Complete MTG Foundations Card List Breakdown

MTG ‘Foundations’ is a new Standard set with a twist – it’s going to stay in Standard until at least 2029, meaning, as the name suggests, the cards within it will be the building blocks of the format for years to come.

For those of you who have been playing the game for a while, Foundations is the latest take on what used to be known as a ‘core set’, which came out every year and, while rotating some cards in and out, was made up of staples of the game skewed to simplicity (e.g. card like Giant Growth). Core sets always had the issue that they weren’t as popular with players as other Standard sets, often lacking a creative theme for players to get excited about, or just not having many new cards. As such, core sets went away – and with them went many staple cards from the Standard format which the game’s designers struggled to thematically fit into other sets.

Foundations helps solve that problem with a core set that’s legal for at least five years without having to be replaced. Foundations also helps solve another issue, which is a certain amount of community discontent over the recent announcement that, going forward, Universes Beyond products will all be Standard legal, meaning it’s not too long until we’ll have Spiderman web slinging in Magic’s most historically relevant format. Foundations helps to get around this by providing a slew of iconic, powerful, and very ‘Magic’ feeling cards that should provide the backbone of the format.

Unlike some other Magic sets, Foundations is quite clear in its themes – making it easy for new players to understand what’s happening, while bringing back some nostalgic ‘classics’ for established players. For example, there’s an elves theme in green, while white has life gain. Vampires are back in black, ‘flash matters’ is here in blue, and red has lots of aggressive creatures including a horde of goblins.

Let’s look at some of MTG Foundation’s key cards:

Key cards

Llanowar Elves

Llanowar Elves dates back to the first ever MTG set, Alpha, released more than 30 years ago. While innocuous on the surface, the one-mana creature taps to create a mana itself, effectively providing another land drop and allowing you to jump to three mana on turn two, and beyond. There’s no doubt almost every green deck will start with x4 Llanowar Elves, with the card being a mainstay in casual and competitive decks from when it was first printed. Also worth noting is that MTG Foundations features many other elf cards too, potentially making an elf deck viable and adding more options to elf-loving commander players.

Day of Judgement

There was a time when Wizards declared four-mana wraths were too good, likely off the back of Sphinx’s Revelation dominating Standard with Supreme Verdict for the time it was legal, and control players had to deal with more conditional board sweepers. Those days look to be behind us with Day of Judgement returning to Standard, providing a hugely important piece to control decks, allowing a reset of the game that can often be a three, four, or five-for-one (or more!). For new players, a key tip – play it in decks where you don’t have any creatures!
 

Omniscience

Omniscience is a card that threads the needle perfectly being super fun, but also competitively viable in the right formats. It’s seen competitive Standard play in formats that allow you to cheat it into play, and Commander players love it in big and silly blue decks like Jhoira of the Ghitu. Once it’s in play, its effectively game over, so long as you’ve some draw spells to draw into some haymakers to drop, such as the Eldrazi titans.

Nine-Lives Familiar

The first new card on the list, Nine-Lives Familiar looks harmless, even unpowered, at first, being a 1/1 for just three mana, but what’s exciting here is the combo potential. Any deck looking to sacrifice creatures for benefit (i.e. ‘aristocrats’ decks) will have the ability to go off, giving you effectively nine creatures to sacrifice on a single card. And even after the last counter has gone, if you’re playing any graveyard recursion, you can bring it back and start all over again. I’m already running it in my Korvold, Fae-Cursed King and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Commander decks, and it’s working exactly as planned.  

 Anthem of Champions

A simple card with huge appeal to anyone looking to get aggressive with creatures, Anthem of Champions costs just two mana, cheaper than the iconic Glorious Anthem which came before it. Not much more to say here, aside from that it’ll really shine in token decks that want to add lots of bodies to the board, see the rabbits decks from Bloomburrow.

 
Elvish Archdruid

A perfect companion to Llanowar Eleves, the Elvish Archdruid is a key reason to play elves, both pumping up all your other elves, and providing a potentially massive mana boast for a game ending play, whether it’s an overrun or otherwise. If elves deck are a thing, expect lots of Archruids to show up.

Bloodthirsty Conqueror

On the surface, the Bloodthirsty Conqueror looks like any other big dumb five drop creature, with the extra synergy of being a vampire with a life gain ability (there are lots of both in MTG Foundations). However, there’s more here than meets the eye – Bloodthirsty Conqueror is one part of an infinite combo that’s likely to become a key feature of Standard and Commander. Combine it with Bloomburrow’s Starscape Cleric (and other options), and then all you need to do is make the opponent lose a single life to start a combination that wins on the spot. It’s a brave move to put a combo like this in Standard, however you’d imagine there’s enough instant-speed removal in the format to, hopefully, keep it in check. For Commander, it adds another option for decks running the combination of Exquisite Blood and Sanguine Bond

Herald of Eternal Dawn

One of the most popular casual cards of all time – Platinum Angel – returns, this time as a white creature. Herald of Eternal Dawn is certainly geared more for the casual crowd and Commander players; however it is worth noting Platinum Angel did show up in Standard back in the day. The Herald will need some way to cheat it into play, whether it’s reanimation or similar, but it’s effect can be game breaking if you’ve a way to protect it. The addition of flash is a nice twist too, saving you by surprise as death is imminent!

Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Liliana is a serious Planeswalker in almost every format – it takes down creatures, provides you with zombies, and draws a tonne of cards if left unchecked. A great option for any black midrange or controlling deck, and its borderline busted in Commander along in a sacrifice theme deck.

Doubling Season

Doubling Season could be the most fun casual card of all time. It’s unlikely to make any real impact on Standard, however that doesn’t mean it’s not powerful… in the right deck, most likely in Commander. It can do crazy things, whether it’s making tokens, dishing out +1/+1 counters, or even doubling up the loyalty counters Planeswalkers enter with – helping them go ultimate (and often winning the game) in no time.