Foundations Set Review - Reprints, Part 1

Nick Wolf • November 7, 2024

Set Review
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White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | Artifacts & Lands | Allied & Shards | Enemy & Wedges | cEDH | Reprints | Pauper/Budget

I Use Maps to Find Out Where Explorers Have Already Been

If you clicked on this article, it's safe to say you're a fan of reprints, and if that's the case, Foundations is the set for you.

Often when we do these Reprint Reviews, we're consigned to talking about a half dozen mediocre reprints in a main set, with our bread and butter actually spread through that set's associated Commander decks and Special Guest selections. With Foundations, that's not the case. We're back in the world of an honest-to-goodness "core" set, in all but name, and that means we're getting a ton of very interesting reprints right in the main set. 

And yes, Foundations has arguably more relevance to 60-card Constructed formats, specifically Standard, than it does Commander. That's perfectly fine. But I'm not going to deviate from our usual Reprint Review formula just because Llanowar Elves is now Standard-legal for five years. We're still going to talk about whether a card was needed as a reprint in terms of cost in USD, and if it was wanted in terms of Commander playability as per EDHREC figures. 

As far as the actual breakdown of cards in Foundations, we're looking at 133 brand new cards that you can learn about through my colleagues' expert reviews (linked above), joined by:

  • 10 total full-art basic lands
  • 70 borderless treatments (which are a mix of new cards and reprints)
  • 60 cards in "mana foil" (which are the above borderless cards but, I don't know, fancier)
  • 10 Japanese showcase cards (which are all reprints)
  • 10 Fracture foils (the same ten cards from the previous bullet point, but sparkly)
  • 46 extended art cards (these are all new cards, no reprints)
  • 2 promos (Phyrexian Arena and Solemn Simulacrum, just to check these off now)
  • 148 reprints (we will not be talking about all of them because I value my time and yours)
  • 78 Beginner Box cards (which are also all technically reprints, though some are "reprints" of Foundations Jumpstart like Dropkick Bomber)
  • 163 Starter Collection cards (again, all reprints, even Dawnwing Marshal, kinda)

Got all that? These are all Foundations. They all carry the set code of "FDN". That's just the reality of today's world. 

Here in the Review, we've got a daunting task ahead of us. So daunting, in fact, that we're going to do it in two parts: today, the mythics and the Special Guests (which aren't even on the above list), then next time, everything else.

For mythics, we'll cover a couple interesting ones, then do a quick lightning round at the end to discuss many more in less detail. Then, we'll hit Special Guests. After that, we're going to go outside and rake leaves or something, because a human person should try to limit how much they think about Magic in a given day. 

Mythics

Doubling Season

Did we need it?

Since it debuted in Ravnica: City of Guilds almost 20 years ago now, it's been a fan favorite in Commander decks that like tokens, counters, or a combination of the two. It's so popular, in fact, that it's often a groan-inducing card when it hits the table, as the advantage it offers can be game-breaking very quickly, and in many players' opinion not in a satisfying way. That says nothing about the cost of the damn thing, though, which has remained high for its lifespan. And that's a long lifespan. Doubling Season is technically allowed to drink alcohol in Canada.

For a bit, Doubling Season flirted with a three-digit pricetag, but today, you can find one for "only" $45 or so. That's with four regular reprints, one judge promo, and three showcase reprints. All that, and the OG Ravnica version is the only one with the original art. 

Foundations brings us both a main set reprint as well as a Japanese showcase/fracture foil reprint. Despite what is assumedly a very long print run for Jumpstart, I don't see the price dipping too much, likely settling in the $30 range for the main set reprint. As for the kitty cats, that'll be much more expensive. People have a weird thing with cats.

Did we want it?

Even with that steep price, Doubling Season remains very popular among Commander players. As per EDHREC, it's currently featured in a shade under 200,000 decks, good for 9% of all decks on the site playing green. It's in more than half of all the lists logged for The Goose Mother, Carth the Lion, and Rhys the Redeemed, and barely less than half of all Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider and Ghave, Guru of Spores decks as well.

Overall, it's the 37th most popular green card, full stop, and the fifth-most popular green enchantment, topped only by Garruk's Uprising, Sylvan Library, Wild Growth and Hardened Scales.

So yes, we could probably make do with more out there in the world, despite how annoying it can make a game.

Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Did we need it?

We're revisiting Liliana in her boss girl phase, commanding a legion of candy-coated Zombies during her brief stint as Nicol Bolas's henchwoman. It's a damn good card, too, with the cheapest version (this one) going for around $15. That'll change with Foundations. 

I would expect this particular Liliana to dip below $10 for the first time, which is great news for fans of Liliana, Zombies, and big, splashy planeswalkers that can have an immediate impact on the board. Liliana, Dreadhorde General is an example of an excellent reprint in the sense that it'll be affordable for those who just want one to use, but for collectors and show-offs, there are still a few versions that will command a hefty price, like the Japanese version from War of the Spark, and, to a lesser extent, the borderless treatment featuring Liliana actually wearing the Chain Veil right here in Foundations courtesy of Dmitry Burmak.

Did we want it?

Despite its versatility, Liliana, Dreadhorde General isn't seen much in Commander, but to be fair, planeswalkers in general tend to be underrepresented in a format that features three people who want to kill them on sight most of the time. That said, we see this Liliana in 85,345 decks, around 4% of all decks that can play black. Carth the Lion players are again happy, as are Liliana theme deck fans who run Liliana, Heretical Healer.

Even though its raw numbers aren't that impressive, Liliana, Dreadhorde General is the most popular black planeswalker in Commander, so it's clear that the usage numbers reflect a planeswalker problem, not a Liliana problem.

Omniscience

Did we need it?

I'm not a blue player, so I can't really say with any conviction that anyone needs Omniscience. But I'm also a journalist, and I strive to check my biases at the door. 

We've seen Omniscience quite a few times now, and it's a bit of poetry that a mythic rare that debuted in a core set makes its Standard return in Foundations. Whether it actually gets used in Standard is not my realm to determine, but since it first showed up in Magic 2015, we've seen it appear once more in Magic 2019, as well as in the form of a judge promo, an Amonkhet Invocation, one of those Wilds of Eldraine fancypants spells, and an even fancier-pants spell, and now, Foundations, both as a regular version and a pretty neat borderless showcase.

A reprint here will help flatten the price a bit, as you can't really find a copy for less than $11. Some, like the Invocation and the fancier-pants version, go for three digits. Again, that's a good reprint, despite my personal opinion on the card and the people who play it.

Did we want it?

I'd rather play Omniclown Colossus, but that's just me. 

We see Omniscience in 63,387 decks, which is 3% of all decks playing blue. I mean, it is a 10-mana enchantment, so not everyone can just throw it into their 99. Jacob Hauken, Inspector, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Jhoira of the Ghitu, Jodah, Archmage Eternal and Narset, Enlightened Master all can, though, as Omniscience appears in more than half of the decks built for each of them.

Overall, it's the 16th-most popular blue enchantment, which isn't that interesting, but if you're in the market to show everyone how smart you are, it'll always be there, ready and waiting. And now, with a reprint, even cheaper!

Muldrotha, the Gravetide

Did we need it?

I'm starting to see a pattern here. Of the now first three cards we've talked about, at least two incite strong opinions from a Commander table. Muldrotha's right there, too: people who play Muldrotha decks really love Muldrotha, and people who play against Muldrotha decks really hate Muldrotha. 

I've never played a Muldrotha deck, and somehow I've also mostly dodged playing against it, but I can tell you that, based on the alternate art in Double Masters 2022, and now again in Foundations, I might have to try it out, because those are some cool arts. The Japanese fracture foil is the new top of the price heap, though, preordering at around $130. For context, you can get a regular version from its original printing in Dominaria for about $6.

Did we want it?

This is a pretty emphatic yes, at least based on my arbitrary reprint rating system. Muldrotha's the 29th-most popular commander on EDHREC, with 14,922 decks devoted to it. It's the number one Sultai legend and has been for several years now. There will likely never be a world where someone out there isn't playing Muldrotha as a commander, unless they print a Sultai Dr. Doom who does the same thing.

Rise of the Dark Realms

Did we need it?

A favorite game-ender for many a black player, Rise of the Dark Realms has been treating enter-the-battlefield triggers like a big plate of spaghetti since Magic 2014. Since then, we've seen it in the original Jumpstart, as a vintage movie poster, and in a Murders at Karlov Manor Commander deck. Foundations brings us another version of Liliana crowd-surfing on Zombies, but it also provides a really neat borderless version. 

The Secret Lair version is the most expensive, as you might guess, going for $27, but all the rest could be had for around $8-10. With Foundations, we'll see that price drop a bit more.

Did we want it?

Like I said, it's a popular finisher for Commander. It's black's Clone Legion or Insurrection, and it's played in similar numbers. We see it in 75,873 lists on EDHREC, which is 3% of all decks playing black. That makes it the 26th most popular black sorcery, which doesn't sound very impressive, but it still ends games when you cast it. We'll see that number rise a bit now that it's in a set slated to be printed to infinity. 

Mythic Lightning Round

  • Ajani, Caller of the Pride: Ajani's a great planeswalker in Commander, serving as a commander-damage haymaker and a fog most of the time, and with Foundations we get a borderless version that'll make Ajani fans happy.
  • Progenitus: I've always loved Progenitus, and the Foundations version is the big Hydra's sixth printing since Conflux. We're also getting a Japanese/fractured version that provides our closest look yet at Progenitus.
  • Vivien Reid: The other planeswalkers reprinted in Foundations are a bit more exciting, but at least we're getting new art for the first time.
  • Angelic Destiny (Starter Collection): This reprint is the card's third since debuting in Magic 2012. The reprint in Wilds of Eldraine Commander tanked the price, and it'll slink even further now.
  • Sphinx of the Final Word (Starter Collection): A bulk mythic, but the first reprint since it arrived in Oath of the Gatewatch.
  • Demonic Pact (Starter Collection): Another first reprint from its beginnings in Magic Origins, and now with new art. Liliana's getting a lot of face time in Foundations.
  • Dragonmaster Outcast (Starter Collection): Once upon a time it was very cool to see this reprinted. These are not those times. Originally from Zendikar, it's been reprinted seven times now, all with the same art.
  • Primeval Bounty (Starter Collection): Another core set veteran, this debuted in Magic 2014 and has since been reprinted four times, and now another two in Foundations and Foundations Jumpstart. Again, all the same art.
  • Aurelia, the Warleader (Starter Collection): Aurelia used to be pretty expensive, actually, before the seven versions that came after its debut in Gatecrash. Even still, it's hard to find for less than $8. 
  • Darksteel Colossus (Starter Collection): Originally from Darksteel, we saw a stop in Magic 2010 before a few Secret Lair versions in recent years. This is actually the second reprint of this card this year, with a Wizards Play Network promo arriving earlier, looking like Super Shredder.
  • Pyromancer's Goggles (Starter Collection): Magic's got a thing for enchanted eyewear, and Chandra's goggles are no different. If it wasn't obvious before, with the art from Magic Origins and Commander 2021, it's now very clear these are Chandra's.
  • Ramos, Dragon Engine (Starter Collection): You're not going to top the brown borders of the The Brothers' War Retro Artifacts version, but good effort.
  • Lyra Dawnbringer (Starter Collection, foil only): Originally from Dominaria, we've seen Lyra in Jumpstart 2022 as well as three versions in Dominaria Remastered. If you wanted a foil but didn't want to spend the cash, you're in luck.
  • Massacre Wurm (Starter Collection, foil only): There's been a lot of Massacre Wurm going around in Commander decks the past year or so, but Kekai Kotaki's borderless version from Magic 2021 has still never been topped.
  • Maze's End (Starter Collection, foil only): Ravnica Remastered gave us an old-border version of the card most recently, and the Dragon's Maze promo version is still the only way to get alternate art. But at least the one here in Foundations is foil-only, if you're into that.

Special Guests

The special thing about the Special Guests this time around is the border styles aren't confined to a single plane. Instead, with Foundations, we've got a mish-mash of a lot of Magic locations, each with their own border treatment, so naturally the Special Guests need to represent that. 

In practice, it looks like gobbledygook when you look at them all next to each other, but personally I kinda like the place-making the designers have been doing over the past few years with these borders. We old people who have been playing Magic for a long time can likely take one look at a character or the art and immediately know where the card's set in the Multiverse, but the clear indicator of a story location through the border treatment is a boon for new players seeking to learn more about Magic lore. 

Like several of the sets in the most recent past, Foundations brings us 10 Special Guests. Those are:

That's quite a varied list in terms of value.

On one side, you've got a card like Condemn, an uncommon from Dissension that's been reprinted a good dozen times and rarely goes for more than a dime, or the roughly $1 Sphinx's Tutelage. Those are the ones you don't want to open.

On the other side, you've got bangers like Grim Tutor, which even after six versions in the past three years is still nearly $20, or Bloom Tender, which is roughly the same price despite a reprint in Double Masters 2022. Oh, and then there's Akroma's Memorial, a $35 card that is seeing a new version given the stained-glass Dominaria treatment for the first time on an artifact (which, to be fair, is kind of hard to read at a glance as an artifact).

Like with any special border treatment, your mileage may vary. Some people go ga-ga for these unique versions, and some people absolutely detest them. And that variety of opinion can also be evident from frame to frame; if you're asking me, I really like the Theros, Kaldheim, Eldraine and Ravnica frames, but I could live without New Capenna, Kamigawa and Strixhaven. Like I said, we're all different, you and I.

Cyclical as the Passing of Days

That'll do it for part one of this two-part Reprint Review for Foundations. 

We went through a lot, and there's still even more to go, but as far as the mythics and the Special Guests go, anything you're surprised to see? Anything you're looking to scoop up now that it'll likely be cheaper to afford?

Let me know below.