Three Tree CityThree Tree City | Art by Grady Frederick

In another month without a set release, I’m continuing to look back at previously released sets to pick out some of their most interesting and interactive cards. Next on the march backwards is Bloomburrow, one of the mostly hotly anticipated and well-received sets in recent memory.

Anthropomorphic animals were a safe bet, and it wasn’t for nothing that Bloomburrow was described by many as the Redwall set. I loved those books when I was younger, so I couldn’t have been much more engaged with Bloomburrow’s previews and release, and although its limited environment was one that I bounced off of reasonably quickly, Bloomburrow was stacked with interesting commander cards, ~10 of which I will spend some time looking at now.

As always, I approach this list with the aim of selecting cards that make for interesting and memorable games – where you leave your evening with the warm feeling of having had good and interactive games where things happened. These cards aren't necessarily going to help you win games, and they are not selected to introduce chaos or randomness, but I hope that they will help to inject some interest and interactivity, keeping players engaged with games and perhaps generating new and interesting situations.

Whether or not a card is interesting is subjective, so this is an inescapably biased list, but I hope that it will make for an interesting read, perhaps make you think about a card that has passed you by in the maelstrom of new sets and products, and maybe generate a discussion or two.

Honorable Mention - Dazzling DenialDazzling Denial

Counterspells are interaction (justification for honorably mentioning), and while this is a reasonably normal Mana LeakMana Leak variant, it’s the flavor of this card that brings me enough joy to mention it. This bird is so fabulous that whatever it is you’re trying to do, you can’t. Stop it; look at the bird.

#10 – SpellgyreSpellgyre

Another counterspell! But with flexibility. A four-mana hard counter is expensive, and two mana more than the baseline, but anyone who's had a simple CounterspellCounterspell rotting in their hand turn after turn without a sensible target, or who's ended up countering something unsatisfying simply to feel like they are taking a game action, will appreciate the value of a modal counterspell.

SpellgyreSpellgyre gives you the choice of a counterspell or surveilling 2 and then drawing two cards. For a long time DivinationDivination was the standard for drawing two cards, and while power creep has delivered some stronger variants in the years since, one more mana for an added pre-draw surveil 2 at instant speed and the option of a counterspell seems like a pretty good deal for me. Not one for every blue deck certainly, but worth considering for times where graveyards matter.

#9 – Cruelclaw’s HeistCruelclaw’s Heist

I thought we’d see more of this card than we have so far. Cruelclaw’s HeistCruelclaw’s Heist lets you pluck a nonland card from an opponent’s hand, and – if you gift somebody a card – play it. This is actually (spoilers) the only Gift card on this list, which surprises me because I think that it’s a brilliant mechanic, for multiplayer especially. You don’t have to gift the person that you’re targeting with Cruelclaw’s HeistCruelclaw’s Heist the card, so while you could, and it would soften the impact of them being denied a resource, you could also give it to someone else who you maybe want to help out or keep on side. Either way the heist target is yours to cast. The fact that it’s one of these “for as long as it remains exiled” cards means that you can wait for the premium time to cast it, whether you’re heisting a removal spell or an endgame creature.

Theft cards change up games in unexpected ways by giving decks access to cards that they wouldn’t have otherwise, and Cruelclaw’s HeistCruelclaw’s Heist is a premium example of this. It’s likely that you’ll want to pair it with a deck or commander that somehow benefits from its casting since it could be otherwise considered a fairly low-impact card in isolation, but with something like Anhelo, the PainterAnhelo, the Painter, Judith, Carnage ConnoisseurJudith, Carnage Connoisseur, or Marchesa, Dealer of DeathMarchesa, Dealer of Death on board to add value to its casting, Cruelclaw’s HeistCruelclaw’s Heist becomes an even more includable piece of interaction.

#8 – Gossip’s TalentGossip’s Talent

The post-Bloomburrow days (months) have been heavily impacted by the Talent cycle. From day one Innkeeper’s TalentInnkeeper’s Talent has become an essential part of the +1/+1 counters toolbox. While it took a minute for them to catch on, Caretaker’s TalentCaretaker’s Talent and Stormchaser’s TalentStormchaser’s Talent quickly became core pieces of the token and spellslinger strategies as well.

Many of the other Talents are less celebrated for good reason. Some are Limited fodder, and some are simply too niche or low-powered to meaningfully break into EDH. I’m here to make a case for Gossip’s TalentGossip’s Talent, which is currently in 0.97% of the decks it could be played in. Now this isn’t to say that I think it should be in 100% of decks, but there are a surprising number of commanders that value almost every level of this card.

There are almost 100 legal commanders that can be made unblockable by level two of Gossip’s TalentGossip’s Talent that also have an enters effect to be re-triggered every turn by level three. Some examples: Admiral Brass, UnsinkableAdmiral Brass, Unsinkable, Jyoti, Moag AncientJyoti, Moag Ancient, and Niko, Light of HopeNiko, Light of Hope

We can narrow this down further to commanders that also have on-attack triggers to take full benefit of Gossip’s TalentGossip’s Talent level two beyond simply getting in for commander damage, which brings the list down to 11, but includes cards like Cirdan, the ShipwrightCirdan, the Shipwright, Sidisi, Brood TyrantSidisi, Brood Tyrant and The RaniThe Rani – powerful effects to be safely triggering on entering and attacks every turn. And this is so far just considering commanders; there are loads of other creatures that you’ll be happy to reliably attack with or flicker every turn.

Gossip’s TalentGossip’s Talent can do some powerful and exciting things at levels two and three, and we’ve not even considered that at level one it gives you a surveil with every creature entering. No deck doesn’t want that, so take a moment to consider whether this card could put in work for you.

#7 – Eluge, the Shoreless SeaEluge, the Shoreless Sea

Speaking of cards that like Gossip’s TalentGossip’s Talent, Eluge, the Shoreless SeaEluge, the Shoreless Sea is a fascinating design. It’s a massive Fish that makes your lands Islands if they aren’t already, fueling both its own size and a surprise spellslinger strategy. The last thing I would have expected from the name, art, and first two abilities was for it to be making your instants and sorceries cost less, but here we are and I love it.

A deck built around this card could be a lot of fun, and similarly if it popped up in a multicolor spellslinger shell I’m sure it would add a lot of value. I suppose its only downside is keeping track of which lands that aren’t normally Islands suddenly are. But what is Magic if not Admin: the Game?

#6 – Darkstar AugurDarkstar Augur

So you’ve heard of Dark ConfidantDark Confidant, but what about Dark Confidant except now it’s a Bat and also there’s two of them? Darkstar AugurDarkstar Augur offers a simple parallel to everyone’s favorite Bob, where at base it's simply Dark ConfidantDark Confidant with flying for one more mana and several less monies.

Off the bat (ha) that seems like a reasonable deal to me, but it’s the offspring ability that makes this card stand out. For a single additional black mana you can have both Darkstar AugurDarkstar Augur and its child on the field, and I have in part selected this card for the list because of how interesting a line this design walks. Dark ConfidantDark Confidant is classic black card draw; everyone knows it and loves it. However, given the life loss, is having two Dark ConfidantDark Confidants actually better than one? Certainly it is in terms of card advantage, and life is a resource, yada yada, but it’s a distinctly finite resource and your Bat family will mine it dry quite aggressively.

I like this card, but it’s one that you’re maybe not going to offspring every time you cast it, and in this article we support the life choices of Bats, whether they decide to have children or not.

#5 – StormsplitterStormsplitter

Spellslinger payoffs have been limited to cards like Talrand, Sky SummonerTalrand, Sky Summoner and Young PyromancerYoung Pyromancer for some time. While we're now seeing more powerful cards, like Shark TyphoonShark Typhoon and Eris, Roar of the StormEris, Roar of the Storm, StormsplitterStormsplitter is our first truly exponential payoff. This creature will double in numbers with every nonpermanent spell cast, which will get out of hand quickly in the right deck. It's held back from being a significant threat by its single power and lack of evasion, so unless you're going semi- or truly infinite in a turn, your Otter army isn’t necessarily going to take multiple players out of the game. But any that you do generate have haste, so can charge in, fish flailing, that same turn.

Perhaps not the most powerful payoff we’ve got in our arsenal, but in the spirit of this list an exponentially growing army of Otter Wizards is certainly interesting.

#4 – Ral, Crackling WitRal, Crackling Wit

This is the last spellslinger card for this list, I promise, but they did do interesting things with the archetype in Bloomburrow. Ral was briefly an otter, which was fun, but he’s on the list simply because of the outrageousness of his ultimate. Whether you ever get there or not, the fact that the text “you get an emblem with 'Instant and sorcery spells you cast have storm'” has been printed on a card will never not amaze me. Getting to -10 isn’t a distant dream either; his passive makes it all the more possible. I've had this resolved against me, and I was buried under unmanageable instant and sorcery value over the next couple of turns.

It's not broken, but it’s definitely fun, as long as you remain happy to be playing Admin: the Gathering.

#3 – The Seasons

These cards generated a lot of discussion about parasitic mechanics, and whether or not pawprints were totally locked to Bloomburrow and similar future sets. I believe this culminated in Maro noting that while pawprints as a symbol are likely to be Bloomburrow-specific, there was nothing to stop Wizards printing cards with the same effect but with different symbols themed to a different set; and I absolutely love this idea. I’m imagining future sci-fi sets with little fuel symbols to spend on space travel cards, or eldritch horror sets with sanity symbols… the list goes on.

These cards are great, but it’s the precedent that I hope that they set that puts them up here on the list. I look forward to more!

#2 – Azure BeastbinderAzure Beastbinder

Back to interactive cards now, and Azure BeastbinderAzure Beastbinder is a top-tier piece of disruption. For two mana, you’re getting the ability to switch off the most problematic artifact, creature, or planeswalker for an entire round of the table, with the added benefit of making it unable to block and kill the Beastbinder if you happen to be sending it in the same direction as its ability. Then if a new problem arrives by your next turn, you can pick something else to neutralize.

This kind of effect is often underrated when held up against harder forms of removal and disruption; why temporarily disable something when you could Imprisoned in the MoonImprisoned in the Moon or Reality ShiftReality Shift it? My main answer to this is that both of these other removal options are one and done. You only get to exile or imprison something one time, and if something else even more problematic shows up the turn after you do so, you will be sad. A repeatable effect like Azure BeastbinderAzure Beastbinder will give you the flexibility to react to whatever the greatest threat to you is at any given time. If that remains the same thing for several turns, so be it.

Azure BeastbinderAzure Beastbinder isn't hard to remove, but since you'll only have invested two mana into it, it won’t feel like a heavy loss when it's dealt with. However, being able to flexibly target something else on future turns gives you the ability to bargain for its life – promise that its ability aims somewhere else next turn and perhaps it lives to disrupt another turn.

#1 – Ygra, Eater of AllYgra, Eater of All

We’re ending on interesting now with Ygra, Eater of AllYgra, Eater of All. This is one of the finest examples of flavorful design in recent sets, and very much sets the scene of Bloomburrow not just being a cutesy animals plane. Ygra, Eater of AllYgra, Eater of All labels all other creatures – yours or otherwise – as Food. A massive apex predator arriving and blanket categorising everything else as prey is incredible flavor, in a similar vein to Boldwyr IntimidatorBoldwyr Intimidator showing up and calling other things Cowards. You even have to sacrifice a Food (creature) as an offering to even be able to target it.

As a five-mana 6/6 with various upsides, this card is obviously strong, but more than anything its flavor is next-level. And while I may not have been rushing to return to a Bloomburrow filled with Rabbits, Mice, and Frogs, I am desperate to see more of and learn more about the Elemental Beasts.

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I'm sure that many of these cards have already found homes in your EDH decks. Let me know if you agree or disagree with my takes on any of them, or if I missed anything particularly interesting or interactive from this set. Thanks for reading!

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