Grading Twenty-Four Unreasonably Costed Cards from Foundations

Posted on November 12, 2024

What's a reasonable cost?

Nobody turns their nose up at a one casting cost spell. Even control decks of the first era, which were notorious in the number of 4 mana clunkers that they played - and even had Counterspells with "X" in their upper-right hand corners - loved a reactive Swords to Plowshares.

One is reasonable. Two is reasonable. Four is...

The famous quote by Pro Tour Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz being that anything that costs four or more mana should win the game by itself. This isn't strictly true... But it is mostly true; like, it's hard to say a ~~Wrath of God~~ Day of Judgment that got you three-for-one didn't win the game, even if some other card actually whittled away your twentieth life point.

Four is so reasonable that even low-to-the-ground beatdown decks play them sometimes; and in surprising places!

Boros Deck Wins | Extended | Tsuyoshi Fujita, Pro Tour Los Angeles 2005

Sorceries (12)
4 Firebolt
4 Molten Rain
4 Pillage

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This was the first deck, ever, that tried to max the interplay between fetchlands and shock lands. We didn't really know "the math" yet, so Fujita - then widely considered the best deck designer on Earth - might have been heavy by one.

The important thing here is that he planned to play a longer game, often while siding out lands after sideboarding. Against an opposing beatdown deck, Tsuyoshi would often bring in Flametongue Kavu, Fledgling Dragon, and Umezawa's Jitte (itself a de facto four-mana play) in games that he planned to grind out a little long. Block and trade; Firebolt your 2-drop; all of a sudden the game is going enough turns that a four-mana spell is reasonable even for a twenty-one (or lower) land count.

Five?

Five is so reasonable that control decks bring in defensive spells that cost this much against some of the fastest opponents they plan to meet.

I've been preaching this card for all year. You have a lot of options for your lifelink defender (well, not actually defender, but you know what I'm saying)... How about the one whose first strike doesn't care one whit how many counters are on the opposing Urabrask's Forge?

Six?

Six is at the point where cards might not be reasonable across the archetypes - or even across all the matchups - but where some decks can still plausibly hard-cast them. Control finishers often cost six; and six is a kind of medium spot for Ramp payoffs. There is a tradition of Fat Motis, Kamigawa Dragons, and Titans so long at six you don't need me to give you any examples.

Reasonable?

WE'RE NOT INTERESTED IN reasonable.

This article is about grading the unreasonable. Cards that you might play... But you aren't necessarily interested in casting the old-fashioned way. I mean, sometimes you cast them! But either you're a Ramp deck or the game has gone a weird sort of sideways.

The quintessential more-than-six in Standard, Atraxa, Grand Unifier first hit the winners' circle expecting to come out via The Cruelty of Gix. She's tailor made for Rite of the Moth now; but you'll see Atraxa hard-casts with Cavern of Souls set to "Angel" in Domain Ramp decks, or occasionally via colored mana cheats from the Treasure tokens afforded by Collector's Vault [that was not the main intent of Collector's Vault in those decks, probably].

See what I mean with the unreasonable? Good card; great card; good enough to play-play sometimes... But fairly only rarely.

Seven.

Here are my hot take grades on the twenty-four unreasonably costed cards from the hot new set, Foundations.

1. Tolarian Terror, common, A+

Tolarian Terror is kind of a cheat here because no one actually spends seven mana for this card. Well, I guess if the opponent starts the game with a Leyline of the Void in play or something it might be its baseline unreasonable cost; but the whole point of this card is that it can come down for one. Outsized pedigree for an outsized rate here, as Tolarian Terror was not only a tentpole in the Mono-Blue Standard deck of the not-so-distant past... But some clever deck-builders are paying 1 mana and still triggering Up the Beanstalk in a newfangled Simic.

2. Progenitus, mythic rare, A+

Progenitus offers a particular thing (or let's say two particular things in some decks); but if you're in the market for it / them this is the Hydra Avatar for you. If all you want is the biggest, dumbest, maybe multicolored-est card for approximately one million mana, you can do better. Progenitus doesn't draw any cards when it hits play; it doesn't gain life when it hits the opponent; and protection from "everything" doesn't make it necessarily invincible. But if you know what you're looking for - probably specifically in a combo deck - it can fill a ten casting cost hole like no other.

Shoal and Tell | Legacy | Mike Flores

Creatures (8)
4 Blighted Agent
4 Progenitus

Sorceries (11)
3 Show and Tell
4 Ponder
4 Thoughtseize

Artifacts (2)
2 Chrome Mox

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This was a deck built on the work of Sam Black and Gerry Thompson that really showcases why you might want a Progenitus. Progenitus had already been on the finisher short list in Hypergenesis combo decks. Here the cheat was Show and Tell. Was it better than Emrakul? No. Aeons were getting ripped up from the sideboard. But Progenitus could fit in a kind of "here's a two-turn clock" position from the Show and Tell side and combine with Blazing Shoal for a poison kill in a heck of an overlap for a single piece of cardboard.

3. Omniscience, mythic rare, A+

No surprises (hopefully) on this one. Omniscience is a Staple in a contemporary Hidden Strings combo deck in Pioneer. Like Progenitus this is a card that next to no one plays fairly; but also a card that, once it is played, few if any can get out from under.

4. Koma, World-Eater, rare, A

Koma isn't just a regular high end Ramp card; although interestingly, I think it might have some weird broader applications than just Ramp. Like, imagine you had Koma, World-Eater in a Control sideboard because you could somehow get by turn seven... That might be an invincible switcheroo card for other Control decks, especially those that had sided out their creature removal. Who knows?

Anyway, that's not the theory behind the rating...

Ramp decks historically can have a problem with Control - especially Counterspell Control - in that they dedicate a ton of space to getting more land in play, but might have a narrow number of finishers; and that the opponent can just kind of aim all their interaction at those. Here is a card that is much easier to actually cast than some of the fancier expensive cards available (Valgavoth, Terror Eater is pretty fancy at ) that has some built-in resistance to all the ways Control likes to interact with Ramp.

First, it can't be countered.

Second, its Ward makes it annoying to deal with once it's in play.

Third, spreading power across multiple Koma's Coil bodies shifts answers towards width in addition to height.

I can imagine Koma being slow to adopt because of the current availability of Cavern of Souls + Atraxa, Grand Unifier... But don't forget Foundations is meant to be in print for the next several years. This Serpent is going to find a niche, or more importantly, a broad class of victim.

5. Darksteel Colossus, mythic rare, A

Speaking of Ramp, Darksteel Colossus is another card that has some historical pedigree; which is where a lot of this rating is coming from. Eleven is almost twice the reasonable rate, but on the other hand Darksteel Colossus has found its way onto the battlefield at any number of ; the slightly more economical ; or if you're in the market, . And a non-zero number of 11's I'm sure.

Here's my favorite:

Green-White Control | Standard | Brian Kibler, US Nationals 2004

Creatures (4)
4 Eternal Dragon

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A very specific main deck designed for a very specific metagame consisting primarily of two very different aggro decks, whoever decided on the Ramp transformation in Kibler's sideboard is probably the handsomest and most ingenious deck designer of all time. Whoever he is.

6. Pelakka Wurm, uncommon, A-

Not the "best" card in this list by any means, it is nevertheless a creature that has some decent historical precedent as a not-too-unbelievable middle play for Standard Ramp decks. I mean seven is only a little more than reasonable, though the last time Pelakka Wurm caught some sixties there was a clear path from four to seven mana with a land drop. This of course is a little different than our current Ramp base that starts at three.

That said Pelakka Wurm is a kind of a Swiss Army Knife of a card, which is an odd thing to say about a seven.

It replaces itself in the unlikely case that someone can kill it, and gaining seven on the way down actually mitigates how embarrassing Pelakka Wurm is against aggro. Not the best. Not a surgeon like Progenitus or Darksteel Colossus. Just a ho-hum possible inclusion for a Green deck with a lot of lands in play.

7. Sphinx of the Final Word, mythic rare, B+

Here's the thing about this card: It might change the world.

Imagine the Control mirror. After sideboards everyone is down on removal (not that point removal does much of anything). You just tap out for it. Do you untap? I mean if you do the game is probably over. All your card drawing is going to resolve! This is the ultimate paradigm shifter... But only for a specific kind of matchup, for a specific kind of deck.

But hey, it's the only card in this list that might actually change the world.

8. Herald of Eternal Dawn, mythic rare, B+

Zoinks!

Gotcha!

It's going to be a weird world if Herald of Eternal Dawn is main-deck playable; but there are certainly matchups where it seems unbeatable after sideboarding.

I once won the State Championships with the card Fortune Thief in my sideboard. I was playing a Angel / burn deck that had a gap in the Glare of Subdual matchup. Selesnya could muck up the battlefield and gain life with Loxodon Hierarch... It could tap hella creatures but wasn't great at actually killing them. This allowed Fortune Thief to steal one key Swiss round for me.

Herald of Eternal Dawn has a lot of cool applications. Flash it in with lethal damage on the stack! Respond to a Jace activation and watch a Demon deck exhaust their own library. But it's never going to be good fair and square. Like Fortune Thief this card is going to be good primarily when it's burgling wins, not earning them.

Can your opponent easily kill a 6/6 after sideboarding? No? I might have just the Urabrask's Forge solution for you. It even races! If your opponent is coming in with eyes open, this card might be a timely Time Walk but won't necessarily win the game itself. But when information is sufficiently imbalanced, you might just be able to pickpocket a whole tournament.

9. Myojin of Night's Reach, rare B+

It will probably surprise you to learn that this card once won a Pro Tour.

Ken Bearl LOL | Block Constructed | Gadiel Szleifer, 1st Place Pro Tour Philadelphia 2005

Artifacts (4)
4 Sensei's Divining Top

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Like Sphinx of the Final Word, Myojin of Night's Reach is going to excel only in a very particular context.

In most Magic games, players are scrambling for resources. Everyone wants to pocket every two-for-one. No one wants to go to six. There is a premium on cards like Spellgyre that can be flexible answers... but also advance mid-game resources if you're not under pressure. When a matchup is ponderous enough; Jace, the Perfected Mind can be the ultimate ace.

We talked already about how an un-counter-able creature might break a Control mirror. But what about a mirror where resources aren't at a premium? Where everyone has access to lots and lots of cards and land? Probably because no one was under pressure and everyone had time to accumulate cardboard?

Could Myojin of Night's Reach break such a strange sort of mirror?

How do you break the Ramp mirror?

How to make card advantage worthwhile if both players have access to Atraxa?

Might I suggest casting Day of Judgment - or mayhap Deadly Cover-Up - and then removing the counter from Myojin of Night's Reach? You might have the only thing left. The opponent might have access to powerful top decks... But they'll still have to be playing off the top.

I mean maybe. Em effer still costs eight.

10. Meteor Golem, uncommon, B+

I just liked having this in the sideboard of a Standard Karn deck. Enough that I eventually played two copies.

The card is incredibly flexible; has friendly types for something like Atraxa; and helped to get the job done, even if five years ago.

11. Drakuseth, Maw of Flames, rare, B

This card is mostly quite a bit worse than Overlord of the Boilerbilges. It costs more and it doesn't "do the thing" when it enters (only when it attacks)...

The flashier "thing" and greater size are not meaningful pay-backs, though flying is a non-zero.

Why a B and not an F- then?

Sometimes you just want more. You don't necessarily need the best version; you'll settle for redundancy. There have been Gun decks in the past that played both Jackal Pup and Savannah Lions, for instance. I can imagine some top-end deck that has built-in haste and wants some fat that can wrap its head around the Maw of Flames.

But straight up card for card? You're unlikely to want this over the Overlord.

12. Preposterous Proportions, rare, B-

Here's the thing: If you cast this in a deck that wants this effect... You will probably win.

The cost is comparable to Nissa, Ascended Animist (though Nissa is a more flexible and sometimes cheaper card); and one less than Craterhoof Behemoth. Both cards have had historical success providing "an Overrun" ... albeit in friendlier circumstances.

I'm not super high on this card... I gave it a B-...

But if you cast it you really probably will win.

13. Brass's Bounty, rare, C+

This card seems lame / awful to me but the effect is quite powerful. I'm imagining there is some weird combo deck that I haven't yet conceived of that can do something interesting with approximately seven Treasures.

14. Gate Colossus, rare, C

See Brass's Bounty.

15. Ghalta, Primal Hunger, rare, C

Because what a Green deck with a ton of creatures in play already really needs is... Another creature.

Ghalta has seen play in the past but doesn't draw a card, doesn't have haste, doesn't provide anything but size and Trample. I don't imagine it's completely unplayable; but it also doesn't seem like the lynchpin of a winning strategy to me.

Also, im my format of choice a 12/12 trampler only costs 1 so maybe I'm biased.

16. Rune-Scarred Demon, rare, C-

The main problem here is that this card is in the wrong order. I guess a 6/6 flyer for seven is not wholly embarrassing; but we can get 6/6 flying Demons for four or five now.

The whole seven mana premium is supposed to get you somewhere; but on 7-drop? Presumably you've already reached some destination (i.e. the ability to tap for a big seven). It's just in the wrong order... But it's also hard to imagine what the right cost would be when attaching a Demonic Tutor effect to a creature of any size, let alone a 6/6.

Diabolic Tutor saw extensive play at four mana and it did not come with a way to win the game via combat. The math just doesn't work out here.

17. Ovika, Enigma Goliath, rare, C-

This is just a really weird card to me. It's in fact got some "Rune-Scarred Demon" vibes.

Like, I can totally get behind a 6/6 flyer with Ward 3. But the whole incentive here is to keep playing the game. The third (and longest) text block is about what happens with what you do with plentiful mana after casting a 7-drop. Like... 7-drops should end it, right? This is all about how I get to not only play the game longer, I get to do so in an annoying 1/1 Goblin way.

This is just weirdly in the wrong order.

A big flyer I understand is Boon-Bringer Valkyrie. I get to keep playing the game by ruining your game plan. Not I get to start thinking about continuing to play the Game 2 turns in the future, via continued expenditure of resources.

18. Sire of Seven Deaths, mythic rare, C-

This sure does a bunch of things!

It might be odd to you that I rated Meteor Golem also at as B+ and this as a C-.

However, I can imagine wanting Meteor Golem. Can you really think of a time you'd want Sire of Seven Deaths more than any number of other options? It's mostly a dude. It can get countered unlike Koma or the Sphinx. I'm not even sure 7 life worth of Ward is scaring anyone off considering it will hit for 7 with trample otherwise, and that a deck that can cast it probably didn't start off punishing the opponent's life total.

19. Terror of Mount Velus, rare, C-

This is kind of cool. Maybe Overrun is a seven-mana Red creature now?

I think probably not, though; and this thing's toughness doesn't line up to its mana cost enough for me to think about wanting to play it for very long.

20. Drogskol Reaver, rare, C-

Why would you want this? If you were in the market for a flying lifelinker in White with this amount of toughness you could just choose Lyra Dawnbringer.

Are we planning to use pump spells?

C- is probably too generous. I just don't see ever wanting this over any number of other options.

21. Chandra, Flameshaper, mythic rare, D

I do kind of like how the [+2] ability kind of combines the [+2] and [+1] abilities on Chandra, Hope's Beacon...

But at seven mana this is just so much more of a cost than than the incumbent version at six. The minus ability is arguably worse.

When would you play this instead of just another random Planeswalker or even another copy of Hope's Beacon?

22. Rise of the Dark Realms, rare, D

Earlier I said that if you cast Preposterous Proportions you'll probably win.

Is that true of this 9 MANA CARD?

What if the opponent doesn't have a bunch of guys in their graveyard? What if you don't? What if there is a Leyline of the Void in play?

Not saying that you might not want this effect, especially if you can get it unfair-like; but nine mana is the real preposterous ask, and there are just a ton of things that can go wrong.

23. Zetalpa, Primal Dawn, rare, D-

If you're in the market for an expensive Dinosaur... There are other options.

This one doesn't draw any cards or anything. And in Standard right now, big giant idiots mostly have lifelink.

24. Dragon Mage, uncommon, F

I can at least imagine wanting most of the cards on this list in play some of the time. Like you can get a better deal than Zetalpa, but once a 4/8 with five abilities including trample and indestructible is already in play whoever controls it is probably at the advantage.

Dragon Mage, though? I'm kind of terrified that my... let's see here... four-turn clock is going to do one better for my opponent than for me.

I mean, I have g-d Dragon Mage in my deck. How good could my top seven be?

LOVE

MIKE

TAGS articles, constructed, analysis, mike flores, michael flores, foundations, magic foundations, mtg foundations, 11122024, magic: the gathering foundations

Grading Twenty-Four Unreasonably Costed Cards from Foundations

Boros Deck Wins | Extended | Tsuyoshi Fujita, Pro Tour Los Angeles 2005

Shoal and Tell | Legacy | Mike Flores

Green-White Control | Standard | Brian Kibler, US Nationals 2004

Ken Bearl LOL | Block Constructed | Gadiel Szleifer, 1st Place Pro Tour Philadelphia 2005

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