Welcome back, it's time for a new set of Magic: The Gathering. Normally I like to lay the groundwork to get some puns in but I just didn’t have a good base to work with for this set….
We are here for Foundations. Something else that is different is that we don’t have any Commander decks alongside, so there is no upgrade deck list. But what is this? Well, this is my Top 10 picks for cards from the Foundations set. This will have a slant towards Commander/EDH, as that is my usual focus.
Foundations is aimed at Standard. To give a foundation to it. Being more of an entry-level set, it is a great way to get introduced to Magic. Similar to how the Core sets of old used to be. However, Foundations is slightly different to other sets, at least in terms of Standard. Foundations is going to be Standard legal until 2029 at least and will be reprinted and re-released annually over that period. Foundations is a way for Wizards to put in mechanically unique cards as it doesn’t have any set wide mechanics that we are used to with normal sets. This allows them to put in weird reprints to help curb some of the price increases. Unfortunately, due to this being an entry-level set, the more wordy and complex cards can’t be added. So, some of the bigger ticket cards won’t be seeing a print here.
Table of Contents
While Wizards isn’t releasing any Commander decks, they are doing Jumpstart. This is a different way to play magic. You can read about the Jumpstart format here. But essentially, you get 2 Jumpstart boosters, shuffle them together to make a 40 card deck, and you are ready to play. This is designed as a quick way to play some Magic without any pre-built decks. Why am I talking about Jumpstart? Well, it comes with some new cards that can only be found in the Jumpstart packs.
This leads me to my first honourable mention:
General Kreat, the Boltbringer, is a Legendary version of Witty Roastmaster. This means you use it as your Commander to always have access to it. But it's better as it also generates a token if you attack with a Goblin, with itself also being a Goblin for this trigger. While likely a Goblin Kindred card, it will probably slide right into a Krenko, Mob Boss deck. I can also see this being used to great effect alongside any commander that makes a lot of tokens. This was only relegated to being an honourable mention due to it being in the Jumpstart packs. I didn’t feel right including it, as it wasn’t in the main set.
Speaking of which, let's jump right into my Top 10 Picks. I will quickly state that the order of these has no actual relevance.
10 - Doubling Season (and other reprints)
At number 10, I have Doubling Season. This is going to be a catch-all for the reprints of this set as any reprint is a known quantity. And with this set being about 50% reprints I could probably fill this list with all reprints. But that's boring, and I want to talk about the shiny new cards we get to play with. But I couldn’t not talk about some of the better ones. Doubling Season is one of the pricier ones, holding a current value of around £20. Even with multiple reprints, with the most recent being the Enchanting Tales version from Wilds of Eldraine, this is because it's a powerhouse of a card. Giving Double, as the name suggests, for both tokens and counter strategies.
Imprisoned in the Moon is another reprint that I want to highlight. This is a card that I rarely ever see in other people's decks but one I think more people should play. Universal removal in blue is limited outside of counter spells. This absolutely hoses commanders, as it doesn’t let your opponents return them to the command zone like other removal, because this isn’t making it change zone; it just becomes a Land. So unless they have a way to destroy their own Land or remove the Enchantment, the commander is stuck. While it can be harsh, it is also a great reminder to pack interaction.
The final reprint I want to highlight is Kodama of the West Tree, although this is also in the Jumpstart packs. Kodama is one of those innocuous cards that doesn't look like much, but in the right deck, well, it can get out of hand pretty quickly. It gives Trample to your creature with a tower of counters on it, or if you have gone wide with them, spreading out the love. That gives you the chance to pull all your lands out of the deck, ramping you into the heavens and then leaving your deck full of straight gas, as you won’t be drawing any Lands.
9 - Herald of Eternal Dawn
Herald of Eternal Dawn is my number 9. This is Platinum Angel 2.0. While losing out being colourless, it does gain a huge keyword: Flash. You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant, allowing you to get this into play at a key moment. This is most important due to the last static ability:
“You can’t lose the game and your opponents can’t win the game”.
So, in response to your opponent’s Thassa’s Oracle trigger, you can Flash this in and stop the win. This will likely cause them to lose on a following turn as they won’t have a library left. This is all on top of it being a 6/6 Flying body, which isn't bad. However, for 7 mana, it really needs the static ability to make it worth it.
8 - Tinybones, Bauble Burglar
Up next, we have another Commander. This one is Tinybones, Bauble Burglar. While one that might draw hate due to the play style, Tinybones is known for discard, and this version is no different. It does, however, have the bonus ability of being able to “steal” your opponents' cards, allowing you to play them instead. The bonus part of this is they aren’t exiled under Tinybones, meaning they aren’t lost when Tinybones is killed. If you replay him or bring him back, you can still play any of the cards Exiled. This is because they are exiled with a Stash counter. So, any instance of Tinybones sees these as viable cards. This is the same as how a different Karn, Scion of Urza, can grab a card exiled from a previous one.
The key feature of Tinybones, Bauble Burglar is that it's a cheap commander, meaning you can get it out early and then start the engine going when your opponents discard cards. This is all while your opponents are trying to set up with Ramp spells. It is also a complete package with discard built in on the last ability. But at 4 mana and tapping, I would only be turning to this as a last resort after exhausting all the other discard effects. But this will undoubtedly be a great Commander able to grind out your opponents with their own cards.
7 - Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
Sphinx of Forgotten Lore is my next pick. Having been so focused on Commander until now, I think this is going to be a big player in Standard. Although it will also make a showing in a similar format, most probably in a Control shell, I could see a tempo deck making use of this if there is one. Just being able to replay your Instants and Sorceries from your graveyard. Grinding out the value. The key part of this card is Flash. Being able to hold up the counter magic if necessary. If your opponent doesn't play anything relevant, you can drop this in instead. This will allow you to replay your removal and deal with a threat. The other nice part is it is less vulnerable to removal. As it will need instant speed removal to deal with it so you don't get the Flashback value.
6 - High Fae Trickster
Speaking of Flash, we have High Fae Trickster next. It has Flash itself and gives all your spells Flash. This is a mashup of Leyline of Anticipation and Shimmer Myr. On a side note, I think this is what Nadu, Winged Wisdom was originally going to be. Nadu was originally meant to give all your other cards Flash, but a last-minute design change altered it to the Menace we have now. So I think they changed the original card to being High Fae Trickster instead. They changed Nadu around due to it being too strong. Whoops. I still think the current printing of Nadu is better. Even though it costs one mana more, it's still a good card, especially as it's now mono Blue instead. This allows it to fit into more decks. Some cards were never meant to be cast at Instant speed. So, it will be interesting to see what shenanigans this card can enable. Even at the floor level for this card, it will allow you to Flash in creatures ready to attack on your turn. The ceiling, however, is likely to enable combos and some blow out cards.
5 - Archmage of Runes
At number 5, we have another Blue card, the Archmage of Runes, yet another discounter for a Spellslinger deck. At (3)(U)(U), this wouldn’t be playable, let alone be able to make it to this list. It’s the second triggered ability that makes this card worth it. With the ability to draw cards by casting Instant and Sorceries, it allows you to keep chaining spells together. That has always been a problem for Spellslinger decks. Being able to keep your hand full while also trying to generate mana for your payload. Having to try to weave in card draw spells. Archmage of Runes solves this nicely, allowing you to just play ritual style cards to generate increasing amounts of mana while having enough remaining cards to keep playing them. Also, digging you deep for the pay off, if you don’t already have it. This also leads me to my second honourable mention:
This one looks like a Dragon Kindred card. While it does go in there, it is much more than that as it also works with non-creature spells. So, if you are a Spellslinger deck, then this is a win con. This reminds me of Guttersnipe. Same mana cost, same stats. While one less damage is big, it never hurts to have multiple of the same effect, and allows you to get more consistency. Where this card truly shines, though, is in Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm. Getting two of these and then being able to double ping for pretty much any card you play after it.
4 - Niv-Mizzet, Visionary
My next card is also a Dragon. The leader of the Izzet League, Niv-Mizzet, Visionary, is the latest version of Niv-Mizzet. Being a respectable body as a 5/5 Flyer for 6 mana, it almost has a throw-away line of "no maximum hand size". But this comes into effect with the last ability: able to draw cards when you deal noncombat damage to your opponents. Do that Lightning Bolt to your opponent's face also draws you 3 cards. Yes, that is right. 3 cards! It draws equal to the damage dealt, not just how many instances. So your big Fireball-style cards turn into big draw spells as well. Do note, this ability is not a may ability either, so you are forced to draw those cards. So, if you want to try and burn out your opponents, you need to make sure you have the cards to draw. The only expectation to this is if you can kill all your opponents (or your last one) in one go. So if you went Infinite and cast a big burn spell to do 100 damage to each of your opponents, you are ok. On the other hand, Niv-Mizzet, Visionary is a triggered ability, meaning it goes onto the stack after you deal the damage. Dealing 100 damage to your opponents would mean they are already dead, and you win the game before you have to draw cards and lose due to decking out.
Something I find funny about this card is another infinite you can do. Well, you can do it with 2 cards. Specifically, two other versions of Niv-Mizzet. Niv-Mizzet, Parun and Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind. Both of these deal noncombat damage for drawing cards, meaning that if you start the chain. Either dealing noncombat damage or drawing a card, you can then ping down your opponents in instances of 1 damage for each card you have left in your library. While there are other cards that can do this, too. I find it quite amusing that it works with other copies of Niv-Mizzet. It is the epitome of a deck playing with itself.
3 - Bloodthirsty Conqueror
We finally have it. Another copy of Exquisite Blood. This card is a classic combo with Sanguine Bond and is able to form an infinite loop to drain all of your opponent's life. While we have had numerous versions of Sanguine Bond, such as Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, or the standard legal variant of Enduring Tenacity, this now allows for the combo to be standard legal. It will add an interesting dynamic, especially if paired with the Unstoppable Slasher and Bloodletter of Aclazotz combo.
This is the first time we have had a duplicate version of Exquisite Blood. This comes in the form of Bloodthirsty Conqueror. Although being a creature makes it more vulnerable, I will still take more versions of it. Even with that, it is a solid body. For (3)(B)(B), you get a 5/5 Flyer with Deathtouch. Also, with the ability, it gives its sudo Lifelink, as any damage you deal to your opponents, you will gain it. While not being able to gain any off damage to creatures, any other unblocked creatures will gain you life. Depending on the speed of the Standard format, this might see some play. I could also see this as a finisher for a Control deck. As it can stabilise the board by being a 5/5 flying wall and then gain you back your life by attacking your opponent when you have dealt with their creatures.
2 - Mossborn Hydra
Mossborn Hydra is my number 2 pick. This one is going to get out of hand quickly. If left unchecked, it turns into a monster of a creature. Imagine getting this out on turn 2 via a Llanowar Elves turn 1 (shout out to the reprint). Then you put down fetch land like Terramorphic Expanse. Now you have a 4/4 on turn 3 that can then grow to a 8/8 on turn 4. This is on top of it having trample so no chump blocking for your opponent. This is going to demand immediate removal or it will end the game quickly. In terms of Commander, it’s okay. It's another Landfall payoff. That again will demand an answer as it will be able to grow even quicker, especially in a deck built around Landfall. Where it falls off a bit is it’s just a big body. It can’t even double the counters on another creature. While a good addition to those decks, this isn’t Bristly Bill, Spine Sower.
1 - Blasphemous Edict
The final card that I want to talk about is Blasphemous Edict. This is a spicy card. It also has a clear callback to Blasphemous Act as it can be cast for 1 mana if a condition has been met. 13 is also a reference to the damage dealt by Blasphemous Act. The condition of this to be a 1 mana sudo boardwipe isn’t that unreasonable. In a 4 person game, it only requires 3 players to have 3 creatures out and one other to have 4. That is a pretty tame boardstate. Where Blasphemous Edict falls down is against token decks. As its 13 creatures sacrificed on that player's choice. But there are plenty of ways to deal with small creatures in Black. There are a lot of -X/-X “board wipes,” but they don’t tend to go that high, the best two being Languish and Black Sun’s Zenith. For proper board wipes in black, we are limited when it comes to cheap ones. Mutilate is great but requires you to be heavily committed to Black or mono Black. Toxic Deluge is the premier black board wipe, being the cheapest at 3 mana, but it does come with the drawback of having to pay life to remove everything. Damnation is probably the best of the lot, being a colour-shifted version of Wrath of God. It’s 4 mana for an unconditional board wipe. It doesn’t get much better than that. Crux of Fate is the closest card to which I would compare Blasphemous Edict. While on the surface, they don’t look all too similar, they both cost 5 mana or have mana value of 5. Although, you are likely to be casting Edict for 1 mana. The next part is that they aren’t full board wipe. Crux of Fate will be a full one unless you are playing with/against a Dragon deck. That is similar to Blasphemous Edict, in which you are likely to be able to deal with everyone's creatures. Unless they have 14 creatures, they are all gone. Just a quick rules note:
609.3 “If an effect attempts to do something impossible, it does only as much as possible”.
So, in this case, if a player has less than 13 creatures, they sacrifice as many as they can. The final thing I want to talk about regarding Blasphemous Edict is the sacrifice part. This slots right into sacrifice-style decks such as Tergrid, God of Fright. It's not like that deck needed more goodies to play with, anyway.
Final Thoughts
I really like the concept of Foundations. While the Core Sets of old were never my favourite sets, I did see the reasoning behind them. They were a great way to bring newer players into Magic and not overwhelm them with keywords, complex mechanics or strategy. A lot of the modern sets require your decks to have synergy with each card meshing as part of a bigger machine. Having a more simplistic way to bring in people, I see this as Wizards trying to revitalise Standard. But good luck with that, as most LGS majority Commander nights now. However, that is a whole different discussion.
It is also nice for Wizards to have a product that they can put in mechanically unique cards into, as you can’t do this with regular sets. Wizards don't like to reprint a mechanic without having more of it in a set. But Foundations, you can do this as it doesn’t have colour-specific themes. So, it gives them an outlet to reprint some more expensive random cards. That said, it would be nice to see different cards slide into the future reprints. While they haven’t said they won’t, I can also see them just reprinting the exact same cards next year. This keeps the same card pool in standard.
There have been so many good cards, with some being fairly pushed. But at the same time, being held back a bit by the power level of standard. An example of this is the Twinflame Tyrant. If this had been in a commander product, I could easily see it as a 4/5 or even a 5/5 instead. Also, Quilled Greatwurm would probably get some form of protection. Most likely Ward. These and other ones are still likely to make the push into Commander. Time will tell how many can actually break through. But with how diverse Commander is and the recent shake-up of Wizards taking over the Banned list, these are exciting times for Magic.
I hope to see you in the next blog. Remember, good luck, and have fun.
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