Prerelease confidence—What you need to know for Bloomburrow

Prerelease events for Bloomburrow at local game stores will take place from July 26 to Aug. 1. Check with your LGS to see if you need reservations to play. Most Prerelease events run between $30 to $40 depending on your geographical area. Don't let the price tag scare you, though, as you'll get the money back in cards—and I think it's the best MTG format, next to Commander.

Knowing the archetypes and best cards

The Limited MTG format is designed around 10 dual-color archetypes. Typically, these archetypes have thematic gameplay strategies focused around graveyards, spells matter, and sacrifice. Bloomburrow has this with the bonus of creature-type themes. Every archetype is named after a creature type, from Birds to Squirrels.  

Here is an exclusive breakdown of every MTG Bloomburrow card (281 in total) for Limited Draft and Sealed gameplay. After the set globally launches, I’ll add a grade and notes for Standard ranked play.

I was fortunate to play in the Bloomburrow early access event and got to test out these brave new archetypes. Not every Draft was a hit but I was able to identify at least three strong archetypes and the best cards within them. 

• White and Blue Birds

• Red and White Aggro Mice

• Green and Red Stompy Raccoons

Based on my testing and streams from MTG pros and content creators, the Otter archetype is hard to play around but can work. The case is similar with Frogs, but you need to have the Control elements in place and I wasn't able to find them in my drafts. And don't forget to watch for bombs that can pull you into an archetype or strategy. 

How to build a Prerelease Bloomburrow deck

Knowing Draft archetypes is great as a foundation but Sealed, the format played at Prerelease events, is slightly different. The money spent to play at the event gets you a Prerelease Kit, which includes six Playbooster packs and a bonus Prerelease promo card. The 40-card deck you craft comes from these. 

• Six Bloomburrow Play Boosters  

• One traditional foil year-stamped rare or mythic rare Bloomburrow promo card  

• One MTG Arena code card 

• One deck box 

• One spindown life counter

Bloomburrow is an aggressive Limited set, even in Sealed where the tempo is typically slower. Because of faster-paced games, be careful about splashing too many colors into your deck. Most times, you'll have to add a third color but I would use that third color to splash bombs and top-tier cards only if possible. 

Unless you're comfortable playing Control and Midrange styles, I recommend building your Prerelease deck on the aggressive side. Don't skip the one-drops, especially because many of them are powerful. And don't weigh down the top-end with cards you may never be able to cast because games end so quickly. 

Here is the basic breakdown of what you should include in a Sealed Prerelease deck for Bloomburrow. 

• At least two one-drops, maybe even three depending on how aggressive your deck is

• Around seven two-drops

• Six to eight three-drops

• Two to three four-drops

• One to two five-drops

• One six-drop or higher

• 16 to 17 basic lands. 

Much like Constructed, the Bloomburrow Sealed tempo requires you to play cards on Curve or you're likely to fall behind and lose. Have answers to early-game plays and a strategy to Curve into your bigger plays that end games.

Secret Lair drop or flop?

The Brain Dead Secret Lair had me excited last week, but this week I'm losing my mind over the Monty Python Holy Grail drops. Not only is the art stunning and the flavor on point, but several of the reprints are worth money. I don't usually spend my hard-earned money on Secret Lair drops, even though they're reasonably priced and hold their value. The Monty Python Holy Grail drops, however, are getting added to my collection. 

And that's our rundown of Magic for this week. Tell others about MTG Madness to get exclusive content. And watch for next week's edition because if it lands in spam, you're missing out on the most expensive cards from Bloomburrow, the best cards and decks in Standard, and everything you need to know about the Magic World Championship.