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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Explore the power of Rakdos Dragons in this midrange Magic: The Gathering deck. Unleash combos, removal, and ramp for competitive edge in Standard.

This Deck is Sneaky Good! Get Ready for RAKDOS Dragons!

You didn't think I could only give you one dragon deck, did you? I honestly saw too many fun options to do just Boros, so today I'm bringing you another. This one steers toward the more midrange, good ol' honest Magic side of things. I wanted to center a deck around something that is more consistent with the status quo of dragons: carnage and destruction. We have plenty of removal in this deck, and a creature that doubles as a board wipe when needed. Since we aren't doing a super fancy combo in this deck, I wanted to add element of ramp to get to the higher mana spells that we have in the deck. We will be able to use early creatures to help out with that, and also a new fancy artifact. We will torch the board and force our opponents to be more resilient than we are, while flying over the top of what they might manage to keep on the board. Let's take a look at the deck and then I'll tell you some of my favorite things about it. You can see some of the fun that we will have right off the bat with this deck. We are looking to smash aggro decks, and still punish other decks that don't play to the board. Although this one has fewer dragons on paper, we have a few permanents that can actually turn into them, and this leads to some cheeky interactions. Let's check out some of the new cards from Tarkir Dragonstorm that are in this deck, and then we will go over some fun combos! Key New Cards

It's Time to Mobilize the Aristocrats with Mardu Combo!

There is an ongoing argument in both Standard and Pioneer currently. What color combination is the best for aggressive decks? We have seen people try out Jeskai Aggro to try and incorporate the best of both worlds between Azorius Aggro, and Boros Aggro. Some like to stick with Gruul Aggro because of the high rolls that it allows for, and there is also an argument that sometimes all you need is mono red - and the results have proven as much in major events. There has been a bit of a surge of some Mardu Aristocrat/Sacrifice decks, and today's list will follow that to some degree. We went a little bit more aggro-based, but there is a combo element to it, along with a healthy sideboard that should provide for balanced gameplay. We will look to get a bunch of creatures onto the board, and then create a bunch more based on the amount that we have, while punishing the opponent when they die. If that isn't enough, the go-wide strategy should also allow us to swing for ample damage at an ample pace. A new ability called Mobilize that is being brought to us in Tarkir Dragonstorm is going to allow us to pull off some pretty powerful swings in combat. Mobilize allows us to create a bunch of tapped and attacking 1/1 tokens based on either the number behind it, or circumstances that pertain to "X." Something that is particularly fun is that we can benefit from our creatures dying, because the mobilize ability requires us to sacrifice the creatures that we get from mobilizing at the beginning of our end step. This is yet another deck that can allow us to win on the end step which is always fun. Another fundamental reason why I think the deck is good is because we are rewarded for something that would normally be considered a setback. If you find enough ways to turn negatives into positives, it usually can translate into the small margins that win you a match. Enough of me blabbing. Let's take a look at the cool new cards! Key New Cards

Demons Are Getting New Toys, and This Deck is ROTTEN

We have seen the vast majority of the cards that will be released in Tarkir Dragonstorm, and the excitement is definitely building. Magic players are expecting this to meet the hype that Duskmourn brought us, and hopefully more. We were left a bit underwhelmed with Aetherdrift, but this is proving to be all but a filler set. It's something that is so easy to be excited for. Who doesn't love dragons?! Anyone with an ounce of nerdiness is interested as soon as they hear the word. Although I don't have a dragon deck for you today, I am going to do my obligatory Mono Black Deck for the new set. If you have read my articles in the past, you know that I do one every set - and this one is no different. We finally have enough cards from Tarkir to give me what I needed to make a new-and-improved Demons list for you. We have a new one that will let us pull off some combos on earlier turns, and hopefully have a better body early on to put pressure on aggro decks. I think that should give us a better shot against the meta, since the threat of a 5 damage crackback can definitely give someone extra things to consider in combat phases. He also isn't a bad creature to discard, as he has an ability to activate from the graveyard. This will help us against the bounce/pixie decks. We have ample graveyard hate and removal for the graveyard combo decks, so I like most of our matchups against the current meta. The only thing we will have to see with time is if the meta shifts with this monster of a new set. We really have some fun cards to add here, and we are adding another type of threat to the deck. We have historically not used our graveyard for much, but now we are able to get additional value from it with a new addition. Our sideboard even has a dragon with an adventure that reads like The Meathook Massacre! I've said enough, let's check out these cards. Relevant New Cards

Free Dragons = Turn 4 Wins!

We are officially in the perpetual spoiler season of the MTG year, and Wizards has not been disappointing us. Most people can get behind a set centered largely around dragons, and it definitely helps that the plane itself is one that we have wanted to see them bring back for a long time. Over a decade later, we are going back to Tarkir. I played a good bit of Magic and did a lot of deck building the last time we had some fun dragons on Arena, and I knew that this set was going to call me back to those days. My favorite archetype a couple of years ago was Boros Dragons. I largely played that in the Alchemy format, but I am going to bring you a Boros Dragons Standard Deck today. We are going to take advantage of a combo that is used in Standard currently, but we are going to use a different payoff this time. We are going to cast dragons for FREE and then either they will have the opponent dead just from entering, or we will hopefully have a way to give them all haste! We will take a look at the new cards that are awesome. Then I'll let you know about the combo that will help us get there. We want to keep the board as clear as we can for our dragons and then slam them all on the board at once to clean things up. We also have some smaller creatures that we can use to chump block earlier in the game. When needed, we also have board wipes to deal with other creatures. New Cards from Tarkir Dragonstorm

I See a Monument and I want it Painted Black

It's been a few weeks since Aetherdrift came out, and we are starting to see the cards that are standing out in the meta. We didn't expect the set to change things too much with regard to what we have been seeing. What we did get from it is a nice supplement to many other decks. Although we did not get a ton of format-shaping cards, we have seen a couple that have lit up fringe archetypes. What I've brewed for today plays off of a familiar archetype, and it was one that we kind of already had, but it allows us to pivot in a certain way and get additional value from it that we may not have gotten in the past. One of the biggest things that our deck can do is have plenty of action on the end step/cleanup step. It's an interesting scenario because usually when we think of the cleanup step at the end of each turn, we remove damage, and we discard to hand size. Usually discarding to hand size is pretty much the final step, and there aren't any triggers... until now. We will be using Monument to Endurance to have triggers when we discard to hand size, and get additional value from it. Now we don't care if we end the turn with nine or ten cards in hand, because we are going to benefit from it. This will help us possibly get in some finishing damage against our opponent, or get extra value. It is worth noting that this will cause triggered abilities on the cleanup step, and this is something that our opponents can respond to. This has historically been a point in the turn where no player can respond to actions. We'll take a look at the relevant cards in the deck, and then I'll detail a few fun combos that we may see during gameplay. Relevant Cards

We've had a Couple of Weeks to Try Achievements on MTG Arena, and I have Opinions

The economy on MTG Arena has always been a pain point, and a grand debate over how far a digital version of a card game should go to ensure players feel as if they are getting proper value for their time. Wizards has two different versions of its beloved game on the internet, and they both seem to have their benefits and drawbacks. On February 11, Arena launched the Achievement System to reward players for hitting milestones in-game, and completing specific tasks. While it is always fun to do these kinds of things in each game, something that gamers always do is assess whether the reward for doing so in-game is worth putting forth the extra effort for the task. While there are some things in the achievement tab that I believe to be kind of fun, and certain things that I know people will want, I view the entire thing as largely a waste of time. Today we will look at why the new feature on Arena simply isn't enough for what the game should have, and what it could be. The Good and The Bad There are plenty of things that we love about Arena, with how it is the easiest way to play our favorite decks from Standard, and not spend thousands of dollars in doing so. It is probably the most efficient way to try out decks. We also love the wildcard system. Although it is not the easiest to obtain them, it is great that a rare/mythic wildcard could buy a rare/mythic card that is of any value and it still just costs one wildcard. This was especially helpful in getting a play set of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. I still don't have a play set in paper simply because I don't want to spend that much money on it, but on Arena it was easy. I had the wildcards to do what I needed. The only part where this may be lacking is the economy itself. What if we could earn wildcards for hitting certain achievements (I.E. the achievement tab giving us wildcards instead of sleeves, etc.)? I believe that the rewards from this new feature being solely cosmetic underscores the ongoing issue of the economy on Arena simply not being enough for us.

This Deck is Sneaky Good! Get Ready for RAKDOS Dragons!