New MTG Foundations Products Overview: Essential Picks

Going Over the New Products From Foundations

Explore the new Magic: The Gathering Foundations set with product insights for beginners and collectors. Discover starter kits, Jumpstart boosters, and more.

We still have a lot of ambiguity on what all next month's Foundation Set release will entail. Will we have a bunch of staple cards? Will we have the staple cards and some new prints that breathe life into the format? It kind of remains to be seen, and as we approach the spoiler portion of the release, we are simply left to speculate. Some things we are starting to see, however, are the multiple different product offerings from Wizards for this release. The overall intention of the set is to allow for new players to buy as little as one product, and be able to start playing Magic. We have seen starter and challenger decks before, but Foundations appears to be not only doubling down on that option, but taking it a step further. We will look at the different products that will be coming out, for whom they are designed, and I will give my own opinion if they are worth buying, or maybe what type of Magic player might enjoy said product. I have to start by saying that I appreciate the way this is being done. They are making it incredibly easy for a new player to get into the game. Other TCGs are doing this as well, as they are all trying to get new players these days. I like that there is a clear and simplified way for a new player to learn, and that they are able to start with some basic principles before diving into the complex game that we know.

New Products Hitting the Shelves

The first Foundations product that is worth noting is something that will truly be for beginners. It is the Beginner Box. It appears to be going for around $30-$35 USD and is designed for someone who has never played MTG before. It is intended that you can pick up that box, learn from the beginner guide, rulebook, and the two 20 -card starter decks, and play with a friend right out of the box. It comes with playmats, life counters, and everything else needed to play Magic. Once you feel that you have an idea of how to play, they also have some Jumpstart decks - Eight of them to be exact. They are similar to the theme packs that you could purchase previously, and if you put two of them together, it could make a deck. Since they are preconstructed, I believe that the cards likely won't differ, but it should still give some exciting gameplay. While clearly intended for beginners, it could also be nice for the more seasoned player who is trying to teach someone else how to play, but may not have incredibly simplified decks like some of these are. The mechanics these days can be overwhelming, so starting with a more vanilla deck can be helpful when learning. I'm already thinking of getting this for friends of mine who want to learn how to play.

The next item that will be available is the Starter Collection. This one is for people who are ready to take that next step and actually begin collecting MTG Cards. It comes with lands, and other cards that they consider staples. You get at least 380 cards, and some foils as well. The box also comes with three play boosters, which automatically makes up for $15 of the $55 cost. You could essentially think of it as getting a base collection of Magic Cards for $40, and then also getting some play boosters with it. The collection also comes with some essential MTG Accessories too. Something I was worried about was that there might just be a ton of commons in the box. While the commons sure are powerful in MTG these days, we definitely need to make sure our new players are getting some rares and mythics, and this bundle guarantees at least 75 cards that are either rare or mythic. This is not including the play boosters.

The next new(ish) product that we have are the Jumpstart Boosters. While we have seen products like this before in other sets, I want to emphasize the relevance of it being available in this set. I believe that it is essential to have them in your foundations set to make it easier for newer players, and to present a more affordable product to newer players as well. We know that the cards in the packs might not be as good, but it may be what helps someone believe that they aren't priced out of playing the game. The Jumpstart Boosters are generally cheaper, and boxes of them are going for around $100 USD right now on preorder. While this product is something we've seen before, I believe it will be more relevant than any other Jumpstart Boosters we have seen previously.

So What is Worth Buying?

I think that the Beginner Box and the Starter Collection are awesome products for newer players. I believe that it is a good idea to get the Beginner Box first, and then the Starter Collection once you have decided that you like the game. Because of the foundation that the Starter Collection will give you, I actually believe that getting the Jumpstart Boosters might not be necessary. The intention of the Starter Collection is for you to be prepared to build your own decks. If that is what you are ready for, it is time to learn about the thousands of other cards that are available in Standard and other formats that you can play.

I think that the Jumpstart Boosters are a fine product for people to split a box a few different ways and draft together. It may also be something that can be a cheap gift or peace offering that you bring to someone as a surprise. I wouldn't recommend going out and getting a Jumpstart Booster Box without having some type of plan for it. If you want to crack the packs, I would say to go for the regular play booster box, or collector booster box - which will also be available upon release. We also get the regular bundle box that has the usual nine play boosters and other accessories. We are very excited for Foundations, and should have some spoilers for you soon.

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I am a Magic The Gathering competitive player, and streamer. I specialize in homebrew decks. My favorite formats are: Standard, Pioneer (Explorer on Arena), and EDH. I first started playing MTG in 2001, and have played on and off since then.

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Discover why the Rakdos Demons deck is dominating the Pioneer metagame! Explore strategies, key cards, and how to counter this powerful midrange deck.

This Deck is Giving Everyone PROBLEMS in Pioneer

This is starting to feel like déjà vu. Remember the last time a Rakdos Deck was extremely powerful and the most popular deck in Pioneer? Interestingly enough, it is another midrange shell with a powerful combo. What's different this time, however, is that the cards are a lot more fair. This list is a little bit more well-balanced in my opinion. There is no broken turn three "deal with a Veinripper or lose" in this deck. It simply uses all of the best midrange value cards so well and with such synergy that most decks in the format cannot keep up. Nothing in the deck really feels broken to the point where you could pick out what card to ban. A lot of the cards that are good in the deck are played in other decks, so bans could have adverse effects that aren't good for the format. Nonetheless, the meta will either have to adapt to it, or we will need to see some new cards printed that make another deck good, or there will possibly end up being a ban. Rakdos Demons currently takes up 46% of the metashare, and it has plenty of top finishes in every tournament that it's in. To put things in perspective, the next closest deck in the format when it comes to metashare popularity is a few decks that have 6%. Rakdos Demons has consumed the format, and it would be hard to find someone who would tell you that it isn't the best deck. What's nice about it is that it is also playable on Arena, and because of Pioneer Masters, we aren't even missing any cards. You can jam this on MTGO, or Arena, or in paper. Either way you spin it, this deck kills! What I find interesting about how this deck has developed is that the list only plays two actual demon spells now. We have moved past the other demons that were in the list that could make things a bit clunky. Now, the deck is much faster. It has a lot of plays on turns two and three, and plays threats on those turns that demand answers, as opposed to dropping bombs on turn four. This deck oddly enough, only has 2 four mana spells. It's astonishing how much the list has evolved, and also how aggressive it has become with the tweaks. You've likely seen a few of these lists floating around, as it has been a deck for a few months now, so I will go over a couple of cards that have been added to it recently that contribute to the aggressive nature of the deck. New Additions

It's Official, We've Lived Long Enough to See Ourselves Become the Villain. Time for Mono Black Discard

There comes a time in every Magic player's tenure where they are simply fed up with everything that they are seeing in the meta. Some move to playing decks that remove everything, or decks that counter everything - sometimes both. Some of us simply don't let our opponents have any cards in hand, and that's what I've opted to do today. There's something that just feels right about making the opponent have zero cards in their hand while we continue to draw and play threats onto the board. Discard went well in the meta a few months ago before Duskmourn came out, and I think it is possible for it to be good again. The win rate so far with our deck is solid, but it is different from the one we played before. This time we are looking to add some card superiority into the list, and the same card that accomplishes that allows us to play fewer creatures to focus on more discard spells, and efficient removal. Let's take a look at the new discard deck in the Foundations Meta. This deck got a little bit more consistency and some extra win conditions from Duskmourn, and it is refreshing to know that we have more threats to draw, and we now have a higher likelihood of drawing them. We want to try and draw as many cards as we can with this deck, because some of the better lists that are out there will also draw a ton of cards. We look to punish our opponent for drawing cards, and for not having cards in their hand. We also look to benefit from drawing cards while punishing our opponent simultaneously. The list has a ton of removal, because frankly there are some cards that are just too difficult to deal with in Standard and I got sick of waiting to sideboard and hoping that I drew the answers. We will go over the key changes from previous versions, and then we will go over the sideboard guide! New Additions to Mono Black Discard

Checking in on MTG Modern After the Recent Bans (and Unbans)

We are almost two weeks out from the recent bans in Modern, and there is now enough data to see if anything has really changed. Banning cards like The One Ring and Amped Raptor was an attempt to level the playing field in a format where it seemed as if it was difficult to win if you didn't play those cards. Both cards were two of the most popularly played nonland cards, and it was getting to the point where player sentiment about the format was increasingly poor. Wizards knew that they had to do something, and they also needed to do something that kept things interesting after banning two powerful cards. To keep things fresh, Wizards also unbanned Splinter Twin, Green Sun's Zenith, Mox Opal, and Faithless Looting. This seems to be somewhat reasonable so far. All of the cards light up different archetypes, and this was a clear effort to breathe life into the format. Now that Wizards has made their intentions clear on what they wanted to see out of the format, it begs the question: Has anything actually changed? Most Popular Cards in the Format Post-Bans Although it is refreshing to not see The One Ring as the most commonly played card in the format, there are still some of the usual suspects that round out the top ten most played nonland cards. Long story short, the energy decks are still the most popular, and the cards that are staples within the lists unsurprisingly are the most commonly played nonland cards in the format. Oddly enough, it appears that Mardu Energy has now become more popular than Boros Energy, which is an interesting shift.

A Product Change is Coming to Play Booster Boxes, and People are NOT Happy

Although we are still getting used to the new cards brought to us by Foundations, we have begun to get announcements about the next Standard-legal set, Aetherdrift. Aetherdrift will be the first set to come out in 2025, and it will also be the first Universes Beyond Standard-legal set. For those who aren't familiar, Universes Beyond sets are the ones that do not exclusively involve the traditional MTG characters and planes, although they can still be incorporated. What they do for the characters in the Universes Beyond sets is to have somewhat of a crossover between MTG and another universe in popular culture. We have seen them do Lord of the Rings, Assassin's Creed, etc. What is unique about the Universes Beyond sets going forward is that they will now be Standard-legal - something that has not been the case up until now. In fact, almost all of the Universes Beyond sets were strictly Commander, Legacy, and Vintage-legal up until now, with the exception of Lord of the Rings also being legal in Modern. That is a change that we did know about , however, but the latest updates follow up on the new changes that we will see starting next year. Changes to Play Booster Boxes So what is this big change? How will it affect MTG?

The Overlords Have Spoken! GRUUL is Surprisingly Fun!

It's no secret that in Standard we have some absolutely monstrous creatures right now. There are multiple ways to cheat them out, and the most immediate one that comes to mind is reanimator. With Foundations, we also get a bit more access to ramp, and the overlords from Duskmourn have been pretty impactful in the format as well. So the idea is that we can center a deck around having a bunch of enter-the-battlefield effects or attack triggers that allow us to commit some serious shenanigans. In Gruul Surprise, we are going to cheat out the big guys as best we can, be it ramp, or with a card that says we can simply put them on the board. Since we can sometimes do this at instant speed, it insulates us against board wipes, and allows us to set up one-turn kills. The idea is that we can get around control decks and punish opponents who didn't leave up any blockers. We are also looking to ping our opponents for tons of damage just by having creatures enter under our control. Since we are playing 7 overlords, we are also going to play Up the Beanstalk because it will allow us to draw a bunch of extra cards. OK, I have hyped up this fun deck enough. Let's take a look at the list! The addition of Llanowar Elves has really helped this deck to be more consistent and possibly try to keep up with the fast meta. We have access to the smaller board wipes that deal with aggro decks, while not killing all of our stuff. The deck does a great job of going over the top and running away with the game if left unchecked. Most of the time, playing against it feels like a ticking time bomb. We are able to deal pretty significant damage that forces the opponent to be very selective with when they attack, and when they leave up mana for removal. Let's take a look at some key cards. Relevant Cards

Reviewing the Standard Metagame and the Domination of Aggro

We are a couple of weeks into Foundations, and it feels like the meta is starting to respond. There were some good staple creatures added to the format, and we even got back some nostalgic burn spells. Midrange is still pretty good, but the decks are forced more and more into a sideboard plan that is almost entirely geared toward dealing with aggro. If you hadn't noticed how prevalent aggro has become recently, it now accounts for 74% of the decks that are listed in major tournaments in Standard. The most recent MTGO Challenge actually featured an entire top 8 consisting of assorted aggro decks. One could make the argument that some of the decks were more tempo than aggro, but the decks have aggressive creatures nonetheless, and they also all tend to have a low curve. We could also conclude that the addition of Llanowar Elves makes the Golgari decks that much faster, and then in some instances they could have been considered an aggro deck. Mono red is also taking up more and more of the competitive metashare, and is positioning itself as a deck to be reckoned with ever since its strong showing at the World Championships. We will look over some of the archetypes in Standard right now that are consistently performing well in challenges and other tournaments. Red Deck Wins This has remained a relevant deck for over a year now, and has endured many changes. It seems that the deck can always find a worthy replacement once a card either rotates or becomes subpar. There are a few new burn spells in Foundations, so it has become evident that burn could be here to stay for the next few years. It's going to be strong most likely for as long as Bloomburrow is in Standard. I think this is good for the game, and lines up with what Wizards wants. You want people to get into your game and garner new players with Foundations, so why not make sure mono red is good? It is one of the preconstructed decks on Arena, and it is one of the easier archetypes for a new player to learn. It lines up with everything that they want, and also allows for newer players to have a positive experience with a good deck that can win games early on in their journey. It is also pretty helpful that a lot of the cards are on the cheaper end. Just make sure you save up for your sideboard - Screaming Nemesis is steadily climbing and could get to fifty bucks soon!

This Deck is Giving Everyone PROBLEMS in Pioneer