Compared to recent draft formats, Foundations is quite different.

We haven't had a "Core Set" draft experience in a long time, which is much of what Foundations is aiming for. The themes are more straightforward, there's not a ton of very deep rabbit holes to get lost in, and the cards frankly just have much less text on them.

This means the format is somewhat rudimentary, as it is supposed to be a good entry level format for newer players, but also means it is refreshing in a lot of ways as a sort of "back to basics" draft experience.

As such, cards need to be looked at differently than in an expert level set like Duskmourn.

Today I'm going to be going over five surprising commons that have far exceeded their pre-format expectations because of how well they settle in the more Core Set-type environment. I'll be drawing from my own experiences, as well as cross referencing the data from Untapped.gg and 17lands.com.

Number Five

One of the biggest changes in Limited in recent years has been the advent of Draft and now Play Boosters, which have less commons and largely reduce the number of truly "unplayable" cards in packs. While in drafts back in the day you may have been be struggling to actually field 23 playable cards because there were so many copies of Chimney Imp and Aven Trooper circling the table that should just never be played, these days there are very few cards you'd be truly embarrassed to have in your starting deck.

As such, the marginal playables end up moving down the totem pole to "try very hard not to play this card" territory.

In my set review for Foundations, I had just assumed that Squad Rallier would be falling in this "try not to play it" category, as it had the all the recent hallmarks of a modern day bad common - four mana, not very big, and clunky ability.

However, Squad Rallier is surprisingly reasonable!

It's not a super high pick or anything, but it is a card that I'd like to have at least one copy of in most of my White decks. Why the disconnect? The reality is that the simpler a format is, the less ways it has to mitigate the problems that come with poor draws. Mana flood is far more common in Core Set-style formats, as cards have less abilities and games go on longer. While this sort of mana sink wouldn't be great in a more focused set, it plays quite well in a Core Set.

Number Four

Hey wait, didn't we just see this card? Yes actually, as Fake Your Own Death is a reprint from Outlaws Of Thunder Junction earlier this year.

So, with that information it should be an easy card to evaluate in theory. We just played with this card a few months ago and it was a replacement level combat trick that had very little impact on the format. It would be safe to assume nothing has changed, right?

Wrong actually!

Fake Your Own Death is actually a top 5 common in Black this time around, mostly because of how well it interacts with all of the cards around it.

Obviously Fake Your Own Death can just be used as a combat trick, but the real value you gain is by double dipping on a good effect. Black and White are just packed with creatures with great enters and leaves the battlefield effects that create card advantage like Burglar Rat and Helpful Hunter or make extra bodies like Infestation Sage and Prideful Parent.

The synergy themes in Foundations aren't super deep, but the sacrifice theme found in black (that also plays excellent with the white and red cards) is one of the big hits in the set. Fake Your Own Death fits in perfectly here.

Number Three

At first glance, Gorehorn Raider shares a lot in common with Squad Rallier. It's expensive, it's clunky, it's undersized, and its ability isn't always going to work the way you want it to.

It's also the second best Red common after Burst Lightning according to the stats!

Now this is in part due to the fact Red's commons are somewhat lackluster, but it turns out even a bad Flametongue Kavu is still a Flametongue Kavu. Most of Red's archetypes skew aggressive, making Gorehorn Raider fairly easy to trigger, and it has just enough effect on the board to provide a good curve topper.

You'd rather top your curve with a sweet rare or mythic, but Gorehorn Raider can also get the job done when needed. Like Squad Rallier you don't want to take it early in the draft, but don't be afraid to pick it up late and play one or two copies.

Number Two

Dazzling Angel is a little different than the other cards on this list, as it was clearly a good card. There are some lifegain synergies as well as angel synergies in the set, and Dazzling Angel looked like a nice synergy common to go along with them.

Amusingly, the lifegain synergies in the set are pretty shallow, but despite this Dazzling Angel has hovered at or around the top common slot in White for most of the format. Even more impressive is that White is by far the deepest color at common, meaning Dazzling Angel is up against much stiffer competition than Gorehorn Raider but still comes out at or near the top.

There are two big factors in play here outside of the fringe lifegain and angel synergies. The first is that third point of toughness, keeping Dazzling Angel alive in the face of Burst Lightning and Stab, two of the best kill spells in the format. The second is that Dazzling Angel just gains a lot of life over the course of a game; there are a bunch of token and go wide cards in the set and in white, making Dazzling Angel a natural fit.

Number One

And our number one most surprising common to help you win your Foundations drafts is Refute!

Yes, at first glance, most Cancel variants aren't very exciting in normal draft formats. They often slow, clunky, difficult to cast, and often just feel a mana more expensive than you'd like to be paying for countermagic. However, Refute is actually Blue's unanimous number one common according to basically all the data, and is actually the highest win rate common in the whole set among top players.

Like Gorehorn Raider, there's a bit of skew in these numbers as the other Blue commons outside of Bigfin Bouncer aren't spectacular, but there's just no doubt that Refute is an excellent card in Foundations draft.

So why? What makes this Cancel variant that would normally seem somewhat mediocre so great in this set? Two reasons, both relating to the Core Set effect on a draft format.

The first is that games are slower and more likely to hinge on the impact of a single big card. In more complex formats like Duskmourn, there are more moving parts coming together to something more than the sum of its parts, with synergy as the glue. However, when cards are simpler, raw power and rate tends to shine through. Countering a bomb rare or an Overrun, or even just something like Serra Angel or Shivan Dragon is a huge game-altering swing that trades your common for their best card.

Furthermore, as we were discussing earlier, this is a format that can be prone to mana flood or just not having enough card draw or filtering to find you what you need as the game goes on. Adding a loot on top of Refute to discard an extra land for a potential spell is a big deal, making it almost feel like Dismiss.

Don't sleep on Refute, and also don't be shy about drafting your Blue dual lands like Dismal Backwater to make sure you can have the two Blue mana needed to cast it.

Simple But Effective

Foundations Draft is a fairly straightforward set, but it does have slightly different rules of engagement compared to other recent draft formats. As long as you're willing to understand them and make sure you're playing by the rules of the format, you'll be good to go.

It's also just very nice not to need reading glasses for each draft too!