As a newly returning player from the 90s who loves the game even after all that’s changed, I will say that a set of simpler cards that don’t make me feel like I’m constantly deciphering if-then statements will be nice.
As a player returning to the game almost ten years along - the idea of having to buy little bits of cards from across 5 or more sets is both daunting and difficult (the older the sets, the more expensive and difficult to obtain they become). I may be niave in my presumption, but the idea of having a "core set" and supplementing with themed sets over the years is far more appealing to me!
Same. We stopped at conflux. Cashed out later, then have been getting back into it. I'm a beta/unlimited player so this set, was good for me. I traded one Misty's Favor Full Art ($330) for a box of foundations boosters + 11 extra from my LCS. Good with it.
I was just thinking about that. You don't need to use a spot in a new standard set for the basics, like Negate or Shock. It would also allow them to keep something like Llanowar Elves or Elvish Mystic in Standard, regardless of the types of planes we are going to.
I think having a standard inventory of cards that don't change but then new sets add flavor of the month is a great idea. You can have a shell and then add some cool stuff as new things come in.
I think the base concept is great. The card choice is going to be what makes or breaks it. Not going into 'sky is falling' mode yet but it has the potential. I do love Llanowar Elves coming back, missed those dorks, and green has really needed help for awhile now.
I am the one playing Monastery Swiftspear 1000000 times and I want lightning bolt. edit: although what I'm really hoping for is some goblin goodness. If I get goblin grenade in standard I'll play a mediocre goblin deck any day
I'm excited to see how this shakes out, but I'm overall positive right now. Llanowar Elves in standard can help green there without making another new dork for pioneer to add to its 4/8/12 whatever they're up to now deck. I think it'll also help Draft, since they don't need to hit the checklist cards. We don't need boardwipe with sets mechanic in every set if DoJ is there in Standard. Hopefully, anyway.
I have opened my fair share of Core Set boosters and there tends to be a pool of cards they tend to reuse as reprints (i.e. Negate, Cancel, Lightning Strike) so in a sense there was a good amount of cards that were basically "always" legal in standard. That being said, I concede that these were mostly low impact cards, so I am not sure having Omniscience legal for 5 years is a good thing. I'm okay with that being the outlier and the rest of the set just being more low impact stuff.
@@Joker22593it might be a problem for non-blue control decks I suppose. You're less likely to kill them quick enough and without blue you can't just counter it on the way down. But then you can side in some anti-enchantment tech assuming they don't just win with their first free spell, so there's still options.
@@Joker22593 yes as we know "hard cast for 10 mana" has always been the common play pattern for omniscience /s (we have 3 and 4 mana "reanimate anything" spells in standard until 2026 with decks that reliably fulfill their conditions, which are already pretty consistent and strong running the inferior "One with the Multiverse")
I absolitely love this concept and think that for the first time in a while Wizards seem to have put a lot of thought into a product. I also love that it's not more commander shit. I've been playing on and off for about 15 years now and have always been nothing but casual in my games. However, the nature of my type of engagement with the game for the most part meant that I didn't really have a good grasp on how sets and formats worked, which cards are staples for which format and why. This all changed with Neon Dynasty though, that set finally got me into Magic semi-seriously and I now have af least somewhat of an idea how things work. I still only play kitchen table Magic because it's the most liberal form of the game but I'm really interested in pauper and have built several decks. This is now officially my first attempt at an actual Magic format and it feels great. The point I'm trying to make is that, given this context, my overall collection of cards feels very random for the most part and a set such as Foundations would be helpful even for someone like me who technically has a lot of experience (albeit very misdirected and confusing experience) with Magic. I'll finally be able to not only build a collection of staples but even pottentially dabble in standard. Also, I feel like the products they've prepared for this set would really be the perfect way to teach friends who might be interested.
I am just getting into Magic the Gathering, this makes me feel so much better about getting into it. Trying to get a deck that can work feels so tough, with what they cost and how complex the cards are.
If anything this seems like it would excite the old man in you. This feels like a return to the 4th-9th ed style of core set with out the downside of having to print a new version
I'm excited for this! Hopefully they play-tested it well enough so none of the cards break anything, since it would really suck to have to ban cards from an intro sets specifically designed for newer players who probably won't be aware of the ban list
I started playing and learning Magic in September. I bought both the LOTR and 2023 Starter Kits. Coming from Classic Yu-Gi-Oh! and Hearthstone, I was already familiar with card games. Recently, I also bought a Duskmourn Play booster box, which had some really good cards. However, most of them feel like they need to be part of dedicated decks that require building around specific strategies, and as a new player, that's challenging. That's why I'm really happy that Wizards is introducing something similar to Hearthstone's core set-basic cards that are simple, have less text, and are easy for new players or those coming from other TCGs to pick up, build a deck, and head to their local game store to play
As a player that has been considering returning to the game, if they get the card choices correct, then Im very excited and will try standard out again. A big problem thats always occurred with standard is player onboarding. It does feel very bad to buy cards that eventually you wont be able to use. Having a “base set” of cards that are always legal “theoretically” means that if you take a break from magic for a bit for whatever reason, you can always return a bit later with your base set cards and only have to pick up a few new ones. Obviously the power in standard sets is going to determine how many new cards you’ll need, but then again you can always take a break when you’re not liking that standard and come back later. A base set like this could also make it much easier to introduce new players to the game with simpler mechanics. I’ve wanted to teach my partner the game for a while, and I feel like just busting out Foundations decks will be a good introduction. It really is all going to come down to card choice in this set, because this NEEDS to be the most thought out and balanced set they’ve ever made. If they cant deliver on that, it’s going to ruin things for a long time. So overall excited, but cautious.
Wake up everyone, new core set just dropped (in November) But actually I just want to see what lands they make. Imagine having the creature type matters lands always legal in standard. Like secluded, courtyard, unclaimed territory, maybe even ancient ziggurat. That means that kindred decks will always have the lands they want
Something that I haven't seen talked about yet is the biggest boon this set could have, which is for onboarding on Arena. Right now, the Color Challenge starter decks contain cards that are only legal in Alchemy for rotating formats, and as they want paper-digital parity in shared formats, they use Alchemy for onboarding new players. If this toolbox allows Arena to use Standard for onboarding, it will improve the popularity of the format. I see this as a huge leap in the revitalization of the format.
The fact that we will have three sets of cards back in the pool 3 and a half months after rotation is notable. I really hope they don’t reprint Sheoldred,the Apocalypse, Goldspan Dragon and Wandering emperor or anything else that dominated their standard meta in the ‘forever’ set.
I was reading Nine-Lives Familiar while driving when you said “don’t read it if you’re driving” 🤣 love your content! Thank for the info, the set seems a cool idea.
i really like this from a long-term design view. in theory, it could free up set designers to make more experimental, niche, and flavorful cards. It could also lead to great complexity in competitive standard play with more set-specific mechanics. Hard to say what this means for things like booster pack size, variance, and variant art availability, but the idea of having a more durable framework for standard seems like a good one overall.
I think it's a good idea. It's nice to have a base set where they can stick all the staples for common deck building themes. It also sort of establishes the color pie and creates a base set.
@12:10 I like that. I also prefer the '90s approach to artifacts, where you could always instantly tell they were artifacts come up because the card was artifact brown.
Im kinda excited for this. Ive been playing standard for a little while now since boros aggro was a semi cheap way to get into the format but with this set hopefully ill be able to get my other mainly commander focused friends to give standard a try for once.
I like the idea that Foundations should contain the "baseline" versions of cards so that the other premiere sets might be able to include more focused equivalents. Llanowar Elves will be the baseline green mana dork, but if (when) Frog kindred takes off in standard then you'll want to swap it out for Poison Dart Frog or whatever else we get in Bloomburrow. I just wonder if the set will become integrated with drafts? Could we see a change where drafts become 2 packs from the current set and 1 pack of foundations?
Llanowar Elves has had long periods of time in Standard in the past, and I don't think it caused a problem. It was legal from the beginning to 2003, 2005 to 2012, and 2018 to 2019. I know in general that one-mana dorks tend to cause some complaining, but I really don't think it's too serious of a deal. Core Sets/Starter Sets have done more dangerous than that in the past. I like this change. I've always loved Portal/Starter products and will gladly buy some whenever they come out because I want to support this kind of on-ramp for new players. Magic is certainly suffering from complexity creep right now, so I'd be excited for cards that are simple and competitive. I hope they bring back Leatherback Baloth, or something similar for a green three drop. That was my favorite turn two play back in original Zendikar standard (after a turn one elf of some sort). Sure, there are better options than the Baloth for GGG that have been printed since. But, I think that'd be a good way to demonstrate that you don't need a whole lot of text on a card for it to be good.
The problem for standard is the good cards cost a grip then they rotate out and become a pile of nothing. I absolutely agree with WOTC. Standard, if people are ever going to play it in paper, could use some sort of semi-eternal element.
This seems like a great idea. I have been advocating for a core set return for a long time, this implementation feels wonderful. I just hope it doesn't have too many Omnisciences in it, that establishes a baseline that's hard to design around (create a weaker card, it's irrelevant, create a stronger card, it breaks the game).
Hey Dev, i dont know if you realize we had llanawar elves in standard a while back actually. In the set where we went back to dominaria before domination united. The set was just called dominaria. And it was fine. It was a powerful card, played in alot of decks. People got sick of it after a couple years though cuz that's just how standard works.
@@SBMTG Hey Dev, I think this guy is getting at the fact that around the 8 minute mark you said this exact thing twice actually. I'm not sure it if was two separate takes that both made it in the video or what. I even rewinded to make sure because it felt like a time loop. Either way great video!
they're doing the hearthstone and snap thing, and good for them! good choice. A lot of us play standard non-competitively and spend the least possible and have weird brews. S'gonna be fun! They'll be able to ban or add to foundations like Hearthstone and design new sets around foundation which is really exciting to me.
Generally excited, hoping that it's a fairly low-powered set with basic spells that help support generic color flavor and deck types. Definitely feels like they're trying to make Standard less of a rotating format though, but maybe it helps allow for more flavorful design space in other sets
As a player who stepped away from playing magic daily after Throne of Eldraine rotated, I'm intrigued by the Foundation set. I didn't find my home in commander or modern and I'm hoping this can revive standard and give me something new to play in paper. I think I'll be satisfied if I'm able to keep a Foundation set and jump into the game when I'm excited about a new standard set like I am for Bloomburrow. This set gives them the opportunity to do set or block constructed with Foundation as a backdrop, depending on how many cards are in the set. In terms of balance I like that Foundation gives them tangible examples of what is acceptable for the power level of standard. Maybe this set was conceived as a return to form: to give them a guidepost to prevent the excitement of fire design and commander design from unbalancing Standard as they've done the past 5+ years. Or maybe I'm just hopeful like any gamer lol
Another thought: they've already learned that magic players don't want to buy basic core sets. Foundation precon collections give useful cards to sell to new players and the booster products can have Foundation cards alongside new cards that rotate. The evergreen nature of Foundation lets them choose archetypes to buff with rotating sets At the very least Standard will be hit with new and interesting design space
as a player not at all interested in Standard, I will be giving Standard a try with the release of Bloomburrow/Duskmourn/Foundations. The idea of some core cards not rotating out is very interesting to me. Foundation will have succeeded in at least getting myself to check out the format
Hearthstone's core set was static, but now rotates willy nilly (it's free). I think it can be fine/good especially if the cards are supposed to rest just below the ceiling of the format. 4 mv sweepers are awkward; people prefer 5-6 mana sweepers w/ upside or 3 mana sweepers that don't hit everything. Ideally they also give every mtga player the 350 card package for free so it might make it easier to get people into it.
When I first heard a bit of news about this set I assumed it was just an arena thing. Now that I know everything about it and thought about it I think it mostly an arena thing. I‘ve already invested in timeless and historic so I’m not going back to start standard. But I think a ton of new players will stay longer on the client because their cards didn’t rotate. And without that feel bad experience they might eventually move onto formats like explorer and become entrenched. I think this is a great business idea to retain players online. I don’t think it’ll do anything to make paper standard less dead. As a new paper player experience product my thoughts aren’t fully formed.
I started during Ice Age and I can't get any of my old friends interested in the current game, I really like the idea of this set to simplify the complexity creep present today..
I think that having a Core set every year was a bit tiring, if WotC is just going to be doing one off large expansion sets I'd rather have this as a kind of bedrock for the game, and not just in standard. A kind of "This set is the 2 drop 2/2 for Magic" in general, to gauge where the game actually is without all of the fluff and cruft of the expert sets. As someone who wants to see more reprints of classics, and making cards like these available to people who don't necessarily want to engage in just buying singles for their decks- this is really exciting. I think the game will be healthier for a product like this existing... *so long as* the price of the booster products is kept either in line with other, *regular*, booster pricing, or is made *cheaper* as a loss leader for onboarding into the expert sets later.
Interesting. I don't play much standard but you're right, this is a huge change. I will say there are cards like Negate and Wind Drake that are basically always in standard anyway since they get reprinted so much. But this seems to be a lot more than just those
As a new player who got started on Arena, I suspect they have some data to imply that there's a lot of digital only players who have often thought about getting into paper, but never pulled the trigger. I'm one of them, and this set is probably gonna be what pushes me to try it since the cards will be useful long term. Whether it's good for standard or not I can't say, but it makes sense why they're doing this.
Well day of Judgement is a problem I think. It's a huge format definer... and it might make wrath effects harder to design without having to creep them up. It does however provide some constants in the format.... (i.e. a turn 4 boardwipe is a possiblity) which would make designing cards for standard easier to design around
I think foundations is a great idea of addressing perceived desire of the fanbase. Part of the selling point of Commander is that cards never 'rotate' and your decks are never made obsolete. And yet everyone online discussion I see of commander involves people bitching about not being able to 'keep up'. People seem to want some guarantee of long-term value even if theyre going to buy the new sets and update their decks anyway. Having a chunk of standard be 'non-rotating' will help onboard players even if none of those cards are relevant in the top meta decks. Its also nice for stores to have an intro product that they dont need to rush off shelves before it becomes obsoleted by the next years intro product.
I like it. By having this sort of base set, it gives Wizards the freedom to go even further with new sets and push what's possible. As a person who primarily cares about commander (i know, boo me), one of the things that bugs me is that we get these almost functional reprints every set. "Here's a new slightly different wrath effect." "Here's a new slightly different mana dork." And many of those cards just serve as another copy to make a commander deck smoother, more efficient and inherently less interesting. But if Day of Judgement and Llanowar Elves are in standard semi-indefinitely, that means (ideally) Wizards doesn't have to add variations of cards like these to every new set, and can instead explore completely new mechanics and strategies more freely. I'm most excited about the potential lands though. Just as Dev was asking for Bloomburrow, in a previous video, can we just get some lands that help us more easily cast our spells? I hate the swapping between allied and enemy colored duals we seem to get with each new standard set. Foundations could provide some stability for mana bases, and let us all build interesting decks knowing that getting the right colors of mana won't be an issue.
I think this could be really interesting because it stabilizes standard in a way and also can help really solidify archetypes and color identities. It creates a “core set” of staples that won’t rotate out for a long time. Ie you will always have a mana dork, counter spell, removal spell etc that is reliable and consistent and can just focus on the good stuff like bombs, combos and splashy spells that change based on whatever the newest set is. But it could also get super stale if these cards are just better than anything else or in every deck ever.
Now imagine for a moment a standard environment of Foundations + around 5 or 6 mini sets of various Universes Beyond sets and 1 or 2 Universes within Magic Sets. This will be Standard. 🤢
I understand your trepidation over cards that will be released that can last 3+ years in standard... that being said, my 7 year old kid learning to love mtg and we're not rich, this foundations idea sounds good for the game. There are so many ways associated with this game (a game that I now too do love) that make it challenging having started just 2 years ago... and working in education with kiddos, it is good there are renewed efforts to make the game assessable and fresh for new generations.
I started MTG in 2010, and quit in 2015. In my 5 years I traveled to 3 Grand Prix’s, 5 regionals, and 2-4 others smaller tournaments. I eventually left due to the fast rotations and the constant buying new boxes and cards to stay competitive. I think 4-5 years would be great and may even bring me back to the game.
As a new player to MtG, I'm digging the idea of a new set that's kind of a culmination of all sets with new and old that will stick around for a while. I've already spend a few hundred dollars on some new and old sets and I'll say some cards are quite confusion on what they do exactly so a but more simplified is also kind of up my alley, at least from a learners perspective.
yeah I mean what would drive sales of these sets? Even if players want these cards as a permanent backbone of their gradually changing decks, eventually they can just collect all of the cards they want, or even all the cards in the set, and then what?
I am so absolutely pumped for this, I have been wanting for MTG do something like this for a while after I saw hearthstone did this for their standard. However, I am holding my breath as you and others are saying this all really depends on the card pool chosen, as we CANNOT have standard get any more crazy than it is. Llanowar elves and omniscince are definitely a bit more powerful than I was hoping for (but tbh I am HYPED for 1 mana dorks back). If we see lightning bolt kiss BO1 standard goodbye lol.
I like that sets rotate but I think this type of product is great. It gives new players an entry level set that's easier to learn and master - later they can use those same cards to play in standard without feeling overwhelmed. As someone who has taught friends how to play only to drop the game because of difficulty spike, I think this product might be a hit.
I can't wait! I started commander last year and might just get into Standard with this. All else fails, seems like a cool reprint set for buffing up my decks!
Sounds interesting but like you said not too comfortable with it. I actually enjoy the rotation to keep everybody on their feet with deck building I get tired of facing the same meta/archetype over and over again
i am mostly indifferent about it. I do like the black cat with nine lives because you can play it, and sac it to something on every players turn cycle. And unless it gets exiled, people will have a hard time removing it. It kind of fulfills the same role as other token-makers (e.g. bitter blossom) but in a way it's "faster" because you can sacrifice up to four times in one turn cycle, then do it again for another round. You've probably won the game somehow if you managed to sacrifice the cat for an effect 8-9 times. It also works nicely with Flare of Malice, which asks you to sacrifice a non-token black creature as an additional cost.
Magic is the first to have a non-rotating core set as part of a rotating format. It was called type 2. It used to be the current edition set was standard legal until it was replaced. They could be years apart
I like core sets. I love the IDEA of an indefinite core set that I can always buy boosters of to get some fun playable cards - maybe some cards get bumped off the list after 5 years when they get crept, maybe we call it rotation 😅
Such a set being legal for a longer time makes sense: It probably will be a bit lower on the power level curve, so it won't break anything. and maybe having a more stable card pool will reign in overall power creep a bit? Hopefully?
This is sounding almost exactly like the power level I want: strong enough that a strong player with no collection could pilot decks from this set to a reasonable WR in a tournament... But weak enough that other sets can specialize into stronger or easier to run archetypes
I'm cautiously optimistic. I think with sets and boosters shrinking slightly, it's going to be harder to slot the "veggies" into a standard set. So rather than trying to fit in things like basic burn, removal, counterspells, mana dorks, dual lands, etc. in a set every few years, we can have them all in one place as constant options. It also could remove draft/sealed considerations: maybe they don't want a wrath slowing down a pre-release game for any particular set, but you want there to be one in standard to keep creature decks in check. Also, having it not tied to a particular setting means that we could get something like the triomes without having to visit Ikoria and New Capena before heading to another 3 color plane.
Like hear me out. I have been working on developing my own TCG, and one of the ideas I just recently had was that I could have a base set that would never rotate out and that new sets would just add to it and work with it. Even if it started something like standard, for accessibility sake. I'm actually really happy that this idea is on their radar. Hopefully they don't botch it.
I love the design of 9 lives familiar, its also a card I was shocked hadn't existed before. More broadly on the set, I think its a good idea, I think it might help make standard exist in paper again, but as a thing that balances standard around nice solid simple staples I really respect the design philosophy, I want cards which just read simple again and I don't have to track 18 things so this might be really good for that.
I mean 5 years isn't that bad if they do it right. For example, they release a new core set every 5 years and the cards are all standard legal until the next core set is release. While keep the 3 years rotation for the rest. However they will need to update the ban list more frequently.
I'm tentatively interested in it looking st it from the game designer point of view. I think it could potentially help the designers keep things balanced by having that stability in the format.
This could make me play standard again. For real. I quit because of a rotation and "had"' to convert all my funny decks into non-rotating formats. Had the same issue with Brawl.
As a player who has been in and out of Magic paper and arena for a couple of years and sucks at it I am looking forward to playing a set that lets me actually learn how to play
Your'e right that this is the biggest change to standard we've seen. And every card they previewed is very playable. This kinda scares me. I already thought 3 year standard was too big. If they really wanted to do something like this, should of just stuck to low powered cards for new players.
Foundations reminds me of the Deck Builder's Toolkit. It's a very nice thing to have for new players (SOI was my first DBT). I'm fine with it, and the new sets coming out each season will keep evereything fresh. I don't see the 5 year semi-indefinite life having a huge impact.
I like this set. I like the idea of the core set sticking around for a long time. For, five years... Other games like Marvel Champions that operates under an LCG, living card game, has a growing player base with small releases and expansions. If MTG is going to continue to grow the player base, they have to make it fun, consistent, and worth spending money on, valuable. I also like the different things they are trying and the philosophy behind their efforts. I thought today marked a new day in MTG that is heading in the right direction, long term, and making MTG valuable and accessible, allowing growth in multiple directions while being consistent. They other announcements for 2025 and beyond were also spot on. I can't find a fault in the overall direction and "why" behind the efforts. I wasn't at first going to get any Foundations, but I am now considering buying at release and throughout the next... five years. :)
I don’t know what to think. I’m amenable to the idea of one large core-like set that gets updated every 5 years or so that forms the baseline of standard, but I’m already concerned about the standards (pun intended) they’ve set just with these previews. For example: One-mana dorks like llanowar elves (or elvish mystic, or whatever) historically tend to accelerate green pretty quickly. Given the pushed low-mana cards standard has been getting over the past few years, imagine being on the draw and your opponent getting down a powerful green-based 3-drop on turn two when you had a tapland or just no one-mana play or removal spell of your own. M15’s elvish mystic and Dominaria’s llanowar elves were already strong at their respective times in standard, and the value you can get in the early turns has only increased since then. They moved away from one-mana dorks historically for very valid reasons, and yet they’ve decided that at least one will be legal for another five years. Will they design with that in mind, limiting the power of 3-4 drops for that time? Will we be getting very strong and cheap removal to counteract it? If they do that, will we continue to see higher-mana creatures even more reliant on immediate (and thus less-interactive) value upon play? Or will we continue to get pushed cheap value creatures while they just ignore the acceleration? Either way, I think they’re going to have to be very careful. The same goes for unconditional four-mana wraths. We’ll see. As an aside, they should have it rotate in 2028 and have a new set for the 35th anniversary. Just make the 5-year anniversary sets the standard “core”. Seems like a thematic slam dunk to me.
People are missing the big picture. We use to have coresets yearly that would reprint the base mechanic cards. Reds burn, blues control and so on. And then the expansion brought new mechanics that allowed people to make new decks if the wanted but the corsets were there if the wanted to go classic mono colored or ravnica guilds. But from what I see u guys have been stuck in this new standard rotation, i looked at the last 6 sets, and the core mechanic cards have little presence and some sets not at all. Foundation is gonna do what we always had 10 years ago. Core mechanics and themes. Thank god for this set
I think this is kinda nonsense.. I mean if they are showing omniscience for standard "semi-indefinitely" I can only imagine what other bs they will be crowbaring in... As you said it is terrifying.. just about every single new set/announcement just makes me feel sad about the state of the game I love.. I am not looking forward to a stale standard...
Foundations is close to the old cards that were legal allways on Bo1 Standard before, and now they are legal allways on Alchemy. I am ok, but a bit worried about the avalaibility after a few years, and that this year there will be 5 Standard legal sets released before december.
I watched a ton of LVD's Magic Duels videos when I first started playing (before the arena beta went live and they released the entire Duels library at once). I hope this will be a similar jumping off point where new players can collect all the cards they need for 5 or 6 decent beginner decks and then have options for upgrading from there. For instance, if you like spellslinging, buy packs from *this* set. If you like zombies, focus on *that* one.
LANAwar Elves! It's commander little. They are turning all the sets into something of the variation. However, very fresh and cool idea. I think it sums up nicely and clean cut marketing. A modern change to Standard needed to happen.
Day of Judgment is gonna make an interesting standard for...five years. I feel like "semi-indefinitely" is a weird approach for standard, but I guess people like enternal formats. So this is..."semi-eternal" standard.
I am sooo excited for a return of core sets so to speak. We might not be getting a new one every year, but having a base set for the game like the old days will feel so good. Idc i love vanilla creatures.
I only play premodern now. It seems like the only format, although not officially endorsed by WotC, that they can't put their hands on and ruin. No rotations, no new cards being pumped into it. They ruined standard before, they have no idea what they're doing with it now, they're in the process of ruining commander, modern is a joke with the horizons.
Been playing since 2006 and have really enjoyed the core sets! Think this is a great idea and love a simple set that can be a bedrock for standard. The question will be if the commander only players will pick up the set and maybe try 60 card
I am old enough to remember a format called "Extended". This and the three year rotation window reminds me of Extended. Same kind of thing to. People wanted an opportunity to play with their expensive cards longer. And while WotC did print multiple "core" sets during that time, those were always similar enough that they did not have a major impact on Extended. MtG Foundations looks to be filling that role.
I really don't mind the idea of a perpetually legal set for magic. The hardest part of rotation for me has always been mana bases. If there's a set of duals or fetch (fabled passage crossed fingers) that I will always know will be there for me that would be awesome. My only fear is that it could change the draft environment of future sets dramatically if they aren't putting as much ho hum draft Commons to fill out decks. Not freaking out though, kind of like the idea.
I think a core set is a good idea in theory, but WotC just cannot help themselves. They will find a way to biff the landing by making this set super expensive or it will have 2 mega rare chase cards that they will refuse to ban till they sell enough product. I have skeptical hope.
Commander is the mtg flagship format. If you want a format with constant rotations play modern: Wizards keeps printing bust cards that makes previous cards unplayable 😊
As long as they plan the rest of their sets around this it can be great, we end up printing a lot of very similar cards just to maintain certain things in standard so for example if core set has basically wrath of god then any new white sweepers should be able to explore more interesting space than depopulate or no witnesses and maybe we don't need new versions every single set. I also like the idea of you buy one set and you at least have a solid portion of any standard deck for the next 5 years. Of course if I hate too many of the cards in the set then everything will be terrible.
Sounds like how Hearthstone did/does standard, at least back when I played it years ago. One base set of fairly balanced cards that never goes out of rotation so you always have something to play with if you take a break and miss a few years of new sets. It seems like a great idea that supports new or very casual players. It should also provide a clear basis of power level to better balance new sets around as WotC creates them. MtG should have done this years ago!
As a newly returning player from the 90s who loves the game even after all that’s changed, I will say that a set of simpler cards that don’t make me feel like I’m constantly deciphering if-then statements will be nice.
Don't play Yu-Gi-Oh then... you will vomit at the card texts.
Yeah it's a bit of a problem now. Cards have so much text it's hard to get what it fully does sometimes.
@@DX100HHH To be fair I think a lot of the recent wordy cards fall into the "Nines Lives Familiar" category 13:20
As a player returning to the game almost ten years along - the idea of having to buy little bits of cards from across 5 or more sets is both daunting and difficult (the older the sets, the more expensive and difficult to obtain they become).
I may be niave in my presumption, but the idea of having a "core set" and supplementing with themed sets over the years is far more appealing to me!
Same. We stopped at conflux. Cashed out later, then have been getting back into it. I'm a beta/unlimited player so this set, was good for me. I traded one Misty's Favor Full Art ($330) for a box of foundations boosters + 11 extra from my LCS. Good with it.
What’s nice is that regular sets don’t have to worry about filling slots that are missing in standard
That's an interesting thought that I didn't consider. As long as this set doesn't have any crazy bombs or oppressive cards, that could be great
Regular sets still will though for drafting purposes.
Sets will still need fillers, both for draft and to make Wotc money
Yeah but I like seeing new versions of things like the two mana dork or 5 mana board wipe
I was just thinking about that. You don't need to use a spot in a new standard set for the basics, like Negate or Shock. It would also allow them to keep something like Llanowar Elves or Elvish Mystic in Standard, regardless of the types of planes we are going to.
I just hope they keep this set simple, don't need a bunch of chase cards. Just a good balanced set
On the downside, the exact quote is "all the cool cards will be in boosters", so uhhh....
@@volatilesky I hope they just meant alt art and showcase frames.
@@volatilesky so just continue to buy singles
lol you still expect wotc to do a good job lmao
I think having a standard inventory of cards that don't change but then new sets add flavor of the month is a great idea. You can have a shell and then add some cool stuff as new things come in.
I think this is what they want and provides a great introduction product that’s actually playable in the most competitive setting.
I think the base concept is great. The card choice is going to be what makes or breaks it. Not going into 'sky is falling' mode yet but it has the potential.
I do love Llanowar Elves coming back, missed those dorks, and green has really needed help for awhile now.
What's worrying is they are so hesitant to ban anything until players bring out pitchforks. So if they miss it would be very bad. I'm hopeful as well.
Nailed it
💯
9:00 I used to really want Lightning Bolt in standard, but then I lost to Monastery Swiftspear 100,000 times
Now you see the truth. Embrace Midrange.
@@genzo454dog there's that duskmourn card that stops you from healing, there's no hope lmao
@@shadowseek27 As long as they reprint Remedy, I'll be fine.
I am the one playing Monastery Swiftspear 1000000 times and I want lightning bolt.
edit: although what I'm really hoping for is some goblin goodness. If I get goblin grenade in standard I'll play a mediocre goblin deck any day
@@genzo454 i guess theres the hexproof leyine too...idk its spooky though
I'm excited to see how this shakes out, but I'm overall positive right now.
Llanowar Elves in standard can help green there without making another new dork for pioneer to add to its 4/8/12 whatever they're up to now deck.
I think it'll also help Draft, since they don't need to hit the checklist cards. We don't need boardwipe with sets mechanic in every set if DoJ is there in Standard. Hopefully, anyway.
I have opened my fair share of Core Set boosters and there tends to be a pool of cards they tend to reuse as reprints (i.e. Negate, Cancel, Lightning Strike) so in a sense there was a good amount of cards that were basically "always" legal in standard. That being said, I concede that these were mostly low impact cards, so I am not sure having Omniscience legal for 5 years is a good thing. I'm okay with that being the outlier and the rest of the set just being more low impact stuff.
If you let your opponent get to 10 mana without dying, you deserve to lose to omniscience.
Comes down as early as turn 3/4 with whats currently present in standard@Joker22593
@@Joker22593it might be a problem for non-blue control decks I suppose. You're less likely to kill them quick enough and without blue you can't just counter it on the way down. But then you can side in some anti-enchantment tech assuming they don't just win with their first free spell, so there's still options.
@@Joker22593 yes as we know "hard cast for 10 mana" has always been the common play pattern for omniscience /s
(we have 3 and 4 mana "reanimate anything" spells in standard until 2026 with decks that reliably fulfill their conditions, which are already pretty consistent and strong running the inferior "One with the Multiverse")
I absolitely love this concept and think that for the first time in a while Wizards seem to have put a lot of thought into a product. I also love that it's not more commander shit.
I've been playing on and off for about 15 years now and have always been nothing but casual in my games. However, the nature of my type of engagement with the game for the most part meant that I didn't really have a good grasp on how sets and formats worked, which cards are staples for which format and why.
This all changed with Neon Dynasty though, that set finally got me into Magic semi-seriously and I now have af least somewhat of an idea how things work.
I still only play kitchen table Magic because it's the most liberal form of the game but I'm really interested in pauper and have built several decks. This is now officially my first attempt at an actual Magic format and it feels great.
The point I'm trying to make is that, given this context, my overall collection of cards feels very random for the most part and a set such as Foundations would be helpful even for someone like me who technically has a lot of experience (albeit very misdirected and confusing experience) with Magic.
I'll finally be able to not only build a collection of staples but even pottentially dabble in standard.
Also, I feel like the products they've prepared for this set would really be the perfect way to teach friends who might be interested.
I am just getting into Magic the Gathering, this makes me feel so much better about getting into it. Trying to get a deck that can work feels so tough, with what they cost and how complex the cards are.
If anything this seems like it would excite the old man in you. This feels like a return to the 4th-9th ed style of core set with out the downside of having to print a new version
Ah yes, the CoreSet. The product nobody ever wanted.
I'm excited for this! Hopefully they play-tested it well enough so none of the cards break anything, since it would really suck to have to ban cards from an intro sets specifically designed for newer players who probably won't be aware of the ban list
I started playing and learning Magic in September. I bought both the LOTR and 2023 Starter Kits. Coming from Classic Yu-Gi-Oh! and Hearthstone, I was already familiar with card games. Recently, I also bought a Duskmourn Play booster box, which had some really good cards. However, most of them feel like they need to be part of dedicated decks that require building around specific strategies, and as a new player, that's challenging. That's why I'm really happy that Wizards is introducing something similar to Hearthstone's core set-basic cards that are simple, have less text, and are easy for new players or those coming from other TCGs to pick up, build a deck, and head to their local game store to play
As a player that has been considering returning to the game, if they get the card choices correct, then Im very excited and will try standard out again.
A big problem thats always occurred with standard is player onboarding. It does feel very bad to buy cards that eventually you wont be able to use. Having a “base set” of cards that are always legal “theoretically” means that if you take a break from magic for a bit for whatever reason, you can always return a bit later with your base set cards and only have to pick up a few new ones.
Obviously the power in standard sets is going to determine how many new cards you’ll need, but then again you can always take a break when you’re not liking that standard and come back later.
A base set like this could also make it much easier to introduce new players to the game with simpler mechanics. I’ve wanted to teach my partner the game for a while, and I feel like just busting out Foundations decks will be a good introduction.
It really is all going to come down to card choice in this set, because this NEEDS to be the most thought out and balanced set they’ve ever made. If they cant deliver on that, it’s going to ruin things for a long time.
So overall excited, but cautious.
Wake up everyone, new core set just dropped (in November)
But actually I just want to see what lands they make. Imagine having the creature type matters lands always legal in standard. Like secluded, courtyard, unclaimed territory, maybe even ancient ziggurat. That means that kindred decks will always have the lands they want
Something that I haven't seen talked about yet is the biggest boon this set could have, which is for onboarding on Arena. Right now, the Color Challenge starter decks contain cards that are only legal in Alchemy for rotating formats, and as they want paper-digital parity in shared formats, they use Alchemy for onboarding new players. If this toolbox allows Arena to use Standard for onboarding, it will improve the popularity of the format. I see this as a huge leap in the revitalization of the format.
I'm constantly trying to figure out how to introduce new players to the game in an efficient and affordable way. I am all for this.
Jumpstart
The fact that we will have three sets of cards back in the pool 3 and a half months after rotation is notable.
I really hope they don’t reprint Sheoldred,the Apocalypse, Goldspan Dragon and Wandering emperor or anything else that dominated their standard meta in the ‘forever’ set.
I was reading Nine-Lives Familiar while driving when you said “don’t read it if you’re driving” 🤣 love your content! Thank for the info, the set seems a cool idea.
i really like this from a long-term design view. in theory, it could free up set designers to make more experimental, niche, and flavorful cards. It could also lead to great complexity in competitive standard play with more set-specific mechanics.
Hard to say what this means for things like booster pack size, variance, and variant art availability, but the idea of having a more durable framework for standard seems like a good one overall.
standard is going to get reallllly big, thats for sure
It'll be large and (not) in charge.
I think it's a good idea. It's nice to have a base set where they can stick all the staples for common deck building themes. It also sort of establishes the color pie and creates a base set.
@12:10 I like that. I also prefer the '90s approach to artifacts, where you could always instantly tell they were artifacts come up because the card was artifact brown.
Im kinda excited for this. Ive been playing standard for a little while now since boros aggro was a semi cheap way to get into the format but with this set hopefully ill be able to get my other mainly commander focused friends to give standard a try for once.
7:35 my thoughts went right into mana elf when you said “magic the gathering the set” lol
I like the idea that Foundations should contain the "baseline" versions of cards so that the other premiere sets might be able to include more focused equivalents. Llanowar Elves will be the baseline green mana dork, but if (when) Frog kindred takes off in standard then you'll want to swap it out for Poison Dart Frog or whatever else we get in Bloomburrow.
I just wonder if the set will become integrated with drafts? Could we see a change where drafts become 2 packs from the current set and 1 pack of foundations?
Oh boy I can play mono mono green big dudes in standard now??? Son of a bitch I'm in
"Every time I've seen this world change, it's always been for the worse." - Natalie Portman on that movie
Llanowar Elves has had long periods of time in Standard in the past, and I don't think it caused a problem. It was legal from the beginning to 2003, 2005 to 2012, and 2018 to 2019. I know in general that one-mana dorks tend to cause some complaining, but I really don't think it's too serious of a deal. Core Sets/Starter Sets have done more dangerous than that in the past.
I like this change. I've always loved Portal/Starter products and will gladly buy some whenever they come out because I want to support this kind of on-ramp for new players. Magic is certainly suffering from complexity creep right now, so I'd be excited for cards that are simple and competitive. I hope they bring back Leatherback Baloth, or something similar for a green three drop. That was my favorite turn two play back in original Zendikar standard (after a turn one elf of some sort). Sure, there are better options than the Baloth for GGG that have been printed since. But, I think that'd be a good way to demonstrate that you don't need a whole lot of text on a card for it to be good.
The problem for standard is the good cards cost a grip then they rotate out and become a pile of nothing. I absolutely agree with WOTC. Standard, if people are ever going to play it in paper, could use some sort of semi-eternal element.
Dev, what you want isn't standard; it's block constructed.
Bring back Block!
I'm all about foundations. We don't know all the cards coming, but Llanowar Elves coming to standard is going to be huge!
This seems like a great idea. I have been advocating for a core set return for a long time, this implementation feels wonderful. I just hope it doesn't have too many Omnisciences in it, that establishes a baseline that's hard to design around (create a weaker card, it's irrelevant, create a stronger card, it breaks the game).
Hey Dev, i dont know if you realize we had llanawar elves in standard a while back actually. In the set where we went back to dominaria before domination united. The set was just called dominaria. And it was fine. It was a powerful card, played in alot of decks. People got sick of it after a couple years though cuz that's just how standard works.
I literally say this in the video, almost word for word lol. I understand skipping around a bit though, I do it all the time. Thanks for watching!
@@SBMTG Hey Dev, I think this guy is getting at the fact that around the 8 minute mark you said this exact thing twice actually. I'm not sure it if was two separate takes that both made it in the video or what. I even rewinded to make sure because it felt like a time loop. Either way great video!
they're doing the hearthstone and snap thing, and good for them! good choice. A lot of us play standard non-competitively and spend the least possible and have weird brews. S'gonna be fun! They'll be able to ban or add to foundations like Hearthstone and design new sets around foundation which is really exciting to me.
Generally excited, hoping that it's a fairly low-powered set with basic spells that help support generic color flavor and deck types. Definitely feels like they're trying to make Standard less of a rotating format though, but maybe it helps allow for more flavorful design space in other sets
As a player who stepped away from playing magic daily after Throne of Eldraine rotated, I'm intrigued by the Foundation set. I didn't find my home in commander or modern and I'm hoping this can revive standard and give me something new to play in paper. I think I'll be satisfied if I'm able to keep a Foundation set and jump into the game when I'm excited about a new standard set like I am for Bloomburrow.
This set gives them the opportunity to do set or block constructed with Foundation as a backdrop, depending on how many cards are in the set.
In terms of balance I like that Foundation gives them tangible examples of what is acceptable for the power level of standard. Maybe this set was conceived as a return to form: to give them a guidepost to prevent the excitement of fire design and commander design from unbalancing Standard as they've done the past 5+ years.
Or maybe I'm just hopeful like any gamer lol
Another thought: they've already learned that magic players don't want to buy basic core sets. Foundation precon collections give useful cards to sell to new players and the booster products can have Foundation cards alongside new cards that rotate.
The evergreen nature of Foundation lets them choose archetypes to buff with rotating sets
At the very least Standard will be hit with new and interesting design space
as a player not at all interested in Standard, I will be giving Standard a try with the release of Bloomburrow/Duskmourn/Foundations. The idea of some core cards not rotating out is very interesting to me. Foundation will have succeeded in at least getting myself to check out the format
Hearthstone's core set was static, but now rotates willy nilly (it's free). I think it can be fine/good especially if the cards are supposed to rest just below the ceiling of the format. 4 mv sweepers are awkward; people prefer 5-6 mana sweepers w/ upside or 3 mana sweepers that don't hit everything. Ideally they also give every mtga player the 350 card package for free so it might make it easier to get people into it.
When I first heard a bit of news about this set I assumed it was just an arena thing. Now that I know everything about it and thought about it I think it mostly an arena thing.
I‘ve already invested in timeless and historic so I’m not going back to start standard. But I think a ton of new players will stay longer on the client because their cards didn’t rotate. And without that feel bad experience they might eventually move onto formats like explorer and become entrenched.
I think this is a great business idea to retain players online. I don’t think it’ll do anything to make paper standard less dead.
As a new paper player experience product my thoughts aren’t fully formed.
I started during Ice Age and I can't get any of my old friends interested in the current game, I really like the idea of this set to simplify the complexity creep present today..
I think that having a Core set every year was a bit tiring, if WotC is just going to be doing one off large expansion sets I'd rather have this as a kind of bedrock for the game, and not just in standard. A kind of "This set is the 2 drop 2/2 for Magic" in general, to gauge where the game actually is without all of the fluff and cruft of the expert sets. As someone who wants to see more reprints of classics, and making cards like these available to people who don't necessarily want to engage in just buying singles for their decks- this is really exciting. I think the game will be healthier for a product like this existing... *so long as* the price of the booster products is kept either in line with other, *regular*, booster pricing, or is made *cheaper* as a loss leader for onboarding into the expert sets later.
9:43 The most important piece of information in the video
Interesting. I don't play much standard but you're right, this is a huge change. I will say there are cards like Negate and Wind Drake that are basically always in standard anyway since they get reprinted so much. But this seems to be a lot more than just those
As a new player who got started on Arena, I suspect they have some data to imply that there's a lot of digital only players who have often thought about getting into paper, but never pulled the trigger. I'm one of them, and this set is probably gonna be what pushes me to try it since the cards will be useful long term. Whether it's good for standard or not I can't say, but it makes sense why they're doing this.
Well day of Judgement is a problem I think. It's a huge format definer... and it might make wrath effects harder to design without having to creep them up. It does however provide some constants in the format.... (i.e. a turn 4 boardwipe is a possiblity) which would make designing cards for standard easier to design around
I think foundations is a great idea of addressing perceived desire of the fanbase.
Part of the selling point of Commander is that cards never 'rotate' and your decks are never made obsolete. And yet everyone online discussion I see of commander involves people bitching about not being able to 'keep up'. People seem to want some guarantee of long-term value even if theyre going to buy the new sets and update their decks anyway. Having a chunk of standard be 'non-rotating' will help onboard players even if none of those cards are relevant in the top meta decks.
Its also nice for stores to have an intro product that they dont need to rush off shelves before it becomes obsoleted by the next years intro product.
I like it. By having this sort of base set, it gives Wizards the freedom to go even further with new sets and push what's possible. As a person who primarily cares about commander (i know, boo me), one of the things that bugs me is that we get these almost functional reprints every set. "Here's a new slightly different wrath effect." "Here's a new slightly different mana dork." And many of those cards just serve as another copy to make a commander deck smoother, more efficient and inherently less interesting.
But if Day of Judgement and Llanowar Elves are in standard semi-indefinitely, that means (ideally) Wizards doesn't have to add variations of cards like these to every new set, and can instead explore completely new mechanics and strategies more freely.
I'm most excited about the potential lands though. Just as Dev was asking for Bloomburrow, in a previous video, can we just get some lands that help us more easily cast our spells? I hate the swapping between allied and enemy colored duals we seem to get with each new standard set. Foundations could provide some stability for mana bases, and let us all build interesting decks knowing that getting the right colors of mana won't be an issue.
I think this could be really interesting because it stabilizes standard in a way and also can help really solidify archetypes and color identities. It creates a “core set” of staples that won’t rotate out for a long time. Ie you will always have a mana dork, counter spell, removal spell etc that is reliable and consistent and can just focus on the good stuff like bombs, combos and splashy spells that change based on whatever the newest set is. But it could also get super stale if these cards are just better than anything else or in every deck ever.
Now imagine for a moment a standard environment of Foundations + around 5 or 6 mini sets of various Universes Beyond sets and 1 or 2 Universes within Magic Sets. This will be Standard. 🤢
I understand your trepidation over cards that will be released that can last 3+ years in standard... that being said, my 7 year old kid learning to love mtg and we're not rich, this foundations idea sounds good for the game. There are so many ways associated with this game (a game that I now too do love) that make it challenging having started just 2 years ago... and working in education with kiddos, it is good there are renewed efforts to make the game assessable and fresh for new generations.
I started MTG in 2010, and quit in 2015. In my 5 years I traveled to 3 Grand Prix’s, 5 regionals, and 2-4 others smaller tournaments.
I eventually left due to the fast rotations and the constant buying new boxes and cards to stay competitive.
I think 4-5 years would be great and may even bring me back to the game.
As a new player to MtG, I'm digging the idea of a new set that's kind of a culmination of all sets with new and old that will stick around for a while. I've already spend a few hundred dollars on some new and old sets and I'll say some cards are quite confusion on what they do exactly so a but more simplified is also kind of up my alley, at least from a learners perspective.
by the original definition it its "Awesome" causing or inducing awe; inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear
Everytime Wotc creates a core set, sales eventually fall to where they cancel it. Hmmm, wonder what is going to happen this time. Any guesses?
yeah I mean what would drive sales of these sets?
Even if players want these cards as a permanent backbone of their gradually changing decks, eventually they can just collect all of the cards they want, or even all the cards in the set, and then what?
I am so absolutely pumped for this, I have been wanting for MTG do something like this for a while after I saw hearthstone did this for their standard.
However, I am holding my breath as you and others are saying this all really depends on the card pool chosen, as we CANNOT have standard get any more crazy than it is. Llanowar elves and omniscince are definitely a bit more powerful than I was hoping for (but tbh I am HYPED for 1 mana dorks back). If we see lightning bolt kiss BO1 standard goodbye lol.
I like that sets rotate but I think this type of product is great. It gives new players an entry level set that's easier to learn and master - later they can use those same cards to play in standard without feeling overwhelmed. As someone who has taught friends how to play only to drop the game because of difficulty spike, I think this product might be a hit.
I can't wait! I started commander last year and might just get into Standard with this. All else fails, seems like a cool reprint set for buffing up my decks!
Sounds interesting but like you said not too comfortable with it. I actually enjoy the rotation to keep everybody on their feet with deck building I get tired of facing the same meta/archetype over and over again
3years was rough. 5years is brutal
standard is dead
My thoughts exactly
to me it feels more like five years of baseline cards which *should* be good if they aren't powercrept to fuck
There's what like 4+ sets that don't rotate with the additional 3rd year. We are talking about a singular set not multiple.
i am mostly indifferent about it.
I do like the black cat with nine lives because you can play it, and sac it to something on every players turn cycle. And unless it gets exiled, people will have a hard time removing it.
It kind of fulfills the same role as other token-makers (e.g. bitter blossom) but in a way it's "faster" because you can sacrifice up to four times in one turn cycle, then do it again for another round. You've probably won the game somehow if you managed to sacrifice the cat for an effect 8-9 times.
It also works nicely with Flare of Malice, which asks you to sacrifice a non-token black creature as an additional cost.
I love the idea of the set, hearthstones base set feels good to have access too and I can’t see this being worse.
“It’s nothing we’ve never seen before”
Yeah and that’s why it sucks ):
Magic is the first to have a non-rotating core set as part of a rotating format. It was called type 2. It used to be the current edition set was standard legal until it was replaced. They could be years apart
I like core sets. I love the IDEA of an indefinite core set that I can always buy boosters of to get some fun playable cards - maybe some cards get bumped off the list after 5 years when they get crept, maybe we call it rotation 😅
I like the idea of an onboarding product and cards that are always available. I think the list will determine its success.
Such a set being legal for a longer time makes sense: It probably will be a bit lower on the power level curve, so it won't break anything. and maybe having a more stable card pool will reign in overall power creep a bit? Hopefully?
This is sounding almost exactly like the power level I want: strong enough that a strong player with no collection could pilot decks from this set to a reasonable WR in a tournament... But weak enough that other sets can specialize into stronger or easier to run archetypes
I'm cautiously optimistic. I think with sets and boosters shrinking slightly, it's going to be harder to slot the "veggies" into a standard set. So rather than trying to fit in things like basic burn, removal, counterspells, mana dorks, dual lands, etc. in a set every few years, we can have them all in one place as constant options. It also could remove draft/sealed considerations: maybe they don't want a wrath slowing down a pre-release game for any particular set, but you want there to be one in standard to keep creature decks in check. Also, having it not tied to a particular setting means that we could get something like the triomes without having to visit Ikoria and New Capena before heading to another 3 color plane.
So it's kinda like the Deck Builder Toolkit
Like hear me out. I have been working on developing my own TCG, and one of the ideas I just recently had was that I could have a base set that would never rotate out and that new sets would just add to it and work with it. Even if it started something like standard, for accessibility sake. I'm actually really happy that this idea is on their radar. Hopefully they don't botch it.
I also REALLY hope they print the crap out of it so it'll never reach scalper prices. So help me they better print the crap out of it.
I love the design of 9 lives familiar, its also a card I was shocked hadn't existed before. More broadly on the set, I think its a good idea, I think it might help make standard exist in paper again, but as a thing that balances standard around nice solid simple staples I really respect the design philosophy, I want cards which just read simple again and I don't have to track 18 things so this might be really good for that.
I mean 5 years isn't that bad if they do it right. For example, they release a new core set every 5 years and the cards are all standard legal until the next core set is release. While keep the 3 years rotation for the rest. However they will need to update the ban list more frequently.
I'm tentatively interested in it looking st it from the game designer point of view. I think it could potentially help the designers keep things balanced by having that stability in the format.
This could make me play standard again. For real.
I quit because of a rotation and "had"' to convert all my funny decks into non-rotating formats.
Had the same issue with Brawl.
News is released on Fridays so that bosses can have two and a half days to ignore criticism and hope it dies down.
As a player who has been in and out of Magic paper and arena for a couple of years and sucks at it I am looking forward to playing a set that lets me actually learn how to play
Your'e right that this is the biggest change to standard we've seen. And every card they previewed is very playable. This kinda scares me. I already thought 3 year standard was too big. If they really wanted to do something like this, should of just stuck to low powered cards for new players.
Foundations reminds me of the Deck Builder's Toolkit. It's a very nice thing to have for new players (SOI was my first DBT). I'm fine with it, and the new sets coming out each season will keep evereything fresh. I don't see the 5 year semi-indefinite life having a huge impact.
I like this set. I like the idea of the core set sticking around for a long time. For, five years... Other games like Marvel Champions that operates under an LCG, living card game, has a growing player base with small releases and expansions. If MTG is going to continue to grow the player base, they have to make it fun, consistent, and worth spending money on, valuable. I also like the different things they are trying and the philosophy behind their efforts. I thought today marked a new day in MTG that is heading in the right direction, long term, and making MTG valuable and accessible, allowing growth in multiple directions while being consistent. They other announcements for 2025 and beyond were also spot on. I can't find a fault in the overall direction and "why" behind the efforts. I wasn't at first going to get any Foundations, but I am now considering buying at release and throughout the next... five years. :)
I don’t know what to think. I’m amenable to the idea of one large core-like set that gets updated every 5 years or so that forms the baseline of standard, but I’m already concerned about the standards (pun intended) they’ve set just with these previews.
For example: One-mana dorks like llanowar elves (or elvish mystic, or whatever) historically tend to accelerate green pretty quickly. Given the pushed low-mana cards standard has been getting over the past few years, imagine being on the draw and your opponent getting down a powerful green-based 3-drop on turn two when you had a tapland or just no one-mana play or removal spell of your own. M15’s elvish mystic and Dominaria’s llanowar elves were already strong at their respective times in standard, and the value you can get in the early turns has only increased since then. They moved away from one-mana dorks historically for very valid reasons, and yet they’ve decided that at least one will be legal for another five years. Will they design with that in mind, limiting the power of 3-4 drops for that time? Will we be getting very strong and cheap removal to counteract it? If they do that, will we continue to see higher-mana creatures even more reliant on immediate (and thus less-interactive) value upon play? Or will we continue to get pushed cheap value creatures while they just ignore the acceleration? Either way, I think they’re going to have to be very careful. The same goes for unconditional four-mana wraths. We’ll see.
As an aside, they should have it rotate in 2028 and have a new set for the 35th anniversary. Just make the 5-year anniversary sets the standard “core”. Seems like a thematic slam dunk to me.
People are missing the big picture. We use to have coresets yearly that would reprint the base mechanic cards. Reds burn, blues control and so on. And then the expansion brought new mechanics that allowed people to make new decks if the wanted but the corsets were there if the wanted to go classic mono colored or ravnica guilds. But from what I see u guys have been stuck in this new standard rotation, i looked at the last 6 sets, and the core mechanic cards have little presence and some sets not at all. Foundation is gonna do what we always had 10 years ago. Core mechanics and themes. Thank god for this set
I think this is kinda nonsense.. I mean if they are showing omniscience for standard "semi-indefinitely" I can only imagine what other bs they will be crowbaring in... As you said it is terrifying.. just about every single new set/announcement just makes me feel sad about the state of the game I love.. I am not looking forward to a stale standard...
Foundations is close to the old cards that were legal allways on Bo1 Standard before, and now they are legal allways on Alchemy. I am ok, but a bit worried about the avalaibility after a few years, and that this year there will be 5 Standard legal sets released before december.
I like this idea if the standard amount of sets in standard is less than like five or six at a time.
I watched a ton of LVD's Magic Duels videos when I first started playing (before the arena beta went live and they released the entire Duels library at once). I hope this will be a similar jumping off point where new players can collect all the cards they need for 5 or 6 decent beginner decks and then have options for upgrading from there. For instance, if you like spellslinging, buy packs from *this* set. If you like zombies, focus on *that* one.
LANAwar Elves!
It's commander little. They are turning all the sets into something of the variation. However, very fresh and cool idea. I think it sums up nicely and clean cut marketing. A modern change to Standard needed to happen.
Day of Judgment is gonna make an interesting standard for...five years. I feel like "semi-indefinitely" is a weird approach for standard, but I guess people like enternal formats. So this is..."semi-eternal" standard.
I am sooo excited for a return of core sets so to speak. We might not be getting a new one every year, but having a base set for the game like the old days will feel so good. Idc i love vanilla creatures.
I only play premodern now. It seems like the only format, although not officially endorsed by WotC, that they can't put their hands on and ruin. No rotations, no new cards being pumped into it. They ruined standard before, they have no idea what they're doing with it now, they're in the process of ruining commander, modern is a joke with the horizons.
Been playing since 2006 and have really enjoyed the core sets! Think this is a great idea and love a simple set that can be a bedrock for standard. The question will be if the commander only players will pick up the set and maybe try 60 card
if it brings new players on board I'm all for it!!
I am old enough to remember a format called "Extended". This and the three year rotation window reminds me of Extended. Same kind of thing to. People wanted an opportunity to play with their expensive cards longer. And while WotC did print multiple "core" sets during that time, those were always similar enough that they did not have a major impact on Extended. MtG Foundations looks to be filling that role.
I really don't mind the idea of a perpetually legal set for magic. The hardest part of rotation for me has always been mana bases. If there's a set of duals or fetch (fabled passage crossed fingers) that I will always know will be there for me that would be awesome. My only fear is that it could change the draft environment of future sets dramatically if they aren't putting as much ho hum draft Commons to fill out decks. Not freaking out though, kind of like the idea.
I like it. I have always felt like not having a core set was a VERY annoying money grab.
I have also always disliked how 1 rotation was always able to completely change the core theme of how a color's theme was supposed to work.
I think a core set is a good idea in theory, but WotC just cannot help themselves. They will find a way to biff the landing by making this set super expensive or it will have 2 mega rare chase cards that they will refuse to ban till they sell enough product.
I have skeptical hope.
Commander is the mtg flagship format. If you want a format with constant rotations play modern: Wizards keeps printing bust cards that makes previous cards unplayable 😊
Awesome and terrifying…cue to big man sitting next to cat covered in cat hair
As long as they plan the rest of their sets around this it can be great, we end up printing a lot of very similar cards just to maintain certain things in standard so for example if core set has basically wrath of god then any new white sweepers should be able to explore more interesting space than depopulate or no witnesses and maybe we don't need new versions every single set. I also like the idea of you buy one set and you at least have a solid portion of any standard deck for the next 5 years. Of course if I hate too many of the cards in the set then everything will be terrible.
Sounds like how Hearthstone did/does standard, at least back when I played it years ago. One base set of fairly balanced cards that never goes out of rotation so you always have something to play with if you take a break and miss a few years of new sets. It seems like a great idea that supports new or very casual players. It should also provide a clear basis of power level to better balance new sets around as WotC creates them. MtG should have done this years ago!
I dont play standard anymore but i feel this is fundamentally changing standard. It wont be the same format ever again.