In games ofMagic: The Gathering, aggressive combat decks don’t always come out on top. Other strategies can be just as viable, and you can even pull off a win by just being friends and playing nice. Friendship truly is magic, but this isn’t Equestria. This is Bloomburrow.
While other decks might want to create an army of Squirrels or pelt their opponents with a tempest of trash, the Peace Offering deck just wants everyone to play nice and have fun. Ms. Bumbleflower has cake and tea to share, but along with snacks can come smacks.
Hoofprints of the Stag
Yavimaya Coast
Peace Offering Commander Deck Themes
The Peace Offering deck follows the sometimes-popular “group hug” theme. Group hug decks control one or more of an opponent’s resources byfeeding them more of those resources. This seems like a losing strategy, until you realize that by helping everyone else’s deck to run faster and smoother,you’ll never be the target because everyone wants what you’re giftingthem. This allows you to build a pillow fort or assemble a combo to win out of nowhere.
The gifts bestowed by group hug decks are never free: each card you give to an opponent can translate to another card of your own, or more creatures under your control, or the removal of one of their biggest threats. Sometimesyou’ll even seem to be playing Kingmaker, deciding the outcome of a major play to either eliminate one opponent or leave another vulnerable.
Helping your opponents draw extra cards is a major component of this deck.Ms. Bumbleflowerherself gives your opponent a card each time you cast a spell, andKwain, Itinerant Meddler(another popular group hug commander) gives every player the option to draw a card and gain a life.
Bloomburrow’s newgift mechanicis present in cards likePeerless Reckoning,Long River’s Pull, andWear Down. Gift allows you to give an opponent a draw, a creature, or even an extra turn in exchange for powering up the spell. It’s a thematic win for Peace Offering, and you’ll find that the small advantage ofthe gift is usually well worth how much it empowers your spell.
You don’t need to give the gift to the same opponent you’re targeting. Feel free to use Wear Down to destroy two combo pieces from the player in the lead, and gift the card to the player furthest behind, or the one you allied with.
Another theme coming in from the green and white side of the color identity is +1/+1 counters, often passively generated. Creatures like Steelburr Champion and Sunscorch Regentgain +1/+1 counters as your opponents play spells, a sneaky way to force them to repay you for all the gifts you’ve been giving them.
Others, like Chasm Skulker,grow as you draw cardsor as your hand grows, making it important to hit Ms. Bumbleflower’s card draw ability each turn.
The final theme you’ll see is alternate win conditions. Since Peace Offering decks spend so much time empowering their opponents, it can be a struggle to get enough board presence to pull off a win. The inclusion of alternate win conditions meansyou can build towards a win that your opponents won’t see coming.
Twenty-Toed Toad demonstratestwo alternate win conditions on a single creature: when it attacks, you win if it has at least 20 counters or if you have 20 cards in your hand. Cards like Kalonian Hydra and Communal Brewing can significantly increase the number of +1/+1 counters on a creature, so you can focus on Twenty-Toed Toad and get a win in a couple of turns. Or drop Triskaidekaphile when you have thirteen cards in your hand and win on your next upkeep.
Mr. Foxglove is the only alternate commander in the deck unless your pod allows you to rule zero in Tamiyo, Field Researcher. His mechanic,allowing you to draw up to an opponent’s hand size or cheat in a creature when he attacks, isn’t a great match for the rest of the deck; often playing with the Peace Offering deck you’ll find yourself with lots of cards already, and there aren’t a lot of expensive creatures that you need to cheat into play.
Peace Offering Deck Analysis
Like all group hug decks,Peace Offering is a little more political than you may be used toplaying. While it includes a couple of “pillow fort” options to make it harder for opponents to attack you,your main protection will be how much value you bring to the board. After all, if someone kills the bearer of gifts, nobody will get any more free stuff.
Preconstructed decks often struggle to focus on a single goal, spreading themselves out to accommodate a second playstyle often associated with the second commander.Peace Offering’s secondary theme is +1/+1 counters, which is fine as a deck butnot consistent enoughas a win strategy once another player realizes that your Forgotten Ancient or Steelburr Champion are getting out of control.
While the deck is surprisingly coherent for a precon, there are a handful of cards that are either underperforming or that you can easily replace with a direct upgrade.
Fisher’s Talent
Evolving Wilds
As often as you’ll draw cards, you’ll be able to activate Hoofprints of the Stag on each of your turns. The problem is that it becomes a mana sink that you may only use on your own turn, rather than a way to invest leftover mana at the end of an opponent’s or immediately after they drop a board wipe.
Jolly Gerbils seems like an excellent inclusion, giving you an extra card every time you give an opponent a gift, butthere aren’t enough gift cardsto justify its presence. Secret Rendezvous is in a similar position, as it’s an excellent, thematic card that’s held back by sorcery speed.
Of the four creatures that grow when an opponent casts a spell,Forgotten Ancient is barely edged outby the rest. Lacking any form of evasion or the ability to replicate itself with offspring, this one’s only real benefit is the ability to pass counters along to another creature later.
If you want to lean more into the counter theme, consider keeping Forgotten Ancient and adding counter enablers such as The Ozolith and Branching Evolution.
Martial Impetus and Baird, Steward of Argive both add a little pillow fort-style protection to the deck, but neither one does it well. Also,the lack of multiple backups means that the pillow fort effect will be inconsistent at best, so they might as well be cut to make room for something with more synergy.
Fisher’s Talent is an expensive investment for what it does in the first couple modes, and if you get it into play early you aren’t likely to invest more mana into in to gain levels until late enough in the game that it loses value.
Reason
Wedding Ring
Wedding Ring is a must-have in group hug decks. When you play it, you make a copy under one opponent’s control, and whenever either of you gain life or draw cards on your turn, the other Wedding Ring controller does the same. With a lot of instant effects, you canforce your opponent to draw a lot of cards without giving any back.
Arcane Denial
Arcane Denial adds another counter option while giving your opponent and yourself more cards. This is on the card as a downside, butyou’ve got plenty of ways to benefit from your opponents gaining cards, so this is all win for you.
The Council of Four
The Council of Four is another must-have in white/blue group hug decks.You’ll be able to force a second draw on most turns, giving yourself more cards in the process. It also forces your opponents to choose between playing their second spell each turn, or to give you a 2/2 Knight. (They’ll never skip a spell just to keep you from gaining a Knight)
Path to Exile
Path to Exile isone of the strongest creature removal spellsin the game, shortly behind Swords to Plowshares, just because of how permanent the land is compared to the life gain.
Peregrine Drake
Peregrine Drake is a little expensive, costing five for 2/3 with flying. But when it comes into play, you get to untap five lands, making itfunctionally free. If you cheat it in with Mr. Foxglove, you’ll get to untap five lands for free!
Proft’s Eidetic Memory
Proft’s Eidetic Memory is another way to remove your handsize cap, which isimportant for alternate win conditions like Triskaidekaphile and Twenty-Toed Toad. You don’t want to have a win condition that you’re able to’t meet, so make sure you have ways to hold onto your hand.
Dreamtide Whale
Dreamtide Whale has two major advantages: First, it’s a7/5 for three mana, and secondit proliferates every time a player casts their second spell of the turn. The downside is that it vanishes in a couple of turns as time counters are removed, but you’re able to easily get ahead of that with proliferate.
Decanter of Endless Water
Decanter of Endless Water is one more way to eliminate your hand size cap, and an extra mana rock.
Escape Tunnel
Escape Tunnel does exactly what Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds does, with thebonus utility of making a creature with power two or lower unblockable. While this is only a minor upgrade in a deck like Peace Offering that doesn’t rely on combat tricks, it can be situationally useful.
