him out so quickly! That swap-out might still prove be the correct decision (and I remain open to it) but I really want to try him out in some games first.

@Train: thanks for making this thread. This new set has me feeling a little overwhelmed (so much powercreep & text) so this boiled-down list for me to focus on is even more appreciated than normal.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Okay, throwing in my 2c:


I'd been looking for a hero of bladehold esque card recently, and this fits the bill mechanically. Less happy about rabbit tokens, the bespoke token doesn't matter too too much for me.


This thing seems nuts. We'll see how the name wears on me over time.


I like a good wrath, and this might fit my needs better than sunfall. I like that the math on gifting is pretty simple here.


I'm reminded of Jason talking about Brimaz, king of Oreskos when it came out, where vigilance removes any opportunity you'd have to think when this card is in play.
It's a good card for sure. Maybe I end up keeping this thing, maybe not.


I run so many cantrips across all 5 colors that this thing might actually just be too much. I'm gonna try it but I'm ready to cut it if this is just a 6/3 for 3 with haste.


I like me a good counter outlet as well. This is mostly getting by on rate, I don't really want it as part of some greater counter theme.


I'm a lot less worried about 1GG 4/4 than most people seem to be, and I'm more than happy to include another disenchant.
Again, also great in that the decision making on gifting here seems quite calculable, which is nice.


Cheap, involves tokens, little bit of resiliency, this is what my green section is all about.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

That's great news. I love the flexibility of hybrid cards. I did find it a little awkward that one cost while another cost . The casting demands on those costs are very, very different.

I agree! Some members of the cycle felt like fairly clean general roleplayers, while others felt fairly specific to the archetype they were trying to support. I don't think that's an issue for cycles in general, it just feels a little weird this time around since this is only the second "hybrid common cycle."

Instant All-Stars:

Regardless, it seems cool as hell and I'll be making a Ravenous reminder text version for my cube.

This thing seems nuts.

Yes! Let the Big Chungus flow through you!

I especially like all the Offspring cards which largely have very straight forward and simple abilities, even if none of them really appeal to me mechanically. I don't really understand why you'd call them complex.

I like offspring as well! It's the coolest mechanic in the set by a country mile. I don't think the mechanic itself is particularly complex. However, I think making multiple copies of creatures with triggered abilities could lead to some extra on-board complexity, especially if the printed tokens are not being used.

I'm a lot less worried about 1GG 4/4 than most people seem to be, and I'm more than happy to include another disenchant.
Again, also great in that the decision making on gifting here seems quite calculable, which is nice.

Considering how disappointing Bloated Contaminator ended up being, I think 4/4's for three are getting to the point where they need to do a little bit more than be thicc in order to be good. It's not 2014 anymore and I'm here for it!

@Train: thanks for making this thread. This new set has me feeling a little overwhelmed (so much powercreep & text) so this boiled-down list for me to focus on is even more appreciated than normal.

You're welcome! While I don't think this set is going to be nearly as powerful or impactful as some of the other sets we've seen in the past year, it is nice to gauge community interest in the cards! I hope this continues to be a good resource for you and others!

 

[StrionicAdventurer]

The commander set had some surprising hits for Welder's Workshop, my graveyard-artifact-token cube.

> Skrelv's Hive
This is simply a delightful card for my cube, rewarding all token strategies and providing the kind of fun value engine I enjoy. Skrelv's Hive has the benefit of creating an artifact creature token, but this comes at the cost of including Toxic, which is not ideal. It's likely all the Toxic cards will soon be cut.

> Sly Requisitioner
I totally missed this guy during spoiler season, and I love him. Blood tokens are hugely appealing to me, and although I like the Requisitioner for her cheatable mana cost, she can't quite compete with this creepy bat.

> Hoarding Dragon
Hoarding Dragon was once among the most exciting cards in my Feldon commander deck (the deck that inspired this entire cube), but he's long since been replaced by more aggressive threats and less mana-expensive tutors. Pyreswipe Hawk is a much scarier threat and changes the game with its ability to steal shit. The only thing I don't like about it is the name, which has major "Magic card named by a randomly generated table" flavor.

> Ruinous Intrusion
This is still a strong disruption spell that can blast 3 artifacts off your opponent's board. It sacrifices target control for a huge amount of versatility, and I really love all the modes. Being able to pick the same mode three times is awesome.

> You Happen On a Glade
This cube continues to accumulate cool 2-mana dorks. This guy does a bunch of the same work as You Happen On a Glade, but in a much different way, and I just like it more, especially for cheaper. I am very close to adding Tender Wildguide too, just to make this a running theme in the green section.

> Progenitor Mimic
What a wonderful Magic card. Art: 10/10. "Gift an octopus": iconic, moisturized, thriving. "Create a token that's a copy of target creature token": please, stop. I can only enjoy a card so much in public.

The main set has some nice pieces, too. I expected to like Offspring more, since it seems like a perfect fit for a cube that loves tokens. But I didn't end up loving any of the Offspring cards enough to include them. Zinnia, Valley's Voice would have been a slam-dunk Jeskai commander if it weren't for the recent printing of Cayth, Famed Mechanist, who will remain the grumpy-faced queen of that slot until further notice.

> Beacon of Unrest
I guess this is kind of an Offspring card? Anyway: I love the way this card works, and I love double-dipping on my ETB's, and I absolutely ADORE the art on Coiling Rebirth. Beacon of Unrest is a classic in my group, but I can't say no to that spooky snakey skeleton.

> Wreck Hunter
Powerstone tokens just haven't been as thrilling to me as I thought they would be. Wreck Hunter has mostly been hanging around because she fits the theme, but I don't find the card all that exciting and compared to this Necro-squirrel she's simply outclassed. I've been looking at more reanimation tech for Black, and now I've got some.

> Dross Skullbomb
This card is pure technology within this environment. Lots of neat little inputs and outputs, generating value, etc. And I like having a new Food source to complement the Osteomancer.

> Split the Spoils
I want to cast this for 5 and get two Tarmogoyf tokens!

> Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow is an old favorite of mine, and I like running it alongside some of Green's other suspend cards. But I just can't resist a ramp spell that's also an artifact in this environment.

> Foundry of the Consuls
Trading Post on a land? Sure! There's nothing wrong with Foundry of the Consuls, I'm just cutting it because it's the least interesting land here. But Mirrex needs to watch its back because I just remembered I need to put Lazotep Quarry on my shopping list. DAMN there's a lot of cool lands in this cube.

 

[Nanonox]

I kept forgetting which creature this reminded me of. Now I remember



With Emperor of Bones and Araumi, there might be enough density to support a small theme!

 

[TrainmasterGT]

With Emperor of Bones and Araumi, there might be enough density to support a small theme!

That's cool! I've always enjoyed Araumi, but I feel like she is on a much lower level than the Emperor and the Squirrel. I'm not sure she complements them well...

 

[shamizy]

I've got to get around to a combined MH3/Bloomburrow update for my cube sometime in the next month or two after thoroughly going through both sets, mostly been picking up stuff for EDH in the short term, but there are two cards I'm definitely adding from Bloomburrow after my first review:



As mentioned by multiple people, this is a fine replacement for Jace, Vryn's Prodigy being able to remove yet another DFC card from the cube. Loved the gameplay from Jace, but I'm the less taking cards out of sleeves the better. The stats are right where I want it to be for a looter at 1/3, Prowess gives it more play, and being able to fire off the copy ability on something like a Lightning Bolt or Ghostfire Slice is pretty sweet with excess mana. This being a Wizard pushes me one step closer to including Flame of Anor.



Swapping this in for Sidisi, Brood Tyrant which has always been more of a pet card than anything. Love the 2/4 Deathtouch body being able to clog up the ground as you set up for durdly stuff with Surveiling for 2 as the game progresses. Playing lands and 4+ CMC spells is the right amount of value to incentivize this as a maindeck inclusion (my tri-color cards come with a Triome as a squadron pick). A lot of fun graveyard stuff to mess around with in Sultai colors but really I'm just looking for more cards that let me turbo out Emrakul, the Promised End more frequently.