Bloomburrow (BLB) Limited Review — Multicolor

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

Bloomburrow (BLB) will hold its prerelease events on July 26, 2024, and officially release a week later on August 2, 2024. Want to know more about individual card ratings and recommendations in Limited? Then check out this series of BLB Limited reviews!

For the mechanics overview, see this article: Bloomburrow Mechanics Explained
For a first look at the Limited themes, see this article: Bloomburrow Limited Preliminary

This Limited review series is based on ratings; some average cards, or cards with relatively simple abilities, will not receive specific commentary.

Grading Scale

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

Ratings

204	205	206

3.0	2.0	3.5

Review:

Alania, Divergent Storm has a floor of a Thraben Purebloods, but its ceiling in the red-blue color pair is something to look forward to.
Baylen, the Haymaker is a three-color creature with an ordinary body, and its ability needs extra support to be strong. BLB is a two-color environment with little support for three colors, so I gave it a low score to steer readers away from it.
Burrowguard Mentor gives trample, the ability most needed by creatures like Regal Bunnicorn that grow huge when you go wide, so look forward to its excellent performance in the green-white color pair!

207	208	209

3.5	2.5	3.0

Review:

Camellia, the Seedmiser is a very important standalone card for the black-green Squirrel theme. If you see it, consider moving into black-green and building around it.
Forage is a cost for putting the +1/+1 counters. If you choose to sacrifice a Food as that cost, then after the ability goes on the stack, it will trigger the ability that makes a 1/1 Squirrel token. When the stack resolves, the Squirrel token enters first, and only then are +1/+1 counters put on all Squirrels.
Clement, the Worrywort is a three-mana 3/3 vigilance with two positive abilities, and is also an important card for the blue-green enters/leaves theme.

210	211	212

2.5	3.5	3.5

Review:

Dreamdew Entrancer lets you freely choose to tap down your own creature or the opponent’s. Choosing your own draws two extra cards, which is nicely flexible, and if after drawing you bounce it back to hand to get another enters ability, that is fantastic! Even paralyzing an opponent’s creature for three turns is quite a good deal.
Finneas, Ace Archer has a strong ability but too weak a body, and may not get a second chance once played out, but in a fitting green-white tokens deck it is still a great early-to-mid-game burst, and it performs even better with pump/protection spells!

213	214	215

3.0	3.5	3.5

Review:

Fireglass Mentor exiling cards is mandatory, which is awkward when you don’t want to trigger its effect (e.g., not enough cards in your library), and in bad cases it can even affect whether you attack that turn. Used well it is still a card that earns resources, but you have to watch the board state when using it; it is not always good.
Gev, Scaled Scorch is not only able to actively trigger its enters-and-grow effect when you cast Lizards while on the battlefield; as long as you have first made the opponent lose life, other non-Lizard creatures that enter afterward also get bigger. If the opponent wants to remove it, they have to pay 2 life first.
Glarb, Calamity’s Augur is a very powerful and very profitable card, one of the few three-color cards worth splashing a third color for. Its own tap ability to surveil 2 also supports blue-black Threshold and black-green Forage, and helps make the top of your library more controllable.

216	217	218

3.0	2.5	4.0

Review:

Head of the Homestead is a five-mana one-for-three, fitting the green-white go-wide theme.
Helga, Skittish Seer being three colors may keep it from arriving on turn three, and being stuck in hand or drawn only in the mid to late game is even more awkward.
Hugs, Grisly Guardian is powerful enough even as just a four-mana 5/5 trampler, and the later you play it the more valuable it is, though its heavy color requirements still cost it a few points.

219	220	221

4.0	2.5	4.5

Review:

The Infamous Cruelclaw arriving on time and not getting removed should quickly tip the game in your favor, but if drawn in the mid to late game, its 3/3 menace body may still get blocked by a pile of creatures, and then it is more ordinary.
Kastral, the Windcrested can trigger its choose-one-of-three post-attack ability all by itself, and combined with early Birds, the snowball should roll and win quickly.

222	223	224

3.5	4.0	3.5

Review:

Lilysplash Mentor: An excellent body and an important trigger source for the color pair’s theme.
Lunar Convocation has a floor of Arguel’s Blood Fast, but the white-black color pair and Bats are quite good at gaining life, and once you have triggered both the life gain and life loss sides, you can send out an endless army of Bats!
Mabel, Heir to Cragflame is a very powerful Mouse (plural Mice) lord, and the Legendary Equipment it brings out can make red-white Valiant aggro even more aggressive!

225	226	227

2.5	2.5	3.0

Review:

Mind Drill Assailant deserves special mention because it plays different roles early and late: early on, its 5 toughness can hold off most creatures, and late, once Threshold is reached it becomes a 5/5 that can switch from defense to offense. The three-mana activated ability to surveil 1 speeds that process up slightly, making it an important mainstay creature for blue-black.
Muerra, Trash Tactician has an acceptable body. Although the reward for Expend 4 is mediocre, with a few Raccoons letting you burst mana to Expend 8 and earn cards, it is still slightly worth looking forward to.

228	229	230

3.5	2.5	4.5

Review:

Plumecreed Mentor has a floor of a 2/3 flier that puts a +1/+1 counter on entering in a normal build, and it performs better the more you support it.
Pond Prophet: Elvish Visionary was also a 3.0 card back in the day, but with creature bodies inflated today, this little frog can only be used to farm enters/leaves abilities, and asking it to join combat is too much.
Ral, Crackling Wit is basically a [+1] each turn that makes a 1/1 Otter, and when needed it can loot deeply to find an answer. If you keep using [+1] and casting noncreature spells, the [-10] ultimate shouldn’t be too hard to reach, but afterward it still depends on what you have in hand, so it won’t necessarily win outright XD

231	232	233

3.0	3.0	3.5

Review:

Seedglaive Mentor: When you can keep triggering its Valiant effect, this is a strong card, and its abilities live up to its cost and the red-white aggro theme.
Seedpod Squire: The reason this hybrid card gets a higher score is that it may perform better in red-white Valiant than in blue-white fliers/non-fliers. Attacking with its built-in flying to trigger the Valiant of ground creatures is well worth trying! Don’t forget it can be cast with only white, without blue!
Starseer Mentor: A Thraben Purebloods with no cowards! And it flies and has vigilance too! Its ability is quite excellent, and in the white-black Bat theme the condition isn’t too hard to meet, letting you slowly erode the opponent’s resources on the way to victory!

234	235	236

2.0	2.0	3.0

Review:

Stormcatch Mentor is too weak without support.
Tempest Angler: Permanent prowess but a poor body, so I think pass for now.
Tidecaller Mentor is a great body at three mana, 3/3 menace, with even higher value when Threshold is triggered late, but there is no need to insist on casting it only after Threshold.

237	238	239

2.0	3.0	4.5

Review:

Vren, the Relentless: Its power is perhaps only slightly below Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, and the Rats it makes keep getting stronger, which is outrageous! If you open it, stuff in all the destroy-style removal you can get and protect it well. Limited is so easy!

240	241	242

3.5	4.5	4.5

Review:

Wandertale Mentor is, in short, a mana dork, and also ties into the red-green Expend theme. Spend a few times and maybe it grows big enough to punch people XD
Ygra, Eater of All: A five-mana 6/6. To kill it outright it will first grow to at least 8/8, a body that is completely hopeless for red, but if you play black there is still a chance. While it is on the battlefield, some artifact-destruction cards can become hard removal, which is quite interesting.
Zoraline, Cosmos Caller has a body that is quite excellent for three mana, but to fully unleash this card the deck’s curve may need to be lowered a bit.