Magic: the Gathering Foundations Review, Part 3 of 3: Red, Green, Multicolor, and Colorless Cards

After many years, a Core set has returned to Magic. This Standard legal set is 50/50 new cards and reprints, and will remain legal through at least 2029 with annual reprints. A pared down selection of cards will be available in a Starter Collection and Beginner Box aimed at new players, with boosters for the more enfranchised crowd. There is no overarching story, though there will be a planeswalker and legendary creature in each color to serve as its face.

Foundations will release to MTG Arena on November 12th, 2024, and to the tabletop on November 15th.

Last time we covered the white, blue, and black cards, and this time as usual we won’t be looking at everything, but what we will be looking at, we’ll be looking at primarily but not exclusively with an eye for Commander play.

Red

 

Boltwave

Marcy: In formats that have access to Lightning Bolt, this card is obviously inferior, except in the sense that it adds one more 1 mana burn spell to your repertoire. However, in a format like Standard, this card has potential to pile up 12 damage to your opponent, restricted to the fact that it can only be cast on your turn (barring any shenanigans that allow you to do otherwise). Overall kind of ‘fair’ for burn, but Red Prowess decks mostly do everything on their turn anyway.

Ryan: It’s no Lightning Bolt but Boltwave is likely to be the premier burn spell for the next few years for most upcoming red decks. Burst Lightning will probably see more play since it can hit creatures too, but being able to deal three damage right to the face isn’t anything to ignore.

Loxi: For one mana it’s actually a pretty good way to dish out (usually) 9 damage to the table, but the issue is that Commander games really don’t come down to who can chuck burn fast enough on the early turns. In decks where you can amplify this damage like Torbran, Thane of Red Fell, I can see this pulling some weight, but I wouldn’t run it aside unless you’re really committed to Burn + Spellslinging.

FromTheShire: Instant staple in 60 card formats.

 

Bulk Up

Marcy: A deceptively simple and strong card that does exactly what it says it is going to do; the Flashback cost might seem extravagant, but frankly it kind of needs to be; at the point in the game in which you might want to flash it back where you’ve hit having 6 mana around, it may also be what you need to win the game. I can see Red/Boros shells in Standard liking this card for sure.

Ryan: At instant speed, Bulk Up is going to be one of those very sneaky cards that is just going to get players sometimes. There are quite a few variations of x/R decks running around based around creatures with valiant or with Fling effects so don’t be surprised if this card pops up every now and then.

Loxi: These cards always have the flexibility to be used as a way to close out games and as a way to deal with pesky blockers that are a bit too tough to handle. Getting to do this twice is really useful, and in the case of Voltron strategies you’re not effectively “wasting” mana giving the creature keywords it may already have.

TheChirurgeon: The best red version of Berserk we’ve gotten so far – a solid improvement over Fatal Frenzy, and trading out Trample for Flashback is a good deal, letting this spell hang around in your graveyard to absolutely ruin someone’s day later in the game.

 

Chandra, Flameshaper

Marcy: The ultimate is pretty meh, she’s VERY expensive, and the best thing she can do is give you 3 of that mana back the turn she hits the table and maybe help you fish for an answer. As for this being a starter set, I think she’s fine, but I can’t say I find her very impressive in any other capacity.

Ryan: Seven is so much mana, I can’t really remember the last time I got to seven mana in a red deck. Being able to dish out eight damage split however you like as soon as she comes down is nice though. I’d love to see some way to cheat her out early in the next set or something to help make her a little more viable.

Loxi: She’s pretty powerful for sure, but I think she still suffers the issue many expensive planeswalkers do of basically being good for 1-2 activations before kicking the bucket. That being said, all of her abilities are quite good, and she basically always has something useful to do on the table. I think she’ll function best in decks where that +1 can sometimes net you a win off a big creature, because the other two abilities will pretty much be useful anywhere there’s Red.

TheChirurgeon: It’s hard for seven-mana walkers to deliver enough value to see play, but Chandra manages to avoid that, both because she can drop 8 damage and get some easy 3-for-1s the turn she hits the battlefield, and because her +1 ability is capable of creating immediate infinite combos with things like Felidar Guardian, The Peregrine Dynamo, and Combat Celebrant.

 

Dropkick Bomber

TheChirurgeon: A solid Goblin Lord. Well, it’s OK. Flying is fine, but generally having more lord options is all upside.

Ryan: Don’t let your memes be dreams little, unfortunate Goblin. If you want to fly you can. Dropkick Bomber isn’t quite a fling effect but it is close enough as far as your opponent’s life cares. The neat thing is that you can use it defensively to chump block some beefy flyer coming your way too.

Marcy: Certainly think there are a lot of ways you could find this into some Goblin decks. A nice Goblin lord, I also wonder if there is some very fun or silly combos to be done with Changelings or other creature type shenanigans to then fling something at a person and kill them.

Loxi: Goblins make so many dudes that anthems are especially powerful in comparison to other creature types, so this is always a warm welcome. The ability is nice for offence, but I particularly like it as a way to chump some flying targets you might not be able to readily remove, which can sometimes be a problem for Goblins.

 

Electroduplicate

TheChirurgeon: This is just Heat Shimmer but better, right? Like seriously, this is just better and Heat Shimmer was already an extremely good card. I mean yeah I guess there’s the restriction you can’t copy an opponent’s creature but I don’t think that’s particularly relevant when we’re talking about cards you use for combo purposes.

Marcy: There certainly feels like combo potential here, and the flashback cost makes it very enticing. I think it could also serve as a ‘finisher’, where you just needed an extra body to get over the wall.

Ryan: I have the feeling that there’s potential for some combo coming, but it just hasn’t made its way to Standard quite yet. As soon as some creature comes out that lets you copy a spell when it enters the battlefield you will be able to combo off. Not to mention, it has flashback for just one generic mana more, which is an added level of consistency against any sort of distruption.

Loxi: Creatures in Magic have become very good over the years, good enough that having duplicates of some can just end games on their own. With this, you can make that happen twice. It’s expensive to do all in one turn but hoooo boy, you can really mash someone with this.

 

Firespitter Whelp

Marcy: A very strong card in the set that it is in, and the format it is entering; Standard has so many cheap Red spells alone that this would fit great into most Red aggro/burn decks as a game ending 3 drop, assuming it doesn’t die on the spot. The following turn, untapping and then casting lots of cheap spells–even 4–is just 4 free damage, plus whatever the spells were themselves.

Ryan: I want to start off saying I like this card, I just don’t know what to do with it. There are better ways to deal damage off of your noncreature spells, and there are better uses for your mana in a Dragon-themed deck. If this Dragon cost one mana less, or did one damage more, it’d be amazing.

Loxi: Spellslinger has used Guttersnipe for ages to actually progress the game towards finishing off the table, so more of those effects are always welcome. Adding dragons and being attached to a flier is always handy too.

TheChirurgeon: Dragon tribal decks need much more castable/playable small creatures, and this is pretty solid in that regard.

 

Kellan, Planar Trailblazer

Marcy: Just kind of a standard ‘level up this creature’ that does what it says on the card. It does some pretty nice stuff, and the 1-2-3 curve is actually not bad, although that sort of implies you’re spending your first, second, and third turns levelling up Kellan, which don’t seem overly monumental.

Ryan: Kellan has been busy traveling from plane to plane, gathering all sorts of skills and just being a happy-go-lucky guy. While it takes a bit of a mana commitment to get there, having a 3/2 with double strike that impulse draws you two cards a turn is pretty darn good.

Loxi: These evolving cards tend to be pretty solid in 1v1 formats, but it misses the mark in a multiplayer format. 6 total mana for a double strike flier that can give you two impulse draws isn’t bad, but it’s not really what I want to do in most red decks in Commander.

FromTheShire: I actually love this for Standard and Pioneer. Budget Ragavan is obviously worse on its face, but a lot of time red decks would love to have a mana sink of some kind in the later game and this seems great for that, giving you really useful abilities. The Faerie typing is also kind of oddly relevant with Spell Stutter in the format as well.

 

Rite of the Dragoncaller

Marcy: Like some of the other cards in our previous article, this is a ‘win more, maybe?’ card. It’s great for new players wow-ed by huge effects, but in practice, you are spending 6 mana to EVENTUALLY get 5/5 dragons, which… don’t have haste. So, you’re either saving mana for EOT on your opponent’s turn, or just… making a lot of bodies on your turn, in which case you probably won anyway before they could attack.

Ryan: Win More cards are always fun, especially in Commander where they really get a chance to shine, and if there’s a place for Rite of the Dragoncaller, it’s going to be in Commander. I don’t think you really want to be playing this in a Dragon-based deck, more of a spell slinger build with tons of cheap spells to spam the field with tokens.

Loxi: This is one of those “Crazy if you can untap with it” cards, which often turns into a “Can I survive the table for a turn” scenario. This is super powerful, and honestly flashing this in will often be the optimal thing to do if you can. Notably the dragons don’t have haste, but it’s still going to build a board really quickly in the right deck.

TheChirurgeon: This is a lot for a card that doesn’t do anything on its own but casting extra instants/sorceries is pretty easy as a trigger and the upside is solid enough that I could definitely see building around this.

 

Searslicer Goblin

Marcy: I think this finds a home in Goblin tribal style decks easily, from the sense that it is very cheap and pumps out Goblin tokens. There aren’t really a lot of Goblins in Standard at the moment (mostly just some from Ixalan), so this set is going to have to do most of the work to establish them.

Ryan: I don’t know if there’s a Goblin deck in Magic, even after Foundations drops, but having a constant stream of Gobling pouring out of Searslicer Goblin is probably going to be a good addition. Especially if there’s some way to utilize some sort of enter the battlefield trigger, like off of Warleader’s Call.

Loxi: 90% of Goblins that can make additional Goblins tend to be playable at a minimum, and this is no exception. It’s a solid way to bulk out the force of goblins you want to be supporting the actual creatures that swing in, since this only requires you the player to attack, not this creature.

TheChirurgeon: This is absolutely worth looking at in monored Sligh/RDW builds – the big downside is the lack of haste but the upside is the extra gas you get every time it goes unblocked.

 

Twinflame Tyrant

Ryan: Five mana for a functional 6/5 Dragon that doubles literally all damage you do seems like its going to be a dominating card in Standard for the next few years. Now your Boltwave is dealing six damage straight to the face, giving all your cards an incredible upgrade.

Marcy: While I want to agree with Ryan, I actually don’t really know if I do. I think this could be the ‘ender’ for Red that wants to focus on damage, but this card dies to so much removal that it doesn’t really seem to do anything great on the surface when it hits the battlefield, and most Red decks currently want to win on a curve of 3.

Loxi: I mean, this is just a crazy card right? It’s really cheap for a one-sided damage doubler, and being attached to a solid body has to be a crime. If you play any strategy that deals direct damage through combat or otherwise, I think there is some merit to running this. It’s more vulnerable to removal due to being a creature, but being an actual threat on it’s own makes up for that.

 

Green

Loot, Exuberant Explorer

Marcy: Oh hey it’s the thing that set was all about before all the sets started to not really make narrative sense. Anyway, kind of a basic staple Green effect: play another land. The other ability is actually quite nice, and 6 mana is easy when you’re ramping.

Ryan: I like Loot. They’re a little cutie that allows for some fun things to happen. Playing extra lands each turn is great earlier in the game, while their ability to get creatures from the top six cards of your deck is very strong, especially since you can do it at instant speed.

Loxi: This is one of the green cards ever: more lands and cheating out creatures. It’s solid for lands decks, I think it’s not really Commander worthy but I’d definitely check it out for landfall strategies.

TheChirurgeon: Isn’t this guy currently being tortured by Valgavoth?

Marcy: He got better.

 

Mossborn Hydra

Marcy: Landfall doesn’t have a ton of play in Standard at the moment but that doesn’t mean that a single card can’t MAKE it have a ton of play. Three mana for a 1/1 may not seem a lot, but there are actually quite a lot of decks that can ramp fairly effectively, and there are some filter lands too, meaning you could grow this quite easily.

Ryan: If you haven’t had the chance to play against Mossborn Hydra, or with it, you might underestimate the power behind this card. If you don’t have a removal spells for it, this colossal beast will just trample through your defenses in no time. While it might take a few turns to get going, Mossborn Hydra is likely going to be a solid green creature to pick from for as long as Foundations is in Standard.

Loxi: Speaking of landfall strategies, yeah this is a pretty good landfall payoff. I tend to like cards like this, where they fall into two distinct categories they could be good in: you can go deep on lands or you could go deep on +1/+1 counters. Play something like Bristly Bill, Spine Sower and this becomes a genuine game-ending threat within a turn or two. Bonus points for being both an Elemental and a Hydra, so this has quite a few cool decks in can slot into.

TheChirurgeon: This can get out of hand pretty quickly with even a single fetchland, but I’d have preferred to see it at GG instead of 2G. Still, the trample aspect is cool and this feels like a cool piece to combo around.

 

Preposterous Proportions

Marcy: This is like the epitome of ‘big dumb green’ and frankly I love it. Sadly, it really needed to include Trample, in my opinion.

Ryan: Big dumb green spells doing big dumb green things. This feels more like a Commander card that something that will do much in Standard, since it is considerably easier to hit seven mana while still having space to get some attacks in. Just imagine playing a tokens list and dropping this bomb and swinging in with 20 or so massive Squirrels.

Loxi: This best pairs with something that gives your board trample (or just playing a deck that naturally has a lot of evasion), but it’s a good finisher that doesn’t leave you exposed for overextending. I really like these new Overrun effects that feel much more potent than some of the old school ones and will provide a better budget alternative to things like Craterhoof Behemoth.

 

Quilled Greatwurm

Marcy: This is the first ‘big cost card’ that has a great effect that lets you cast it by cheating it out in the set that I’ve liked so far. I think there are plenty of ways to get counters on things and then yoink this out of the graveyard early, which then makes it an immediate ‘must answer’ or the game is just over.

Ryan: Is this one of the best green creatures Magic has gotten in a while? Probably. Quilled Greatwurm is already an efficient creature since you’re getting a 7/7 for just six mana, but it also has trample, a hot commodity on big green creatures, and then helps all your creatures get bigger and bigger with each attack. Even death can’t stop this baddie from wrecking the battlefield.

Loxi: This is a really good mid-game force multiplier for counter strategies. It’s going to grow your…er…counter count by a huge amount. Six counters is pretty feasible to get if you have a developed board, so getting to recast this later on just adds frosting on top.

 

Spinner of Souls

Marcy: I kind of like this card for the self-mill and refueling aspect of it, and for 3 mana with a decent body and reach, this feels like a very solid, standard card. I don’t know if that means it matters in a great capacity, but it is a ‘solid’ card.

Ryan: This is a solid green creature, but I’m just not super sure where it’ll fit in Standard. Turning your nontoken creature deaths into cantrips is good, don’t get me wrong, but I’m just not sure what to do with Spinner of Souls.

Loxi: I quite like this for Golgari Sacrifice decks, it basically reads “when a nontoken creature dies, draw a creature from your deck” which is…really good in a deck that always wants to have creatures. That’s also not a bad deal at all for three mana and solid combat stats. I’m pretty on board with this one.

 

Sylvan Scavenging

Marcy: Cute card, fairly cheap, but also not extremely groundbreaking. You are at best getting +1/+1 every turn, and maybe churning out some Raccoons, but I don’t think this is going to be the type of card that turns the game in your favor.

Ryan: It’s a cute card, don’t get me wrong, but Sylvan Scavenging just doesn’t do quite enough to warrant playing unfortunately. Getting a free +1/+1 counter each turn is solid, but this might be stuck as a solid Limited pick rather than something to build around.

TheChirurgeon: This really doesn’t do anything for you if you don’t have any creatures. Feels really hard to build around effectively, and something I don’t think I’d play in constructed formats.

Loxi: Yeah I’m not crazy on this one either. I think if it didn’t require you to already control a creature to make the token I’d be more interested, but it potentially just doing nothing at times stinks.

 

Multicolor

Kykar, Zephyr Awakener

Marcy: Great for Flicker decks with an oddly decent second option if you have nothing worth flickering and don’t want to use the mandatory language trigger by giving you a 1/1 body. Pretty fairly costed too.

Ryan: Even though he lost a color Kykar isn’t here to mess around. The Bird Wizard turns your noncreature spells into blink effects or Spirit tokens, depending on your needs. He only hits creatures with his blink trigger, but if you have some solid ETB effects, you can do some serious damage with him.

Loxi: New blink Kykar is pretty cool, but does have a bit of weird synergy in that you don’t want to blink tokens, but it naturally makes tokens. This isn’t bad by any stretch of the word, it just means you often have to have other more powerful blink targets in your deck to use all the triggers of this effectively. I’ve been looking to modernize my own blink deck, and I think this could be a fun place to try it out. Kykar has enough stuff going on that it feels much easier to be proactive and push the tempo of a game rather than just durdle for value.

 

Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate

Marcy: Assuming you can keep Alesha on the field and growing, or grow her before damage is calculated, you could probably pull some fun Rakdos graveyard shenanigans here. For 3 CMC, I actually think she’s pretty viable too.

Ryan: I loved the old Alesha card so seeing her come back a few sets before we return to Tarkir is such a joy. This iteration of her has more of a focus on combat rather than combing, which is totally fine since she is constantly growing with each attack.

Loxi: A much more aggressive version of Reanimator than we often see, and that’s pretty solid. I can see some fun strategies where you really go in on making her powerful quickly, then self mill to cheat big creatures onto the board. It requires some setup (and protection, since she’ll be a removal magnet), but it’s a pretty interesting way to play the archetype.

 

Perforating Artist

Marcy: The type of low-cost, fairly strong Rakdos card that demands answers. Trading something valuable with it to prevent the trigger, or then taking the damage and sacrificing things or discarding cards makes this card worth paying attention to.

Ryan: This is like a group slug card in Standard, where your opponent has a choice on what they want to happen, but all the choices are bad. Over time, and after just a few attacks, they’re either going to be down on life, run out of cards, or not want to sacrifice their best permanents. More often than not, players are going to elect to lose the life or discard a card early on, but once their life total starts to creep under 10 or so, that choice becomes much more difficult.

Loxi: I’m a long time Rakdos, Lord of Riots player, so cards like this tickle me pink. Unless people are really low on life, they’ll often take the damage over losing something on board unless they have a lot of disposable tokens. Getting to take advantage of an extra 9 board wide damage a turn just for playing aggressively is really easy to leverage in a lot of decks, and once people start losing enough life they have to lose their cards. It does quite a bit for three mana, solid card!

TheChirurgeon: I really like the combo of Deathtouch and Raid, forcing your opponent to make a tough decision whenever you swing, but then after you attack they have to make another tough decision, making the choice to take damage even worse. Just a really neat creature.

 

Ashroot Animist

Marcy: There is already an established Lizard deck in Standard, although this card requires you to play Green, while the Lizard deck wants Rakdos. That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth considering as the set plays out and seeing if triple colored decks will actually make a name for themselves in Standard currently, where the mana base has a hard time supporting that.

Ryan: This Lizard is okay, but probably won’t be quite good enough to find a home in many decks. Gruul already has plenty of ways to pump up its creatures. Tragically, a better four-drop in red and green came along side Ashroot Animist, Halana and Alena, Partners and it just does so much more.

Loxi: It’s pretty solid, with no upgrades it dishes out Trample and 4/4 of stats just for attacking. Gruul Stompy tends to have a lot of natural Trample, but if you don’t for whatever reason, this can be a good way to hand it out.

 

Anthem of Champions

TheChirurgeon: This is a perfect card design. It’s so perfect I’m surprised it took us this long to get a multicolor anthem.

Marcy: This is absolutely going into a lot of the Enchantment aggro decks; it is super cheap and provides a likely double buff: you get an Enchantment and an anthem.

Ryan: Two mana for an anthem effect on an enchantment? All this card is going to take to get some play is some cheap token effects or a green and white weenie deck and maybe some enchantment synergies and you’ll have yourself a deck.

Loxi: This being specifically two mana is what I think makes it useful. I still think it might not see a ton of play in EDH specifically due to just being not very exciting to a lot of experienced players, but this is one of those cards that I would never dock someone points for running in a creature based strategy.

 

Elenda, Saint of Dusk

Marcy: Hexproof from instants is such an interesting little flavor on this; so many removal spells require instant speed investment, which also makes it hard for her to be removed on an opponent’s turn. Other than that, she’s decent and strong.

Ryan: Remember Blood Baron of Vizkopa? Well now Elenda gets to be your next midrange powerhouse in some sort of control deck. Giving her hexproof from instants helps her dodge practically all removal that players are likely to run, and over time, she just gets stronger and stronger.

Loxi: Hexproof from instants is really unique and very good, being only vulnerable to board wipes and more niche forms of removal really helps keep her alive. She functionally seems more like a good beatstick for Lifegain decks or a filler card for Vampire decks rather than a commander herself, but she’s a solid creature nonetheless. Rad art, too.

TheChirurgeon: This seems like a really cool Vampire Commander, though she doesn’t really do anything for your other vampires. Definitely a good deal for four mana, though.

 

Niv-Mizzet, Visionary

Marcy: As far as a Niv goes, this one is pretty meh. I don’t think this fits into Standard, although it would be funny to see a Commander Niv Tribal deck take shape at this rate.

Ryan: Will Niv be played in Standard? Probably not. Will he be jammed in tons of Izzet Commander decks? Absolutely. Being able to combo with other versions of him makes him even more reliable than before, and honestly, giving you the chance to draw cards from your burn spells makes him better than ever.

Loxi: Niv has always held his ground for being a really solid spellsinger commander, and this iteration is no different. He does pretty much everything you want in the archetype, although unlike some of his other versions he technically doesn’t have a win condition naturally stapled to him. That being said, you aren’t really short of ways to close out games in Blue/Red, so he provides a really versatile shell to build around.

I tend to like this type of Commander for new players, since he naturally will make a lot of mediocre spells really solid by just…stapling card draw to their damage effects. This means you can throw together some draft chaff burn cards with him to make a functionally playable deck for really cheap that tends to be pretty easy to learn on. It makes a great loaner deck to have on hand for new players or people who left their decks at home.

TheChirurgeon: The most castable Niv-Mizzet to date! That’s a pretty solid ability for Commander, and I like combining this with stuff like Boltwave to immediately draw three cards.

 

Koma, World-Eater

Marcy: Ward 4 really helps because while this isn’t counterable, it is very removable, and making a spell cost 6 mana to wipe this off the board is pretty intense. Koma is always a pretty big deal and this card feels like it is certainly in that vein.

Ryan: I love uncounterable spells in Magic. Having your big bomb get countered even before you get to do anything with it can be incredibly disheartening. Thankfully Koma is back to keep your game going. While not quite as snowball-y as their previous iteration, Koma is a massive 8/12 for just seven mana, which is incredible. Even sneaking one damage through to your opponent spawns four 3/3s, giving you 20 points on damage on the board after a single attack.

Loxi: Expensive, but pretty terrifying and really hard to deal with outside of board wipes. Notably also disgusting if you give it double strike. A pretty solid single card threat for the top end of big-mana or control decks that want to go the ol’ beatdown route to win. Funny enough, pair’s great with the old Koma, Cosmos Serpent since the tokens he makes are the same.

 

Zimone, Paradox Sculptor

Marcy: Another very well costed 4 CMC creature, and the doubling ability is very nice. I think you can see this in some Simic decks in Standard, and I do think counter-based decks (not counter spell, mind you) might get a little bit of growth, or some attempted growth, in Standard thanks to this set.

Ryan: Zimone has been enjoying some time in the center stage of Magic’s latest sets, and the latest version seems like the most fun to play. Every combat step you get to distribute two +1/+1 counters, and then you can pay two mana and tap her to double up all the counters on two creatures or artifacts. There are some silly things you can do with Zimone, especially with The Millennium Calendar running around.

Loxi: Doubling counters on artifacts is really the neat part here. Do we finally have the forbidden Charge Counter commander we’ve been waiting for?

 

Colorless

Banner of Kinship

Marcy: A pretty solid Banner effect, which Standard doesn’t currently posses. Does exactly what it says, and might find some homes as this set is trying to help establish some Tribal possibilities.

Ryan: Kindred decks got a new tool to pump up their creatures. This is definitely more of a Commander card than anything that Standard will see, especially since it costs five mana for an artifact that doesn’t do anything on its own. This seems like one of those cards that is going to steadily climb in price over the next few years, until it sees a reprint.

Loxi: I saw a few comments on social media that this card is Coat of Arms that doesn’t suck to track, and yeah that’s pretty spot on. While Coat has the cool effect of buffing everything and scaling with the board, this remains potent if you play it at a peak time and your board is wiped. In comparison, Coat plays a bit better if you don’t have as developed of a board when it comes into play, and it can continue to snowball higher as you progress with it. Both have different use cases, but this being easier to track and also being asymmetrical will likely have this see some more popularity.

 

Leyline Axe

Marcy: Ok, this is at least funny for the abuse of the Leyline effect. I don’t really think it matters much else than that.

Ryan: The first artifact in Magic to get the ‘leyline’ effect, Leyline Axe can give your equipped creature a huge boost in power once equipped. Theoretically, you can drop a Llanowar Elf on turn one, attach this to the Elf on turn two, and then start swinging in on turn three for four damage, though there’s very likely a lot of better things to do with it.

Loxi: I’ve chatted a lot about how early game “setup” is really key to a lot of decks, particularly equipment ones. Getting a really good piece of gear on the table for free before the game even starts is absolutely bonkers when you can use it well.

TheChirurgeon: I really like this – the notion of extending the leyline effect to equipment is really fun and the effect is solid.

 

Scrawling Crawler

Marcy: This is basically a Howling Mine of sorts, and honestly a pretty scary little card in formats in which Sheoldred is still running around. Making people lose 3 life while you gain 1 is pretty busted!

Ryan: There hasn’t been a solid Howling Mine effect in Standard in a while, and combining it with a punishing effect seems so much better. It could be really silly to see this Construct in a deck with Sheoldred, Phyrexian Arena and other bonus draw effects to keep your hand full and your life high.

Loxi: I adore this card. While wheels are not everyone’s cup of tea to play against, I really like cards that punish players for drawing since it’s really easy to get carried away and go unpunished just drawing your deck. This both hinders that as well as provides a cool strategy for Blue decks to win the game through forced drawing. Nekusar, The Mindrazer is a classic case for this, but I think this goes fine into any other deck that might make other players draw cards, or even as a way to actually end games in Group Hug.

 

Sire of Seven Deaths

Marcy: Oh hey look an Eldrazi that does… stuff. The ward cost is high, but if you calculate it as having to just take a hit from it, it may not really matter that much; of course, if you don’t have 7 life to spare, this card becomes trickier. It sure does have a lot of keywords!

Ryan: Look at all those keywords, just jumbled together in one massive Eldrazi, which is a cute addition to Foundations, possibly hinting at a return in the near future. This card is a massive bomb that is nigh-impossible to deal with under a lot of circumstances. And I know this is so incredibly minor but it bothers the heck out of me, this creature is called the Sire of Seven Deaths, but it should be only Six Deaths since lifelink doesn’t really kill anyone, you know?

Loxi: Albert Wesker’s Seven (Deaths) Minutes he can spare for you. Yeah this card rules, it’s just a bunch of shit on one card and all of it is good. On a side note, Menace, Trample, and First Strike combine to make this effectively unblockable to all but the biggest boards of chumps.

TheChirurgeon: This is one of my favorite cards in the set. It’s so bonkers and I love that there’s an Ulamogg and Kozilek version depending on which art treatment you get. All of that for seven mana is a really good deal.

 

Soulstone Sanctuary

Marcy: I guess this is a land that you could play? Even for a new set and in a vacuum, I don’t really find this very impressive.

Ryan: There are a ton of man-lands in Magic right now, so I’m not super sure where exactly Soulstone Sanctuary is going to fit in, especially since all the other ones also add colored mana. It’s solid, don’t get me wrong, but I’d like to see how it fits in to the meta.

TheChirurgeon: This is just super playable in about every format, acting as a souped-up version of Mutavault, which is also very playable.

Loxi: Colorless effect lands that enter untapped will always have a bit of play somewhere, even if it’s helping out Eldrazi decks. This is a little expensive to activate, but interestingly it isn’t until end of turn. It stays a land when you activate it, so it can be nice later in the game when you’re flooding out and need things on board.

FromTheShire: Yeah I’m not betting against any Mutavault variant seeing play.

 

That wraps up our look at the red, green, multicolor, and colorless cards of Foundations. Join us next time as we return to our regular content!

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