Hey precon pals! Welcome back to another round of precon guides here on EDHREC. Bloomburrow is here, so it’s time to kick off our look into the preconstructed decks for the set, starting with the Bant group hug deck Peace Offering, led by Ms. Bumbleflower.

Who Are the Commanders for Peace Offering?

Ms. Bumbleflower is an adorable 1/5 Rabbit Citizen for four mana () with vigilance. Whenever we cast a spell, target opponent draws a card. Then we put a +1/+1 counter on a target creature and it gets flying until end of turn. For the second time this triggers each turn, we draw two cards. 

So, at the very least, we’re giving an opponent a card every time we cast a spell, putting us firmly in the group hug style of playing. As with all group hug decks, we expect the goal of the deck is to profit from the extra goodies we’re giving other people. 

Our backup commander is Mr. Foxglove, a 3/5 Fox Rogue for five mana () with lifelink. When he attacks, we draw cards equal to the difference between our hand and the defending player’s hand, assuming they have more cards. If we don’t draw this way, we instead get to put a creature from our hand onto the battlefield for free. Considering how many cards we’re likely to be drawing with this deck, I’d assume we’ll most often be putting a creature into play. 

Here’s the full decklist:

What Are the Themes and Strategies of the Deck?

The biggest theme of this deck is drawing a ton of cards and profiting from it. Ms. Bumbleflower ensures that we’re refilling our hand every time we cast our second spell every turn, but there’s plenty more card draw to be had. Group hug champion Selvala, Explorer Returned is great for not just extra card draw, but additional mana as well. Secret Rendezvous, Tenuous Truce, Sphinx of Enlightenment, Rites of Flourishing, Kwain, Itinerant Meddler, and Intellectual Offering all draw us cards with our opponents to spread the love. And cards like Mangara, the Diplomat and Body of Knowledge fill our hands when our opponents try to hurt us.

To really benefit from our card draw, we’ll make some tokens with it, using Chasm Skulker (who needs to die, of course), Hoofprints of the Stag, and Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse. If tokens aren't enough, we can go straight for their life totals with my favorite Magic card, Psychosis Crawler.

We’ve got plenty of other group hug staples here as well, like Tempt with Discovery and Ghirapur Orrery. But it’s not all hugs and kisses. We also seek to make our creatures bigger so we can beat opponents down with them after all the presents we’ve given. Forgotten Ancient, Kalonian Hydra, Managorger Hydra, and Sunscorch Regent all get massive really fast, turning the hugs into body slams.

Our last theme is alternate win conditions. This deck has three of them, one of which I’ll talk about in the new cards section. The other two are Simic Ascendancy, which wins with +1/+1 counters, and Triskaidekaphile, which wins with card draw. Both of which are things this deck does incredibly well.

How Do You Play Peace Offering?

This deck is a breeze to pilot. Plenty of ramp and lands get us moving super quickly. My only complaint with the mana package is the Thriving lands. They’re awful, and I wish they’d stop putting them in precons. 

Ms. Bumbleflower is an exceptional commander. Giving our opponents cards every time we cast a spell may not sound like everyone’s cup of tea, but the benefit we get from beefing up our creatures and giving them flying can’t be understated. Frequently we’ll want to just put the counters on her, because having a large flying commander is a great way to end games via commander damage. But it’s also phenomenal on other giant creatures like Kalonian Hydra or potentially large creatures like Psychosis Crawler and Body of Knowledge.

The best Magic decks have multiple paths to victory, and this one excels at that. With three cards giving alternate win conditions, and the opportunity for commander damage or regular combat wins, we’ll have no trouble succeeding with this deck.

And, as an optional strategy, you can also get political with the deck. You can give gifts to curry favor with your opponents, trading cards or counters for promises of temporary truces or protection.

What Are the New Cards in Peace Offering?

In addition to the two commanders, this precon gives us eight other new cards to fawn over. We’ll start with the newest treasure hoser, Bloodroot Apothecary. Like Vengeful Tracker, Apothecary won’t see a ton of play, simply because it won’t matter in every pod. Will it matter in many pods? Sure. But most players aren’t willing to give a slot to it if it doesn’t affect every game. It is, however, much stronger than Vengeful Tracker, since it kills opponents twice as fast, so maybe people will tinker with it a bit more. It’ll certainly see a lot of play in decks already playing poison.

Octomancer also hopes for our opponents to make tokens. At the beginning of each end step, we make a copy of a creature token that entered this turn, and we have the ability to kick it off by gifting an opponent an 8/8 Octopus. An 8/8 is a kingly gift, indeed, but much less scary if we also get one. Why this is much better, and will see far more play, than Bloodroot Apothecary is that creature tokens are far more ubiquitous than tokens that get sacrificed. Or, at the very least, it’s much easier to force creation of tokens, in most cases by simply making your own, than it is to force people to sacrifice noncreature tokens.

Steelburr Champion is much less concerned with tokens, although it does give us the option to make one. This Mouse Solider has offspring, meaning we can pay the extra cost when we cast it to create a 1/1 token copy of it. It also has vigilance and gets a +1/+1 counter whenever an opponent casts a noncreature spell, an ability the offspring token will also have. It’s less potent than Managorger Hydra, Sunscorch Regent, or Forgotten Ancient, all of which are also in the precon, but the fact that we get two creatures with the effect, albeit weakened by the noncreature caveat, gives it potential.

Our last new creature also gets +1/+1 counters, and it’s destined to eat a ton of removal spells. It’s Twenty-Toed Toad, a 3/3 Frog Wizard that gives us a much higher hand limit and tempts us to attack with multiple creatures each turn by holding out a carrot of an alternate win condition. When it attacks, we win the game if it has twenty or more counters on it or we have twenty or more cards in hand. Both of these conditions are easily met if our deck’s strategy is either counters or card draw. As it turns out, these are both very popular strategies, so I expect to see this card hopping around a lot. For a quick win, drop a Notion Thief and then cast Windfall. As long as any player has five or more cards in hand, you’ll end up with more than 20. Then just swing for the win.

Let’s check out the new enchantments. First up is a new Class, Fisher’s Talent. This lets us look at our top card in our upkeep. If it’s a land, we can reveal it to make a 1/1 Fish token, then draw a card. At level two, that Fish becomes a 3/3 Shark. And at level three that Shark becomes an 8/8 Octopus. Keep in mind this affects not only the tokens it creates, but any of the noted type. For example, if we have Shark Typhoon in play with Talent at level three, all the tokens made by Typhoon will instead be 8/8 Octopi. Potentially a trade up or down, depending on the size the spell. This might see some experimentation in Simic lands decks, but I don’t expect it to be a big hit since the cost of ten mana to get the best effect is pretty steep. Still, drawing an extra card per turn isn’t bad if you’re a dedicated land deck. It’s not great either.

Communal Brewing goes along with the group hug theme by allowing opponents to draw cards when it enters. It also enters with an ingredient counter, plus an extra counter for each opponent that drew, and then our creatures enter with additional +1/+1 counters for each ingredient counter as long as they’re cast. This casting caveat is the biggest hindrance to this card’s power, as it ignores creature tokens and ways to cheat creatures in, like Mr. Foxglove. 

Then we have the latest in the Tempting Offer cycle, Tempt with Bunnies. We draw a card and make a 1/1 Rabbit, then each opponent can do the same, and we get an extra draw and token for each opponent who did. This one’s a bit tough to grade, since it’s dependent on the situation our opponents are in. If they’re desperate for cards or blockers, they’ll take the bait. Otherwise, most players won’t want us to have extra cards. There will definitely be times where this feels like a worse Divination, but also times when it works out in our favor.

Our last new card is an instant that will certainly remind you of one of the most powerful cards in Commander. This is Perch Protection, a six-mana instant with the option to gift an extra turn to an opponent. Wait, what? Why would we do this? The first effect of the card is to create four 2/2 Bird tokens, which we get whether the gift is promised or not. Then if we gave the extra turn, we get to phase out ourselves and all of our permanents, a la Teferi’s Protection. T Pro only costs three mana, so you have to ask yourself if it’s worth it for three extra mana plus giving an extra turn to someone. Most likely not, but maybe this will be a good substitute for budget players. Also, four 2/2 flyers can have a pretty big impact, so that extra mana isn’t fully wasted. What do you think, would you pay six mana for Teferi’s Protection that gives someone an extra turn? Let me know in the comments below.

Is Peace Offering Worth Buying?

Is the deck any good? Here’s my final grade:

B+

This precon is very easy to play. It can get out of hand really quick and win out of nowhere. With multiple paths to victory, it’s a fun experience that you won’t get tired of playing very soon.

The score gets a little dip from some of the new cards. Bloodroot Apothecary might hose some decks, but others will simply be able to ignore it. Steelburr Champion is outclassed by several other cards that are also in the deck. And Fisher’s Talent is just not good.

I also dinged the score for the reprint value, as this deck had the lowest of the set. Our only true hit here is Kalonian Hydra. Other minor reprints are Tamiyo, Field Researcher and An Offer You Can’t Refuse.

Can I make this deck more peaceful? Find out in my Upgrade Guide right here. And make sure to check back to EDHREC for more precon guides soon.

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