The black cards are really powerful in Foundations. The reprints, especially. I did not expect that we would have these options just sitting around in standard now. All but the fourth cards on this list are fully capable of changing the course of a game. They will (sometimes indirectly) win the whole thing. Plus, you can put all of these into the same style of deck.
Generic blue cards see a lot of use, and clearly, Foundations planned for that. Because my top five basically consists of generally useful spells for a large variety of decks. These don’t feel as flashy as the white cards—nor are there any haymakers. They’re just good cards.
Foundations is going to be around for a long time—and I’m honestly super happy with this idea. The constant shifting of Standard is one of the reasons I fell off it. I like getting to play a pet deck long enough to get good at it. It’s rewarding.
I have a bias: I love Izzet and cannot help but build decks in those colors whenever possible. But I promise that the latter half of this list was based on what I thought were the strongest cards in Bloomburrow. It being so skewed toward Izzet is just because the Izzet cards are really good.
I said that black had some of the best cards in Bloomburrow, and I was not kidding. Some are eerily close to historically powerful cards and are within a cost range that most decks can use. The best of the red cards aren’t as clear cut, but it’s astonishing how aggressive they’ll be in the right deck.
It’s good to be back with these. I haven’t reviewed a Magic set in a little while, but Bloomburrow is too dang charming. So, I’ve looked over all of the cards and narrowed my selection down to the best ones. Three per color, and three for multicolored.
Much like last set’s Tom Bombadil, Eriette of the Charmed Apple begs for someone to build around her. But there was a problem right out the gate: Auras are almost universally known as the worst card type in Magic. They have a long history of not being played.
The Wilds of Eldraine arrives very soon. It will go live on Arena less than a day after this post goes up. And I’ve looked over every single card, made a list of the best thirty or so, and then narrowed it down to only ten.
In the LOTR set, there’s perhaps no commander more demanding of someone to build around than Tom Bombadil. His abilities outline what sort of deck he needs to go in, and his color identity gives you access to every saga in the game. And, if you’re like me, you likely went to go see what sagas you had on Arena, put them all into a list with a few tutors and support cards, and rushed off to play. And then you got slapped into the ground by more aggressive or streamlined decks.
Welcome back! We took a brief break for a topical movie review, but we still have tons of LOTR cards to explore. This multi-part article series has two more entries after this one, and we’ve not even gotten to some of the most powerful cards the set offers.
I literally don’t have the time to build every Historic Brawl deck I would love to try. These new LOTR cards are a brewer’s paradise.
Hello, all my fellow nerds! For some people, two of their favorite fantasy properties just met. And, even for people like me who don’t understand all the LOTR references sprinkled throughout, this new set is still a ton of fun. Because these cards are so strong. Without Standard to worry about, the designers went wild with the power level. Historic, Commander, and Modern are already changing as people brew and find busted LOTR interactions. But, for this article, I’m bringing things to Historic Brawl.
