Welcome to Bloomburrow!

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Friends! You've arrived just in time to help in the fight against a great Calamity Beast. I have every confidence you'll all do so well. You're very … tall. And by the looks of you, brave. I can't say I've seen anyone quite like you in Valley before, so we should make sure you know what you're doing before you get your paws wet. Or whatever those things are. Let's hop to it!

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Index

Design Goals
Mechanics
Draft Archetypes

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Design Goals

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Overview

This cube was designed to mimic the limited environment of Bloomburrow, with some slight alterations. It is designed to work well for both draft and sealed formats, at a variety of player counts. My goal was to create a draft environment that feels like Stock Bloomburrow, but with a few splashes of fun new pieces from the Bloomburrow Special Guests and Imagine:Critters bonus sheets. You may find a slightly increased number of Rares and Mythics per booster pack, and a lower number of commons than in an official booster pack. Overall, the goal is to create a fun environment more than to meticulously recreate the play booster experience.

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Rarity Distribution

Amongst the cards from the base set, I chose the following distribution:

This is the total distribution of the cube:

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Pack Contents/Shuffling Guide

A pack consists of 15 playable cards, and all basic lands are to be made available in a separate land station. The following distribution is to be expected:

The reason for the variations noted above is due to the method of shuffling. I've detailed that method here:

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Alterations

From the Special Guests and Imagine:Critters Bonus sheets, I've added the following cards:

Special Guests: Imagine: Critters

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Mechanics

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OFFSPRING

We fight to keep Valley safe, not only for us, but for our families. And even though our offspring aren't quite as big we are yet, they still join in. They're quick learners! Offspring is a new keyword found on creature cards. It's an optional additional cost which you can pay or not as you cast the card. If you do pay, when the creature enters, you create a token that's a copy of it, except the token is 1/1.

The offspring token has the same name, creature types, mana cost, mana value, and abilities as the parent creature. The only differences are power and toughness. If the creature with offspring leaves the battlefield before the triggered ability resolves (presumably to go play on another battlefield somewhere), you'll still create the token.

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GIFT

The spirit of generosity permeates this entire plane. We sometimes even give gifts to those who oppose us. Oh, and we get something in return? How wonderful and unexpected! Gift is another new keyword that represents an additional cost. There are several different gifts in this set. Let's start with something simple: a card.

As you cast a permanent spell with gift, you can promise the gift to an opponent if you want. This is optional, and if you have more than one opponent—ooh, scary!—you choose one and only one of them at most. They don't receive the gift yet. You're just promising it. When the permanent enters, the chosen opponent receives the gift. In Kitnap's case, they draw a card.

Each card with gift will have additional or alternative effects if the gift was or wasn't promised. In Kitnap's case, promising the gift will change how its other enters-the-battlefield triggered ability functions. If you agree to let an opponent draw a card, you can avoid putting three stun counters on the creature you just … um, adopted.

But not every gift is a card, and not every card with gift is a permanent. Let's look at an instant and a Fish.

Promising the gift for an instant or sorcery spell works just like it does for a permanent spell. You do this as you cast the spell. It's an additional cost. The opponent receiving the gift is a little different. As the instant or sorcery spell starts resolving, first the opponent receives their gift. In Parting Gust's case, they create a tapped 1/1 blue Fish creature token. Yay! A free snack and/or pet and/or good luck charm. Then the spell's other effects happen.

Note that if a spell has targets, those targets are chosen long before any gifts are given, so those gifts (should they happen to be newly created tokens) can't be those targets. However, the tokens will be on the battlefield for any other untargeted effects the spell may have.

For all cards with gift, permanent and otherwise, the spell must resolve for the gift to be received. For permanent spells, if the spell doesn't resolve, the permanent never enters, so its triggered ability never triggers. For instants and sorceries, if the spell is countered or its targets become illegal, none of its effects will happen, including the gift.

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FORAGE

All this gift-giving and child-tending has me famished! What do we have to eat around here, anyway? Some Bloomburrow cards allow you to forage, a new keyword action. It shows up as a cost you pay in various circumstances. Osteomancer Adept allows you to cast creature spells from your graveyard but adds foraging as an additional cost.

To forage, either exile three cards from your graveyard or sacrifice a Food. Note that you can't sacrifice a Food to both forage and for its own ability to gain life. If an ability triggers “whenever you forage,” it's looking specifically for the instruction to forage. If you just exile three cards from your graveyard or sacrifice a Food for other reasons, you haven't foraged.

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VALIANT

The Calamity Beasts that threaten our way of life are truly terrifying. They're unlike anything, anywhere, I'm sure! To stand against them, you must be fearless. Heroic. Valiant, even! Valiant is a new ability word that highlights triggered abilities that trigger whenever a creature becomes the target of a spell or ability you control for the first time each turn.

Even the smallest among us (and their offspring!) can become mighty given the right inspiration. Remember that valiant abilities trigger during opponents' turns as well, but only once each turn.

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EXPEND

Hey, if picturesque vistas and adorable denizens guaranteed safety, we'd have time for more games, but we have to put a little work in, you know? Expend some effort. Speaking of that, expend is a new rules term that tracks how much mana you've spent to cast spells over the course of the turn.

For example, Junkblade Bruiser's triggered ability is looking for you to spend your fourth total mana to cast spells during a turn. On the off chance you don't speak Raccoon Berserker, I'll translate his warnings:

• An ability like that can trigger only once each turn. It's looking specifically for the fourth mana, not every fourth mana.
• The permanent with the ability needs to be on the battlefield to see you spend the mana. Notably, if you spend five mana to cast Junkblade Bruiser itself, its ability won't see that. By the time it's on the battlefield, you're spending—at best—your sixth mana to cast spells that turn, so the ability will have to wait until next turn to trigger.
• It doesn't matter what happened to the spells you cast. They could have resolved, not resolved, been countered, or they could even still be on the stack. You cast them. That's the important thing.
• All mana you spend to cast the spells counts, not only mana to cover the mana cost. Additional costs such as offspring costs, alternative costs, and the like are all factored in.

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PAWPRINT SEASON

Your tour of Valley is almost complete, and you've left quite a mark already. Your pawprints are distinct, after all. We'll finish up with a cycle of flexible cards celebrating the different seasons.

As you cast one of these modal spells, you can choose up to five pawprints worth of modes. Pawprints are a new symbol used exclusively for these cards. They aren't a resource like mana or energy. You can't save them or carry them over from one spell to the next.

So, what'll it be? You can choose either of the first two modes more than once. The last mode would be too many pawprints to repeat. You could choose the first mode five times, the first mode twice and the last mode once, and various other permutations. You don't have to choose five pawprints in modes—you could choose fewer modes if you wanted—but usually it's a good idea to get as much as you can from your Season.

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Draft Archetypes

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BIRDFOLK Fliers Boost Non-Fliers

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Birds bring bonuses! Cast fliers who air-drop buffs on your non-flying creatures. Make sure to have a healthy balance of fliers and non-fliers so you always have a target.

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RATFOLK Graveyard Threshold

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Slow down your opponent with strong blockers and creature removal. Fill up your graveyard to unlock your Rats' Threshold abilities, then use them to close out the game.

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LIZARDFOLK Bloodthirsty Aggro

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Be aggressive and damage your opponent each turn to make the most of your Lizards' abilities. Spells that enhance your attacks or deal direct damage are key to making sure your assault never slows down.

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RACCOONFOLK Big Creature Ramp

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Ramp up your mana early to cast big Raccoons that dominate the battlefield. Include a few extra cards with high mana values to help trigger the Expend ability, but not so many that you fall behind early in the game.

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RABBITFOLK Token Swarm

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Assemble as many Rabbits and Rabbit tokens as you can. Look for spells and effects that reward you for having lots of creatures in play or pump up your whole team in combat.

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BATFOLK Life Gain and Loss

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Deploy an army of flying Bats and reap rewards for gaining or losing life during your turn. Mix in some good blockers and defensive spells to slow your opponent down while you attack in the air.

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OTTERFOLK Instants and Sorceries

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Otters love when you cast instant and sorcery spells and will reward you for doing so. Aim for fewer creatures and varied spells, especially ones that help you control the battlefield.

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SQUIRRELFOLK Food Midrange

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Dominate the mid game with big creatures and creature removal spells. Look for ways to fill your graveyard and create Food to take advantage of the Squirrels Forage mechanic.

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MOUSEFOLK Valiant Aggro

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Mice always prefer to be on the attack, so include plenty of aggressive, low mana value creatures. Support them with Equipment and combat-enhancing spells and abilities to trigger the Valiant ability.

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FROGFOLK Blink and Bounce

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Make use of creatures with abilities that trigger when they enter the battlefield. Many Frogs have ways of blinking creatures or returning them to your hand. With all that extra value, you'll be strong in the late-game.

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Future Considerations

Based on the number of players I expect to have on average, there is a strong chance I will be thinning the cube down to 360. With that being said, I would like to get a few drafts completed first before I start making cuts.

If these cuts end up happening, the Imagine: Critters section is likely to be the first to go. They are not the best fits for the archetypes of the cube to begin with, and there are some obvious power outliers amongst them (lookin’ at you Jace). I will outline draft reports and any changes made to the cube in blog posts, so feel free to check those out.

Additionally, the cube designer in me is screaming out to add more dual color lands, so that is also a likely design change to come in the future!

If you've made it to the end of this guide, thanks for reading! I hope you have fun playing this cube. Happy drafting!

Sources:

Intro and Mechanics Section - Tabak, M. (2024, July 24). Bloomburrow Mechanics. MAGIC. https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/bloomburrow-mechanics
Draft Archetypes Section - Gerard, J. (n.d.). Bloomburrow Draft Archetypes