Card/Deck [FDN] Foundations & Jumpstart – Testing and Inclusions!

ravnic

ravnic

So, Magic in 2025 will only have very little magic in it, somehow. But this set right here really feels like MtG. So let's share what we want to add.

Personally for me these cards are of interest:

Certainly


Cat Collector is a very nice lifegain payoff, as it also works with tokens and blink, the other two big themes in white. Also, cats.

Kykar might just be my dream azorius card. Prowess payoff, blink enabler, stunning full art version.

Maybe at some point


Some of these I suspect to be a little too weak (Kraken, Giant, Refute), others too strong (Hydra, mostly). Most of these are just don't make it in when I have them go head to head with what I currently run, but that might change in the future.

Aesthetic Upgrades

Genesis Wave and Ajani's Pridemate will receive sweet borderless versions for me, I'm also contemplating if I want those for Abrade and Vengeful Bloodwitch (over Zulaport Cutthroat), but I'm not sure because I also like their retro frame versions. Goblin Surprise is a nice clean version of You See a Pair of Goblins and I might opt in for the Nyx frame version of Demonic Pact.

Even my Ravnica Cube gets an upgrade with the special guest version of Paradise Druid and a new, much better art for Biogenic Upgrade.

So, for a set with such a high percentage of reprints, that's pretty neat.

How about you people?
 
Brad

Brad


Careful with that Hydra.

I think Refute looks really good in terms of 3mv counters.

I'll post mine later.
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor

I've expounded on the virtues of this card enough already, but safe to say I was running maul of the skyclaves and feel this is an increase in powerlevel AND fun for both players. What more could you ask for.


This thing is pretty juiced, but I do specifically run a tokens theme so I should at least try it. Obv it's a bad topdeck, worse than most 2s, but it fits into my themes.


This is a card I think is going to be much better for other people than it is for me. I run a pretty high percentage of exile removal, there's a lot of spare 1/1s lying around, and some number of my aggro beaters are instants/sorceries/cards that don't go to the graveyard.
Like yeah this plays badly with and against raise the alarm for eg, but also Ranger Class realistically ain't getting sun blessed.

Also at least someone's gonna try and bring back a land but whatever. It might even be me!


Someone talk me out of this. Like my cube is pretty large game, there's a whole deck that's based around having card types in play, there's clues/blood/food/treasures flying around everywhere, like if there was anywhere (other than EDH) this was gonna be good, it'd be here.

And I know it's trash, I know in my hearts people are gonna look at this like it draws 3 cards and you need to put it in your deck like it draws 0 because the games where it matters it'll be worse than you think, and the games where it doesn't you'll draw like 5 cards.
And those games where it draws 5 are all you're gonna remember.

Gaea's cradle isn't your 17th land, this isn't gonna help you hit your 4th land drop.
BUT I WANT TO.


Honestly even though I make cards, there's really not a lot of room above savannah lions design wise where you can add synergy to make people interested in a card beyond it being a 1 drop. It's dangerously easy to overjuice something, so I'm always on the lookout for new stuff I can try.
Nothing I run specifically combos well with this card other than it's a good 1 drop that holds value as the game goes long. I guess it's another way to keep the cards flowing, but my cube is full to bursting with those really.


Literally the hour this card was spoiled I was in the middle of looking through red 2 drops because I was frustrated with what I was running, and wanted a bit more token support. Slammed it in immediately, huge fan. I could honestly see myself doubling up on this card if I like it as much as I do now a few months out.
 
Brad

Brad

Cards I like:

I'm always a little interested in running Feather1.


Great intersection of effects I associate with white. Auto-attach equipment is almost always nice.


Really respectable card that doesn't try to do too much.


I like to have 1-2 one mv creature-savers in white and the kicker on this is pretty sweet.


Elspeth's Smite is likely the better version of this effect, but I think this is a good effect for white to get more of.


This is probably fun or easy to make fun.


Maybe too low of a floor and too high of a ceiling.


Lifelink could screw your red decks, but this has two good modes.


Probably easy to cast for 4 and not bad at 5. Not sure it beats other similar options.


Surveil 3 can do a lot in the right deck.


Pretty easy to get this off for 3-4 mana.


Midnight Haunting+ seems decent.


Power=MV flyer with super flash is certainly respectable.


I can't tell if this is super pushed or it's fine.


Is this cool? I think I like it if you have affinity in blue.


Seems very solid.


Isn't this that chick from Zelda? Seems good if you have some dredge-like stuff going on.


Draws off of itself. P<T isn't too hard to achieve in U, either. Could enable a single card archetype of sorts.


Seems really good amongst Cancels.


Bad Snapcaster looks decent.


Free token, but it's slow. Probably a more interesting, less immediate Zombify.


Does black have a clean 5 mv Wrath? Seems like there's always some extra text.


"Flying" may be the key word on making this cubeable.


Powerful effect on a powerful body. Balanced out by the 3 toughness. Might be good.


This seems fun to attack with over and over. Probably won't be frustratingly repetitive because it's really not that good.


This seems super good. It wants itself and other cards in the yard. Huge payoff for any self mill decks.


Not a big ETB fan, but this is a nice reference on a fair body imo.


At what point do we have enough of these?


2/2 DS for 3 is kinda the going rate and you want to target this anyways. Seems like a good Gaea's Might to me.


I'll take more like this in Tarkir 2. Wouldn't mind a few variants of this like Splicers.


Really solid without the level ups seeming too good.


Strong two drop whose Raid ability is balanced by a lack of toughness. Seems cool to play with and adds some tension to play against.


Really bad Primeval Titan isn't too bad, but green 5 is competitive. How does that big bow not give this dude reach??


Yuppp.


My Eldrazi might want this ugly little piece of shit in the cube.


Scary and exciting.


Cost reduction and power bonus!? And a non-tribal fight effect?! Pretty neat.


That's a pretty nice Wood Elf even if you never use the second effect.


Flying, "prowess," blink, tokens. WU loves this.


Nice payoff for attacking. Can easily imagine throwing away your two drop to get some damage through, then grabbing it back EOT casting this in the second main phase.


Both of these worry me for similar reasons. They're both X/Y for X that have an effect to potentially add X bonus damage. I'd love opinions on them.


Perfect design.


Incredible BG sac design.


Very powerful effects that may be balanced by the card's low starting power.


This card's probably pretty good, considering it's colorless. The draws happen at the same time and your opponent is punished for it. Aggro decks can use it to refuel their hand while applying damage. Slower decks can use it to see more cards once the game is stabilized.


Don't love the keyword soup, but I'll take the Eldrazi. I like "Ward - Fuck You" on such an expensive creature.


Honorable mentions:

I get closer to giving a shit about enchantments every set.


I doubt I ever play this, but it's a cool upgrade to Platinum Angel. Flash on this will probably lead to some memorable moments.


Anyone remember Street Sharks?


Least corny flavor text 2024.


There's a lot of enchantments that they should be putting onto bodies.


That's a nice design.


This card is good on its own, but you have to decipher quite a lot of tribal text to figure that out. Shame.


It's sad to see cards like this knowing that Lorwyn2 is postponed for UB shit.


If you're on some Heroic or double strike stuff, this is basically a tapped land that you can cast as a bad Giant Growth. That's not awful.


K-Pop Winnie the Pooh.


I love big dudes, but this compares too favorably to Gigantosaurus and to Multani and Yargle for how much easier it is too cast, imo.



Set seemed to have a lot of solid commons and uncommons. I bet the draft will be pretty fun. There were quite a few new arts that could be relevant if I go art singleton, something I consider from time to time.

I really like this set. It feels nostalgic in a way. Shame about hte upcoming UB situation, but I can close my eyes when that happens and hope that we get more sets like this in between (minus the WB life deck).
 
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MilesOfficial

MilesOfficial

Inclusions:​



Sun-Blessed Healer in for Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector
Now that's a Kicker! Nice, clean card that works to get in damage or bring back one of the increasingly-busted 2-drops we've been getting. Also, he's Lurrus' best friend.

I wish it let you bring back lands like Sun Titan et all!

Raise the Past in for Invasion of Gobakhan
Raise the Past is the Return to the Ranks / Ascend from Avernus I've been waiting for...I hope. I love self-mill and mass reanimation, and I'm hopeful this will do more than be the bail-out option for Lively Durge.

Only taking out the Invasion because it's the last Battle I still have. I really like several of them, and when I tested out Invasion of Ravnica recently, it over-performed, but we'll keep those in the on-deck binder for now.

Kiora, the Rising Tide in for Portent
Wow wow wow!! So much better than the previous Careful Study creatures, and a big fan of the upside.

Tinybones, Bauble Burglar in for Cynical Loner
A more speculative pick for sure, but I like the card and the effect.

Aphelia, Viper Whisperer in for Rotting Regisaur
She's my Unstoppable Slasher.

Abyssal Harvester in for Faerie Dreamthief
Super slow but might get there.

Kellan, Planar Trailblazer in for Rabbit Battery
The 1-drop I've been dreaming of.

Searslicer Goblin in for Young Pyromancer
Very happy with some solid generic token generation at 2MV in red.

Ivora, Insatiable Heir in for Magda, Brazen Outlaw
Blood tokens galore! A bit of "Inti at home" going on here, but Inti is one of the best cards in my Cube, and these two can be good friends.

General Kreat, the Boltbringer in for Twinshot Sniper
One of my preferred options for Rabblemasters. The mini Purphoros, God of the Forge effect is ideal here, and I think he'll do a lot of good.

Sutina, Speaker of the Tajuru in for Wrenn and Realmbreaker
Wood Elves++ does just enough to feel good in my list, and I think the land ability will come into play more often than most would expect.

Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate in for Kolaghan’s Command
Already talked this one to death, but my favorite card of the set by far.

Koma, World-Eater in for Hydroid Krasis
A version of Koma that I don't feel is so devastating but still reads extremely well to Timmys the world over.

Scrawling Crawler in for Field of the Dead
The Howling Mine effect I've been waiting for.

Interested:​



I don't like Scythecat Cub. It feels bad that they've made a second version of an extremely cool and specific card in the form of Bristly Bill, Spine Sower less than a year after his release! I don't really need two of these effects anyways.
 
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shamizy

shamizy

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Not too many cards to add this time around, I still haven't gotten a chance to test out anything from Duskmourn or even MH3. Too many sets in too little time. With the release schedule set to go into overdrive next year I might just pop in for one of these every 2-3 sets instead of keeping up beyond attending Prerelease. Maybe for a set that I find really exciting, but with the influx of all that UB stuff I'm more content to sit out sets. All that said, I do like what we're working with here as Foundations is like a "super" Core Set. No complex mechanics to grok and the return of easy to understand effects like Threshold and Landfall that are intuitive to older players.

Mischievous Mystic gives me another wizard for U/x builds which helps to make Flame of Anor even more attractive. I'm a fan of the 2nd drawn card effects when stapled to usable bodies. Being able to fly and make flying bodies makes this more attractive to me than Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse (despite larger tokens). If I can get enough of these effects that synergize I might look into shifting UG towards a mini-subtheme of drawing two to get X effect. Kiora, the Rising Tide can kind of synergize here by doing a Careful Study effect on ETB. Just a really solid card as it gives me the effect of Champion of Wits without the Eternalize baggage. Being able to work towards a payoff with a big token makes for a fun subgame with looters as well.

Kellan, Planar Trailblazer is just an awesome 1 drop. I love almost every Figure of Destiny template aggro card, this one scales quickly into a sizable threat, and it's got relevant typing for interactions throughout my cube. More one drops with upside are always welcome to give Aggro more interesting tools to play around with. I like the simplicity of Searslicer Goblin so I get to cut out some unnecessary complexity with the Eternalize from Earthshaker Khenra. I love the falter effect in aggro, but with Radha's Firebrand I think I'm covered and a different effect will promote more diverse gameplay. I'm all for more relevant bodies to trigger stuff like Winota, Joiner of Forces or get a little more out of Goblin Rabblemaster. Going wide also helps for Aristocrat builds by letting me suicide charge recurring bodies ala Gravecrawler to help go a bit wider and create scenarios where Blood Artist effects become even more daunting.

I'm honestly not very interested in Scythecat Cub having just added Bristly Bill earlier in the year, but I do like the second effect of doubling up counters on a specific creature. Mossborn Hydra looks like a fun 3 drop to curve into and follow up with fetches, Exploration effects or cards like Harrow. Being able to interact with Bill and Luminarch Aspirant will make for some fun sequencing decisions. Sometimes you just want simple tools that get the job done, complexity be damned, and this one should work pretty well for G/x Stompy decks.

Finally Scrawling Crawler just gives me a little splash hate for all the rampant card draw that gets printed nowadays so it's a nice inclusion. Being able to passively shock the opponent every two turns is a nice little punisher effect at the 3 drop slot. If someone can combine this in the same deck with Razorkin Needlehead and something like a Windfall that would be a pretty sweet way to burn people out of the game.

Fun looking set, basically Core Set+, and a lot of nice designs that avoid the extreme bloat we get way too frequently nowadays.
 
Mown

Mown

I don't know if I am especially interested in any of these cards, which is unprecedented. Some cards I took note of:



I really want Electroduplicate to be a red momentary blink, and one day I might get there, but I just don't run etb creatures that function well at sorcery speed, which is kind of in accordance with my design goals, so my hopes of a red blink deck just kind of doesn't get there. Same with Sandstorm Crasher, except I mostly just want to complain about it having trample instead of haste, as is I'd just play Rionya instead.
Frontline Heroism is a kind of cool build around, but in my cube it really only works with Fists of Flame and Become Immense, anything else isn't really worth it.
Adept is actually a really appealing 2-drop. I want it to be good, and it might be a sleeper slam-dunk, if that's even a thing, but I'm also kind of concerned it's just not good enough when the alternatives are 2024 cards like Slickshot Show-Off or Kitsa.
Celestial Armor I like conceptually, but I think it's just too much of a blowout to stop a removal spell and then take your creature to the skies with a power boost.
 
Erik Twice

Erik Twice

This looks like a great set! I'm not finding much I'm interested on because my cube has a high power level, but the fact that I'm not finding outliners here is actually a good thing.
 
StrionicAdventurer

StrionicAdventurer

There's a lot of nice stuff here for Multivalent, my Peasant cube.

- Unbounded Potential
This is a very cool card for an environment with a lot of Heroic and Heroic-adjacent abilities. Unbounded Potential got added to the cube over a year ago, when I was trying to set up a +1/+1 counters archetype, and it's been coasting on its beautiful art ever since. But Divine Resilience also has really cool art!

- Shepherd of the Cosmos
Shepherd of the Cosmos is the only Foretell card in the cube, and even though I really want at least one Angel in my White section, I can't ignore how much I like Guarded Heir. It seems like a great top-end card for Aristocrats, Go-Wide Tokens and especially Blink decks. Great storytelling on this card.

- Mirror Image
Mirror Image has been here for a long time just because I think this kind of effect is fun in Magic. But Cephalid Inkmage just does more for more decks in the cube. Surveil is one of my favorite keywords, and I love Cephalids.

- Sling-Gang Lieutenant
I feel like these cards go in the same decks, but this change allows me to smooth out the mana curve in my Black section. The grub is obviously sweet in Aristocrats, but I also think it's a good Bestow target and Equipment carrier just because it leaves bodies behind.

- Young Pyromancer
I was going to cut Young Pyromancer for Toralf's Disciple, but then I found out Toralf's Disciple is like $70!? Obviously I could proxy it, but part of my ethos in my Peasant cube is that it's supposed to just be cheap. I like the idea that someone could see it online, like the look, and just buy it. Anyway, Slumbering Cerberus gives the power-matters deck a cool setup play. This guy might not make it for a long time in the cube, but I want to give it a shot.

- You See a Pair of Goblins
Just switching this for flavor reasons. The templating on Goblin Surprise matches the rest of the cube.

- Prying Blade
I love this card. I love durdling. I love fish tokens. I LOVE the art. I want to equip this to Warchanter Skald so much!

- Carnage Altar
This seems like an uncomplicated straight upgrade that makes an Aristocrats payoff more interesting and effective.

- Wanderer's Twig
Alara mentioned! This card does mostly the same job as Wanderer's Twig while delivering my favorite feature of any card: drastically different functions depending on when you draw it during the game. A cool card for a cube that wants 3-color decks.
 
Nanonox

Nanonox

It's easy to be down on Magic right now, there are a lot of changes and for me at least, not necessarily in the direction I would want. These past few sets though (Bloomburrow, Duskmorn and Foundations) are really a joy and might mean it's finally time for me to be picky with the sets I interact with. The designs here are clean, novel and inspiring. I didn't even know that I would like to support horses, unicorns and pegasi!

High hopes



This card does a lot! It has a pseudo ETB ability if you can attack right away. Goes great with equipment and other counter matter cards and sets up an aggro or midrange deck for the long game nicely.



This seems rock solid to me. A 3/2 for 3 that fills the GY/discards isn't horrible (I remember people eyeing Bazaar Trademage). That attack trigger is a sweet dream to chase. My fear is that Blue decks don't always have a ton of creatures. I'm pretty sure my math checks out:
Removal magnet + few other targets = dead creature.
I think the base mode is good enough that I want to try it!



Making an evasive army from a 2 drop that triggers off what you want to be doing anyways is fantastic. You can sequence this with a cantrip so that you create at least one token. A Faerie package becomes mighty tempting (Spellstuter Sprite, Spell Stuter)!

Could get there



I love this as an enchantment payoff. By itself it's a one time boost + evasion, but it can get really crazy with multiple enchantments. Tokens and cards with +1/+1 counters are the prime targets, two things White excels at. I would want a few more enchantment matters cards before adding this though as alone, it could be perceived as a trap.



Very sweet kicker (even if missing lands to recur). The 1 toughness makes it tough to include as there are a lot of tokens to invalidate attacks if you play it as a 3/1 for 2.



Almost gets there for me. Blue 2s is stacked with Prowess goodness. The fact you have to track its power, the amount of counters and the tokens also makes me hesitant to include.



Blood tokens are great game pieces. They are synergy cards that also offer a draw smoothing mechanic early and late. While this has scaling potential, the 1/1 body is a little too small for my cube.



The aggro decks I try to push in my format aren't necessarily all in on 2/1s for 1. That said, this one is a nice mana sink and I am sure plays really well. Snap include if I had a Legendary matters theme.



Great ability if you have the density of 1 drops to trigger it.



Kitty gets there on rate, but it’s either this guy or Bristly Bill, Spine Sower. I think I like the cleaner templating of Bill + the fact it is legendary might come up when I finally support the archetype. Also, with the cat you feel pressured to double up on the same creature, whereas Bill doesn't care.



Good stats and a lot of potential value. Doesn't quite push the themes I want in Green though and that is a death sentence for a 3 drop in my book.



A draw 7 combo card that can be played in aggressive decks to squeeze in more damage. 3 drops are tight though. Would probably need to add it as part of a package to warrant a slot (Razorkin Needlehead + Simulacrum Synthesizer + Mishra's Workshop).

There are ton of other designs that will go nicely into other projects and other designs that make me want to build a cube for them. Love the set!
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

Hey, thanks for making the thread! I may have missed that spoiler season ended lol. Jumpstart+Full Release is kind of a lot.

Here's what I ended up submitting for my LPR Survey. I think it's a little bit lighter than usual since I'm actually pretty happy with where my Cube is right now. I haven't done one for Unstable Cubicorns yet, but this set is sort of perfect for that project in many ways as well.

8.7 - Kellan, Planar Trailblazer
7.2 - Searslicer Goblin
7 - Drake Hatcher
6.9 - Spinner of Souls
6.9 - Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
6 - Skyknight Squire
5 - Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
5 - Abyssal Harvester
5 - Rite of the Dragoncaller
5 - Mossborn Hydra
4.3 - Blasphemous Edict
4.1 - Sun-Blessed Healer
3.9 - High Fae Trickster
3.9 - Mischievous Mystic
2 - Firespitter Whelp
1 - Kykar, Zephyr Awakener

J25 Main Cube:
5 - Gilded Scuttler
3.9 - Scythecat Cub
3 - General Kreat, the Boltbringer

I definitely enjoyed the return of Raid– I like to use that mechanic quite extensively in most of my Cube projects, and it's nice to get some powerful new options for Highball 4K. It's doubly awesome that the two best new raid cards are a new Alesha and a mini Goblin Rabblemaster. I'm not sure these cards are going to make it in the long term but I'm happy with them for the time being!!

 
Brad

Brad

Gilded Scuttler = Mossborn Hydra?

Are you valuing it highly as a roadblock? I did give some thought to it on first pass, but ultimately dismissed it.

I like how you've assigned ratings. Adds a lot to compare to.

TrainmasterGT said:
I'm actually pretty happy with where my Cube is right now.
Click to expand...
Can't relate.
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
ravnic said:
Bro, try drafting it a couple times first. Overthinking is a safe route to never be happy with something.
Click to expand...
As the exception that proves the rule: I've drafted my cube every 1,5 weeks since 2012 and approach every patch with "what am I disappointed I'm this week" :p

Though I also value that level of churn
 
Morphling

Morphling

These are my adds:
Refute
Mischievous Mystic
Kiora, the Rising Tide
High Fae Trickster
Abyssal Harvester
Searslicer Goblin
General Kreat, the Boltbringer
Scythecat Cub
Ravenous Amulet (@StrionicAdventurer, good looking out!)
Scrawling Crawler
Sire of Seven Deaths

Really love this set. Powerful without being endlessly wordy and exhausting to read every card. Kinda shocked at some of the cards they put in, considering it's legal for FIVE years, wow.

Foundations has me considering a brand new microcube for teaching new players/drafters. Doubt it will be anytime soon, but it's officially rolling around in my head now.
 
MilesOfficial

MilesOfficial

I'm in the same boat. Completely missed that one on full spoiler, but I've been seeing it in Limited and like it just fine. If the activations were instant-speed, it'd be a slam dunk, but it's still got legs, I think.
 
Morphling

Morphling

Didn't notice non-instant speed, that is a bummer.

Even then, Amulet feels like a more reasonable and way more interesting (supports multiple strategies)Shrine of Burning Rage, a card which is fine on power, but is a little unfun to lose to and getting very long in the tooth. It has been on my 'wouldn't mind replacing it with a worthy candidate" list for some time.

The only awkward part is, I was already eyeing Molten Gatekeeper for this swap.. Gotta find something else.
 
StrionicAdventurer

StrionicAdventurer

Brad said:
Convince me on the amulet.
Click to expand...

I'm using it to replace Carnage Altar. The main thing I like about it is paying 3 mana for the first card rather than 5. The sorcery speed activation doesn't bother me. In my cube it would be fun to go Cult Conscript > Blood Artist > Ravenous Amulet, and then start the Aristocrats value train. I also really like the way it switches gears into a finishing hit on the opponent.

For the person playing against Ravenous Amulet, I think it's a more tempting target for artifact removal.
 
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