Bloomburrow Best Commons and Uncommons

Last updated on October 18, 2024

Quaketusk Boar | Illustration by Andrew Mar

Welcome to Magic's Bloomburrow! This is an MTG set I’ve been anticipating ever since it was announced, and it’s finally here!

If you're interested in the Draft or Sealed formats for Bloomburrow, check out our Bloomburrow Limited Set Review, which ranks and explains each card of every rarity that you may find in a Play booster. But if you’d like a briefer summary, here’s a breakdown of my picks for the best commons and uncommons for each color.

Commons

Bakersbane Duo | Illustration by Raluca Marinescu

White

#4. Sonar Strike

Bloomburrow Limited looks really aggressive, so if you hope to stand a chance against the onslaught of mice, lizards and rabbits, you need cheap and effective removal like Sonar Strike. This white instant‘s not great in those aggressive decks, but it’s powerful against them.

#3. Wax-Wane Witness

While Wax-Wane Witness is ultimately a big French vanilla creature with flying and vigilance, I think it’s just the right size with the right abilities to be a real powerhouse. It’s especially good against aggro decks, as this white creature blocks very well while also getting in damage in the air.

#2. Nettle Guard

We may be in the throes of another aggressive format, in which case the most aggressive common 2-drop is one to pay attention to. Plus, Nettle Guard can serve as an answer to certain annoying enchantments….

#1. Banishing Light

Banishing Light is a 3-mana to answer anything cleanly, and it should still be good in any format. Even if this format is as aggressive as I think, we still need to kill problematic creatures.

Blue

#4. Lightshell Duo

Lightshell Duo feels like one of the better duos. A 3/4 with prowess is great on defense, and the surveil trigger helps to fuel the graveyard synergies for rats.

#3. Dire Downdraft

Four mana to put a creature to the top or bottom of the deck has been the best blue common in some sets and unplayable in others. The cost reduction on Dire Downdraft is bound to improve it, making this blue instant a key removal spell in Bloomburrow Limited.

#2. Dazzling Denial

Two-mana counterspells that are still effective in the late game and target creature spells will always place highly. This is how blue removes creatures, and Dazzling Denial should be an important part of many blue decks in the format.

#1. Run Away Together

We’ve seen this card in many formats before, and I think it might be at its best here. There are several creatures with great enters abilities that you can get a second use of by bouncing, especially in the frog deck. It also removes tokens and disrupts combat. There are so many uses for Run Away Together that I’m sure any blue deck will be happy to pick it up.

Black

#4. Diresight

Card-draw spells haven’t been all that good in recent years, but this black sorcery helps to fill your graveyard, and the life loss even benefits the bat deck. Those extra synergies push Diresight over the top, and Read the Bones was still great in its own time.

#3. Agate-Blade Assassin

Aggressive 2-drops in any color need to be highlighted as they’ll probably end up being some of the most important creatures in Bloomburrow Limited. Not only is Agate-Blade Assassin aggressive, but it guarantees damage and lifegain just by declaring an attack, which enables lizards and bats.

#2. Nocturnal Hunger

The top black common is usually a choice between black removal that outright destroys any creature or a cheaper spell that only removes weaker creatures. I’m giving the nod to the cheaper spell in the aggressive context of Bloomburrow, but 3 mana to destroy any creature still makes Nocturnal Hunger extremely powerful, and in many cases you can skip the gift.

#1. Savor

Not only is this format filled with small creatures that die to this black instant, but the free Food token makes Savor perfect for synergizing with both bats and squirrels.

Red

#4. Steampath Charger

More aggressive 2-drops are worthy of making this list. Steampath Charger applies pressure, stays relevant in the late game, and provides some guaranteed damage.

#3. Kindlespark Duo

Seeing this red creature at common is a good sign. Kindlespark Duo perfectly enables both of the creature type themes that it represents while presenting your opponent with a lot of potential damage without ever getting into combat.

#2. Agate Assault

Four direct damage hits pretty hard. I doubt there are any artifacts that need exiling, but I guess you’ll need to remove a Sword of Fire and Ice if you come against it just to stand a chance. Agate Assault being a red sorcery means that the best red common is more likely to be…

#1. Take Out the Trash

The 2-mana, 3-damage burn spell is always a solid pick for the number one red common. Take Out the Trash even filters away excess lands for new cards in the late game, similar to Fire Prophecy and Volcanic Spite.

Green

#4. Polliwallop

While this green instant is a removal spell that should be able to kill any creature, Polliwallop would be higher if it didn’t cost so much mana. Frog decks can take it as a higher priority, but if this is typically just the full 4 mana, it’s probably a tad weak.

#3. Treetop Sentries

Green will probably have to be on the defensive side, especially when paired with black or blue, so a 2/4 reach green creature that draws you a card is perfect for that. Treetop Sentries’s enter ability is the perfect payoff for enabling forage.

#2. Bakersbane Duo

This is one of my favorite commons in Bloomburrow. Creating a Food token as early as turn 2 is perfect for enabling squirrels, and Bakersbane Duo is a great fit for raccoons with its expend ability. Plus, it’s just a solid 2-drop that you can trade off and still have some value left over.

#1. Three Tree Rootweaver

Mana dorks are incredibly good in Limited, and a 1/3 is perfect for blocking the swathe of 1/1 creatures that are all too common in Bloomburrow. Getting on the board early is very important, and Three Tree Rootweaver is the perfect green 2-drop.

Uncommons

White

#4. Star Charter

This is a bit of a wildcard pick for me. Star Charter’s not good on defense and a little weak on offense, but it’s a solid card advantage engine if you can keep triggering it. I can’t resist some good card advantage, so this has to be one of my picks, though I’m not sold on it.

#3. Hop to It

Three mana for three 1/1 tokens is a rare sight to behold. Rabbits are all about going wide, and Hop to It is one of the easiest and most effective ways of accomplishing that. Even outside of rabbits, this white sorcery is just a good value card that any aggressive deck can make use of.

#2. Flowerfoot Swordmaster

Time and time again, we see 3-drops that give you two valuable creatures at once, and they always perform extremely well. Flowerfoot Swordmaster can even be run out as a solid 1-drop if you really want it to be, which puts this incredibly high on my list.

#1. Driftgloom Coyote

Banisher Priest is among the best white creatures in Limited, so I’d be surprised if this weren’t one of the best white non rares in Bloomburrow Sealed or Draft. I think it’s number one right now, but even if it doesn’t get the top spot, Driftgloom Coyote should be high on the list.

Blue

#4. Daring Waverider

I’ve described Daring Waverider as a build-your-own Flametongue Kavu, and it really looks like it might be that. If not for the fact that this blue creature is so expensive, it would be higher.

#3. Eddymurk Crab

Despite not being an otter, Eddymurk Crab looks like Bloomburrow‘s strongest noncreature spell payoff. This is something you can take early that pulls you into this archetype. It’s exactly the sort of card that I’d be excited to see passed to me in a draft.

#2. Knightfisher

Knightfisher looks like the kind of card that’s unbeatable if you play it on curve. It’s so big by itself that even if you don’t get any tokens from it, it’s likely to be the most dangerous creature on the board, on both offense and defense.

#1. Shoreline Looter

A straight-up unblockable 2-drop creature that fuels the rat synergies is right up my alley. Shoreline Looter is going to be so annoying to play against and likely one of the best early plays in Bloomburrow Limited.

Black

#4. Starscape Cleric

Yet another aggressive 2-drop and one that’s among the strongest payoffs for the bat deck. Not blocking is a big downside, but it shouldn’t matter in the right deck given how much pressure Starscape Cleric applies.

#3. Fell

Two mana to kill any creature is nice and clean. Being a sorcery is a slight downside, but Fell is still an incredibly important spell.

#2. Feed the Cycle

It should be reasonable to assume Feed the Cycle will often cost just 2 mana, and instant speed gives it a slight edge over Fell.

#1. Thought-Stalker Warlock

Removal is good and all, but they only trade one-for-one. Thought-Stalker Warlock represents a lot more than that. Assuming you can enable this lizard warlock, which should be relatively easy, this is basically an uncommon Grief. You steal the best card from your opponent’s hand, then you have a 2/2 menace to keep applying pressure.

Red

#4. Playful Shove

Between all the one-toughness creatures and their offspring in Bloomburrow, and the otters deck looking for valuable instants and sorceries, Playful Shove looks excellent. I don’t know if every deck wants it, but it looks like a key role-player for the set.

#3. Heartfire Hero

I’m expecting valiant to be really easy to trigger, and this mouse soldier is one of valiant’s best payoffs. Mice will be really aggressive, and Heartfire Hero could end up representing more damage than any other card you play.

#2. Rabid Gnaw

It’s weird to see a bite spell in red rather than green, but Rabid Gnaw is largely here to enable valiant. It’s good removal and synergizes with some of red’s themes, so it's an easy choice.

#1. Quaketusk Boar

Despite lacking a relevant creature type, 5/5 haste and trample is just a huge beating. In any red deck, if you curve out and drop Quaketusk Boar at the end, you get to push through a lot of damage that Bloomburrow‘s tiny critters won't be able to answer.

Green

#4. Galewind Moose

I’m not sold on Galewind Moose. Green has a lot of uncommons that look about even on power level, but my instincts say this one is the most important. There are very few big creatures in the set; they’re basically all calamity beasts. This looks like it’ll be worth ramping to, but this is one of the picks that I’m the least sure of.

#3. Clifftop Lookout

The issue with mana acceleration is always that it either doesn’t affect the board, in the case of a Rampant Growth, or it’s a mana dork and is too vulnerable to removal. Clifftop Lookout solves both of those problems and can be flickered for value. It’s going to be a very important green creature to pick up.

#2. Curious Forager

Eternal Witness is one of the best green cards of all time and specifically among the best ETB effects in green, especially for Limited. Even a weaker version should be a standout card. Plus, Curious Forager’s a squirrel and hopefully that’ll be very relevant.

#1. Hunter’s Talent

Removal will always be important to pick up, so my top pick for green is Hunter's Talent. This class enchantment is an incredibly strong piece of removal that gives you plenty of extra late game potential.

Wrap Up

Mabel, Heir to Cragflame | Illustration by Aurore Folny

Navigating a new draft format can be rough and intimidating. Hopefully Bloomburrow‘s overall cuteness will go some way towards helping to overcome this.

Best of luck at your prereleases!

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