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!

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.

0196_MTGBLB_Main: Tender Wildguide

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.

Each card with offspring has a printed token available with all the relevant characteristics, including a reminder of the token's mana cost. Most importantly, the kids get their own art, free of meddling parents. Like with all printed tokens, using these tokens is optional.

0024_MTGBLB_ToknBstr: Tender Wildguide Token

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.

0053_MTGBLB_Main: Kitnap

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.

0024_MTGBLB_Main: Parting Gust

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.

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.

0103_MTGBLB_Main: Osteomancer Adept

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.

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.

0231_MTGBLB_Main: Seedglaive Mentor

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.

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.

0220_MTGBLB_Main: Junkblade Bruiser

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.

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.

0068_MTGBLB_Main: Season of Weaving

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.