Magic: The Gathering Bloomburrow (BLB), is officially released and with it there are 6 new mechanics added to the Magic Lexicon with this set: Expend, Forage, Gift, Offspring, Pawprint Seasons, and Valiant. I will go over each one and include the reminder text for everyone's convenience.

What is Expend?

"You expend N as you spend your N'th total mana to cast spells during a turn." When it comes to triggering Expend, the mana you spend is cumulative, so the N'th Mana spent is the one to trigger the ability, and it can only trigger once per turn. The mana you spend play a card with Expend does not count towrds it's own fulfillment of that requirement as it does not see it self on the battlefield, and any extra or alternative cost to cast will count, so mana from additional costs like Overload or Flashback do count towards the requirement. This new mechanic is tied in directly with the Raccoons of Bloomburrow. You might think the Animated Army Precon, which is helmed by Bello, Bard of the Bramble would contain a mass of like Tribal/Typal cards in the decklist, but it follows a different theme. If one were to make an Expend themed deck or Raccoon Tribal/Typal Commander deck I would recommend a search on Scryfall, and suggest using Muerra, Trash Tactitian as the Commander.

What is Forage?

"To forage, exile three cards from your graveyard or sacrifice a Food." This Squirrel based mechanic rewards you for having cards in your graveyard and food synergies. A Food Token that is sacrificed to the Forage ability cannot also be sacrificed for its Lifegain properties. Though the best squirrel commander is undoubtedly Hazel of the Rootbloom, who helms the Squirreled Away Precon; Camellia, the Seedmiser is a close second. Camellia can generate 1/1 Squirrel Tokens at a quick pace, and her Forage ability lets you give them +1/+1 Counters as well as the Evasion Keyword Menace, helping set you up for overrunning your oppenents with an army of high powered Squirrels.

What is Gift?

"You may promise an opponent a gift as you cast this spell. If you do, when it enters, they ... before its other effects" The Gift mechanic in MTG is an additional cost on new Bloomburrow cards that you may choose whether or not to pay. It benefits an opponent (usually a small benefit) for an increase in the card's power to you, and in almost every scenario you want to be promising Gifts. Kitnap for example has a much greater use if the Gift is promised, for the low price of letting 1 opponent draw a card, you may untap and use the card you Kitnapped the following turn instad of 4 turns later. The spell MUST resolve in order for the Gift to be granted, and you can only target one opponent with each instance of Gift.

What is Offspring?

"You may pay an additional {N} as you cast this spell. If you do, when this creature enters, create a 1/1 token copy of it." Now we're really cooking. My favorite mechanic in the Bloomburrow set, Offspring can get out of control and let your decks "do it's thing" with twice the efficiency of any usual Magic card. Coruscation Mage and Agate Instigator are autoincludes to a pinging burn strategy like Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph and Ojer Axonil Commander Decks. In Red, which tends to struggle with having enough card draw, this mechanic can grant you up to two creatures on the board with one card, and Agate Instigator even gets 1 free trigger off its own Offspring. Zinnia, Valley's Voice, face Commander of the Family Matters Precon, bestows Offspring on the creature spells you cast, making her the go to abuser of this ability. An important thing to take note of is unlike the Squad mechanic, you may pay the Offspring cost only once time per cast, but don't let that deter you from adding these miniature sized powerhouses to your repertoire.

What are Pawprint Seasons?

"Choose up to five {P} worth of modes. You may choose the same mode more than once." Pawprint seasons are a cycle of modal Sorcery spells that cost 3-4 Colorless Mana and 2 pips of RGBUW. There are 5 in total, one for each color. The flexibility and range of options this type of spell provides is very powerful. I am so impressed with this cycle that I will be adding Season of Loss to my Tergrid, God of Fright Commander Deck, and Season of The Bold to my aformentioned Ojer Axonil Deck. Season of The Burrow, Season of Weaving and Season of Gathering all have significant benefits as well and will surely find homes in a crowd of Magic players decks.

What is Valiant?

"Whenever [[Card Name]] becomes the target of a spell or ability you control for the first time each turn..." The alphabetically last and in my opinion also the least interesting mechanic of Bloomburrow for Commander is Valiant. Essentially a less good variant of the Heroic Mechanic from the Theros Block, it trades the ability to have multiple triggers per turn for a reduced payoff and one trigger per turn, plus the allowance of targeting abilities to satisfy the trigger requirememts. Whiskervale Forerunner has a crazy Valiant payoff, letting you tutor up a 3 CMC or less card and play it immediately if it is your turn.

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