'Bloomburrow' – a furry expansion for 'Magic: The Gathering'

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Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is one of the world's most popular trading card games. First released in 1993, there are now millions of players and billions of cards in the world. One way in which MTG differs from games with standard playing cards is that there are numerous cards of differing rarity, creating an incentive to collect and trade cards. The game is also constantly evolving with new rules, concepts and expansion sets with themed decks.

Their upcoming expansion, Bloomburrow, has been getting attention in the furry fandom as it's focussed on anthropomorphic woodland creatures! The official release trailer shows a young mouse—accompanied by a slightly older mouse, an otter and a frog—trying to master magic. Their antics in the peaceful woods are cut short when they find part of it burning and a massive wolf emerging from the smoke and flames. The three older critters are quickly defeated and, when the younger mouse stands up to the wolf, a deer, presumably the forest guardian, appears and the wolf backs down.

To get a little more information about MTG and Bloomburrow from someone actively involved in trading card games in general, and MTG specifically, I spoke to Apollo (Fur Affinity, X). Apollo is an Austrian fur, living in Vienna, and a staff member for the newly-created Awoostria furry convention.

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Rakuen Growlithe: When and how did you get into MTG?

Apollo: Hmm, during high school, around the 2000s.

RG: That's around the same time that I stopped! I wasn't deep into it, but the last time I bought a deck was for the Darksteel set which came out in 2004; 20 years ago! For the people who are unfamiliar with MTG, can you briefly explain how the game works?

A: You are a planeswalker (a wizard who can pass through planes) who uses mana to cast spells or summon creature and fight against other planeswalkers.

RG: Some people play competitively and others collect the cards, what is your involvement?

A: I collect themes I like (e.g. minotaurs) and play both Commander format, casually, and Pioneer format at my LGS.

RG: What is LGS?

A: LGS means local game store.

RG: There were cards that were of interest to furs before (e.g. Ink-Eyes returns 245 results in a search on Fur Affinity) but the upcoming set, Bloomburrow, seems to be aimed specifically at furs. Do you think Wizards was specifically trying to attract furs or move into a new demographic?

A: I think, due to market research, they wanted to target a big audience where some already play MTG and where they might interest new players with this specific set.

RG: That's probably true. I know I'm thinking of getting back into MTG specifically for Bloomburrow and I've got some (non-furry) friends that are also interested in trying it out. Given MTG usually has a darker, more serious, tone to it, what has been the reception from the broader MTG community?

A: The only thing I've heard people complain about, is that the set might not have that big an impact on competitive play, but it's nicely designed for casual and Commander.

RG: What is the difference between competitive, casual and Commander? I know there are different tournament rule-sets that ban certain cards but I'm not sure what the major differences are; apart from banning old cards to encourage people to buy new cards.

A: “Competitive” means tournament play, “casual” means just playing for fun and “Commander” is a format.

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Bloomburrow is scheduled to be released worldwide on 2 August 2024.