(Helga, Skittish Seer | Art by Andrea Piparo)

White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | Artifacts/Lands | Allied Colors/Shards | Enemy Colors/Wedges | cEDH | Reprints | Pauper/Budget

The Bloom in the Burrows

Hello and welcome to the delightful plane of Bloomburrow, we hope you’re enjoying your stay. You’ve reached the artifacts and lands review, and if you haven’t seen the rest of our set review then remember to check out the rest using the navigation links above! There’s some crazy impactful cards in this set so be sure to read up so you can have the edge at your next commander game night!

These tools of the trade and these beautiful landscapes tell the story of our protagonists, the critters of Bloomburrow and as we take a delve into their world, let’s also take a look at which of these artifacts and lands we’d like to use in our decks! Without further ado, let’s dive in!

Rares

Fountainport

On account of all of the mythic creatures and Calamity Beasts, Bloomburrow doesn’t have any mythic artifacts or lands. The rare slot has plenty to offer though, so let’s dive in with our first rare, Fountainport.

Fountainport is a fantastic new utility land that fits into a myriad of archetypes. Let’s break down how you can best utilise each of its abilities. Firstly, this land taps for colorless mana and I’m sure that all of the brand new Ulalek, Fused Atrocity players can stop reading there. When you’re playing a colorless commander, basic lands don’t really matter all that much so running powerful utility lands like this one in as many of your land slots as possible.

Our next ability is great, turning any token into a clue. Yes, read it again you don’t need to sacrifice a creature token to Fountainport. A spare treasure, food, blood, map or powerstone will do. Lots of token decks will want to run this, as often you’re generating multiple tokens a turn, or at least one on your upkeep with effects like Skrelv’s hive. Fountainport turns cards like Skrelv’s Hive and Bitterblossom into ‘We have Phyrexian Arena at home’. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of times you want guaranteed token generation, but when we turn that into potential guaranteed card draw in colors that aren’t particularly known for that, like Boros or Selesnya then Fountainport comes in clutch.

Our third ability is a more subtle one, and it’s one that can save your life if you’re ever playing against our Lead Editor. The trick here is you can create a Fish as a surprise blocker, or more surprisingly in response to an edict effect like Sheoldred, Whispering One. Surprise your opponent as they expect you to have to sacrifice your commander, and when it comes to the crunch you can throw a Fish under the bus... Or onto the fire?

Our fourth ability makes a Treasure. Because why not, it’s 2024! Overall, I’m a fan of Fountainport and I’ll certainly be looking for a spot in my decks for it.

Rolling Hamsphere

‘Rolling Hamsphere gets +1/+1 for each Hamster you control’ is a very real sentence printed on a very real card, and we are all much better for it. I’m so thrilled that Bloomburrow is putting such a whimsical spin on some fan favorite cards... What? You don’t recognise this ball of chaos? It’s a kinda Myr Battlesphere!

Aside from raising the question about whether an amalgam of Hamsters in some kind of perpetual motion ball constitutes a vehicle, Rolling Hamsphere comes down for seven mana value and offers you three 1/1 Hamsters to either crew this chaotic contraption or to attack and block in their own right. Once crewed, the vehicle itself actually gets bigger depending on how many Hamsters you control!

This means that if you have some fun token doubling effects on the board like Mondrak, Glory Dominus, Doubling Season, or Parallel Lives then the amount of Hamsters you control may end up being more than you think. If you’re in Izzet, then Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer can make a surprising amount of things Hamsters. Another sentence I didn’t think I’d write in 2024. Once you control enough hamsters then this vehicle will deal a surprising amount of damage to any target, turning the presence of all those adorable Hamsters into a lethal dose of cutthroat cuteness.

Three Tree City

Alright this is a very interesting card. If you’ve been following preview season for Bloomburrow then you might have noticed a lot of discussion about this card. In many spaces, this has been discussed as one of the most anticipated cards of the entire set. This is Three Tree City. Aside from being the setting of our story, Three Tree City bares a striking resemblance to a card so powerful that it belongs on the Reserved List.

That card of course is Gaea’s Cradle. Gaea’s Cradle is a card that goes for hundreds of dollars, pounds or even potentially thousands of whatever your local currency is. The reason for this is very long, and very convoluted and involves a lot of decisions made long ago to reprint or not reprint certain cards. The take away here is though, that a card should even resemble is is a big deal. Many of us will never see a Gaea’s Cradle played at the game table, unless it’s a proxy, or you’re playing cEDH or you’re playing cEDH with proxies!

But, is a card that resembles Gaea’s Cradle worth the hype? Well, yes and no. Yes this card is very powerful, a closer comparison would be with the land Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx which also generates absurd amounts of mana for a minor investment. Where Nykthos cares about Devotion, Three Tree City checks for how many creatures of a chosen type you control.

Now, kindred synergies represent a large portion of the EDH playing field. I’d wager that at every local game store where Magic is played, there’s a player with a kindred Commander deck. That’s even before the support we’re getting in Bloomburrow. Be that Merfolk, Phyrexian, Dragons, Dinosaurs or Eldrazi, this card has plenty of homes. It has more than Nykthos even, as Nykthos typically sees play in mono color decks only, Three Tree City can be run comfortably in decks of any color.

This card can be very strong, just like Gaea’s Cradle. While the cradle doesn’t care about creature type and requires no mana to invest into it, it’s worth noting that it only taps for green. It’s useless in a Goblin deck. Three Tree City is going to let a lot of new archetypes get a taste of that Reserved List power, and I think it’s going to be a powerful kindred EDH staple for a long time to come.

Sword of the Squeak

Another fun throwback to an old card, Sword of the Meek. Our newer, squeakier version cares about each creature you control with base power or toughness 1. In doing so it can create an insanely powerful buff for your commander and turn your board full of tokens into a way to knock a player out with commander damage.

When I saw this card, I immediately thought of Cadira, Caller of the Small from Commander Legends: Baldur’s Gate. While she cares about Rabbits (which aren’t on the listed creature types to cheat the equip cost), she absolutely cares about dealing commander damage to double the number of creatures you have with base power or toughness 1. Before long, Cadira will easily be dealing lethal damage to all of her opponents and her inbuilt evasion will go a long way towards making sure your army of rabbits take home the win.

The fact that the sword only needs one of the conditions to be met, base power OR toughness means that this card can also find particular use in Rat Colony decks, which can be led by a multitude of commanders these days (Though, I’m partial to the classic Marrow-Gnawer, my love). From Persistent Petitioners, to the newly printed Templar Knight this sword is going to be a welcome addition to any go-wide arsenal.

Uncommons & Commons

Fountainport Bell

Mana ramp is a key part of playing Commander, you want to make sure you can cast all of your spells without falling behind. This is especially true for color identities that lack green. Your option for ramp can be slim, and especially at mana value one. This is why I think that Fountainport Bell is much better than it looks.

We’re getting a lot of value for our one mana here, we get to fix our mana nice and early with a basic land and we also get an artifact that sits around and contributes towards artifact synergies like in commanders such as when Urza, Chief Artificer spits out Construct tokens.

Not only that, but this card can be sacrificed for another mana to draw a card. One mana for one card is a great rate, and the flexibility of this card means that you can also cast it for two mana to search your library for a basic land and draw it. Nothing that would impress a green mage, but for a budget fixing tool in colors that lack the same options I think it’s a lovely new card.

This card goes really nicely in an old favorite commander of mine, Ashnod the Uncaring who will even allow you to draw two cards when you sacrifice the bell. Add in a little graveyard recursion and this could be a very valuable piece in your mana package.

Heirloom Epic

Bloomburrow is full to the brim with cute art and Heirloom Epic is not about to change that. This artifact comes down early, as soon as the first turn and then rewards you for generating a board state by allowing you to draw cards. This card allows you to use a mix of mana and your creatures to pay the activation cost. While it’s limited to sorcery speed, this isn’t going to be too much of a drawback in a token deck or a go-wide aggro deck. Some cards even want to be tapped, like Emmara, Soul of the Accord!

Patchwork Banner

I’ve written at length about how much I enjoy three mana rocks, and this one is no different. As the Commander format quickens and cards become increasingly more efficient, we’re now seeing a nice little power boost at the three mana value level. Sure, two mana rocks are great and you’re certainly going to get your four mana commander out sooner, but if you don’t need to ramp as early as turn two and you’re going to spend your first few turns to build a board state instead then Patchwork Banner is going to reward you with not only mana ramp, but a combat buff too. After all, combat is how many decks win the game and getting to jam an extra anthem in your kindred deck is going to be make this card an auto-include for certain creature types!

Conclusion

While Bloomburrow is a little light on artifacts and lands at the higher rarities, the ones it has included are very impactful indeed. I feel like I could have written this entire article on Three Tree City and I’m very interested to see how common this card ends up being.

But what about you? Did you have any favorites from among our selection? Where do you stand on Three Tree City? How do you feel about WOTC printing ‘fixed’ versions of Reserved List cards?

Let us know in the comments below. Stay tuned for more from our set reviewers here at EDHREC and Commander's Herald. We’ll be sure to see you when the cute turns creepy in Duskmourn! Bye for now!

Joshua Clough

Joshua is a Medical Researcher from the UK. He's played Magic since Dragons of Tarkir and loves all things Commander, the more colours the better! When not playing Commander, he can be found insisting Jund is still a viable deck in Modern and painting tiny plastic miniatures on Twitter @PrinceofBielTan