Bloom Tender – Mystery Booster MTG Review

David
Fanany
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since
1995

Bloom Tender will always tap for at least one mana, which makes her usable in a deck that’s just one or two colors. One mana from a two-mana creature is not an overly-powerful turnaround, but it gets the job done; a four-cost creature on turn three is never a bad thing. She really shines a deck built just for her. You have to get the four- or five-color creature in play first, which may not be trivial; once you do, though, there are plenty of interactions that get you as much mana as you want. For more general uses, there are probably better options, but if you want to make a creature-based combo deck, this is a great place to start.

Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 5/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
EDH/Commander: 4/5

In general, mana dorks are powerful if they either cost 1 mana (Birds of Paradise, Noble Hierarch) or generate a lot of mana (Priest of Titania, Elvish Archdruid). Bloom Tender is definitely on the “lots and lots of mana” side of the ledger; given that they were in a block with lots of hybrid, it wasn’t out of the question to have Bloom Tender tap for three, four, or even five mana by the time you had the chance to untap with it in play. If you can couple Bloom Tender with ways to untap it (Intruder Alarm comes to mind), then things can get really stupid. Do note that you only get one mana of each color, but there definitely are ways to make that mana count.

Bloom Tender’s demand is largely because of Commander; Eventide might be one of the least-opened sets of all time, and Bloom Tender’s lack of reprint and unique effect scream “price higher than my receding hairline”. It doesn’t see play outside of casual and Commander decks; it doesn’t generate enough mana quickly enough without a lot of set-up to be a boon to Constructed decks, and Elves generally want their mana to be green more than any other color.

Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 3.5 (better in Shadowmoor/Eventide, with all the hybrid running around)
Multiplayer: 3
Commander: 4

Phat
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Hello everyone and welcome back to Pojo’s Card of the Day! Today we’re looking at a really interesting reprint in the Mystery Booster, and a much needed one as well!

Bloom Tender is a very interesting Mana Dork that scales easily and that kind of power is what commander players scream for! When you tap this guy for each color among permanents you control you add one mana of that color to your pool. So if you have some multicolor enchantments or creatures hanging out in your deck you can easily use this guy for ramp and mana fixing. So where does this guy fit in?

Unfortunately this guy doesn’t tend to hang around the constructed scene that much, he’s a 2 mana dork and most of the elf decks are already stacked with Llanowars, Mystics, and Fyndhorns, this guy doesn’t add much value here.

In Eventide Draft he’s okay as well, with Hybrid Mana creatures you can get some decent value in but chances are if you’ve already casted the hybrid guy then you’re fine on that color so he’s mostly just for the double mana pip spells or ramp.

Commander is where this guy can really shine, with decks that are based on Child of Alara you can easily get to ten mana with this guy and cast any spell you’re looking for. He’s still vulnerable to removal but if you can untap with it chances are you’re going to have one helluva turn!

Cube is… Maybe looking at this card, as in Constructed 1-mana dorks are prime real estate and this guy can be a very dud card for 2 mana. However the more multi-color based your cube is the higher his value goes up and especially in lower powered environments.

Ratings

Constructed 2/5 – 1 Mana Dorks are just better unfortunately.

Limited 3/5 – Dorks are a little more rare here so he goes up a bit. He’s also $30.

Commander 5/5 – Super Value Ramp is the name of the game here and he’s got his signature all over it!

Cube 2/5 – 1 Mana Dorks are still just better here..

Phat Pack Magic is a channel dedicated to Magic: the Gathering and creating awesome coverage of local events for formats like Cube, rare pack drafts, and now FNM Pioneer videos! Check it out at https://YouTube.com/PhatPackMagic