Key art from Foundations | Image credit: Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast makes many changes to Magic: The Gathering with each set release. Amid that chaos, it's great that they've decided to keep one particular set in print (and in the Standard rotation) through 2029. Today, we're examining Magic: The Gathering: Foundations, the Magic core set to outdo all other core set expansions that have come before it.

Magic: The Gathering: Foundations came out on November 15th, 2024, to great commercial acclaim. This article seeks to explore a few different aspects of the Foundations paradigm shift:

• What made the set so iconic?
• What changes did it bring to Magic?
• How did players handle the changes?

Now, it's important to note that Foundations is legal in Standard until 2029. Therefore, the changes it's brought are still active today in more metagames than normal. So in a sense, players are still handling those changes. With that in mind, let's discuss!

Foundations: A Gold Standard Core Set

When Foundations came out, players clamored to purchase it. This is in stark contrast to most any core set from Magic's extensive history, save perhaps for Alpha, Beta, or Unlimited. Stores sold out of the product quite fast.

Why is this? Well, some of it has to do with the return of the concept of core products. Players often have bemoaned the complexity creep of Magic. A core set often keeps sets around it from warping formats far too much for people's liking. But in 2021, after Core Set 2021, Wizards of the Coast stopped printing core products. It turns out the next three years would cause the craving for a little more simplicity to be heightened. So when Foundations was announced, players celebrated.

Furthermore, Foundations showcases the aesthetic core of exactly what Magic: The Gathering is (or, in a sense, was) supposed to be. It was high fantasy, but it was also everything that we have come to know the game's story to contain. It even featured five Planeswalker characters to tie everything back into Magic's original properties. This was a crucial move amid the downsizing of planeswalker cards in sets.

Even more importantly than the aesthetics to many players, the set contained a ton of really high-value cards. We can't stress enough how important it was to see a card like Bloodthirsty ConquerorBloodthirsty Conqueror or Twinflame TyrantTwinflame Tyrant in packs. These cards are now iconic to the game as a whole because of their initial inclusion here. Furthermore, reprints like Doubling SeasonDoubling Season certainly helped the set along.

All of these factors, from the previous deprivation of core sets to the aesthetics and mechanics of what came after, make Foundations more than just the best core set, but one of the best sets out today.

Foundations Changed How We Think About the Game

When Foundations came out, a few key changes came with it that altered Magic just slightly enough to bypass some players' registry.

For one, the templating on cards changed a little bit to include the "this [object]" text, with this text replacing the card's name. This was mainly just done to free up space in the text boxes of cards, which have often been seen as too cluttered by complexity creep. After all, Magic was, and still is, the most complex tabletop game in the world, according to those in the know.

Additionally, enchantments now use the frame popularized by the original Theros block for its enchantment creatures. The reasoning cited by Wizards of the Coast includes the need to make enchantments look more unique, like how artifacts are and generally always have been. This is an intuitive change and a noticeable one at that.

Finally, a mechanical change to the game: Foundations moved the assignment of combat damage to the combat damage step. In addition, Wizards made it so that any amount of damage dealt could be assigned to the appropriate blockers. This is a subtle change and one that puts a modicum more value on attacking creatures. It also simplifies combat a ton for newer players. Plus, it actually gives all nine players who still like banding something to mull over!

All in all, players appreciated these changes to the game. Though they were mostly cosmetic changes or ones that assist design in the future, these changes were welcomed by the playerbase.

Magic's Beginner Box: A New Product for New Players

The Beginner box from Magic: The Gathering: Foundations was another important tool for Foundations' overwhelming success as a set. It was a product designed to teach the game to new players. In this way, it allowed Foundations to appeal to a newer, less-enfranchised set of players and prospective players.

When I covered New York Comic Con 2024, Wizards of the Coast formally invited me to Hasbro's Manhattan offices to look over the Foundations Beginner Box. I covered this experience back then on Commander's Herald, and the memory of that meeting still sticks with me as a high point of that trip. Honestly, what an absolute thrill that experience was!

But, being the enfranchised player that I was and still am, Wizards felt it unnecessary to run through a demo game with me, which, due to the crunch of time, I completely understand. Still, I got hold of a copy after the set was officially released and found it to be a great teaching tool.

The Starter Collection: A Masterful Way to Begin

Another extremely helpful tool in making Foundations popular was the Starter Collection. This bundle-adjacent product contained several packs, as well as all the staple cards you might want from the set to help build decks. This also included multiple reasonably powerful rares and mythics.

In addition, this product included a clickwheel life counter and a deckbuilder's guide for newer players.

Overall, this product seemed more popular than others in the Foundations line. Seldom do I see it on shelves even today, and even when I see other products from this core set on shelves. This seems like a hallmark of a successful product!

Foundations Jumpstart: A Return to Wondrous Form

The last sealed product I'll discuss in this retrospective is the Foundations Jumpstart set. This supplemental product wasn't legal in Standard, but it was sure as all heck popular! It was a return to form for the Jumpstart concept, but with many years of Wizards of the Coast's lessons learned about how to make that kind of set work.

New cards like Taeko, the Patient Avalanche and Rev, Tithe ExtractorRev, Tithe Extractor freshened up the Jumpstart format, while a whole slew of reprints piqued many players' interest and kept their engagement. Anime treatments abounded with this supplemental expansion to Foundations. This likely helped the case of local game stores keeping the set on shelves.

All in all, Foundations Jumpstart was an amazing Magic product.

Popular Foundations Cards

With that, it's time we examine the most popular legendary creature cards in Magic: The Gathering: Foundations! In this analysis, we are only going to look at the core set, and not Foundations Jumpstart. Otherwise, this would take a while, since it'd be like we were covering two sets at once. Let's begin!

The three most popular new commander-eligible cards in Foundations are currently:

• At #3 we have Loot, Exuberant ExplorerLoot, Exuberant Explorer. At the time of writing, Loot pilots 3,928 decks, putting him at a ranking of #553 overall. It doesn't feel like Loot is doing too much for Commander until you take into account his utility in the 99 of decks, paired with the notion that 553rd is actually a high ranking amongst legendary creatures in all of Magic.
• Clocking at #2 is Niv-Mizzet, VisionaryNiv-Mizzet, Visionary. The Firemind and newest Living Guildpact of Ravnica has a ton of usage in Commander, namely as a member of the 99. However, this Niv-Mizzet is also a synergistic counterpart to his original card, Niv-Mizzet, the FiremindNiv-Mizzet, the Firemind, as well as Niv-Mizzet, ParunNiv-Mizzet, Parun. These other two iterations of the character combo off with Visionary to great effect. As a result, this card commanders 5,972 decks and is ranked at #350 overall.
• Finally, the most popular commander from Foundations proper is Tinybones, Bauble BurglarTinybones, Bauble Burglar. Tinybones is an interesting case in this instance. He only commands 6,080 decks and is therefore ranked only seven ranks up from Niv-Mizzet, Visionary at #343. This said, he actually ranks highest overall amongst his iterations, Tinybones, Trinket ThiefTinybones, Trinket Thief and Tinybones, the PickpocketTinybones, the Pickpocket. The reason actually eludes me, especially given that Trinket Thief is a much older card and both it and Pickpocket are more interesting cards. Nevertheless, the ranking of #343 overall makes Tinybones, Bauble Burglar the most popular Foundations commander in the format.

Conclusion

There were no Commander decks released for Foundations, despite the mass of exciting legendary creatures in the set. This may be the one thing that the set truly lacked. It would've been a truly great place to release more Starter Commander Deck products.

Even so, Magic: The Gathering: Foundations was a stellar product release. Paired with its handling of starter-friendly products and the delicate Jumpstart subset development, many Magic players will agree that Foundations is most definitely the best Magic core set since 1993.

With that, let's open the floor to you, dear readers! How do you feel about Magic: The Gathering: Foundations? Did you like how Wizards of the Coast handled the set? What was your favorite product tied to it? Furthermore, how do you feel about it being in print until 2029? Sound off in the comments below!

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