Magic: The Gathering - The 10 Best Cards From Bloomburrow's Family Matters Commander Deck

The 101st Magic: The Gathering expansion brings us to the plane of Bloomburrow, the most adorable plane in the multiverse. Traveling to this plane means becoming one of the cute critters that inhabit it, whether that be birds, squirrels, frogs, mice, rabbits, or more.

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In the case of the Family Matters Commander deck, you'll get a little bit of everything. One big Rabbit can set off a storm of damage from your Lizard while growing your Frog to start drawing cards with every spell your opponents cast. If that sounds confusing, don't worry: just look at these top ten powerful cards in the Family Matters Commander deck for an explanation.

10 Plumecreed Escort

Look at its little bur mace!

We begin with perhaps the least flashy of the flashy new cards, Plumecreed Escort. Yes, it's a hummingbird holding a bur, but don't let its flimsy armament fool you into thinking this Bird Scout doesn't have what it takes. It's basically a Negate with wings, and thanks to Zinnia, it can turn into two Negates.

Once Plumecreed Escort is on the field, Restoration Angel and Echoing Assault can either blink or copy the little hummingbird to provide additional protection for your army of critters.

9 Calamity of Cinders

Don't let the fire cat out of the bag.

It's not quite Blasphemous Act, but Calamity of Cinders can still turn out to be quite a powerful board sweeper with the added benefit of keeping your team safe. Calamity of Cinders only burns untapped creatures, so every creature you tap to pay the Convoke cost gets to avoid the flames.

If you're playing against particularly aggressive decks that tap all the time, Calamity of Cinders will be of limited use. But most multiplayer Commander decks leave at least a few creatures untapped to fend off attacks, which provides an opportunity for Calamity of Cinders.

8 Murmuration

It's the word to describe how flocks of birds move.

Family Matters has more than a few token generators. Unfortunately, they're mostly Spirits, Thopters, and Soldiers. Only Aether Channeler and Mumuration make Birds, but thankfully, Murmuration makes a lot of them. And they're all 2/3 flying vigilance Storm Crows to boot.

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With plenty of card draw and cheap spells, Murmuration is sure to produce a Storm Crow each turn, giving you an army of Birds in no time. It might be better in a more Bird-centric deck, but in Family Matters, it's still a powerful enchantment.

7 Agate Instigator

Double trouble.

Agate Instigator is already a great card on its own. For two mana, you get a 1/3 Lizard Rogue that deals damage to every opponent each time you bring a creature into play. Cast Storm of Souls, Stolen by the Fae, or a particularly jacked Jacked Rabbit (more on that chonker later) and Agate Instigator is just spewing damage.

With the Offspring keyword, you can have twin Agates doubling the damage. And with Zinnia, that's a third Agate Instigator tripling the damage. Agate Instigator is a kill card masquerading as a minor nuisance. Don't underestimate this lizard.

6 Rapid Augmenter

Use what you find.

Another unexpected kill card in Family Matters is Rapid Augmenter. Cast any of those token-generating spells, and Rapid Augmenter gets a huge power boost in the form of +1/+1 counters and becomes unblockable. On top of that, all those 1/1 tokens you just cast gain haste. Just like Agate Instigator, Rapid Augmenter doubles the potential damage of your token-generating spell.

And once again, Zinnia comes along and lets you have two of these Otter Artificers thanks to the Bird Bard bestowing offspring to all of its loyal listeners. That's triple the kill potential with the right cards available.

5 Fortune Teller's Talent

The classiest of Class enchantments.

Class enchantments return in Bloomburrow, and it doesn't get any classier than Fortune Teller's Talent. With this, you can peek at the top card of your library, and after leveling it up, play it provided you've already cast a spell this turn. And then at level three, that top-card becomes two generic mana cheaper to cast.

Fortune Teller's Talent really fits in any deck with even a hint of blue mana. However, it would be particularly powerful in decks that perform library manipulation or care about casting spells from anywhere other than your hand. This card's value should be quite high upon Bloomburrow's release.

4 Jacked Rabbit

One absolute unit please.

Ever seen a Flemmish giant rabbit? This guy is like that, only slightly less destructive. Feed this Rabbit Warrior enough mana (for a total casting cost of seven or more) and you'll wind up with both a huge Rabbit, an army of smaller Rabbits, and an extra card to boot.

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We've already discussed how this card pairs well with several other cards in Family Matters, but Jacked Rabbit is great all on its own. You can cast it large, or you can cast it small, but no matter what, you wind up with a cost-efficient creature.

3 Pollywog Prodigy

An amphibious acolyte.

Pollywog Prodigy shows a lot of potential. You'll have to cast a few creatures with greater power than one, then two, and maybe even three, but once you do, Pollywog Prodigy is going to start drawing cards like it's going out of style.

On top of that, this Frog Wizard is an escalating threat. The more critters you cast with big numbies, the bigger Pollywog Prodigy becomes. As always, Zinnia can further boost your card count and threat count with an offspring that's even easier to evolve than the original.

2 Arthur, Marigold Knight

The honor is thine, sir knight.

What's great about Family Matters is that nearly all of your creatures have some sort of comes-into-play effect that Arthur essentially doubles. First, Arthur digs six cards deep to find a creature and then plays it tapped and attacking. Once done, that creature goes back to your hand, allowing you to play it again for double value. Imagine doing that with Cloudblazer, Sun Titan, or Thopter Engineer.

Arthur pairs phenomenally well with Zinnia, but Arthur could just as easily be the commander of his very own deck. Feel free to swap this Mouse Knight with the Bird Bard and see which commander tickles your fancy.

1 Zinnia, Valley's Voice

The peacock of power, the flamingo of fabulousness, the bird bard of benevolence!

It's not even a contest. Zinnia, Valley's Voice is just too fabulous to not put at the top of this list. Look at those feathers! The hat! The crest! The ribbons! Zinnia is a fashion bonanza and we haven't even talked about his abilities.

First, there's the fact he's a three-mana commander, meaning he's on the table relatively early in the game. Then, he becomes a giant flying menace the moment your token generators come online. But best of all, two mana lets you double any comes-into-play creature you cast while also growing Zinnia's power. This is the sort of incredible value that makes for an instant commander legend.

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