It’s possible that the Peace Offering precon might be one of the most special Commander decks ever released. There’s the whole adorable design, which is one of the main attributes of the Bloomburrow set, but that’s not all. It also features an extremely unusual theme for a preconstructed deck.
Today, we’re going to explore that theme and unveil everything we know about the deck so far, including the main commander. While some information is yet to be revealed, we’ll let you know on which dates you can expect that to happen.
UPDATE: The full decklist and spoilers were added on July 18th.
With that said, are you ready to start…
Hugging Your Group
That special theme is group hug. It’s paired with a much more common one, which is +1/+1 counters. So, something traditional, and something special for this Bant (white-blue-green) deck.
Before we go further, we probably want to clear some things up for new players. You might ask yourself:
What is Group Hug?
While there are different flavors of group hug strategy, they all have one thing in common. Their cards benefit all players, not just their controller. But what’s the point of that? Don’t you want to win? Well, you can certainly win, as the group hug strategy offers relevant benefits.
First, not all effects are completely symmetrical. While all players benefit, you can benefit more. Take Orzhov Advokist as an example. Sure, each player can put a two +1/+1 counters on one of their creatures. But if an opponent does so, they can’t attack you for a turn. Now, that’s pretty neat.
Second, your deck wants to be built in a way that you can take advantage of all the extra card draw. (Typically by ramping.) If your opponents aren’t prepared for that, they won’t be able to use all of those extra cards efficiently.
Finally, players will often leave you alone, and attack you less often. After all, you’re giving them card draw, life, and/or +1/+1 counters. You’re making it easier for them to develop their plans, so they give you enough time to can setup your powerful end game. That often includes alternate win conditions such as Approach of the Second Sun.
Gift Mechanic
There might be some cards in the deck with the new gift mechanic, which appears on some cards from Bloomburrow set. Its general idea is that you can improve the card’s effect, but one of your opponents gets something (a token, draws a card, etc.) For example, with Parting Gust, you give an opponent a 1/1 Fish token, and you get to exile a nontoken creature.
This mechanic is a perfect fit for a group hug strategy, and Wizards do like to include new mechanics in Commander decks. Thus, it’s highly likely that some gift cards appear here.
Peace Offering Decklist
The full decklist will be revealed on July 18, 2024. So, we still need to wait a little while to see what exactly will be reprinted and which cards will appear. But here’s what we know about it so far:
The hover image might not be working, for the commander, as it’s a new card, and wasn’t added to the Wizards’ database yet. You can find it in the next section.
Peace Offering Spoilers
Here’s the main commander, which was the first revealed card from the Peace Offering precon.
This is a true group hug commnader. Even the stats are more defensive than aggressive. Ms. Bumbleflower only has a single ability, but it’s a good one, as it can easily trigger multiple times per turn. The only thing you need to do is to cast spells.
When you do, an opponent of your choice will draw a card. That’s a great way to make some deals with the opposition. What do you get out of the deal? A +1/+1 counter that you can put anywhere, including your other creatures or this rabbit, to make it into a big vigilant threat potentially.
Plus, when this ability resolves for the second time, you draw two cards, which is obviously quite good. More cards give you more options.
For the other spoilers, we’re probably going to have to wait until July 18th. Want to make sure you won’t miss them? Then follow us on on Instagram or Facebook. There you’ll find information about the most exciting new Magic cards, as well as some funny MTG memes.
Peace Offering Upgrade Ideas
While it’s still too early to suggest amazingly accurate upgrade ideas, I’d like to point out a couple of cards that could fit nicely in the group hug strategy. Plus, it’s extremely unlikely for them to be reprinted in the Peace Offering precon.
Why? Because they’re both a part of the Doctor Who Commander decks. As you might know, Universes Beyond cards are rarely reprinted, and especially not in standard Commander precons.
The Second Doctor
So, the first card is The Second Doctor, which removes the maximum hand size restriction, but we mostly want this for its second ability.
On your end step each player may draw a card. The only downside for them is that they can’t attack you for a turn. Now that offer is quite tempting, and will typically result in all players drawing cards, and you remaining safe until your next turn. That’s a great group hug effect, and a welcome addition to this deck.
Leela, Sevateem Warrior
Leela is certainly not as strong of a card, even though it plays well with both the group hug (your opponents will be drawing additional cards), and the +1/+1 counters theme. So why would you want to play with it?
Well, it would mostly come in pair with The Second Doctor, particularly if you want to make a small change to the deck to make it feel more fresh. Due to its Doctor’s companion mechanic, you can run it as a secondary commander with the Doctor.
This way, you can swap your main Rabbit commander for these two cards. So, the deck would still work similarly, but with some different play patterns. This is a nice option for anyone who grows bored with their precon commanders rather quickly.
Or you could just include both in your 99, if you aren’t playing against more casual crowd. Leela can grow pretty quickly with the help of Ms. Bumbleflower’s ability.
Wrapping Up
And with that we’re wrapping up the Peace Offering precon overview. At least until next week when more information becomes available, and we’ll update the article.
Anyway, if you like the group hug strategy and want to lock in the deck’s price today, you can preorder it on Amazon. It’s hard to predict how its price will fluctuate after the release, as it mostly depends on how good the new cards are going to be. However, if you think you’ll enjoy the deck, you can make sure to get it as early as possible.
On the other hand, if this deck isn’t to your liking, you might prefer another Bloomburrow Commander deck. As mentioned, they all feature cute animal commanders. If that isn’t your cup of tea, you can browse through other Commander precons. There’s over a hundred of them, so there’s bound to be something you’ll enjoy.
Finally, what do you think about this precon? Is group hug strategy beginner-friendly? Do you like playing against this kind of decks? Let us know in the comments below.
Until next time, have fun and enjoy playing with your friendly Rabbit commander.