Hi again, this is part 2 of the Bloomburrow Commander deck upgrades. We will be covering Animated Army with Rocket Racoon, sorry Bello, Bard of Brambles, at the helm. When I first saw Bello, I immediately thought it was the creature version of Bludgeoning Brawl. A fun card that is in my Judge Tower. But after rereading Bello, I realised it isn’t the same. Bello animates, as the deck name suggests, all of your 4 mana + non-Equipment artifacts. This is the opposite of Bludgeoning Brawl, which turns all your non-Equipment artifacts into Equipment. Skip the next paragraph if you don't want to get into the rules of how both these cards interact.
If you did have both of these out, whichever card was on the battlefield last would win. This is due to Layers, Dependencies and Timestamps (rule 613.7.). The first thing we look at is Layers. If Bello, Bard of Brambles was out first this would turn your Hedron Archive into a creature in layer 4. If you then cast Bludgeoning Brawl, this also tries to turn it into an equipment also on layer 4. As we have 2 conflicting static abilities applying on the same Layer, this is where we would look at Dependencies. Is one card dependent on another? In this case, we have a loop. So we have to move onto Timestamps. A Timestamp is given to a card when it enters the battlefield. I.E. you should have the order in which every permanent has entered the battlefield. If a permanent is “flickered”, then it will receive a new timestamp as the game considers it a new instance. This isn’t the case for changing control of a card. The newest Timestamp always wins as they are applied in order, the oldest first. So the Bludgeoning Brawl coming in after has a newer Timestamp, so will turn all Artifacts into equipment, stopping Bello from animating them. The same is true in reverse if Bello is cast second. Then all the 4+ mana value artifact will become 4/4 creatures. Any that are equipped are unequipped. As you can’t have a creature equipped with another creature. Funny as this mental image is. This is a long winded explanation, so don’t play Bludgeoning Brawl in this deck. But it gave me a chance to explain more of the magic rules. That's enough of a detour, though.
Bello, Bard of Brambles, can be used as a big finisher even put in the 99 of commander decks if they are built right. Although, as a Commander Bello can be used as a value engine. Getting it out turn 2/3 and then following up with a haste 4/4 that draws cards if it connects can quickly snowball games. So let's see what I can give this Kleptomaniac Racoon. Sorry, thinking of Rocket again. I'm pretty sure that was the inspiration for this card, though.
Table of Contents
Budget Upgrades
Upgrade 1
What's better than 1 combat step? How about 3 combat steps? This is where Seize the Day comes in. Unlike other extra combat spells, this one has double the usage, with the flashback mechanic allowing you to cast it again from the graveyard. The bonus is you can do this on a future turn. This could be useful as any damage your creatures have taken won't be removed until the end of the turn.
As always, I’m dropping a land, a Mountain, I think 36 might be the sweet spot for this deck without any additional ramp spells. (Spoiler: I’m cutting another land later). You really want to hit 4+ mana consistently as this is where most of your spells are going to be due to how Bello is. I can see taking out another land if you replace it with more ramp instead.
Upgrade 2
I know people have issues with Universe Beyond cards, but with all the new UB sets released, they are here to stay. Coming from the Transformers “set” we have Blaster, Combat DJ. This is an interesting card when combined with Bello, Bard of Brambles. You can cast Blaster flipped with the More than Meets the Eyes ability. Casting on the back side as artifacts and requiring you to jump through some hoops to get it back being a creature. The pay off is that it's cheaper to cast (expect from one). Blaster gets turned into a Boombox and becomes Blaster, Morale Booster. This side has modular 3, meaning it comes in with 3 +1/+1 counters, and if it dies, it can move these counters onto other artifact creatures. So with Bello out, you cast Blaster for 3 mana, and you end up with a hasty 7/7. Not bad. As it has Haste, you can also flip him back over to the Combat DJ side by moving all those counters off. Although he will lose haste but gains the modular 1 buff. Unfortunately, with how these two cards interact, your non creature artifacts won't get the +1/+1 counter. This is because the card needs to be an artifact creature as it enters the battlefield. Bello only turns them into creatures once they are on the battlefield, unfortunately.
I will state here that this is one of the toughest decks to make cuts from. All of the cards work well or are just good value. So, any of the suggestions I make I can also make an argument to keep them in. Feel free to pick and choose the swaps depending on your playstyle. But as I need to make a cut I’m dropping Bootlegger’s Stash. My main problem with this is that it's a 6 mana ‘do nothing’ enchantment. If you have Bello out, you have protection as it is now indestructible, but it’s likely going to take your next turn until it can do something. This also comes with the caveat that you don't fully use your mana. If Bello made all your artifacts/enchantments into creatures, then this card would be insane. And Bello would also likely be a super broken commander. But as it isn’t all it does is allow you to “store” unused mana in the form of Treasure. Nice thematically, but I would rather have a more impactful card.
Upgrade 3
The 3rd card I’m adding is Jhoira’s Familiar, this comes with my first honourable mention is Foundry Inspector.
The reason why I have Jhoira’s Familiar over Foundry Inspector is because it costs 1 more and is flying. So with Bello, it is a 4/4 flyer. Both give a discount for all the artifacts, and it is easy enough to put both in if you want to cut an extra card for the Foundry Inspector. Another bonus is that Jhoira’s Familiar isn't just for artifacts, it is for historic cards. So, any legends also get a discount, as the base deck only has 11 artifacts.
I’m dropping Prosperous Bandit. While it's nice to possibly get the two Treasures from this guy and his token offspring. Being a 2/2 and a 1/1, they are unlikely to be able to get through unless an opponent is wide open. I would rather have a more limited discount on Jhoira’s Familiar as this is always active.
Upgrade 4
Grothama, All-Devouring is coming out because of the risk factor. This can let you draw many cards, allowing you to draw 8 cards if you attack with at least two animated creatures. Bello's indescribable coming in clutch here. But that is also where the risk is: getting 4-1 with a removal spell. This is counteracted by you still drawing 8 cards, but you could have lost some important artifacts/enchantments you wanted to keep around. There is also the risk that your opponents can stop your attack and trade their creatures for the cards instead.
Mishra’s Self-Replicator in this deck is a full army in a can. It can create more copies of itself with every historic card you cast. Normally, it would only be getting 2/2, but with Bello, you are doubling the power and toughness. The bonus is that Mishra’s Self-Replicator copies can also have the ability, so you can get an exponentially larger army—as long as you have the mana to funnel into it.
Upgrade 5
I am adding Rampage of the Clans as a backup win condition in case something happens to Bello, Bard of Brambles. Maybe the commander tax has gotten too high, etc. This will let you turn all the artifacts into 3/3s and, hopefully, alpha strike. This is also an instant, so you can do this on the end step before your turn, turning it into a surprise army. Do note this is a symmetrical effect, so it will also make all your opponent's artifacts into creatures as well. So they can use these as blockers. The upside to this, though, is you can use it as utility and stop some problem artifacts on the other side of the table as well. Something to note is it works on all artifacts, so if you have a lot of token artifacts like Treasure or Clues, you can turn these into 3/3s. I have used this card to devastating effect in the Deep Sea Clue deck.
I am cutting Burnished Hart. Again, this might be wrong, but there are so many mana rocks already in the deck I don’t think we need a 6 mana way to get more land out. While this is my favourite art of the card, making it even harder to cut, it has to be done. I would much rather see Sakura Tribe Elder in this place. As the early game is where we want to be ramping. Going from 2 mana to 4 mana to as this is where our curve really starts in this deck. Rather than spend turn 3 casting Burnished Hart and then taking turn 4 off to sacrifice this to get the lands. This just seems so slow. Especially in a deck that should be the beatdown.
Upgrade 6
This one addition is a toss up between Chain Reaction and my second honourable mention, Blasphemous Act.
I only went with Chain Reaction as it is less known, and I like to try to highlight more obscure cards. The nice part about Bello, Bard of Brambles, is when it animates your artifacts it gives indestructible as well. So they will survive either of these board wipes, which you don’t get much in Gruul colours. Unfortunately, Bello won’t survive without additional help, so remember to leave up extra mana to recast it if you plan on going for an unblocked attack.
While I usually have a rule for not cutting any interaction from the Commander decks, I am making an exception for Decimate. The reason for this is that this card lacks a few words, “up to”. This means you need a target for each of these to be able to cast it in the first place. So, you need to target a valid artifact, enchantment, creature, and land. While the last two are easy enough, you need to have the first two as well. This is easier in this deck due to the amount of both being run, you might need to target your stuff. While Bello does help out with this via the indestructibility, protecting anything you target. it might lead to a bad blowout if he's removed in response, or worse, you don't even have him out and need to sacrifice your stuff to deal with a must answer threat.
Upgrade 7
Skysovereign, Consul Flagship is my next pick, being able to come down and immediately double pinging for 3 each or kill something bigger. Then, it is a repeatable source of evasive removal. You can also crew it if you really need that extra couple of points of power.
Cutting Wildsear, Scouring Maw could very much be a mistake. Getting free cards off the cascade is pure value. The only reason why I'm cutting this is that there are 13 enchantments in the deck. For each of these, you want to cast as soon as possible to get maximum value. So when you draw Wildsear, you are unlikely to have held back your enchantments to gain the value. You could rebuild this deck, and make Wildsear your commander, and move into an enchantment focused deck. But I am struggling with cuts in this deck.
Upgrade 8
Dollhouse of Horrors is my next addition. This one interacts with Bello, Bard of Brambles, similar to Bludgeoning Brawl, although both cards interact in Layer 7B, where power and toughness are set. If you make a copy of any 4+ mana creature, Dollhouse creates an artifact construct version. This also keeps the mana value so Bello will try to convert it into a 4/4 creature instead of a 0/0 if Bello was the second card. The nice part is that Bello doesn’t remove the abilities, so it will still keep the ability to increase its power/toughness equal to the number of constructs. This means you can have an ever increasing army, both in size and power/toughness.
Rampaging Baloths is a solid card, generating a sizable army all on its own. The problem is it relies on its landfall ability. This deck doesn’t have a way to play more lands on a turn, so no way to get more than one 4/4 a turn. This is then similar to Dollhouse, but I think Dollhouse has more utility being able to 'reanimate' to any of your creatures.
Upgrade 9
I have mostly focused on artifacts as I haven’t found many enchantments that fit well and are on a budget. There are many value enchantments like Outpost Siege and Sunbird's Invocation, but I wanted one that synergises with Bello. Sight of the Scalelords is one that does work, though, as this is the beginning of the combat trigger. Getting a double 'anthem' effect and vigilance to stop swingbacks. This does pair nicely with Unnatural Growth, getting your creatures to ridiculous power and toughness.
This Forest is the other land I am cutting.
Upgrade 10
The final card I am adding is Glorious Sunrise. All the modes on Glorious Sunrise are great in this deck. The draw is almost always active, with Bello making it into a creature. The first ability is the main reason I’m adding it, though, as it allows you to have a large alpha strike with trample.
I'm swapping Big Score for Glorious Sunrise. This is because Sunrise has a repeatable actual draw over the card “cycling” of Big Score. The Treasures are replaced with the land ability to tap for 3 (G). Just having it being a repeatable trigger on Glorious Sunrise makes it better for me.
Final Thoughts
I think that Animated Army is a cool idea for a deck. It is something we usually see in blue as that usually has all the animation effects for artifacts, while white usually gets the few we have for enchantments. Rocket, sorry, Bello, Bard of Brambles is a different spin on this, being able always to threaten a sudden alpha strike or just being an incremental card draw throughout a game. It makes for a strong commander!
There are a couple of extra cards I will slide in at the end. These are a series of old cards. Clockwork cards such as Clockwork Condor or Clockwork Hydra are a set that, like Dollhouse of Horrors, can suddenly get even bigger but fall under the same rules. The main problem is they slowly get smaller, which is why I chose Dollhouse as my inclusion instead. Also, something I didn’t touch on is Elemental tribal. As Bello animates your stuff into 4/4 Elementals, you can do some fun stuff with Kindred Elemental cards. Just a little food for thought and I hope to see you in the next one. Just remember, good luck and have fun.
Non Budget Upgrades
Need some more upgraded goodness? These cards aren't within budget, but I think they'd also be great additions:
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