Magic: The Gathering has been running for quite a while, with tens of thousands of cards released over the past three decades. For many this is a huge part of the fun: playing a game with history, and decks that reflect that as time-honed strategies rise to the top and dominate for years.
Still, not everyone is interested in the usually glacial change of metas that playing with all, or even just the most recent 70% of cards, provides. For these players, Standard is king. This game mode usually encompasses cards that have been released within the past 2 years, give or take two or three sets.
However, even this is about to change with the release of Foundations. A new set announced by Wizards of the Coast, these cards will be Standard-legal until 2029 at the earliest, meaning the flow of change for Standard will be completely different for the next five years.
Will Foundation be good for Standard Magic players? Here we’ll go over Foundation’s possible effect on the game, and see whether or not players should be worried, or breathe a sigh of relief.
Foundations seems to be a new take on the Core Sets, which players will barely remember, as they were incredibly boring and only served to create more space in-between sets players actually wanted to play. The point of Core Sets was to provide somewhat generic but useful cards that could be used in broad situations, allowing it to bolster the current Standard meta without forcing new sets to lose new card opportunities for reprints.
While they were useful, they were incredibly boring, as they lacked their own flavor and mechanics that make a set interesting. Foundations seems to be a way to get a bunch of Core Sets all out of the way at once, adding cards that will be Standard legal for five years, creating a “Foundation.”
Thankfully, Wizards seems to understand that having sets like these be seen as mainline releases is a bad thing, and has placed the release of Foundations in between a number of other big releases. The Bloomburrow set releases in early August, followed by Duskmourn in late September, then Foundations in late November, followed by “Death Race” in Q1 2025.
Nestling Foundations in between these other sets means that players will still have other cards to play and draft with. Even if the set is fairly boring, there will still be others to draw players’ attention.
How will Foundations affect the Standard meta?
The main criticism that could bear some weight is the idea that a set like Foundations may make the meta of Standard much more stale. Having a pool of cards that hangs around for five years does feel antithetical to the constantly rotating format of Standard. We’ll have to see what cards are included in this set, but the spoilers shown so far do give us a glimpse at why this set might be a nice fit in Standard.
A fair number of reprints, such as Llanowar Elves and Omniscience, have already been spoiled, and I think it’s safe to say no one is scared of those cards warping the meta. These cards are classic, with one slotting into almost any deck that wants basic ramp, and the other being a goofy endgame card that is incredibly difficult to play. While these cards may end up in some decks, there’s nothing game-changing about them, and the fact that they’ve been around for so long just means that players are already aware of their use cases. It’s the spoilers of new cards that may provide more insight, however.
So far we’ve had two new cards spoiled: Nine-Lives Familiar and Anthem of Champions. Anthem of Champions is simple and useful, but by no means meta-bending; just providing a cheaper anthem effect for more restrictive mana. It’s Nine-Lives Familiar that bears looking at a bit more.
Nine-Lives Familiar is incredibly interesting and sounds fun, but works out to just be a simple sac outlet in the end. Both of these cards are generically useful, but not overpowered or interesting, which may just be the theme of this set. Very few cards from this set are going to be awesome. Instead, they’ll do what these cards do: provide interesting variations of timeworn ideas that can be slotted into a number of decks. Some of these cards will invariably find their way into Standard decks, but it seems doubtful that any would-be meta-bending in any way, meaning player fears will hopefully be unfounded.
The impact of Magic Foundations
The release of Foundations gives Wizards of the Coast a little more control over the Standard meta, allowing sets to flourish on their own. There are only so many cards a set has, usually between 200 and 300, and it can be hard to address every need of every playstyle within each set. By having Foundations available, the designers are free to design cards that are more unique and engaging, relying on Foundations cards to fill some of the more necessary, but not exactly interesting, card staples.
The biggest pro, and the one I hold dearest to my heart, is the profitability and longevity of the set. Magic is expensive. Incredibly expensive. As such, it can be hard to leave the game for any amount of time and come back to it. Two years go by, and suddenly every card you have is no longer Standard-legal, meaning that you’ll have to shell out hundreds just to have one functional deck in the Standard metagame. Foundations could provide a way for players to return to the game and still have a base of cards that will have a place in Standard, making it cheaper to return. The cards themselves should be cheaper also, as the set being around for five years means that the cards should be in circulation in larger quantities, keeping their prices accessible.
Overall, this is the best thing I could have hoped for from a core set successor. For those of us who can’t afford to always be up-to-date, or who sometimes take breaks from the game, there will hopefully be an efficient and relatively inexpensive way back in. As for current Standard players, they shouldn’t fret. Wizards of the Coast seems to understand players love for the format, and respect what it is. Standard players will still be focusing on each new set for years to come, with Foundations being exactly that: a solid surface from which to dive in.
Published: Jul 16, 2024 07:50 am