We've seen very few cards as of yet, but are the following mechanics exclusive to their faction: Valiant (Mice), Thresold (Rats), Expend (Racoons), Forage (Squirrels)? Or can we expect to see at least a little of (some of) them in more colors?

Those four mechanics are unique to one animal archetype.

Why did you choose both mouse and rat to support as a major tribe in bloomburrow? I do not know the difference between mice and rats but colloquially people typically use the words interchangeably.or sometimes people say rats are big and mice are smaller. Or that rat is just a derogatory term for mouse. Couldn't you pick one or the other and then have a few of the other appear sparingly in the set? There are so many animals you could have done it feels like a waste to choose two almost identical animals. Also you mentioned that you did not rat and mouse to share a color. Is this because it would be difficult to tell the difference between a mouse or rat from just art? Different colors means you can say it's a mouse because it's white. Why both mouse and rat as major tribes?

Because they are the two most commonly used animals in the anthropomorphic animal genre.

Hey Mark! I'm one of the people really looking forward to learning more about Bloomburrow. I noticed that Rats are the Blue/Black archetype in Bloomburrow, even though I associate them a bit more with Black/Red, especially after Wilds of Eldraine last fall. Was making Rats be in Rakdos like they were in Eldraine ever considered? Or were they planned to be the Dimir archetype from the jump?

We talked about it, but liked them in blue/black better. We preferred not having Mouse (which was red/white) and Rat overlap in a color.

Are we going to see more mechanics for groupings of creature types like outlaws in the future? Like maybe fighters (Knights, soldiers, warriors, archers) or critters (rabbits, squirrels, rats, mice, etc) or undead (zombies skeletons vampires spirits)? Where does it sit on the storm scale?

There will be more batching. We do want to be careful how often and how intuitive the groupings are.

When you're seeding, do you know what the theme will do? For example, red and white mice were released in Wilds of Eldraine, did you know when you guys put them in what the r/w mice theme in Bloomburrow would do/be focused on outside of the type?

The closer we get, the more we know.

If rats are predominantly Black-leaning, are mice predominantly White-leaning?

Yes.

Hi Mark! What was the reasoning behind putting Mice as Boros in Bloomburrow (and can you give the reasoning for the other typals when the time comes)?

Nice are often the protagonist in the genre, and red/white has the right feel.

Redwall is surely not the only influence on Bloomburrow - but it has to be a huge one, up there with Watership Down.Both of these properties use charming anthropomorphic animals to tell what are extremely dark and heavy stories.Having [1] a human 'main' character in Ral and [2] communicating that Grist does not belong somewhat undermines a possibility I truly was hoping for.Traditionally 'dark' releases like Innistrad and Phyrexia have felt rather jolly in tone/outcomes, respectively... is there ANYTHING dark about Bloomburrow you can share right now?

I can’t get into the story yet, but I can correct an assumption you have. Ral is not the main character. Mabel, the mouse we previewed at MagicCon Chicago is the main character.

Can I guess the animals for each color in Bloomburrow? WU: Birds, UB: Bats, BR: Lizards, RG: Raccoons, GW: Rabbits, WB: Badgers, UR: Otters, BG: Squirrels, RW: Mice, and GU: Frogs

Everyone is free to guess. Here’s what I said in today’s panel. 1) There are ten two-color pairs.2) Every one is a different animal. 3) Red/white is Mice.4) We’ve seeded some cards in previous sets.5) I said that Rabbits and Frogs were two of the animals.I won’t tell you if you’re correct, but I enjoy seeing guesses.

Hi Mark! I saw that many didn't understand my post in relation to mermaids, mainly. But here in Brazil, a mermaid is one thing and a merman woman is another. We don't consider that Kiora is a mermaid, just as Ariel is not a merman. It would be like confusing mice with rats... In our mythology, we have Iaras, who are mermaids of rivers and lakes. It would be sacrilegious to say that she is a merfolk and not a mermaid...

Help educate me. We have numerous female merfolk with fish tails. How is that not a “mermaid” by your definition?