Core Sets are back! Well kind of... It was revealed at Magic Con Amsterdam that a new Standard-legal set is releasing this November - Magic Foundations. Foundations is a full-blown Magic set, similar to the design of a Core Set, but legal in Standard for a much longer time. Before we dive into the nitty gritty of Foundations, let's go over some of the key information learned from MagicCon: Amsterdam.

What is Magic Foundations?

Magic Foundations is a new Standard-legal set that releases in November. Similar to any other Standard expansion, the set will be draftable, and will feature a full product lineup including Play Boosters, Collector Boosters, Jumpstart, and other products.

Magic Foundations consists of about 50% reprints from various Magic sets, and 50% new cards. It's similar to Core Sets in its design, however Foundations remains legal in Standard for much longer. At the Preview Panel at MagicCon: Amsterdam it was revealed that Foundations will be legal in Standard until 2029, with the potential to be legal longer. The set is designed to be "semi-evergreen" making it the basis of the Standard format.

Why Does Magic Foundations Exist?

Magic Foundations is meant to act as well, the foundation of players' collections. Whether you're a competitive player or a casual/returning player to the game, Foundations will be relevant to you. It's meant to act as the perfect jumping in point for new or returning players, since Foundations is meant to include cards that are easily digestible to the average player.

At the same time, the set is meant to act as the basis of Standard, providing competitive players with a core set of cards that will be legal for many years. While meant to be a set legal for five (or more) years, it will be a very accessible product.

What Cards are in Magic Foundations?

As I mentioned earlier, Foundations is about 50% new cards and 50% reprints from across Magic's history and timelines. While only a couple of cards have been released, here are all the current spoilers from Foundations:

Llanowar Elves and Day of Judgment are solid reprints. Llanowar Elves has usually been a cornerstone of the Standard formats it's been legal in, but I'd be interested to see how relevant it is in a world with so many powerful cards that are legal for three years instead of two. Will Llanowar Elves really see play in a world of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse?

Day of Judgment is a welcome sight, as a control player, and is a nice upgrade to cards like Depopulate and No Witnesses. While it's not a card I'd probably slam four of in my Azorius Control deck due to the legality of Sunfall, it's a nice wrath to always have in my back pocket.

Omniscience is another powerful card that's seen play in some of the Standard environments it's been legal in, but its implications will be based on what combo pieces exist. With a three year rotation it's much more likely for this card to see play than in previous formats.

It's hard to say how much value these new cards will have in Standard. I can see Anthem of Champions being relevant in some sort of Selesnya Humans or aggro deck, but Nine-Lives Familiar feels pretty weak when stronger cards are available, like Liliana of the Veil.

It was also revealed that there will be five new planeswalker cards - I'd be curious as to what the power level of these cards will be and if they'll really have an impact on Standard. I press the issue again - will these cards really be impactful while cards like Atraxa, Grand Unifier remain legal?

As for the other cards that will be printed, all we can do is speculate. I'd be very interested to see what the rare land cycle will be like. I'm putting my money on the rare dual land cycle from Core Set 2010, as I think this cycle would be a powerful basis for the format and would allow the design team to not have to have a rare dual land cycle in every Standard set.

What Will Be the Impact of Magic Foundations?

While it's way too early to say what the impact of Foundations will look like, I believe this is an overall positive change for Magic, as long as Standard is given more support. As mentioned in one of my last articles, I believe Standard hasn't received the revival it deserves, with competitive tournaments only taking place a few months out of the year (RCQ season). While Store Championship events exist, for many stores they don't fire due to the low popularity of the format. If Standard is more relevant at the competitive-level, then I believe Foundations will be a successful product and a worthwhile investment for Constructed players.

The big benefit to Magic Foundations is that you'll always have a chunk of your Standard collection that's always relevant. Foundations seems like a very accessible way to always have the basis of Standard. I'm a fan of cards like Day of Judgment being legal, for example, because it means that design space can be more free in the rotating Standard sets. In the last couple of years we've had some pretty bad Day of Judgment-esque cards, like Depopulate and No Witnesses. While WotC can't just reprint Day in every Standard set, or print cards that are too powerful, they've had to print less-powerful copies. Foundations gives the design team the freedom to put cards like Llanowar Elves, Day of Judgment, and other base cards in one semi-evergreen set while also freeing up design space.

There are a few downsides to Magic Foundations, however. First, Foundations is another product that is a must-buy if you're a competitive player. Similar to Modern Horizons, it's a set that you have to invest in if you want your decks to stay relevant in the format. However, one worry is that if there are powerful cards printed in Foundations, Standard players will now have to deal with them up until 2025! Are the cards powerful enough that they'll remain format staples at the risk of making Standard stagnant? On the flipside, if the cards aren't powerful enough to stand up to the other cards in Standard, why does this product even exist?

Foundations is the seventh draftable product of this year, which is a huge deviation from the norm of about five products (four pre-Masters/Horizons sets). As a Limited player, I'm starting to feel burnout. It's silly to me that this set needs Collector Boosters as well, as its primary purpose is to be a base set of easy to understand cards for Standard and casual players. Will this be yet another product we have serialized cards injected into just to sap off new players? While I don't mind Core Set-type products, this set feels unnecessary.

Overall, I hope the set is fun to draft and provides some unique Standard cards. My main worry, aside from the set being another product in a year where sets are released almost monthly, is that keeping cards legal in Standard for five years will make the format stale. Standard used to be a faster rotating format, and was unique and fresh for that reason alone. Now with three-year rotation and Foundations, along with poor competitive support, will the format really be successful in the future? I'm skeptical, but cautiously optimistic.

Magic Foundations releases November 15th and will be the last Standard-legal expansion of the year. What cards are you hoping to see return for the next few years of Standard? What new types of cards do you want to see? While Day of Judgment is a solid reprint I wouldn't be lying if I said I'm hoping for some sort of new Jace or Teferi Control-essque planeswalker...

Until next time.

-Roman Fusco