First off, Bloomburrow. Overall, slightly disappointed. Otter, mouse, bat, and frog tribal got a lot of buffs. Bird tribal got cheep handouts. Many of the birds care about non-birds....which isn't very helpful in bird tribal. Six cards stand out from the rest as inclusions, and the rest will be with the bulk birds. I had high hopes for the Family Matters deck, and it came with a single new bird card. Yuck. I'll be giving each Bloomburrow bird a good writeup below, because even despite my general unhappiness, six easy includes from a single set is a big deal.
Out: Silver Raven Wingmate Roc Whir of Invention Arcanist's Owl Aarakocra Sneak Junk Diver Azorius Keyrune Scour the Desert Sun Titan
In: Aven Interrupter Requisition Raid Murmuration Perch Protection Jackdaw Savior Mockingbird Shrike Force Kastral, the Windcrested The Indomitable
Three main takeaways to the 'outs'. First, their mana value was too high. In reevaluating the deck, I noticed that the 4 mana value slot was incredibly bloated, and I needed to reduce that. I wish I could lower it more, but the current spot that birds are in makes it impossible. 4 mana for a single bird almost never felt good. Second, with the removal of so mana high mana value cards, there went all the toughness for Scour the Desert, so that package was also removed. Third, after seven years, the artifact subtheme is being replaced. More on this later.
General thoughts on the 'ins'. Surprisingly, it makes the deck a lot more interactive. I thought these includes would make it more linear, but looking at it again, I think there's some real tricks here. The curve is lower and putting more emphasis on the 3 mana value spot. Ideally I would want all my birds to be 2 mana value, but again, not there yet. BIRD SYNERGIES MATTERS IS BACK BABY. Three new cards are being included that exclusively care about birds! Finally, the deck can feel like a tribal deck again. Lastly, better token producers. Now, onto the specifics.
Aven Interrupter-excellent interaction and adds to the game's tempo while hosing exile strategies
Requisition Raid-Great interaction. I always wanted Return to Dust, and here we are.
Murmuration-YES. Crow Storm still isn't legal rip.
Perch Protection-YES. Will often just be 6 mana 4 birds but can sometimes be a gamechanging blowout.
Jackdaw Savior-Honestly, don't have high hopes for this one. 3 mana birds buy back 2 mana, and 2 mana birds buy back nothing. Still, better than the average bird.
Mockingbird-Love this little guy. 1 drop if I need him to be that can copy giant tokens or a mana sink in the late game. easy winner.
Shrike Force-Double strike is too important to pass up as this deck wants combat damage triggers.
Kastral, the Windcrested-No, he won't replace Kangee. Yes, he's gas. Brother does it all and impacts the board immediately. I don't think I'll ever be upset to draw him. He is the perfect bird commander for the proliferator birds if anyone wants to cook.
The Indomitable-I tortured myself over this one A LOT. Finally, I came to terms why I was so conflicted: I wanted this in the deck but didn't want to explain it. Screw the rules. It's my deck, I can do what I want. Vehicles are now permitted along with equipment. Long live my technologically savvy avians.
Along with how I feel, I am not permitting Lupinflower Village nor Lilypad Village. I love them both, but they don't have birds in the art. Three Tree City does have birds, but I don't think it'll pan out.
This leads the deck to a big moment: the end of the second age. The end of artifacts. The start of the deck was the Age of Lords, where I jammed every bird-matters card into the deck. Then, equipment were found, beginning the second age for the deck: the Age of Artifacts. The deck has been slowly warped to accommodate for this subtheme, but it's finally at an end. With Bloomburrow comes the third age: the Age of Tokens. The equipment remain, but it's not the focus. Instead, it's just an upside as the deck works on spamming more birds to the field. It's the beginning of the age, so there's work to be done, but for now it's as optimal as I can make it.
Finally.....this might be my last post for a while. I'm moving to Thailand, and updating this deck might get tough. I went on a hiatus before, and I can do it again. I'm so happy with how far I've brought this deck in the past two years, and I'm going to continue updating as long as it's practical.
From the perch, goodbye.