Introduction
As usual, with every new set, we get a few precon Commander decks, and Bloomburrow was no exception. There were several exclusive new cards in these 4 decks, as well as some fascinating themes.
Today, we decided to upgrade Family Matters, a deck that wants to put as many creatures as possible on the board, with the Bird Bard, Zinnia, Valley's Voice, as the commander!
The Deck
Family Matters Decklist
This is a Jeskai deck that centers around ETB creatures with base power 1. Zinnia, Valley's Voice and Arthur, Marigold Knight are your commander options. Their styles are very different, so we decided to go with the main commander, Zinnia.
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We'll focus heavily on its offspring ability, which interacts with creature spells, and make the most out of every ETBs in this deck, either on creatures or the tokens we'll create.
Arthur, Marigold Knight is a great commander, but we reserved the spotlight to Zinnia this time. But don't worry, we'll show you a list entirely dedicated to this small knight at the end of this article. It also focuses on creatures with strong effects!
Changes and Why
Cards We Removed
We ended up removing more cards from this precon list than all the other 4 Bloomburrow precons. There were many weak cards in the original list that were quite lost in the overall concept, as if WotC just added them to fill out the entire list.
When Zinnia is your commander, it is as if each creature costs 2 extra mana but also activates its ETB effects twice, and, in all honesty, it is incredibly difficult to create a lot of mana with a Jeskai deck. So, more expensive creatures, like Siege-Gang Commander and Angel of the Ruins are just not that great, and we had to remove them.
We also removed all three "signet" lands, but added an MDFC, so we have a total of 36 lands in the upgraded list. Then, we got rid of some weaker cards, like Stolen by the Fae, Thopter Engineer, and Illusory Ambusher.
Some other cards, despite their potential, didn't live up to it in practice, and had to come out. I'm talking about Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive, Boss's Chauffeur, Jazal Goldmane, and even our alternative commander, Arthur, Marigold Knight.
Ramp and Answers
This is, in fact, a Jeskai deck, as we mentioned before, so we rely on many mana rocks to keep up with the game's rhythm, as well as some ramp. The original deck already had Sol Ring and 4 signets: Arcane Signet, Azorius Signet, Izzet Signet, and Boros Signet, besides Mind Stone and Fellwar Stone.
We brought this number up to 4, with Thought Vessel and all possible talismans: Talisman of Conviction, Talisman of Creativity, and Talisman of Progress.
Finally, as ramp, though not exactly one per se, it just works as one, we added Smothering Tithe. It may rely on your opponent not paying any mana to create a Treasure token, but, if you can put one Smothering Tithe in play early on, it could be quite an advantage.
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We then brought a few target removals, like Generous Gift and Swords to Plowshares, to complement Path to Exile, which was already in the original list.
You can say Boros Charm is a target removal for planeswalkers or for players in longer games, but we only added it to protect our creatures. Its double strike is definitely a surprise to your opponents, though, and it can be a finisher in longer games if you target a big creature with it.
Finally, to complete this first part, we added a global removal to make up for Calamity of Cinders, which we removed. Calamity may seem viable, particularly in a token deck because of its Convoke. However, let's be honest, if the most dangerous opponent on the table sets up a massive attack, most, if not all your creatures will be tapped afterward, so it isn't all that great.
That's why we added Austere Command. It is also versatile and deals with several threats.
Last, but not least, we added Season of Weaving. This card fits this build like a glove. In fact, its third mode, which returns everything that isn't a token to their controllers' hands, is no problem to us, on the contrary. The tokens we created with offspring will stay on the board, and let us create new tokens because we returned the other creatures to everyone's hands. As a bonus, you can either create a Zinnia copy if you don't want to cast it again, or draw cards. It is a great defensive answer!
Doubling Tokens, New Creatures, and Dealing Damage
Offspring creates a token copy of the creature in question. So, because we use this mechanic, there's nothing better than getting even more ETB effects from our creatures by simply doubling, tripling, or quadrupling the number of creatures or tokens we create. To do that, we added several useful options that are quite popular in this token archetype.
Mondrak, Glory Dominus, besides doubling the number of tokens you create, easily becomes indestructible, and, as a result, lasts all game long and doubles our tokens all game long. Anointed Procession does literally the same thing, but, unlike Mondrak, unfortunately doesn't get indestructible on its own. However, it is a great enchantment, and we'll use it regardless, after all, the more, the better! Please keep in mind that these cards also double how many Treasures Smothering Tithe creates.
There's a recent Ixalan god we just had to add: Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation. Even though it only works with creature tokens, tripling them is an extremely strong effect for our strategy. Just imagine how powerful it'll be with creatures like Combat Celebrant, Inferno Titan, Sun Titan, or Devilish Valet. Ojer Taq creates 4 of these creatures when they enter your board, which is great for us and extremely problematic for our opponents.
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However, alongside our great cards that increase the number of creature tokens we create, we also need great creatures with great ETB effects to make the most out of this strategy. So, we added some very useful creatures.
Mulldrifter will draw you many cards, even if you play it with its Evoke. Nesting Dovehawk is one of the most important creatures in the deck, as it populates at the beginning of every combat. 2 Nesting Dovehawk alone already give us 2 more at the beginning of the combat, and can create 4 new tokens on the next turn, that is, if you don't have any other cards to double or triple this effect. If you combine it with the extra combats from Combat Celebrant, you can set up great explosive turns that will cause a lot of trouble for your opponents.
Witch Enchanter is the MDFC we mentioned before, and will obviously deal with any problematic enchantments or artifacts you find in your way. MDFCs are almost always quite useful, and this card is no exception.
To complete our section of creatures, we added a newly released populate Jeskai card to Family Matters: Cayth, Famed Mechanist. Cayth gives us many blockers thanks to its fabricate, and her triggered ability lets us populate important tokens, like the aforementioned Nesting Dovehawk or a token copy of Selfless Spirit, which can save our board.
We left one of the most essential parts of this strategy to the very end: dealing damage. After all, as we'll create many creatures with this deck, could we play many variations of Agate Instigator to deal lots of damage to our opponents? The answer is yes! Molten Gatekeeper and Witty Roastmaster do just that, and, if you use them with offspring, you'll burn your opponents faster. Furthermore, Impact Tremors and Warleader's Call will also annoy your opponents with their burn, and Warleader's Call even buffs your creatures.
It is important to play many cards with this type of effect precisely because we create many creatures, and they're even more useful if you want to rely on something besides combat damage to win a match. Then, there's the icing on the cake: it would be weird if a deck that focuses entirely on ETBs didn't include Panharmonicon. This popular artifact will buff even more the damage you deal with the cards we mentioned above, and it triggers with almost your entire deck.
Upgraded Family Matters Decklist
After our many changes, this is our upgraded, new, Family Matters list! Even though we ignored Zinnia's buff ability, we focused on something better: getting the most out of as many ETBs as we can.
We drastically changed this list, but also made it much more playable and strong. It is now ready to face any type of Commander table.
Alternative List with Arthur, Marigold Knight
Besides many useful ETB creatures, this Arthur, Marigold Knight deck also includes some blink cards, precisely to go around its last effect. This way, you won't have to return the creature you just put in play to its controller's hand at the end of the combat.
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Creatures like Brago, King Eternal and Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd will make this entire process easier!
Final Words
Without a question, this was one of the hardest Bloomburrow precons to upgrade. Of course, you can make it cheaper, but, to make it strong enough to handle current Commander tables, we had to pick what we added to this list very wisely.
What did you think of this list? Would you change anything? Do you prefer Arthur? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below!
Thank you for reading, and see you next time!
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