Bloomburrow Prerelease Guide
Magic players are beyond excited for the release of Bloomburrow. and it's easy to see why! You can get your hands on the critters and cards at a Bloomburrow Prerelease, starting July 26. 2024. The set takes place on an all-new plane, one filled with cute animals and fearsome Calamity Beasts. There's no better way to get acquainted with a new set than a Prerelease, so be sure to head down to your local game store and register for the fuzzy fun!
But what if you've never been to a Prerelease, or any Magic event? Don't worry, these events are an amazing way to meet people in your local community, explore the mechanics of a new set, and find your new favorite cards.
What's a Prerelease?
Prerelease is a Magic event held the weekend before a set's release, where players gather for an early opportunity to play with new cards. When you register for a Bloomburrow Prerelease, you'll get a Prerelease Pack on the day of the event. This, along with some basic lands provided by your local game store, is everything you need to enjoy the event.
Inside a Prerelease Pack, you'll find the following
- 6 Bloomburrow Play Boosters
- 1 Traditional foil year-stamped rare or mythic rare Bloomburrow promo card
- 1 MTG Arena code card (available only in select regions)
- 1 Deck box
- 1 Spindown life counter
Using the cards in your Play Boosters, your foil promo card, and any number of basic lands, you'll construct a deck of 40 cards called a sealed deck. Players will then be paired against other Prerelease participants to see who is the bravest in all of Valley!
The atmosphere of a Prerelease is more of a celebration than a cutthroat event. Players will often exchange ideas, tips, or comments about cards to help each other's decks, So. if you find yourself in a deck-building rut, feel free to ask around. Your fellow Prerelease patrons will be more than willing to lend a hand (or paw).
If you want to study up for the event, you can look at the cards ahead of time in the Bloomburrow Card Image Gallery and continue reading here for advice on building a sealed deck and Bloomburrow strategy.
Building Your Prerelease Deck
You've opened your boosters, read all your cards, and now you're ready to build your deck. The first thing you want to do is sort your cards into different colors. In Bloomburrow, you'll want to find the two best colors from your cards and construct a deck from those.
When deciding what colors your deck will be, you aren't just looking for colors you have the most of. You'll want to prioritize powerful, must-answer threats to put pressure on your opponents. These cards will often be rares and mythic rares, but anything that puts your opponent on the back foot will fill this role well. Spells that draw you lots of cards, massive creatures, or permanents that provide long-term benefits are all useful threats.
After threats, the most important part of a sealed deck is removal. Prioritizing removal helps you take out the threats your opponents will play. Each color has its own way of removing threats, so you can clear a path to victory no matter what!
White can remove artifacts, enchantments, and creatures that pose a massive threat. Watch out Calamity Beasts!
Blue can bounce permanents back to their owner's hand, though that's only a short-term solution. Stop them before they hit the battlefield with a counterspell.
Black can cut down opposing creatures with relative ease. Utilize well-timed removal spells to keep your opponents from amassing a large board state.
Red uses direct damage to eliminate creatures, though larger creatures can outmuscle its damage output.
Green doesn't have the same kind of direct removal as other colors, but nothing beats a big creature like a bigger creature! Spells that utilize your creatures' sheer size can give green the edge it needs to win.
Your threats and answers will push you toward playing two colors. Since you're playing with a smaller card pool, lands that help fix your mana are the best way to ensure you can cast your spells. At common, you can find Uncharted Haven and Hidden Grotto, both of which can help ensure you have access to whatever color of mana you need.
You've tracked down your threats, solved for your answers, and found your fixing! Now, it's time to put together your deck. That means you'll have to master …
The Mana Curve
The mana costs of cards you include in your deck matter. The "mana curve" of your deck is the count of each card by mana cost, which helps you understand how efficient your deck can play. In early turns, you'll have fewer lands and therefore mana to play spells with. By including more cards with lower mana costs than higher ones, it'll ensure you have spells to cast both early and late in the game.
Don't discount higher costed cards, though! They cost more mana for a reason, offering larger stats, more powerful effects, or game-warping value engines. The general template for a mana curve looks like this.
- 1 Mana: 1–2 cards
- 2 Mana: 7–8 cards
- 3 Mana: 5–6 cards
- 4 Mana: 3–4 cards
- 5 Mana: 2–3 cards
- 6 Mana: 0–1 card
- and 17 lands!
This is just a guideline. Deck construction is like cooking: you season your deck to taste. A red-white deck will likely skew lower due to the valiant mechanic, while a green-red deck will skew higher as it races toward massive Raccoons. Keep these proportions in mind to create a playable deck and whet any competitive appetite. Is anybody else hungry?
The Archetypes of Bloomburrow
Sets have archetypes, which are a mechanical focus for the color pairs. By keeping these archetypes in mind, players have an easy path toward a cohesive deck. On the plane of Bloomburrow, these archetypes are all related to a type of animal. They're different color pairs, but all of them are adorable.
To make deck building easier, there's a cycle of cards at common that have two of the relevant creature types, as well as ten hybrid cards, one for each color pair. Your red-white Mouse deck and your red-green Raccoon deck can both play Roughshod Duo, so don't be afraid to mix and match!
Below is a short primer on what to expect from each archetype, with a few cards highlighted you're likely to see in your Limited pool. Ready? Let's meet the animalfolk of Valley!
Birdfolk (White-Blue)
The Birds of Bloomburrow bring gifts to their grounded counterparts. Since you're able to make your small creatures stronger, tokens created with offspring can rise to the ranks of their larger counterparts. Prioritize low-to-the-ground creatures and high-in-the-sky Birds to ensure victory. With the power of Birds, you won't have to wing it.
Ratfolk (Blue-Black)
Rats bring back threshold, an ability that wants you to put seven or more cards in your graveyard. This is a control deck that wants to stall until you can unlock your threshold abilities, using blue's ability to put cards into your graveyard and black's ability to remove creatures.
Lizardfolk (Black-Red)
Overwhelm your opponents with your raucous reptiles! With abilities that want your opponents to lose life, Lizards play well alongside direct-damage spells and combat tricks. This is one of the most aggressive decks in Bloomburrow, utilizing Lizards with life-drain triggers and evasive keywords.
Raccoonfolk (Red-Green)
This archetype wants you to stockpile mana for massive turns, overwhelming your opponents with hard-hitting creatures. Raccoons also have cards with the expend ability, rewarding you for spending large amounts of mana in a single turn.
Rabbitfolk (Green-White)
Rabbits have the most cards with offspring, allowing you to copy your best creatures to outnumber anyone who stands in your way. This archetype can easily overwhelm your opponent with a token army. These bunnies don't need to be big to win, they just need to be brave!
Batfolk (White-Black)
You don't need echolocation to see how powerful this archetype can be. Bats combine the fliers of white with the life gain of black. Bats' abilities care if you've gained or lost life, allowing them to go for the win when you're on defense or offense.
Otterfolk (Blue-Red)
Blue-red is an archetype like no otter! These animalfolk love instants and sorceries, opening up a unique spellslinger style. Plenty of Otters have the prowess ability, turning your spells into overwhelming advantages in combat. Plus, there's a chance you'll encounter the planeswalker Ral. Who can say no to that face?
Squirrelfolk (Black-Green)
Begin your harvest for the coming seasons with black-green Squirrels! Forage appears on several of these cards, an ability which lets you to exile cards from your graveyard or sacrifice a Food token to pay for its cost. Black cards from the Rat archetype have some excellent crossover here, bridging the gap between the two rodents. This is an excellent place to combine cards from multiple creature types. Teamwork really does make the dream work.
Mousefolk (Red-White)
The bravest of the brave and the smallest of the small, Mice are another one of the more aggressive decks in Bloomburrow. The valiant ability, which triggers when a creature is first targeted by a spell or ability you control each turn, plays well with Equipment and instant-speed combat tricks. Take up the sword on Prerelease squeak-end!
Frogfolk (Green-Blue)
Frogs want to enter the battlefield over and over. Green-blue decks are known for their ability to draw tons of cards and play massive creatures, so blink your amphibians or bounce them to your hand to replay them.
Celebrate Magic at your Prerelease!
Whether you've played Magic since the early '90s or just started your journey, Prerelease events are an awesome way to celebrate the magic of Magic. Dress up, join in the celebrations, and let yourself get whisked away to the plane of Bloomburrow.
Bloomburrow Prerelease events begin at your local game store on July 26. 2024, with a global tabletop release coming August 2. Prepare for tiny tails and big adventures!
