Foundations Set Review - Minotaur

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From Cowards To Cows

Hello, and welcome to the dawn of a new era! Foundations is upon us (and not the Isaac Asimov books), and with it ushers the set that will be the core to Magic for the next five years. We aren't on any plane in particular this time around, and with that is the exciting potential for Minotaurs from across the Multiverse.

Like core sets before it, Foundations is here to bring us back to the baseline of what Magic is all about and remind us all why we love this game. It's very easy to be brought low by the direction Magic is moving in, but it's sets like these that I think we can latch on to. There are no fedoras, cowboy hats, or 80s pop culture to get in the way here. Foundations is called that for a reason: it's what Magic is all about.

As always, this review is targeted toward the formats of Pioneer and EDH, but, by all means, you're welcome to apply my thoughts to other formats, so let's explore the bedrock and see what amazing things await at the core of this set.

Black

Blasphemous Edict

What an interesting spin on a board wipe we have here. I suppose "Blasphemous" must now be short hand for cards that deal with 13, as this card seems to be black's take on Blasphemous Act, as both will usually clear the board and both will cost one mana when there are a lot of creatures in play.

At retail I would say this is below average for a board wipe, as four mana is usually the benchmark cost. However, with at least 13 creatures in play this will cost one black mana and everyone sacrifices 13 creatures. and I don't think I need explain why a one-mana board wipe is incredibly powerful. Additionally, because everyone sacrifices, it will get around indestructible and protection abilities. This is a great way to reset the board and give us an opportunity to get ahead with rebuilding.

I don't think it'll be too difficult to meet the requirements of having 13 creatures on the boards, as in EDH it's very common for everyone to have at least four or five creatures per player. However, there's a downside against decks that go very wide, such as with token decks or Elves, as in that case the 13 sacrifices might not actually clear their board, yet with Blasphemous Act everything likely would have died.

Overall I think it's worth running both Blasphemous Edict and Blasphemous Act, as it gives us more board wipe options. They also cover for each other's weaknesses which I think is valuable when you don't know what kinds of opponents you'll face in game.

Stab

What we have here can only be described as a black Shock. It basically does the same thing as Shock, costs as much, and is also instant. The primary difference is that this can't target players or planeswalkers.

But the advantage Stab has over Shock is its application in combat. Stab is comparable to Dead Weight, but Stab is instant speed, allowing us to surprise our opponent and make a blocker weaker. Normally, if our opponent is blocking in Pioneer, it's because they can trade with one of our Minotaurs. Stab here will ensure that the blocker is what will die. It's also a way to breakthrough an indestructible creature, should we encounter any.

However, I think in most circumstances I would prefer Shock over Stab, but I think there are some serious considerations to be had here. It all depends on a meta call with wherever you play.

Deathmark

I can't tell you how happy it makes me to be able to dunk on white and green like this. This is a card I am definitely adding to my sideboards, without question. The reason is that green is often better at midrange than Minotaurs with their higher-statted creatures and white often makes a lot of blockers to stall us out, so, in Pioneer, being able to shoot down any green or white creature is going to be very useful.

Selesnya in Pioneer has started to become popular recently, and I think Deathmark will be a very cost-effective method of dealing with O-Ring creatures or creatures that put a tax on us.

Red

Gornog, the Red Reaper

It's not always easy being a fan of Minotaurs. Most sets I have to look all the cool cards Goblins, Vampires, or Humans get and be happy with the the draft chaff Minotaurs receive, if even that.

So when cards like Gornog come around, it feels like a feast. These are the cards that get me through the Minotaur droughts. This is what Minotaur players have needed and never known it until now.

Let's break this down. Gornog is a Minotaur Warrior that makes Cowards unable to block Warriors. During combat, for each player we attack he can turn one creature they control into a Coward. Then all our Warriors gain a power buff equal to the number of Cowards.

So in a game of EDH, if we attack all three opponents, three creatures will become Cowards and our Warriors gain three power, and, of course, those Cowards can't block our Warriors. Then on the next combat, this happens again and we buffs our Warriors even more. As a result, extra combat abilities are very powerful when Gornog is around, as it won't take much for all our opponent creatures to become Cowards.

But what is most interesting is that becoming a Coward here is an overwriting effect. As in it doesn't say on Gornog that they're Cowards in addition to their other types, nor that they are Cowards until the end of turn, so what that means is that if something is made into a Coward, it will now always be a Coward. It doesn't matter if it was Goblin, Vampire, or Human, they're simply Cowards. While this a very corner case rules interaction, it means we can disrupt other kindred strategies on the table. As the Cowards will be unable to benefit from what every synergies they originally had with their type.

I see Gornog slotting in nicely with Minotaur kindred decks, as Warrior is one of the most common additional creature types Minotaurs have next to Wizard or Shaman. I think he will work best in decks like Sethron, Hurloon General and Neheb, the Worthy as these are very combat-focused and are themselves Warriors. However, there's also an argument to be made with Tahngarth, First Mate seeing he is a Warrior, but also one that will jump into the combats of other players, allowing for him to be easily unblocked thanks to the Cowards in play.

However you run Gornog, it's clear to me that he is a very versatile creature for Minotaurs and I am beyond excited to play with him.

Sandstorm Crasher

Sandstorm Crasher is very interesting to me as it appears, by all accounts, to be an improved Felhide Spiritbinder.

Felhide always had the problem of being very slow and very hard to activate without help. At four mana it needs to untap in order to make a temporary copy of one of our creatures, with an additional cost of two mana. But given that it doesn't have haste, it would need two full turns in order to get the inspired activation, so unless you had a haste-enabler or a way to tap without combat, it almost never lives long enough to be useful.

Sandstorm Crasher changes that. Now you don't to wait for an untap trigger to get the copy token, you only need to exert this when it attacks. That speeds up this effect by a whole turn, even faster if you have haste. The downside, though, is that exert means it takes twice as long to untap. However, I'd rather get an activation and wait longer... than likely never get an activation with Felhide.

Ivora, Insatiable Heir

Ivora I see finding an easy home in discard Minotaur decks. Despite being a Vampire, she grows with every card we discard, which is important because, since she has trample, we're able to generate Blood tokens when she deals damage to players, and those Blood tokens will allow us to discard more cards to make her even bigger.

What I like about Blood tokens is that they're cheap, reliable tools to rummage in our deck. I think one of the are hardest things about self-discard decks is when you run out of cards in your hand. Blood tokens allow you to discard at instant speed, but the card is instantly replaced, allowing for more potential discarding to happen, and because Blood tokens can be activated at instant speed, we can activate a bunch as a way to pump Ivora to survive combat. Provided we have the mana of course.

Taurean Mauler

This is not a card I was expecting to see reprinted into Standard or Pioneer, but it's a card that I welcome.

Taurean Mauler is a powerhouse in EDH due to having four players casting spells, so I'm hesitantly curious to see how it performs in 1v1 formats. The issue is that being three mana places it in a very competitive curve slot for Minotaurs, so putting it in our decks will invariably push out the Minotaur lords we run.

The other issue is that 1v1 match-ups tend to have more targeted removal, and there are half as many players to grow Taurean. All of this is to say, I'm curious as to what comes with Taurean added to Minotaur lists, but I worry it doesn't have enough impact.

Hidetsugu's Second Rite

This is hard for me to evaluate for Pioneer. Because we need our opponents to be at exactly ten life, it either wins us the game, or it's a dead card.

It's also important to remember that, without fetchlands, life totals don't decrease as fast as they do in Modern. However, it also means our opponents have less opportunities to respond if we do get them to ten life, so I'm curious to experiment with this.

With EDH the application is a lot more clear cut. All you need to do is pair this with Sorin Markov and you just instantly kill a player.

Gorehorn Raider

Well guys we did it. We have a Minotaur in Standard for the next five years. It's just a shame that it's bad.

To be clear, this card is an upgrade of Storm Fleet Pyromancer, but even still, Gorehorn is barely making the cut in a sealed deck.

Five mana for a 4/4 that deals two to a target only if you attacked is not making anyone happy. Maybe in Limited you kill a Llanowar Elves or finish off something after combat, but it's still over costed and not worth giving attention to.

So TLDR, this doesn't even meet Minotaur standards, and I wish instead they gave us a reprint of Hurloon Minotaur, because at least that's iconic for us.

Twinflame Tyrant

When I look at this Dragon, I can't help but think about Dictate of the Twin Gods. They both double damage, they both cost the same, but the Tyrant doesn't hurt us.

As devastating it can be to flash out Dictate, it more often then not will lead to our death as our opponents exact vengeance upon us. The Tyrant, though, isn't symmetrical. Meaning we can become very threatening without being as worried about the crack back. But why not run both? Have Dictate and Tyrant in play and suddenly our damage is multiplied by four! Add on City on Fire and now it's multiplied by 12!

I think this will best slot in with Mogis decks, as they already have built in chip damage, but really I think this Dragon will have a home among any Minotaur deck.

Multicolor & Colorless

Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate

Alesha I think is perfectly positioned for Minotaur decks as she resurrects our creatures if she attacked, and she makes herself herself bigger in the process. Now most Minotaurs we play in EDH have mana values between two and four, so the first time Alesha triggers we should be getting value.

But as good as this is, she's a bit slow. She doesn't have haste, so she can't grow herself immediately which limits what we can resurrect. In addition, the creature is only resurrected on our end step, meaning we won't getting any immediate value in combat with it.

That said, I think this is a a great way to rebuild our board in the mid to late part of a game, and I am excited to try her out.

Banner of Kinship

Banner of Kinship has a lot of overlap with Door of Destinies, a card that's a must-play among kindred EDH decks. Banner of Kinship is interesting because it doesn't need build up, but it does need a board.

With Door, each creature cast increases the size of the anthem effect. This benefits kindred decks that have more swarm based strategies like Rats, Vampires or Humans, and while this does benefit Minotaurs, I've found it's never as large as I would like. This is because if Door isn't drawn early enough, then it doesn't have enough time to start to snowball the size of our creatures.

With Banner, you just need a large board and it sets how big the anthem effect will be going forward. I can't begin to describe how much better this is than Door. As it gets the large anthem effect immediately and rewards you for playing your creatures ahead of time.

So let's say we have Minotaurs in play and cast Banner, suddenly all our Minotaurs gain +6/+6 stats and any future Minotaurs will be buffed by that amount. To me that is just better objectively even if it costs one more than Door.

Adaptive Automaton

This was another surprise to see printed into Standard and Pioneer. Like Taurean Mauler, Automaton is a Minotaur (along with every other creature type) and so it's only fair to evaluate it as one. And I think there is something to this artifact. It's comparable to all the other lord Minotaurs we would run, being a three-mana creature that buffs our Minotaurs. The main difference though is that it just buffs stats while the other lords buff stats and add keywords.

The fact that this costs three generic mana means we should rarely have trouble casting it. However, I'm not sure it's impactful enough for Pioneer lists. What we really need are Minotaur lords at two mana like what Merfolk and Spirits receive. Granted we did get Goblin Oriflamme, but that effect is better on a creature, so we can be more aggressive.

CONCLUSION

And with that the foundation is laid and our assurance is secure. We now know where Magic stands and where it's going, and I'm excited to see where we are at the end of this next five years.

But before we can rest easy, I hear there is a big race coming up. And you better believe I ready to get my Tokyo Drift on.

Until then, be sure to check out the other set reviews found on the Commander's Herald news sheets for other perspectives on this new set.