Welcome Magic lovers!
With the full Foundations set spoiled ahead of its release next week on November15th, it's time to sift through its near-three-hundred cards in the search for anything that may tip the scales in the Standard format and help shape the metagame to come.
One thing to note about this set is that it's effectively a 'core set', in the same vein as the annual sets printed from 1993 all the way up to 2015. This means there will be plenty of reprints, many of which are only here to free up space in other, regular sets, and while several of these will certainly see play, they are either cards we already have access to in Standard or ones which we've had in several previous Standard formats and thus require no introduction.
We won't be including spells like Duress, Negate or Disenchant, for example, even though they may see play, because they aren't new or exciting additions to Standard as they are essentially evergreen cards at this point. We also won't be mentioning the 'color hosers', such as Flashfreeze or Deathmark, as these reprints will obviously see play in sideboards depending on the texture of the format and which decks are dominating.
No, today we're going to focus on the ten spiciest additions to Standard that are either new cards, or ones which haven't been present in Magic's smallest sanctioned, constructed format in some time. Let's jump in!
#10. Vengeful Bloodwitch
Finally, a solid payoff for building a sacrifice deck! Sadly, this is no Blood Artist, as it only triggers off of its controller's creatures dying, ; however, an ability like this should never be taken lightly. It's a functional reprint of Zulaport Cutthroat, a card which saw play in one of the most powerful decks in Standard when it was last legal in the format, and while much has changed since then, it's this kind of card that will lurk quietly under the surface of the metagame until just the right sacrifice outlet gets printed. If that happens, it will be a force to be reckoned with.
Currently, there aren't a ton of cheap sacrifice outlets in Standard, though another Foundations card, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, may just be good enough to start the community's creative juices flowing. If Nantuko Husk, or something equivalent, ever makes its way back into Standard, watch out.
#9. Crystal Barricade
Making its way onto the list in ninth is this innocuous, little two-drop Wall which may end up becoming a valuable sideboard tool against a lot of the more powerful threats in upcoming Foundations Standard. A 0/4 body for a paltry two mana is a perfectly fine roadblock in the early game against opposing aggression, ; however, when factoring in its passive ability to protect not only its controller's other creatures but also the controller themselves against a range of threats, it becomes rather intriguing.
Duress is a card that's widely played in Standard currently, with many archetypes main-decking the annoying black sorcery, and being able to simply render all the opponent's discard spells inert with a two-drop creature is certainly something to be appreciated.
Red aggressive strategies are going to play much more direct damage once Foundations drops (especially if a few of the other cards on this very list have anything to say about it), and being able to shield one's creatures, and more importantly oneself, against burn decks may prove invaluable.
That's not to mention the various other corner cases where giving oneself hexproof will be invaluable, such as against an opponent bringing in Jace, the Perfected Mind as an alternate win condition, or simply stopping Liliana of the Veil from using two of her three abilities.
I anticipate Crystal Barricade will find its way into several sideboards rather quickly.
#8. Authority of the Consuls
Wait, another white, anti-aggro card? Yes! With aggressive decks making up the majority of the tier 1 metagame, it's clear that some potent sideboard options needed to be injected into the format, and this definitely qualifies.
When it comes to combating the aggro menace, playing low-cost spells is key, and it doesn't get any cheaper than one mana. It not only comes down early to start gaining life and preventing attacks from creatures with haste, but being an enchantment means it will be difficult for aggressive decks to remove, with Mono Red Aggro and the like having literally no way to get it off the board.
It also plays perfectly with sweepers, forcing the opponent to expose their creatures without being able to swing for damage the turn they come into play, while the slow trickle of life-gain will add up very quickly. Remember, when the opponent is playing Shock in their deck, two life is almost like trading for a card from their hand. Against a go-wide aggressive strategy, such as Jeskai Convoke, this one-mana enchantment will gain rather large chunks of life at a time, making it increasingly difficult to lose the game against Imodane's Recruiter at the top of the curve, especially when it comes into play tapped.
With the majority of red-based aggro decks running twelve or more creatures with haste, Authority of the Consuls seems like a no-brainer sideboard inclusion in any white deck whose goal is to survive until the mid-to-late game.
#7. Sire of Seven Deaths
No other card in the set fits more perfectly in this spot than Sire of Seven Deaths, for obvious reasons.
With its seven-mana casting cost, seven keyword abilities and 7/7 body, it presents quite a formidable threat, and untapping with this is going to stabilize its controller if they are behind on board, or put the final nail in the coffin if they are ahead.
While it does demand to be removed, and several of the most commonly played spells that would kill it cost only two mana, it does come with a hefty cost for the opponent: seven life. This will often put opposing players in an awkward position, especially if the Sire of Seven Deaths' controller has been pressuring the opponent's life total.
Impossible to race, the only drawback on the Sire is that it doesn't do anything once cast, except potentially block. That said, while it does lack the ability to attack immediately, there are plenty of ways around that, mostly in the color red. Enduring Courage or Calamity, Galloping Inferno come to mind, perhaps in a green-red ramp deck featuring Smuggler's Surprise, which also does a fantastic job of putting the Sire of Seven Deaths into play ahead of time, or protecting it once it's in play.
This will be an excellent top-end threat for decks that don't have the mana ramp/fixing or the reanimation spells to put an Atraxa, Grand Unifier into play instead.
#6. Kellan, Planar Trailblazer
Alright, enough with the anti-aggro cards! Fortunately, there's plenty of paper in Foundations to be happy about if you're a red mage, and Kellan, Planar Trailblazer is one such card.
A two-power, one-mana creature is always the kind of card that red aggressive strategies are on the lookout for, and the new Kellan is much more than that. He effectively fills the one and two-mana spots on the curve, allowing its pilot to either curve out by playing a two-mana creature on turn two, or avoid playing into a sweeper by simply activating Kellan, Planar Trailblazer's ability to turn it into the little, detective card-advantage-engine that could. It's like a pseudo-Caustic Bronco in red! Then, later in the game, if or when the opportunity presents itself, Kellan can promote himself again, from a detective to a rogue in order to start dealing some serious damage.
This is a perfect creature for the red decks, especially if they evolve into more burn-heavy lists that are less reliant on combat tricks. Watch out for it!
#5. Scavenging Ooze
Once a graveyard-hate card so powerful it saw play in some of the top decks in the Modern format, Scavenging Ooze has quite the provenance. Clocking in at a nice, lean two mana, the Ooze comes down early and then starts getting to work and gaining weight.
As opposed to some of the other cards floating around Standard that can target opposing graveyards, Scavenging Ooze also gets very large, very quickly, and starts smashing the opponent in the face, hard!
Reminiscent of pre-rotation Standard's previous graveyard-hate-card of choice, Unlicensed Hearse, the Ooze allows its controller to not only manage the opponent's graveyard, but also attack and block without needing to be crewed, which is crucial. Throw in the fact that it also gains plenty of life against aggressive decks, and it becomes quite the sideboard package.
The main drawback here, of course, is that one's deck must be heavily weighted toward green to really power up the Ooze with multiple activations per turn, though there are several top archetypes currently being played in Standard which would easily fit the bill.
Expect to get slimed out of the board by Scavenging Ooze if you're playing a Standard list that's relying on operating out of the graveyard, such as Azorius Oculus or Squirming Emergence.
#4. Burst Lightning
Ah, what would Magic: the Gathering be without power creep?
While previously we had Shock as our single-mana, two-damage burn spell-du-jour in Standard, the Foundations set will be bringing its bigger cousin, Burst Lightning, to the format.
For the same single, red mana, we now get a two-damage spell that scales beautifully into the late-game, becoming a five-mana, four-damage hammer. Flexible and powerful, the reach this gives the red aggressive decks in Standard is enormous, and is an absolute shoe-in for almost every deck playing basic mountains.
No longer will opponents feel safe on single-digit life totals, as an end-step Burst Lightning, into untap, draw, Burst Lightning will end many a match in Standard. In addition, the red decks will now be able to deal with a wider range of creatures, such as Preacher of the Schism, Glissa Sunslayer, Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor or Sentinel of the Nameless City to name a few. Unlike Witchstalker Frenzy, this deals with larger creatures and goes to the face.
Expect to see Burst Lightning in every red deck in Standard.
#3. Boros Charm
Wait, another insane burn spell reprint? Yes, the flexible, powerful instant that saw plenty of play in tier 1 Standard formats of years past, Boros Charm, is back. A modal spell powerful enough to be played as a four-of in Modern burn decks of the not-so-distant past is definitely worth paying attention to.
With three modes to choose from, for a bargain basement cost of only two mana, Boros Charm will almost certainly spawn a new form of red aggro in Standard once Foundations drops. Its most obvious use is as a four-damage burn spell to finish off the opponent for only a couple of mana. On top of that, it also allows one to be much more aggressive while attacking, as it protects its controller's team from both opposing creatures in order to set up a combat blowout, or even a pivotal sweeper from the opponent, like the one higher up on this list (spoilers!). Finally, one may also opt to use Boros Charm's third mode when one's creature in play is capable of dealing more than four damage by giving it double strike until the end of turn.
The flexibility and power of this spell is not to be underestimated, and I expect to see Boros Burn decks popping up in Standard beginning on the day the Foundations set hits Magic Arena.
#2. Day of Judgment
The quintessential sweeper, Day of Judgment saw plenty of play the last time it was Standard legal, though that was many years ago. While not as powerful as its predecessor, Wrath of God, Day of Judgment is a necessary staple for control decks to function, as four mana is still the sweet spot for an unconditional sweeper. The alternative four-mana sweepers currently in Standard come with significant drawbacks, such as Depopulate or No Witnesses, which makes them suboptimal.
While Sunfall is also excellent at clearing the board, it does cost five mana, which may not seem like much more than four, but in Magic: the Gathering, one mana is a world of difference. In fact, five-mana sweepers are typically so much worse than their four-mana counterparts that Wizards of the Coast has deliberately pushed their power level by tacking on additional abilities, like Sunfall's text which produces an artifact creature token, or Deadly Cover-Up's ability to strip the opponent of a key card. That said, even Sunfall is only at its most effective in the Domain ramp shells, which can conveniently ramp up to five mana by turn four.
Day of Judgment will hit the perfect spot on the curve for control decks in Standard, allowing the archetype to try and push its way into tier 1. Will it be enough to put control back on the map? We'll have to wait and see, but rest assured, if No More Lies is good in Standard, Day of Judgment will be too.
#1. Llanowar Elves
Easily the top pick for the most mighty Standard card in Foundations, this innocuous little elf is steeped in ancient power.
Llanowar Elves can trace their lineage directly back to Alpha, the original Magic: The Gathering set, and are just as potent now as they were then. Having been reprinted dozens of times, with different art, textures, and borders, their cost, stats, and ability have never budged. A one-mana creature that allows its pilot to break the fundamental Magic rule of gaining only one additional mana per turn is still as powerful as the day the Elves were printed.
Llanowar Elves being reintroduced into Standard (again) is not only going to spawn new, as-yet-unseen deck archetypes, but it will also certainly be played in every single green deck in the format, barring some very rare exceptions. It's the catalyst that powers up the green archetype, and its absence in Standard for the last few years has been a major reason why heavy green-based decks have been largely absent from tier 1.
Expect this powerful one-drop to show up all over the place once Foundations arrives, so don't leave home without your Cut Down-s.
That’s it for my list, but let me know what you think the most impactful cards will be in the comments below!