8 Bloomburrow Cards to Keep an Eye on Post-Rotation

Standard rotation is coming. Starting with the prerelease of Edge of Eternities, the sets from Dominaria United to March of the Machines: Aftermath leave the format and, with them, a range of preexisting options and staples that have solidified in recent years: Temporary Lockdown, Cut Down, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Monastery Swiftspear, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, the pain lands and half of the fast lands are just a few examples.

With this blank space and the clear changes in the Metagame caused by them, it is natural that some cards that were previously irrelevant may gain more space in Standard, whether due to their individual power level, interaction with a specific mechanic, or simply because their deck becomes more viable without certain cards in the Metagame.

In this series of articles, we've listed cards from each set that will remain in Standard that are worth a second look for the upcoming season, and today we're covering cards from Bloomburrow.

Dawn's Truce

So far, Dawn's Truce is the most effective protection spell for creatures in Standard, especially with the absence of Temporary Lockdown and Sunfall, which rotate in August.

In the event of a go-wide Aggro or even a creature-based white Midrange, two mana to protect all your permanents from Day of Judgment or similar seems like a great way to make these archetypes viable again.

Parting Gust

Warp's ability works mechanically similar to Evoke, but it sometimes triggers when the creature leaves the battlefield instead of entering it. Parting Gust is one of the best “blink” effects we have in Standard today and one of the most versatile too, since it can be used as removal if we gift it to the opponent.

Kitsa, Otterball Elite

Prowess decks today already have many tools to work with, but one of the least explored and that benefits from a world with Vivi Ornitier and Astrologian’s Planisphere is Kitsa, Otterball Elite, whose ability requires its power to be three or higher to be able to copy spells.

Combinations with Stock Up being copied by Kitsa with Vivi Ornitier's mana are ways to basically restock the gas in longer games, and even if this option is not available, Kitsa alone offers a looting effect, attacks with Vigilance against Aggro and its ability can be used at instant speed, allowing, for example, to copy Torch the Tower to destroy two creatures with a single card.

Cruelclaw's Heist

The return of Midrange mirrors makes Cruelclaw's Heist a relevant option for black decks in these matchups, since stealing a powerful card from the opponent's hand to play it can win games on its own.

Its viability depends on how attrition-oriented the post-rotation Metagame will become. If we see another rise of Aggro, Heist becomes an irrelevant card, but if games go back to focusing on one-for-one trades and casting bombs in the mid-to-late game, it potentially becomes the best discard spell in the format.

Iridescent Vinelasher

Aggro decks lost Heartfire Hero and Monstrous Rage, and I can imagine some Rakdos Aggro variants opting for Iridescent Vinelasher as a complementary threat option in the one-drop slots, much like Gruul decks have Pawpatch Recruit and Boros versions have Flowerfoot Swordmaster.

Additionally, there is the possibility that Landfall decks with Tifa Lockhart and Sazh’s Chocobo will eventually opt for a second color — in this case, in addition to disruption and even board interaction, black offers Vinelasher as a complementary threat that also interacts with the deck’s theme.

Scrapshooter

Scrapshooter has a very decent body for its cost and an ETB that deals with artifacts and enchantments in exchange for a card. In addition to the obvious targets in Bounce and Unholy Annex decks, Standard will now also have more room for Aetherdrift's Vehicles and, perhaps, Edge of Eternities' Spacecrafts — having a 4/4 that is already a good threat in green lists and also offers a permanent-for-a-card trade seems more than enough to make it a potential sideboard or even maindeck staple.

Glarb, Calamity’s Augur

Without Up the Beanstalk, some players may look for alternative ways to generate value with high-cost spells, and Glarb, Calamity’s Augur offers the means to sequence multiple spells in a turn from the top if they have a mana value of four or more — even if and these have alternative costs.

A Self-Mill list, for example, could benefit from Glarb both because it's a creature and counts towards the number of cards in the graveyard for Huskburster Swarm or Diamond Weapon, and it allows you to play spells from the top and filter them with the Surveil ability.

In addition, we'll have cards with alternative costs in Edge of Eternities, and it's possible that some of them will benefit archetypes that would otherwise benefit from Beanstalk.

Zoraline, Cosmos Caller

Zoraline, Cosmos Caller does a good enough impression of Lurrus of the Dream-Den to deserve another chance in this new Standard season.

The number of creatures with low mana value and/or incentives to play at low costs has also increased due to the combination of Cecil, Dark Knight with Dark Confidant, and we can imagine some Orzhov or even Esper lists experimenting with reusing them with Zoraline, and complementing this game plan with creatures like Deep-Cavern Bat.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!