Foundations: The 5 Best Artifact Cards

The Artifacts In Foundations Are All Over The Place

In most sets, most of the artifacts aren’t usually that impressive—but Foundations is different. There are quite a few good ones. Five, in fact, that I think are so good they’ll especially stand the test of time.

Adaptive Automaton

Goblins and elves are both pretty well supported by Foundations, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have more good cards. If you’re building any such deck and need three or four more cards to fill out a strategy, this is an easy pick.

Gate Colossus

As long as there are gate cards around, this is such a fun creature. Have you ever played two of them in one turn? How about three? The fact players can’t chump block these with smaller creatures means that each turn becomes more and more of a challenge for an opponent.

Heraldic Banner

Much like Adaptive Automaton, this can go in a lot of decks. It sometimes might even go in the same decks. But the point is that it’s a good way to get in stronger attacks with swarms of creatures. The extra mana is actually useful sometimes, too—it helps get swarms out faster.

Mazemind Tome

I’m always surprised at how good this card is. It helps smooth out so many issues. You can use it on your opponent’s end step and then right before you draw to make sure you get something useful. You can draw extra cards whenever you have mana. And then, once it’s been used up, it gives you not an insignificant amount of life gain.

Solumn Simulacrum

Of the cards in this Foundations’ list, this one might see the least play—but it’s still really good. It ramps and then, once you’re done with it, you can let it die for card draw. I imagine this card will see the most play in green decks, but I’m hopeful for more creative applications.

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And that’s the whole thing! The whole, whole thing! We’ve done top five lists for the white, blue, black, red, green, multicolored, and artifact cards in Foundations. It was quite a project, honestly. And now, it’s time to see if I was right. To see if, over the course of the next while, these various powerful cards see play like I think they will. I’m genuinely excited for it and have found myself playing way more standard than I had before. Knowing that toolbox cards are always around makes for a lot more creative opportunities, and I keep coming up with deck ideas. I hope that’s true for you, and that you’re also finding lots of cool interactions. And—most of all—that you’re having fun playing Magic: The Gathering!

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