Which Magic: The Gathering Bloomburrow Commander Deck Is Best (2024)

The best Magic: The Gathering Bloomburrow Commander isn't as glaringly obvious as it is during some set releases - Wizards of the Coast has done a particularly excellent job with this wave of preconstructed (precon) decks, such that each one has some appeal as a potent strategy while no clear favorite has emerged. The newly released Bloomburrow Commander decks all feature a cohesive theme that feels distinct to the others and plays well off their animal inspirations; for instance, the Bello, Bard of the Brambles deck takes its raccoon leader and spins out an entire "one person's trash is another person's treasure" story through its card selection and archetype.

For those unfamiliar, Magic: The Gathering's Commander format is by far its most popular offering. It's a multiplayer format that sees four players construct 100 card decks (including their Commander), with no repeat cards allowed besides basic lands. These decks then battle for supremacy and use their Commanders to glue their strategy together, as they sit in the Command Zone and are thus available each game without needing to draw them. It's a chaotic format, full of unbelievable combos and political discussions at the table, and it's often an hours-long endeavor that never quite plays out the same.

Family Matters Is The Best MTG Bloomburrow Commander Deck

Zinnia, Valley's Voice Offers A Powerful Two-In-One Strategy

The best Bloomburrow Commander is Zinnia, Valley's Voice, a Jeskai (WUR) card that is far more than meets the eye when first looking at it. At a WUR cost for a 1/3 flier, the stats on Zinnia are underwhelming at best, but that's complemented by two incredible abilities that tie the deck's strategy together while simultaneously offering a surprise win condition through Zinnia itself.

Let's break down what makes Zinnia so incredible as an out-of-the-box, precon Commander. Its first ability reads like this:

Zinnia, Valley's Voice gets +X/+0, where X is the number of other creatures you control with base power 1.

In a deck filled with one-power creatures - 10 of its 35 creatures have base power one - Zinnia can often be a three- or four-power flier by the time it sticks on the battlefield, immediately making it much more desirable than its 1/3 base stats would suggest. But this ability really becomes a haymaker once Zinnia's other text lines are considered:

Creature spells you cast have offspring 2. (You may pay an additional 2 as you cast a creature spell. If you do, when that creature enters, create a 1/1 token copy of it.)

Now, for just two extra mana, every creature in the Family Matters deck will create a copy of itself, and that copy will also boost Zinnia's power. That synergy is nice, but the real benefit is simply getting two enters effects for the cost of one card and a bit of extra mana. Family Matters has cards like Inferno Titan in it, which, for eight mana with Zinnia in play, is able to divide six damage as a player wishes. There are cards like Junk Winder, which allows players to stun permanents on the battlefield when a token enters under their control; making an offspring of that card now means that effect is triggered twice.

The Family Matters deck also has a control sub-theme to it that gives it strong staying power. It has great single-target removal spells like Path to Exile as well as a few sweepers like Time Wipe, and conditional cards like Dusk//Dawn that help preserve a player's battlefield while wiping out an opponent's or two. Really, one of the best assets the Family Matters deck offers prospective purchasers is its flexibility, especially if everyone is playing precons - the ability to pivot from swarming the battlefield to using a select few creatures to trigger powerful enters abilities, and to recoup a lost game by using powerful wrath effects, makes it excellent at all stages of the game.

How To Upgrade Zinnia, Valley's Voice Decks

An Easy Bloomburrow Commander To Improve On

One way to upgrade the Bloomburrow Family Matters precon is to really dive deep into its Bird-type sub-theme and swarm the battlefield with fliers that have strong abilities (and, with offspring, twice the impact). For that, there are a few cards that are obvious inclusions, and a few that might be surprising. For a quick list of Bird suggestions for a Zinnia, Valley's Voice upgrade, here's a good place to start:

• Empyrean Eagle - a 2/3 flying Bird Spirit that gives all other creatures with flying +1/+1. Simple, and with offspring, these grow the board to difficult to manage levels quickly.
• Jubilant Skybonder - a 2/2 flying Human Wizard, Jubilant Skybonder nevertheless offers incredible synergy for Birds, with an ability that essentially gives them Ward 2
• Soulcatcher Aerie - this obscure two-mana enchantment makes it so that each bird that dies adds a counter to the Aerie, which has a static ability that gives each bird in play +1/+1 for each counter on it.
• Ledger Shredder - going from obscure to extremely popular, Ledger Shredder is a two-mana 1/3 bird that triggers connive once per turn for each player that plays their second spell in the same turn. In Commander games, this can be essentially every turn, so Ledger Shredder can help find cards quicker and grow at the same time.

Of course, birds aren't the only way to build out Family Matters in a potent direction. It's also possible to build a Zinnia Commander deck to maximize enter effects, and here's a few cards to help begin that process:

• Panharmonicon - this four-mana artifact has a static ability that says if a creature or artifact entering would trigger an ability of a permanent controlled by the player, that triggers twice instead. For a deck that can basically split one enters effect into two with offspring, that scales into four enters effects with Panharmonicon.
• Mulldrifter - a value staple of Commander for quite some time, this five-mana 2/2 flier also has evoke for three mana, allowing to to enter and trigger its ability to draw two cards before sacrificing it. With Zinnia in play and paying the offspring cost, that would be four cards for five mana - a pretty good deal even in a format as powerful as Commander.
• Molten Gatekeeper - a three-mana 2/3 that has a static ability that states whenever another creature enters under the player's control, they deal one damage to each opponent. With offspring, that's two damage, and it's easy to see where this is going - it's an alternate win condition in grindy games and its unearth ability means it can come back to provide that effect for one extra turn whenever it's most relevant.

Clearly, Zinnia's deck is a little all over the place, but that flexibility means it is easy to upgrade in different directions. There's plenty of room for experimentation with this powerful card, which is our pick for the best MTG Bloomburrow Commander.