(Season of the Burrow | Art by Serena Malyon)

A great actor can breathe new life into old material

Hello everybody, and welcome to to the latest edition of my column reviewing the top 10 most played Commander cards from the most recent booster set. Last time, I covered the Eldrazi-licious Modern Horizons 3. Today, we're going through a much cuddlier, less eldritch card file, Bloomburrow!

While I don't know how well this set lines up against previous in terms of raw power, what I really love about BLB, aside from the incredible flavor and worldbuilding, is that it truly broadens the range of what you can do in EDH.

Some creature types, like Birds, will be glad to have access to more cards with typal synergies and all-around powerful effects. Others, like Lizards, may finally have enough creatures of that type to build a deck.

I also wanted to point out how brilliantly the design of each creature type ends up working in Commander. Otters, for example, may not work as a strictly-typal deck because there still aren't enough of them. But most of the Otters in the set don't just care about being Otters, they also care about noncreature spells.

This way, you can build a spell deck led by the adorable Alania, Divergent Storm that utilizes the good Otters but that also still functions when you don't have a critical mass of that type.

 

10. Fountainport

This utility land has a whopping four abilities and a lot of text. But what it really offers EDH players is yet another way to generate tokens with a land slot, while offering a little extra value to theme decks with the option to draw extra cards.

So far, Fountainport has made its way into decks led by Kambal, Profiteering Mayor and Chatterfang, Squirrel General, two commanders that pay you off for producing a bunch of rectangles.

It does seem most at home in a Squirrel deck, where it interacts at multiple points with Ravenous Squirrel and synergy pieces like Mirkwood Bats and Peregrin Took.

Being a colorless land will definitely hold it back from seeing much wider play, but it is versatile and good enough in token decks that I'm happy to have it as an option.

 

9. Mockingbird

There are a ton of Clone effects in the format. To justify running Mockingbird, aside from it being a cool card, you'll probably want to make use of its 1/1 flier "mode" some of the time.

That could be why EDHREC users are playing it in decks like Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow, who appreciates having both a cheap flier and a reusable Clone, and variousTymna the Weaver decks, which turns little pecks of one damage into card advantage.

 

8. Valley Rotcaller

Rotcaller is a great illustration of Wizards of the Coast R&D's efforts to make creatures from BLB playable in a range of decks beyond just all-in typal piles (typiles?).

Squirrels seems well-supported enough in EDH, thanks to Chatterfang and company from Modern Horizons 2 and older cards that generate tokens. But this Warlock also makes up the numbers in the other black kindred decks from this set, particularly Rats.

When you have a critical mass of things that this cares about, you can really pop off, because attacking makes each opponent lose life. This means that someone is going to have to do something about Rotcaller at some point, lest you build up a lethal board of Squirrel tokens or, much more humorously, Rat Colony or Relentless Rats copies.

7. Coruscation Mage

As I mentioned earlier, there aren't a ton of options for an all-in Otters deck. That doesn't matter much, though, as many of the best Otters in the set are totally fine enablers or payoffs in Izzet (blue, red) spells decks.

Coruscation Mage already makes the cut in EDH because it's yet another "pinger" to work with Electrostatic Field, Firebrand Archer, and Kessig Flamebreather. It's actually better a lot of the time because you can get a second copy for the small investment of two mana.

A deck like this will always welcome cheap, redundant cards to supplement synergistic haymakers and potential commanders like Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Veyran, Voice of Duality, and Bria, Riptide Rogue.

6. Caretaker's Talent

Classes have been a sweet addition to the format since debuting in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. I like that they are similar but fresh alternatives to sagas, trading a greater mana investment for persistence on the battlefield.

Enchantments can also be a pretty difficult permanent type to get off the board, so in long games you'll often get a nice return from your Classes.

Caretaker's Talent will power up token strategies virtually the moment it hits play, threatening to accumulate card advantage unless an opponent uses up a previous removal effect, which may not be wise given how many more powerful enchantments synergize with it.

Leveling it up costs a mere one mana, which lets you sandbag the activation until you have something really nice to copy—or until you assemble Parallel Lives, Second Harvest, and/or Mondrak, Glory Dominus.

Level 3 may not always be necessary when you're already going off with tokens, but it's nice to have in tight games and +2/+2 does blank some sweepers. You probably want to run it in a Selesnya (white, green) deck that may or may not dip into other colors, because both colors love token strategies and Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds and Cadira, Caller of the Small are sweet commanders for this strategy.

Of course, Kambal works well too, because opponents will often have token generators themselves and it's nice being able to draw extra cards on opponents' turns, too.

5. Lumra, Bellow of the Woods

Bloomburrow will likely be remembered for its contributions to typal decks in EDH decks, but we'll never forget that it also gave us Lumra. This monster of a mono-green card has Reach and keyword "big," meaning it will either keep opponents from attacking you or swiftly draw removal.

Of course, it has an absurd enters-effect, too, rewarding you for self-mill shenanigans by dumping a bunch of lands into play. It's very easy to take a busted turn when you cast this, thanks to Landfall payoffs like Avenger of Zendikar, Lotus Cobra, and Ancient Greenwarden.

It also mills cards, making it an all-around powerful play in graveyard-themed commanders like Six, The Necrobloom, and Coram, the Undertaker, among many others. This is one of those cards that you don't have to invest too much to make great, because it just works in a lot of green EDH decks and rewards you for taking actions you wanted to do anyway.

4. Innkeeper's Talent

A Hardened Scales you have to work harder for is still a sweet and powerful card. This does other stuff, too. It gets the ball rolling with +1/+1 counter shenanigans, it protects your creatures, and it interacts favorably with other types of counters, including Rad and Poison ones that go on players. All in all it's a big card that comes in a small package, which is often a predictor for most played commander cards.

The "counters" theme is incredibly broad, affording you a lot of freedom in how you build an Innkeeper's Talent deck. Of course, you'll want to include some staples that can take the synergy to absurd levels.

Unsummoned Skull has a great article over on Commander's Herald that makes great use of this Talent alongside another BLB card, Byrke, Long Ear of the Law.

It forgoes some of the creature payoffs in favor of Arcbound Ravager and friends, which shows just how much you can play around in this counters space.

3. Dawn's Truce

Any new card similar to Teferi's Protection or Heroic Intervention, two of the most played cards in Commander, is going to creep into a bunch of decks.

Now, Dawn's Truce isn't quite as powerful as either card, but it does make up some of the difference thanks to its versatility. It starts with being able to protect your commander or any other important permanent from removal.

Notably, it also give you Hexproof, protecting you from the ocassional discard effect and whatnot. Then, giving an opponent a free card, which often won't matter in a multiplayer game, will help it pull off a successful Intervention impression and protect your board from destroy effects.

Now, it's not going to do anything against a Toxic Deluge, but that's why Teferi's Protection costs an extra mana! Having a bunch of different cards that do slightly different things is one of the format's many delights.

 

2. Patchwork Banner

Unlike some of the cards I've pointed out that naturally go into typal decks but can also contribute to other themes, this Anthem-slash-mana rock usually wants you to be focusing on one creature type.

You can do this by just jamming a bunch of Soldiers or Squirrels into a deck, but I also wanted to point out some quirkier ways to pump your team up.

Kudo, King Among Bears makes everything a 2/2 Bear, which is great with Anthems because your things will outsize their things. You don't even have to worry too much about running a critical mass of creatures of the same type.

Maskwood Nexus is similar, allowing you to turn everything, including tokens, into a more formidable force when paired with Banner.

Finally, token strategies are an obvious synergy, but I did want to emphasize how well Eldrazi make use of both facets of this card. Mana ramp lets you play big Eldrazi threats, many cards of this type also come with Spawn or Scion tokens, and these tokens are boosted by the banner. Now that's what I call synergy.

1. Three Tree City

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx for creatures types is such an elegant design that I'm almost surprised we hadn't seen it until now. It's also the type of design that is tailor-made for Commander, where typal decks abound. Like Patchwork Banner, Three Tree City is going to net you a ton of mana as long as you build around it, and build around it hard.

The key to the City is going all-in on one creature type and reaping the benefits. Another, less obvious constraint to this card is that you probably want to play it in a deck with cheaper creatures, so you net mana earlier on in the game.

That is, unless you're using other ramp effects to put a bunch of Dragons into play, not winning after doing that somehow, then converting those creatures into even more mana, and then profiting????!!

You can check out EDHREC's deck hub for suggestions on which creature types are both well-supported and well-costed to optimize for this potential powerhouse.

Secret Ingredient? What Do You Think?

That's it from Three Tree City! As expected from a set with a heavy typal theme, some of the best cards from Bloomburrow power up various kindred synergies. Talents are awesome, too, so I'm glad to see these build-around cards see play.

As new sets see print, I'll be very excited to see if we get more creatures to flesh out the various species of woodland creature introduced or given mechanical identity in this release. It might be years before a black-white Bat deck can fight fair with an Orzhov Vampires list, but at least we've got a good foundation.

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