Bloomburrow (BLB) Limited Review — Blue

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Bloomburrow (BLB) holds its prerelease events on July 26, 2024, and is officially released a week later on August 2, 2024. Want to learn more about individual card ratings and recommendations for Limited? Then check out this series of BLB Limited reviews!

For the mechanics, see this article: Bloomburrow Mechanics Explained
For a first look at the Limited themes, see this article: A First Look at Bloomburrow Limited

The Limited review articles in this series focus on ratings. Some cards that are average or have relatively simple abilities will not get a specific review.

Rating Scale

5.0: Unconditional first pick
4.5: Unconditional first pick if you are in the right color pair
4.0: Worth taking first
3.5: Strong enough, but not necessarily a first pick
3.0: Above average (you would really like it to make your final deck)
2.5: Average, maybe around a 6th or 7th pick in a draft
2.0 to 1.0: Below average (you would rather not play it than play it)
0.5 to 0.0: Unplayable (basically never play it, it will only help you lose)

Ratings

041	042	043

3.0	2.0	1.5

Review:

Azure Beastbinder is an early-game creature with a decent body. It is poor at trading in the late game, but has a chance to deal with the opponent’s threats through its ability.

044	045	046

3.5	2.5	2.5

Review:

Daring Waverider is a very high-quality uncommon late-game creature, basically a budget version of Torrential Gearhulk. As long as it can earn you a removal spell or a draw spell, it is strong.
Dire Downdraft is a rare piece of removal in mono blue. It is not efficient, but it is still a notch better than bounce.

047	048	049

2.0	3.5	3.0

Review:

Dour Port-Mage has few high-value enter-the-battlefield abilities to match in this set, and as a two-drop there are plenty of better options.
Eddymurk Crab has flash, which gives it excellent tempo. It can enter at the end of the opponent’s turn and tap two creatures, then attack on your own turn to gain an advantage. However, in Limited, with few sorceries and instants, you usually need at least 5-6 mana to cast it.
Eluge, the Shoreless Sea has a heavy triple-colored requirement, and its body depends on the number of Islands, so it can only shine in mono-blue decks.

050	051	052

3.0	2.5	1.5

Review:

Gossip’s Talent at level one performs well alongside the Dimir threshold theme. Level two can provide evasive damage, but level three is not worth much since the set’s enter-the-battlefield abilities aren’t strong.
Into the Flood Maw is the new Unsummon. This kind of effect is generally ineffective in Limited.

053	054	055

4.5	3.5	3.5

Review:

Kitnap is a permanent Act of Treason, which is undeniably strong in Limited.
Kitsa, Otterball Elite performs well early as a 2-mana 1/3 vigilance body, and provides looting to improve your deck’s smoothness. If you get the chance to use its last ability, it can deliver excellent value trades.

056	057	058

3.0	3.0	2.0

Review:

Long River Lurker already meets the standard with a 3-mana 2/3 body with ward 1, and its ability to grant evasion gives it even better applications, especially in a blue-green Frog tribal deck.

059	060	061

3.0	3.5	4.0

Review:

Mind Spiral is worth playing in Limited whenever it can earn you more than one card from a single card, and its tapping ability makes it especially good.
Mockingbird copies a bomb on the battlefield for the same cost and adds flying, creating a huge board advantage that is enough to lead to victory. But its strength is limited by the board, so it can’t reach a 5.0 rating.

062	063	064

2.5	1.5	3.0

Review:

Otterball Antics can basically be viewed as paying two mana to call a creature, and then you have to wait until the late game to call another one, which is inefficient.
Pearl of Wisdom is worth playing in Limited when it can earn you more than one card from a single card, and if you can cast it for two mana its strength goes up even more.

065	066	067

3.5	1.5	1.5

Review:

Plumecreed Escort can be viewed as a budget version of Rattlechains, improving your deck’s tempo.
Portent of Calamity requires the chosen cards to be of different types, so in Limited no matter how big X is, it is hard to exceed 2 to 3.

068	069	070

5.0	2.5	3.5

Review:

Season of Weaving creates a huge advantage whether it is drawing cards, copying a bomb, or sweeping the board when behind. It is an extremely flexible bomb.
Shore Up is a reprinted combat trick, the only one of its kind in blue.

071	072	073

2.5	3.0	3.5

Review:

Skyskipper Duo is a 5-mana 3/3 flyer, which is not up to standard, and the set lacks strong enter-the-battlefield abilities, so most of the time it can only reset a target creature.
Spellgyre needs you to hold up 4 mana to trade with a card in Limited, so its value only shows up in the mid to late game.

074	075	076

2.5	2.5	3.0

Review:

Stormchaser’s Talent can be viewed as a one-drop creature with an extra high-cost effect.
Sugar Coat is one of the few pieces of blue removal. The reason it says Enchant Food is to prevent it from falling off after it resolves.

077	078	079

2.0	3.0	3.5

Review:

Thundertrap Trainer can be seen as a weaker-bodied Augur of Bolas. The four-mana offspring is too expensive and can be ignored.
Valley Floodcaller has low value in Limited when the density of noncreature spells is not high.

080	081	###

2.5	2.5	None

Review:

Wishing Well requires the counter count to be “equal to” the original casting cost for the free reuse, which greatly reduces its practicality, and basically you can only do it once.