New MTG cards Ral, Crackling Wit, and Parting Gust have leaked early, and these unofficial spoilers promise exciting things for the upcoming Bloomburrow set.
2024’s Magic: The Gathering sets have been hit with a real wave of leaks, with Modern Horizons 3 being the worst afflicted. While that set had the majority of its cards leaked early, as well as Universes Beyond: Assassin’s Creed to a lesser degree, Bloomburrow has remained mostly unspoiled outside of an early leaked mechanic through an advertising blunder.
Well, that’s about to change if these leaks can be believed. Two new cards from Bloomburrow have been spotted in the wild, including a returning fan-favorite Planeswalker in a surprising new form, as well as a brand-new mechanic exclusive to the set.
Despite the low image quality of these leaks, they have been confirmed to be legitimate by Bloomburrow’s official spoiler season. We’ll cover more of Bloomburrow’s official reveals during the whole pre-release period, before the set launches on August 2.
Fan-favorite Planeswalker Ral Zarek made a splash following the launch of Modern Horizons 3, with the Ral, Monsoon Mage flip-walker spiking in price as spellslinger players got ahold of its powerful abilities.
Those same fans will be overjoyed to see Ral make such a swift return in Bloomburrow, where the storm mage is rocking a heavily altered look. Though the poor image quality makes it difficult to make out, Wizards has already unveiled Ral’s otter form while visiting this critter-packed plane.
Storm has also been having a real resurgence in MTG recently, thanks to Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Universes Beyond: Fallout, and more. With powerful new Storm cards like the Ral Planeswalker, Radstorm and Crackling Spellslinger, the hugely powerful combo ability is shaking up the Magic meta in decks such as Ruby Storm.
Ral, Crackling Wit is set to push Storm even further into the spotlight. The new Izzet Planeswalker’s first two loyalty abilities lean into classic Izzet, creating Creatures with Prowess and drawing cards. However, it’s the card’s passive and final abilities that are the real highlights.
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As well as gaining counters through its +1, Ral, Crackling Wit gains a loyalty counter whenever its controller casts a noncreature spell. In Storm decks, this means that Ral will build up a huge pile of counters right away.
Ral, Crackling Wit’s final ability leans even more heavily into the theme, drawing three cards and granting its controller an emblem that imbues every single one of their Instant and Sorceries with Storm. As a result, this card is likely to reach huge heights in price when Bloomburrow launches.
Parting Gust is a white-mana Instant that can be cast for WW and used to exile a nontoken Creature. When casting, you may use the new Gift mechanic to grant an opponent a 1/1 token Creature in its place. If the Gift is not promised, the exiled Creature will return with an additional +1/+1 counter during its owner’s next end step.
The mechanic gives the player an interesting choice to make. They can either give their opponent a small tradeoff for the effect, with the removal being permanent working along the same replacement lines as classics like Beast Within.
Alternatively, the removal is only temporary, and the opponent’s Creature will return shortly, more powerful than before, but in the meantime, their field may be left wide open for attacks.
In leaving it up to the player whether permanent or temporary removal would suit them best in the moment, Gift is an ability that promises to bring much-needed player choice to the game. Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s Spree proved highly popular due to granting choice when casting spells, and Gift is likely to be similarly enjoyed.
Gift looks to be an intriguing additional cost mechanic that comes with an extra layer of social play. Demonstrate is one of the most fun and flavorful mechanics to come out of the Strixhaven set, and its shockingly low number of appearances is a real shame. It’s fantastic to see a Demonstrate-style mechanic appear in Bloomburrow, and Gift alone gives us reason to hope that these leaks turn out to be true.
