Spoiler Highlight: Bitterbloom Bearer on Standard & Pioneer

Faeries was one of the most famous decks in Standard history. Born in Lorwyn, the blue and black archetype dominated both seasons of its Standard run thanks to its its powerful shell with cards like Spellstutter Sprite, Mistbind Clique, Cryptic Command, Thoughtseize, and Bitterblossom. This even fueled answers directed at the archetype during subsequent releases, such as Guttural Response and Volcanic Fallout.

Almost twenty years later, Magic: The Gathering will return to Lorwyn, and with the new set scheduled for January 23, 2026, the interactions between creature types return, with classics like Elves, Goblins, and, of course, Faeries, which received its first preview with a card that harkens back to a glorious past that never returned to the archetype: Bitterbloom Bearer.

With so many elements clearly referencing the staple that popularized this strategy, Bearer could be a key piece for the new Tempo and Midrange strategies in Standard and Pioneer, and in this article, we evaluate potential archetypes in which the new card could fit!

Bitterbloom Bearer is a clear reference to Bitterblossom, a Lorwyn card that was once considered one of the set's design mistakes by Mark Rosewater for powering up Spellstutter Sprite too easily.

Bitterblossom was a monster in Standard and one of the main drivers of Faeries becoming the best deck of its time. This reputation led to the enchantment being preemptively banned from Modern during the format's inception, until it was released in February 2014, where it still had to prove its potential and never became the staple it once was in Standard.

The new creature has some crucial differences from the enchantment—the first being quite obvious: it is a creature. Bitterblossom was the perfect turn-two Faeries card due to the difficulty of interacting with the card with traditional removal, while the new card trades this effectiveness for the Flash ability, which allows you to play around your opponent and set the stage to protect it in subsequent turns with Counterspells and discards.

An important line of text is also missing from the tokens created by the card: Rogue. For a few years, we've seen Rogue typal spells show up in competitive Magic formats and even establish a viable archetype in Pioneer and Standard 2021. The reason for the lack of this typing in the new tokens most likely involves the snowball effect they could generate with cards like Thieves' Guild Enforcer.

On the other hand, while it's too early to say whether Lorwyn Eclipsed can define formats, and we still have Avatar: The Last Airbender in the pipeline, it's very likely that Wizards of the Coast will reuse the Tempo theme with Faeries in Lorwyn, with creatures played at instant speed and, who knows, enabling its own archetype in Standard and Pioneer.

One of my favorite decks of the current Standard season is Dimir Midrange, which, despite its name, is closer to a "Dimir Tempo," running cheap creatures with counterspells and removal to gradually win the game or to stabilize with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares easily.

Last season, Dimir Midrange featured Faerie Mastermind in its deck as a punishing threat against Unholy Annex or other card-drawing archetypes. Since the rotation, this two-drop slot has fluctuated significantly between Deep-Cavern Bat, Azure Beastbinder, and others. Bitterbloom Bearer offers, in a more open Metagame, an excellent option for the two-drop slot of these strategies. While it doesn't address some inherent problem with the Metagame—unknown, considering the release of Avatar and the upcoming banlist—it complements a bit of everything this deck needs by being able to be played around the opponent while expanding its controller's board position each turn.

The tokens and the Bearer itself also are relevant for the Wilds of Eldraine Faeries-matter cards. Spell Stutter saw a lot of play last season alongside Faerie Mastermind, and it's possible or even likely that the same will happen with the new creature and potential new Faerie additions to Standard with Lorwyn Eclipsed.

It's not even possible to know if Pioneer will exist in 2026 after Wizards of the Coast announced the year's Pro Tours and Spotlight Series window without any mention of the format, but let's consider that it's in the community's interest to keep Pioneer alive even without official support: Bitterbloom Bearer could be interesting on some fronts.

The first, as in Standard, is in Dimir Tempo lists, which would take advantage of both the new card and the tokens to have consistent Ninjutsu enablers while increasing the pressure on the board each turn. Mockingbird is a card commonly played in these lists and could also serve as extra copies of Bitterbloom Bearer to expand Enduring Curiosity triggers and/or for Control games.

Another viable archetype, also in the Tempo combination, is Rogues. Despite not creating rogue tokens, Bitterbloom Bearer is within the type and benefits from all the archetype's interactions. It's also a much more effective and game-plan-friendly two-drop option than other choices these decks commonly need to run to maintain a growing mana curve, such as Glint-Sleeve Siphoner.

Finally, we can't discount the possibility of the card being another tool for Black Midrange. There have been situations in the past where cards that constantly created bodies on the board were necessary for games with a lot of spot removal, and while Bitterbloom Bearer has the drawback of being a creature, it can be used in the sideboard for attrition matchups against one-for-one trades, where adding an extra body each turn and being able to play it at instant speed can provide the pressure needed to end the game.

Probably not. After all, Bitterblossom already exists in these formats and barely sees competitive play, limited to, at most, a sideboard slot or two in Legacy in decks like Death's Shadow. There's also another significant impediment in Modern, Legacy, or Timeless regarding the various X/1 creatures released since 2023: Orcish Bowmasters.

The Lord of the Rings staple practically invalidates any X/1 creature in the format that doesn't have an immediate impact on the game or do some absurd stuff, and it preys a bit too well on Bitterbloom Bearer for it to have much competitive relevance.

That's all for today!

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

Thanks for reading!