Are you ready for the cutest Commander precons ever? Without a doubt, Bloomburrow Commander decks deserve that title, as they feature plenty of adorable animals. Do you want to find out more about them? If so, you’ve come to the right place, as today we’ll discuss everything that’s been revealed so far.
We already know the decks’ names, colors, and general themes. On top of that, the packaging also gives away some fascinating information. But most importantly, all four main commanders were also revealed recently.
Before we go into all that, here’s a quick overview of the decks:
| Deck name | Colors | |
|---|---|---|
 | Squirreled Away | |
 | Animated Army | |
 | Peace Offering | |
 | Family Matters |
Now, let’s take a closer look at each of the four Bloomburrow Commander precons. For each one, you’ll find an attached link that will take you to another page with decklists and spoilers. (To keep everything neatly organized.)
We’re starting with an early favorite for the most popular of the bunch:
Squirreled Away
- Theme: Squirrels, tokens
- Colors: Black, Green
- Squirreled Away Decklist & Spoilers
- Squirreled Away Upgrade Guide
Squirrels just wanna have fun. — Stock up on tokens, then spend your hoard to clean house with an army of squirrels
The most iconic creatures in Magic that fall into the small & cute category are certainly Squirrels. For some time, Wizards actually avoided printing them because they were, in fact, too cute. Thankfully, Magic nowadays takes itself a bit less seriously, so we can get decks such as this one.
What’s going to be interesting is how this deck will differ from a Chatterfang, Squirrel General deck. That one also cares about both Squirrels and tokens. Most likely, it’ll be just a slightly different take on the same theme.
And that’s a perfectly fine place to be at. Squirrels and tokens are a great match, and players enjoy playing with this theme, so why change a winning formula. Of course, it’s still great to see new twists, and based on the main commander, the twist this time around is that you’ll really want a lot of tokens.
Squirreled Away Decklist
*You can find the new Squirreled Away cards here.
Hazel of the Rootbloom Review
Four mana for a 3/5. Fine stats, but Hazel doesn’t generate any value when it comes into play. Nowadays, that can be a relevant downside. Thankfully, you only need to wait until your next end step to get your first payoff. Making a copy of one of your tokens.
Sure, you actually need a token in play already, but that shouldn’t be too hard if your deck is built the right way. Now, if that token is a Squirrel that’s double the fun, as you’ll create two tokens instead of just one. Potentially, this could open doors for some interesting mini combos.
However, if you untap with Hazel, you’re going to be extremely happy, as it could net you whole lot of mana. You will need to work for it by creating lots of tokens; so keep that in mind.
All things considered, this is a good, yet not broken commander by any means. You need to work for your payoffs, but the reward is there, if you put in the work. Such commanders can be really fun and satisfying to play.
Animated Army
- Theme: trash? smash?
- Colors: Red, Green
- Animated Army Decklist & Spoilers
- Description: “Make trash and smash all who stand in your way with the Racoon Bard, Bello, at your side. One critter’s trash is another one’s treasure.”
Bring the table to life. — Make trash and smash all who stand in your way with the Racoon Bard, Bello, at your side. One critter’s trash is another one’s treasure.
Each precon comes with two lines of text that give us a general feeling for the theme. But what do you make from the lines “make trash” and “do smash”?
At first we thought it might be something about Junk tokens. They do fit the flavor of trash, plus they use that typical card draw for a turn that we often see in red. However, the main commander does neither create or use them.
Instead, it cares about non-Equipment artifacts and non-Aura enchantments. But not just any – they need to cost four or more mana. Now that’s a completely new theme and it’s hard to predict what will be included in this precon. Well, apart from enchantments and artifacts that cost 4+ mana that is.
Animated Army Decklist
*You can find the images for new Animated Army cards here.
Bello, Bard of the Brambles Review
What does Bello do apart from being a 3/3 for three mana? There’s only a single ability, but there’s a lot going on.
During your turn, your artifacts and enchantments with mana cost 4 or greater are 4/4 Elementals. But that’s not all. They also have indestructible and haste, two powerful keywords. And there’s more! Whenever they deal combat damage to players, you draw cards.
Based on that, Bello looks like a great commander if you like weird strategies, that you don’t see in your regular Commander games. It’s going to be interesting to see how exactly the precon looks.
But if you like upgrading precons, and making them your own, Bello gives you an interesting deckbuilding puzzle to solve.
Peace Offering
- Theme: Group hug, +1/+1 counters
- Colors: White, Blue, Green
- Peace Offering Decklist & Spoilers
Kill them with kindness. — Win friends and influence players with Ms. Bumbleflower, building up +1/+1 counters along the way, then watch the table crumble under your kindness!
Wow! Group hug is an extremely rare theme for a precon Commander. However, it does make sense for it to appear in a world where everything looks just so friendly.
If you’re a newer player, you might be wondering what’s a group hug. It’s a strategy that typically doesn’t play much — if any — win conditions. Instead, the deck is full of cards that can help multiple players. Often enough, a player playing a group hug deck will try to support the opponent who’s fallen behind.
As such, this deck is great for players who aren’t the most competitive. As long as everyone at the table is having fun, you’re enjoying the game too.
Plus, you can also play politics with Peace Offering deck. What does that mean? Well some of your cards will allow you to choose which opponent to help. Thus, you could make a deal with them. “I will let you draw two cards, if you won’t attack me on your next turn.” is something you could hear a group hug player say.
Oh, and let’s not forget that this precon comes with a secondary theme: +1/+1 counters. These are always popular, and often used in various Commander precons. The Peace Offering deck will probably be able to distribute them both to your own, as well as your opponents’ creatures.
Peace Offering Decklist
*You can find the new Peace Offering cards here.
Ms. Bumbleflower Review
Ms. Bumbleflower’s stats are quite defensive as a 1/5. At first glance, vigilance seems a bit out of place, but it starts to make sense once you break down its ability.
That one triggers whenever you cast a spell and isn’t limited to once or twice per turn. (As some other modern era effects are.) It does two things. First, it gives an opponent of your choice a card draw. And second, you get to put a +1/+1 counter on any creature. Even on Ms. Bumbleflower itself. It can grow surprisingly large at which point vigilance becomes relevant, enabling attacks without leaving yourself vulnerable.
The card draw for opponents can be turned into an advantage, if you’re playing politics. Make a deal with another player that they won’t attack you if you give them cards. Just keep in mind that promises can be broken, so careful who you make deals with.
But wait, there’s more. When this ability resolves for the second time in the turn, you also get to draw two cards. Now that makes it, significantly stronger.
In order to extract the most value from this commander, you’ll probably want to play lots of cheap cards. This way, you’ll be consistently triggering it at least twice per your turn. With instants and cards with flash, you could also do it on your opponents’ turns.
As far as group hug commanders go, Ms. Bumbleflower is an amazing one. It wouldn’t be a surprise if it ended up one of the most played generals for this strategy. So, if you like playing political games and making friends, this adorable rabbit is an amazing choice.
Family Matters
- Theme: Go-wide
- Colors: White, Blue, Red
- Family Matters Decklist & Spoilers
Prepare for special delivery. — Jovial troubadour Zinnia delivers the pain, plus a whole litter of offspring to overwhelm your opponents.
Did you know that: “Make offspring, go wide” was also the motto of House Frey from Game of Thrones? Jokes aside, just from the packaging, this deck looks like your traditional creature-spawning deck.
This precon will likely be great for players who like to fill up the board with as many creatures (and creature tokens) as possible. However, there aren’t many token commanders, in this specific color combination, so there’s probably a twist, right?
Based on the main commander there is one. The deck won’t just care about any type of token, but will be interested in token copies of your other creatures. (Also thanks to the new offspring mechanic.)
Family Matters Decklist
*New cards from Family Matters precon are here.
Zinnia, Valley’s Voice Review
Zinnia is a three mana 1/3 flyer. Low cost for a 3-color commander, and even though the stats aren’t that impressing, we are mostly interested in the text box.
The first ability actually buffs Zinnia’s power. It gets +X/+0 equal to the number of your other creatures with base power 1. Wait, is this actually a deck that cares about one-powered creatures?
Given that there was no mention of that on the packaging, that’s highly unlikely. It looks more like a self-contained effect, that plays well with its second ability.
That one gives the new mechanic offspring to all of your creature spells. This means that whenever you cast a creature spell, you may pay two additional mana. If you do you get a token copy of that creature, except that it’s a 1/1.
Now this opens up a lot of possibilities for unusual play patterns, or just generating value with ETB creatures. You could also include cards that populate, so you can copy your tokens, or multiply them with effects like Annointed Procession.
Zinnia seems like one of the strongest commanders from these decks. It’s also quite fun if you enjoy creating tokens of your creatures.
Conclusion
That’s all about Bloomburrow Commander decks for now. But what do you think about them? Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.
If none are to your liking, don’t forget to check other Commander precons here. There’s been so many released over the years, and especially in the last couple, that there’s bound to be something you’ll enjoy.
Now, if you want to discover more about the main set, you can browse through Bloomburrow spoilers, where you’ll find all currently revealed cards from the main set. Perhaps, you enjoy the special art cards more? In that case, you shouldn’t miss the Bloomburrow anime cards, which feature splendid artwork.
Until next time, have fun and may your favorite creatures make an appearance in these decks.
I’m all in on Squirrels. The Chatterfang reprint is gas.