Burakos, Party Leader – Baldur’s Gate
Date Reviewed: June 15, 2022
Ratings:
Constructed: 1.83
Casual: 3.33
Limited: 3.88
Multiplayer: 3.17
Commander [EDH]: 3.58
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Burakos is most clearly a Commander card, at his best when augmented and customized with a Background, but he can actually do some stuff beyond that. The party mechanic can be a little fiddly with its requirement for four very specific creature types, and a lot of people will want a high-level payoff to warp their deck that much. Now they have it: if you can keep the relevant creatures in play, you’ll overrun the opponent in both damage and mana quite rapidly. Your selection can even help on that front, now that there’s a clear goal – the likes of Giver of Runes, Hamlet Vanguard, Willbender, and anything else with a relevant type and some ability to protect itself or others gain a dimension of synergy support.
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander [EDH]: 4/5
Speaking of token generation, Burakos is here if you like treasures and you like parties or just like to party. Same difference, really.
As a quick reminder of the Zendikar Rising party mechanic, “party” is a mechanic consisting of checking to see if you have four creatures and have a Cleric, Rogue, Wizard, and Warrior. However, it’s not as simple as having four creatures and Burakos among them and being done with it, which may kibosh your plan to have Burakos and three lhurgoyfs as a party; he’ll fulfill one of the four slots, but you’ll still need a separate creature for the three he’s not representing. Still, as a “glue” creature for when you like to party, he’s a nice hole-filler for the types your ultimate color pair is light in.
As for what he does, Burakos has that kind of trigger that looks harmless but is anything but. A bit of incidental bleed is nice, but you’re also generating a lot of Treasure in the process with each attack, and that adds up! While 1 Treasure and an additional bleed of 1 life won’t raise eyebrows, it can add up over a long game, and there are plenty of creatures you can throw a party with in this set. He’s definitely an interesting card that rewards you if you can max out on your party size, but he’ll still do Stuff and Things before then, and he can even make for fun as the Commander thanks to him supplying the tragic backstory every good party leader needs.
Constructed: 1.5 (a four-mana creature that relies on other creatures and attacking has dismal Legacy prospects)
Casual: 4
Limited: 4.5 (if this gets established, he must be answered immediately)
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.25 (while Party.dec has never quite panned out, this might be what the deck wanted to really get going)
The party mechanic returns! A fairly weak creature for four mana, the real benefit is when this attacks you gain a benefit in treasures and your opponent loses life based on the number of creatures in your party. It allows you to choose a background for color balancing but overall I think this is a pretty bad card by itself, it is definitely a “build around me” card in terms of choosing the right background. We’ll have to look back to Zendikar Rising to find the better party mechanic cards and utilize them in a deck where Burakos is your commander. I think there are better options to go with but if you can get that power greater than 2/4 you’ll have a pretty sweet ability on your hands.
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander [EDH]: 2.5/5
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