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Whattup, y'all!
Bloomburrow has dropped, decks are being created and played, and as with every new set, as the metagame adjusts, certain cards have been rising in value.
Today I want to go over some of the most notable rares and mythics from Bloomburrow, in no particular order, and discuss why they're so notable and where they might fit in the Magic landscape.
Three Tree City
Three Tree City is an interesting one, and currently a fairly pricey one, even despite the fact that seven different copies came out of Bloomburrow. One of my favorite parts of this card is that the borderless versions mimic the Antiquities Mishra's Factory with four different versions, each depicting a different season. Just like Mishra's Factory, the Winter version is the one currently commanding the highest price tag.
Printing and value aside, there's a reason this guy is so valuable. I'm sure it's a hit in Commander, as it's part Gaea's Cradle and part Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. While you do have to choose a specific creature type for this to affect, in any deck with a kindred theme of any kind, this is basically an auto-include.
Ygra, Eater of All
This card is making waves in Pioneer due to being a four-of in the Cat Oven deck with cards like Witch's Oven, Cauldron Familiar, and Gilded Goose. But I imagine it'll be a sweet Commander card, since it's legendary and has a solid build-around ability regarding food. The card has also appeared in some Modern decks as well, it seems, so the Eater of All is looking like a solid centerpiece for several decks. Personally, I just have a soft spot for 6/6 Golgari creatures that cost five mana, like my absolute favorite Spiritmonger.
Innkeeper's Talent
Innkeeper's Talent does...a lot, which is probably why it's currently the most expensive card in the set. For two-mana you get the Luminarch Aspirant ability on an enchantment. For one more mana, you get to give all those creatures with counters ward 1, which is also nice, and comes at a very good rate. But it's the third level that's the real treat, giving us a four-mana Doubling Season.
Normally Doubling Season effects don't see much play in competitive formats, but not only do the first two cheaper abilities make this card much more appealing, but the third ability seems to combo pretty effectively with Vraska, Betrayal's Sting.
If you don't know, with Innkeeper's Talent on Level 3, Vraska will either enter with 10 loyalty if you spend five mana on her, or 12 loyalty if you spend the full six mana on her. Once resolved, you can then ultimate her immediately, giving your opponent 18 poison counters.
That's a two-card, Splinter Twin-level kill. In Standard. And also Pioneer. And Modern as well!
But also, yeah, it's another Doubling Season, so play this thing in Commander too!
Mockingbird
Mockingbird is seeing play in basically every format. As a 1/1 flier for one mana, that's a reasonably high floor. But the ceiling...whew. For that same one mana you can copy anything from Ocelot Pride, to Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, to Guide of Souls, and they would all have flying.
When most clone effects cost four- or five-mana, the fact that Mockingbird costs the same amount as the creature you're copying and also retains flying is such a great deal for constructed formats that all have reasonably cheap creatures.
Again, I can see this being a Commander all-star as well.
The Infamous Cruelclaw
Okay, so this is a card that is seeing very minimal play (though I did find it as a four-of in a cool Standard deck), but this was the first card I picked up from the set with the intent to add it to my Vintage Cube.
A 3/3 with menace for three mana is decent as is, but being able to cast the first spell you reveal from the top of your library for free can be downright broken Especially if you have any way to stack your deck, like Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Sylvan Library, or Sensei's Divining Top. But the best card to utilize here might be something like Vampiric Tutor.
Likely not going to be a super competitive card, but it is a very fun card, and legendary as well!
Rottenmouth Viper
This seems to be another popular one seeing play in Modern, Pioneer, and Standard. While it costs six mana, the majority of the time six mana is not being paid for this guy. Forcing a sacrifice or discard for every attack, for every blight counter can add up quickly. This card also isn't legendary, so no limit on how many you can have in play at the same time! I regret not picking these guys up when they were around $8, because they're now closer to $20...so that's cool.
I would love to hear what you think and have you shoot me your own notable rares and mythics from Bloomburrow over on social media! Thanks a ton for reading and I'll catch ya next time!
Frank Lepore
