Bloomburrow has only been on MTG Arena for a few days, and, while many players still have to get familiar with the new limited, it's a good idea to start analyzing the format and collecting some initial data.
In fact, this month's Arena Qualifier Weekend is in Sealed format and it doesn't leave us much time to prepare as it's about to happen soon, on August 10th. Furthermore, if you haven't qualified yet and would like to be, tomorrow (August 3rd) there will be the Play-In Best-of-One, which is most likely preferable to the Best-of-Three because it's slightly easier to qualify. Let's not waste any more time then and dive in!
For those who are starting from scratch and haven't had the opportunity to learn the format, I suggest taking a look at the featured article below first, where I show what the color pairs are, the cards for each archetype and some synergies you can have between them.
Today instead we'll see what the results of the first Drafts are: highlighting the archetypes that are working better and the cards that are winning the most, also dividing them based on rarity. All this, analyzing 17Lands' data, which is still a bit premature, but certainly already useful for a good overview!
Best Color Pairs
I've already talked to you about the “guilds” in the set, each of which has a type of animal associated with it, but what are the best? Here's the data!
Selesnya Rabbits are currently on top with a 59.2% win rate, making the go-wide plan both simple and effective, with plenty of high-level cards with great win rates such as: Burrowguard Mentor (61.4%), Harvestrite Host (60.5%), Carrot Cake (60.5%), and Intrepid Rabbit (59.5%).
In second place we find Golgari Squirrels with 58.4%, which currently holds the best uncommon of the format: Vinereap Mentor (63.0%), in addition to Cache Grab (59.8%) and Savor (59.5%).
Green is thus confirmed as the best color in the set, in fact, starting a draft by picking green, it's possible to orient oneself mainly towards either white or black, ending up in both cases in the two best archetypes. Hunter's Talent (62.6%) is one of the best cards for all green decks, as is Bakersbane Duo (58.5%), which despite being a Squirrel Raccoon, is also good for Rabbits with the Food token synergizing with both Seasoned Warrenguard and Druid of the Spade.
The outsider in third place is Rakdos Lizards with a 58.0% win rate, embracing the aggro strategy that gets stronger when the opponent loses life and including: Thought-Stalker Warlock (62.4%), Fell (60.1%), Fireglass Mentor (59.9%), and Scales of Shale (59.4%).
It's important to note, however, that if instead of analyzing the average of all players as we are doing, we MTG Arena's top players only, we would find Rak as the best deck in first place with 62.7%, which gives hope for a future increase in the average win rate of the archetype. In fact, it may still be too early and most players may not have yet found the right key to draft and play the deck in the right way, which is likely to happen later with a bit of practice.
Other good decks are: Orzhov Bats (56.6%), Boros Mice (56.0%), Gruul (55.8%), but above all Simic Frog (56.3%), which is in fourth place among the top players and here too it doesn't go too far, confirming itself as the best tribe with blue.
The latter, in fact, ranks with a bang as the worst color, with the last three positions occupied by three of its archetypes, respectively: Dimir Rats (54.1%), Azorius Birds (53.0%) and Izzet Otters (50.0%). Comparing it with the top players ranking, it's possible to predict an improvement for Dimir, which is the control archetype and which, similarly to what was said for Rakdos could require more time to find the right balance, while for Azorius, but especially the Otters, there is not much hope and they seem destined to be part of the bottom of this limited regardless of players' value.
Format Speed
Let's also take a quick look at the format's speed graph, which presents Bloomburrow Limited (specifically Premier Draft) as a fairly aggressive format, compared to the others (I know that one in the graph the BLC symbol, its Commander version, but it's just a visual bug and the legend reports it as Bloomburrow).
In particular, the graph relates the win rate on the play to the turn the deck wins and, even if we are just at the beginning and it's predictable that this speed tends to decrease, at the moment it's almost comparable to that of Phyrexia: All Will Be One, which was a decidedly aggressive set with Gruul Oil as the prominent archetype.
Top Bombs
Fecund Greenshell is currently the bomb of the set with an incredible 67.6% win rate! In addition to being green, in line with the best color, it has a huge body for only 5 mana, with reach as a bonus because it can, and it makes you draw when itself or another creature with a big butt enters, putting that card on the battlefield if it's a land. The other creatures drawn could cause the Turtle to trigger again, so as to get 10 lands in play and have a kind of End-Raze Forerunners' effect.
Warren Warleader (66.7%) is reminiscent of Adeline, Resplendent Cathar or the more recent Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon since it triggers without having to attack personally. It fits right in with Selesnya, creating Rabbit tokens, synergizing with Burrowguard Mentor or Harvestrite Host, or buffing the mass of attacking Rabbits by giving them all +1/+1, similar to how Warren Elder and Rabbit Response would do. If you have 6 mana, then, Offspring is really strong here, allowing you to create 2 attacking tokens, or maybe just 1 but boosted with the other triggered ability, together with all the attacking team.
Not too far behind at 66.4%, we find Season of Loss which gets enormous versatility thanks to the new pawprints technology. It can act as a wrath if the opponent has no more than 5 creatures, or, even better, remove the 3 worst creatures from both sides and make us draw up to 3 cards. If the game is advanced, then, this defensive spell can become offensive, dealing direct damage to the opponent and acting as a finisher!
Top Uncommons
As anticipated, Vinereap Mentor is currently the best uncommon of the set with a 63.0% win rate! Despite a great body, 3/2 for 2 mana, it creates a Food token when it enters and when it dies, perfect for activating Forage and therefore triggering strong cards such as: Corpseberry Cultivator, Bushy Bodyguard and Curious Forager.
Hunter's Talent (62.6%) is the top multi-archetype green uncommon. For the same mana value it's a Rabid Bite, but with two levels to activate as a bonus! Paying 2 extra mana, you can buff an attacking creature every combat on the line of Ranger Class and at level 3 you can draw 1 extra card each turn almost like Colossal Majesty.
I already told you that Rakdos Lizards could be the secret gem of this set, right? Thought-Stalker Warlock is its top uncommon with a 62.4% win rate! 3 mana for a 2/2 menace that can make a better Thoughtseize or, at worst, Devour Intellect when it enters? Sign me in!
Top Commons
Ok, I would never have predicted this: Carrot Cake is the best common of the set with 60.5% win rate! Why is it so good? It's 2 bodies for 2 mana and a scry, but it also stands out for its versatility in the format. It's a cake made with carrots, so obviously it's synergistic with Rabbits creating tokens, but it's also a Food and is therefore Forage material. No, you do not necessarily have to play Abzan, since Corpseberry Cultivator fits perfectly in Selesnya and is an excellent follow up in curve with Carrot Cake. In addition, by paying 2 mana, the artifact can be sacrificed to gain some life and this is useful also with Bats, triggering with the life modification.
Cache Grab at 59.8%, is very reminiscent of Malevolent Rumble from the recent MH3 Limited, with the difference that it puts a Food instead of an Eldrazi Spawn. It's a great card for Golgari Squirrel allowing you to dig for bombs and getting Forage enabler in the process.
Lastly we find Intrepid Rabbit at 59.5% win rate, which is also the best common creature of the set, deserving the cover of this article! Exception made for Darkstar Augur, it's the only card with Offspring 1 and is therefore particularly convenient to cast it at 4 mana, getting 2 bodies together with as many buffs. These are particularly useful for triggering Valiant and thus making this pick very appetizing for Boros Mice, but at the same time having two Rabbit creatures for the price of one is perfect for Selesnya too.
That's all for today! Of course, since only a few days have passed, this data is still a bit premature and inevitably there will be percentage variations that will cause a card to up or down in the rankings, but, without worrying too much about the details, it already outlines what the trend of the set is and its possible developments.
