Foundations Commander Set Review

Foundations prerelease is November 8, and I know I can’t wait to play some Limited. I’m also really hyped to see what’s new in the set for Commander, too. If you want to catch up on the new cards and figure out what to grab for your decks, then our Commander Set Review for Foundations is right up your alley. 

You can find other recent Commander set reviews here:

• Jumpstart 25
• Duskmourn
• Bloomburrow
• Assassin’s Creed
• Modern Horizons 3
• Thunder Junction

Our Commander Set Review focuses only on the new cards, and not the reprints. It’s also not going to be covering the forgettable cards that are only really good in Limited or as additions to very budget or niche decks, as we’re more interested in what cards are good to collect and build with in the future, too. 

Now that I’ve laid the foundations (*ducks*), it’s time for the set review. 

FOUNDATIONS SET REVIEW: WHITE

Arahbo, the first on the list today, is a three mana lord for Cats. He also spawns in cat tokens for playing more cats. It’s just Cats up and down, for days. I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to jam this in your Cats deck. I don’t think white is deep enough for him to be the Commander though. 

Damn, Wizards are really convincing me to give up on playing Instants in favor of more equipment in my equipment decks. I like this one quite a lot, and it might replace a protection spell in my non-Sunforger builds – particularly in decks like Nahiri or Eivor that want you to max-out on equipment.

Crystal Barricade is a really cool piece of tech for decks that want to keep razing the board to the ground. Think damage redirection and reflection decks in Boros and Jeskai colors. It’s also a decent wall in an Arcades or similar deck that helps you dodge Blasphemous Act.

Exemplar of Light is a sweet piece of card draw action for Angels decks. Many Angel builds lean into lifegain too, so this is a natural fit. It’s going to be good in Selesyna lifegain decks too, of course, and in +1/+1 counters builds generally, as it’s still a growable 3/3 Flyer at the end of the day. 

A Platinum Angel that can be flashed in is quite cool, and in many decks having a Platinum Angel that isn’t an artifact means it has a higher chance of staying around, as it won’t die to Shatter effects on top of creature removal. Being white and an Angel means it benefits from cost reduction effects also, meaning you could cast this for 6 or even 5 mana. Platinum Angel, meanwhile, is better in artifact builds. There’s an argument for playing both, though, depending why you want it in the first place.

Raise the Past is sweeeeeet. I was already a Return to the Ranks apologist (playing it quite extensively in early builds of Winota), but Raise the Past is just a far better rate, allowing you to bring back many more creatures for just four mana. Lurrus Companion decks love this too. 

Valkyrie’s Call is going straight in my Hofri Ghostforge deck, and I’m sure it’ll end up in many decks, to be honest. In any deck with non-Angel creatures this one is kinda cracked, but do keep in mind: you want more than 30 creatures, lots of EtBs, and plenty of self-sacrifice or sacrifice outlets to truly rinse this card for all it is worth. Don’t jam it in decks where it’s a do-nothing.

Top 5 White Common/Uncommons:

1. Twinblade Blessing: Aura decks are in for a treat, but any deck with a powerful Commander or that goes tall enough will fancy surprise lethal
2. Vanguard Seraph: Surveilling once per turn tied to life gain? I’m in. Love this one.
3. Cat Collector: Hard to justify running a non-Cat in a Cats deck, but Jinnie Fay loves this one.
4. Dazzling Angel: Another lifegain-oriented cheap Angel. Giada players are eating good.
5. Divine Resilience: A modal spell that saves your dude or your team. Budget Galadriel’s Dismissal, if you squint hard enough.

FOUNDATIONS SET REVIEW: BLUE

Archmage of Runes is a fun card for spellslinger, offering both cost reduction and card draw. Overall, I’m so glad it’s not legendary. Partially because it would be boring, but partially because now I can copy it and have multiple in play, which sounds like a blast. 

Fact or Fiction is a decidedly “Sphinx” aligned spell, with variations of it appearing on many Sphinx over the years, not least Unesh. Curator of Destinies’s uncounterable property is trinket text in Commander, but the “choice” is one Commander players love, because it fills the graveyard. Fun little card. 

Sandi Graham here is a neat little payoff for those Prowess focused, combat-oriented spellslinger builds. It’s unfortunately quite blockable, so you’ll want to ensure you run plenty of Trample or Flying granting effects to make sure you can connect. Like many creatures that feature counters, Drake Hatcher is a fun one for a Proliferate deck. Solid for two mana, and not too pushed.

High Fae Trickster is an awesome little card, and finally a reason for JLK to stop playing Vedalken Orrery. It did feel like Orrery had started to feel like skipping a turn, and having a Faerie Wizard typing opens this card up to many, many creature focused builds that aren’t straight up spellslinger. It makes me want to play blue, which is saying a lot.

Do you have a Council of Four deck? Well, it’s time to add the Homunculus Advisory Group. 

It won’t get as out of hand as Gisela Boorish, but it’ll still create a fair few tokens.

Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator has a lot going on for a three-mana walker. Dropping him once you have an established board can get you very close to an instant ultimate, but dropping him early is still great, because he can make the way for your Ninjas to connect while giving you card advantage. Overall? Slam dunk pick for Ninjas builds. 

Kiora, the Rising Tide is a draw spell on legs. The legs in question are thick, and able to wrestle an 8/8 Octopus into submission. Every turn, no less, provided her threshold has been reached. Why are you looking at me like that? I think you need to go cool off, champ. 

Lunar Insight is a surprisingly efficient draw spell, and feels really viable in Commander provided your curve isn’t ultra low. As soon as this is drawing more than three cards, it just gets better and better. 

Sphinx of Forgotten Lore feels pretty great. You can Flash it in as a surprise blocker, as a 3/3 Flier is always good. Once you get to attack with it, it enables you to leverage your yard as a second hand. Backdraft Hellkite does more, but is harder to pull off.

Top 5 Blue Common/Uncommon:

1. Inspiration from Beyond: Fantastic little roleplayer in multiple archetypes
2. Faebloom Trick: It’s Annie Stegg’s first Magic card! But also, a nice control card. The WOC Alela likes this.
3. Mischievous Mystic: Another card for Alela, but also in general for draw-go control decks.
4. Rune-Sealed Wall: Big-butts decks like Arcades always love something with 5 or more toughness. Surveil is a nice bonus
5. Strix Lookout: It’s not Baleful Strix, but it provides a steady stream of cards and can draw more by connecting in many decks

FOUNDATIONS SET REVIEW: BLACK

I think cards like Mimic Vat and Whip of Erebos have gotten a lot stronger these days. The latter is mostly due to the lifegain, sure, but getting to bring creatures back even temporarily can be really strong. 

So, Abyssal Harvester excites me. It can bring a token copy back to play until you want to make another one. It can target anyone’s graveyard too, meaning you can exile a problem creature for good, while enjoying it for a time as a token copy. 

Blasphemous Edict is indeed an edict that hits that number 13 trope. Is it as good as Blasphemous Act or Toxic Deluge? I would say no, not unless you’re playing a tokens deck where you can contribute to the spell’s requirement of thirteen creatures in play to get the {B} casting cost. I do think it’s good, though, because mass edicts get around a lot of protection.

Bloodthirsty Conqueror is the latest “Sanguine Blood” combo piece. Up until now, we’ve had the classic enchantments, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, Defiant Bloodlord, Dina, Soul Steeper, Enduring Tenacity… quite a few, really. Another redundant piece at five mana, with great keywords, a big body, and relevant creature types? Well, that’s going to make a lot of people happy. 

High-Society Hunter has that High-Society Hunger. It’s a feeling that can only be satisfied by munching through other creatures. She’s a true aristocrat, though, because she gains her riches by exploiting the underclass. As far as the card goes? I think it’s pretty decent, and definitely playable in Vampires decks. Many of the latest Vampire decks like to sacrifice their creatures for value. 

Endless Cockroaches used to be a staple, blocking for what felt like forever. These days? It’s way too much of an investment to spend three mana every turn. Enter Nine-Lives Familiar, which will block for you for days. The best part is that it comes back only on the next end step – perfect for Massacre Girl decks to use it as an enabler. 

Tinybones, Bauble Burglar is the latest attempt to make a more sociable version of what black is good at, for Commander. I know it’s Standard-legal, but it’s very clearly aimed at EDH. It’s fine, I guess, but ultimately pretty uninteresting. Where it’ll shine is in a Wheels deck.

Zul Ashur, Lich Lord is really good. A bear that has Ward–2 life is already interesting, and with fantastic art and a very strong, repeatable ability? I think this card is secretly awesome. If you run any of the changeling static effects (like Arcane Adaptation, et al) then you can combo off with this I’m sure.

Top 3 Black Common/Uncommons:

1. Revenge of the Rats: Flashback-able wincon in a self-mill strategy. 
2. Midnight Snack: A perfect little one-two punch in many lifegain builds. Looking at you, Ayli. 
3. Vengeful Bloodwitch: Another Blood Artist effect is always nice.

FOUNDATIONS SET REVIEW: RED

This Chandra costs a lot of mana, and so I’m not sure you’ll want her in your deck unless you’re on Superfriends or Oops, All-Chandras. Her uptick(s) thankfully give(s) some solid value after you spend that seven mana. Triple impulse and triple {R} is quite good, and so is making a token copy of one of your creatures for the turn. Her ultimate is less of an “ultimate” as it is a well-rounded sweeper. She does everything you need a walker to do, but the price is steep.

Electroduplicate has flashback, which increasingly feels great in Commander, where running out of cards feels awful. It’s not quite Cackling Counterpart, but it’ll still be a useful part of a toolbox in many red decks which don’t also play blue. 

Rite of the Dragoncaller is a really fun enchantment. It reminds me of the sorcery from OTC, Elemental Eruption, but it’s generally a bit more forgiving in the average game. It has kick-ass art, also, which makes me want to run it. 

Twinflame Tyrant is a real beating. Effectively a 6/5 for five, that’s already a solid rate. Add on the fact you get the double damage for all sources you control to opponents or their stuff, and you’re cooking on ignited gas from not one but two angry heads. This one will heat up all manner of builds thanks to being both a Dragon and five mana, which seems to be the new sweet spot for in-demand effects.

Top 3 Red Common/Uncommons:

1. Boltwave: One mana, 3 damage to each opponent? Neheb players are rioting. Also great to Storm off and copy. 
2. Fiery Annihilation: As a resident equipment nerd, this card is designed to punish me. And it feels appropriate. Deals with Mithril Coat.
3. Goblin Negotiation: A fun removal spell for burn decks, but potentially a win condition in decks that can make a lot of mana

FOUNDATIONS SET REVIEW: GREEN

Loot, Exuberant Explorer is another Exploration on a body, but this time, it comes with a mana sink. It’s a handy way to get around counterspells and sneak those fatties into play. An altogether decent creature for your green deck, especially to dissuade chip damage.

Mossborn Hydra reads as more complicated than it is. In essence, it’ll grow at a similar rate to a Managorger Hydra – and quicker, if you have fetchlands. If you want another one of those at three mana, then you’re going to love this one. 

If you’re running Craterhoof in your Squirrels deck and not this, I will judge you.

I don’t care if it’s technically correct, because it gives Trample – you should play the card with Squirrels on. The giant, town-destroying Squirrels. 

Quilled Greatwurm seems like a slam-dunk for counters decks, to be honest. It grows your team substantially, and can even be cast from the graveyard. At six mana it definitely feels like a curve topper, so I can see it competing for that slot with other more reliable finishers. Still, if you have team-wide trample, this card gets obscene very quickly.

Spinner of Souls is a powerful Spider, with relatively weak defenses, compared to the average Spider. I prefer my Spiders with big butts, it seems more authentic, you know? This one reminds me of Radagast, giving you decent card advantage when your stuff dies. Might be good for decks like Henzie on a budget, or in builds that sacrifice creatures constantly. 

Top 3 Green Common/Uncommons:

1. Elvish Regrower: EtB get a permanent from the yard to hand is solid value
2. Quakestrider Ceratops: Queza is over the moon, but there’s more than one deck happy to see a 12 power creature for just six mana.
3. Elfsworn Giant: Landfall and Elves is quite the combination

FOUNDATIONS SET REVIEW: MULTICOLOR, ARTIFACTS & LANDS

A new Alesha after so long. This time, she sheds her white, and is pure Rakdos. Her reanimation is pretty darn good, to be honest, especially because it doesn’t require Alesha herself to do the attacking. You can drop her from the CZ after you get a good attack in. You’ll want her in ASAP, though, to get bigger, and bring bigger stuff back. 

Anthem of Champions is a neat little anthem. If you’re in a more go-wide Enchantress, this might be worth picking up. Is it better than running Intangible Virtue? Probably not, but it does happen to give devotion to two colors, which can be helpful. 

Elenda is back, and it turns out she got really into Blood Baron of Vizkopa when she was away. The Saint of Dusk is templated to be tough to remove in Commander, requiring board wipes or sorcery removal, or creature EtBs. She also falls pray to Auras and other Enchantments. All in all, the protection is good, but not backbreaking, especially if you’ve built your deck properly. 

Ah, a “fixed” version of Koma. It has that classic Ward {4}, which is basically hexproof. On a creature that has 8 power and Trample, and that makes four 3/3 tokens on connecting? I find that to be a bit too pushed. Why wasn’t Ward {3} enough?

If you’re playing OG Koma, this obviously goes in your build. It’s also just a solid top-end card in Simic in general. Wow!

Crowd favorite Kykar is back, this time dropping the red in favor of Azorius. He’s also looking quite Kamigawa coded with those sandals and in being, well, a Crane. He seems like a much “fairer” version of Brago, offering solid value, and a nod back to the previous design – making 1/1 Spirits. Generally a pretty strong Commander, and a role-player in the 99 of other builds. 

Niv-Mizzet, Visionary gives all of your noncombat damage “cardlink.” Yes, when you burn, you’re also burning through your library, depositing vast swathes of cards into your greedy little hands. Also, to make it less of a feels-bad, he has a way to remove the maximum hand size limit, baked in. 

This is going to be one popular Commander.

Zimone, Paradox Sculptor doubles any kind of counter, among creatures and artifacts you control. It’s this bit that will ultimately prove to make her popular among tinkerers and rube-goldberg machine enjoyers. 

Banner of Kinship is like Door of Destinies, but you cast it after you curve out, and not before. Is that better? I think in the current EDH climate, it probably is. Boardwipes are annoyingly scarce, which means curve-out decks are well placed to take over games.

Leyline Axe is one of my faves from the set, but that’s because I love equipment so damned much. Equipment decks haven’t really benefited from existing Leylines, and throwing them an… Axe… is certainly one way to do it. Equip {3} is negligible if you build your deck properly. Plenty of Commanders can auto equip this, or reduce equip costs considerably using the right cards.

Scrawling Crawler is your Valgavoth DLC. Enjoy.

Okay, fine, it’s also a sort of reverse Psychosis Crawler, which punishes opponents when you wheel them. Pretty useful in, hmmm, I don’t know… Nekusar? Queza? Who am I kidding, everyone has already earmarked this one.

Sire of Seven Deaths is magnificent. The abilities, the use of the 7 motif, even the text alignment. It’s not the baddest beater in the world, but it will demand at least 7 life from opponents to remove, and is a boon to keyword soup decks (which usually feature Odric, Lunarch Marshal or Bloodric). 

To me, this is way cooler than busted-Eldrazi-Titan no. 10. 

Soulstone Sanctuary permanently becomes a creature. While this can be incredible in the right build, it’s also a very real downside. Remember you’ll go down a land if it’s removed in a wrath – except for Planar Cleansing variants, of course.

The Other Good Common/Uncommons:

1. Wardens of the Cycle: a classic Golgari enchantment, now mortalized on an Elf. Very strong value.
2. Fiendish Panda: a solid pay off for gaining life. Maybe I’m just Ayli-pilled but I see it.
3. Ravenous Amulet: in a proliferate deck, you can keep this ticking. Better than it looks. 

END STEP

The Foundations Commander Set Review is over, but Foundations fun is just beginning. I can’t wait to play this set at Prerelease, and it’s a great way to drag friends into trying Magic. What a cool set.