Magic Foundations, the latest blast from the New Cards Fire Hose, has finally landed. Amongst the pile of rectangles we’ve been blessed with is a swath of brand new additions to all of our favorite formats, as well as to Standard and Pioneer. Typically when a new set drops, we see somewhere in the range of five to fifteen cards make an impact on their prospective formats, with that number diminishing as you increase the size of the card pool. Foundations is a bit different though, due to the nature of how the set was designed to be used, and instead of creating small ripples has full sent a cannonball straight into the deep end.

For the past few years i’ve been looking at the uncommons from each new set and examining how they might fit into the grander picture of Magic and its various meta games. With Foundations looking to create a… well… foundation… for Standard and beyond, it of course comes well equipped with cards to make a well defined base at every rarity. In another article [FOUND HERE], Anthony has gone over the best reprints for Standard, and talks about some of the higher impact cards at the lower rarities, so if you’re looking for cards that you might already be familiar with, check that out. Today, i’ll be examining the new additions – for Pioneer the reprinted cards that we can expect to make an impact, and the brand new cards that have never been in Standard before. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get straight to it. 

Fresh into Standard

For a comprehensive list of all of the new cards entering Standard for the first time, check out [THIS LINK] to Scryfall for every common and uncommon we’ve never played with before. 

For the sake of succinctness, I’ll be trimming my list of cards worth mentioning from 11 down to three, but if you’re interested in what I was mulling over, here’s the rest of what I was considering.

While landing somewhere between fun and playable, each of these cards fits into something, theoretically. The reason that they’re mentioned here and not further into the article is simply because I feel like the thing that they go into just doesn’t hold enough water. Niche decks are cool, like where you might see Cat Collector or Fishing Pole, but with how many cards are set to come out in 2025 there’s going to be a new niche deck every two weeks. Variants on established strategies are fine, like where you might see Fiendish Panda, but honestly what’s the point when we already know that good decks are good? Here, i’ll be talking about cards that are set to either create an archetype or tremendously bolster an existing one and shooting it up in tier.

Boltwave

Our next Lava Spike, Boltwave provides something that’s been absent from Standard for actual years – a strong, reliable, ol’ faithful burn spell. Boltwave offers some utility that’s yet unseen in a burn spell, the capacity to avoid Hexproof and Protection. By dealing damage to each opponent, you are not targeting anything, and thus finding a way to best some of the classic ways to survive the burn strategy – classically Leyline of Sanctity and co. 

One mana, Three damage is something that we haven’t gotten since Skewer the Critics, and will absolutely slot into most if not all aggressive shells moving forward. Combining this with some of the other powerful burn options we have in Standard right now – Lightning Helix, Boros Charm, Screaming Nemesis, Bloodfeather Phoenix, and Burst Lightning, we can expect to use Burn as the format’s litmus test for roughly the rest of time.

Refute

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, we have Refute, the new best counterspell for 1UU. The absolute essence of power creep, Refute can expect to revitalize land-go control decks moving forward. We’ve seen the original, Cancel, which turns into Dissolve – a card that has won a Pro Tour mind you – which further turns into Sinister Sabotage, and now Refute. The creep is alive and well, and we are here for it. 

Refute is a card that offers a free dose of what control decks crave, card advantage. With one of the themes in Foundations being Flashback spells, Refute basically just says “Counter Draw”. Its a card that pairs amazingly with many others, and offers a means to get ahead while simultaneously putting the opponent behind. We’ve clamored for much less than what this card provides in the past, and I welcome this new back-to-basics style of control card with open arms.

Vengeful Bloodwitch

Yet another absolutely classic card, Vengeful Bloodwitch is our latest Blood Artist variant. A staple card whenever it’s legal, these creatures that check for death have never not been good because for the last twenty years, Magic has been about creatures in play. When creatures are in play, they tend to die. Herego, the Blood Artist effect thrives in any and all environments. 

We’ve seen this style of card find success in fair and unfair strategies alike. From the original in Innistrad leading the charge in an Aristocrats style deck – which seems to be yet another enabled archetype in Foundations – to later iterations that used it as a combo piece, pairing with Rally the Ancestors or the Cat/Oven loop, this card has seen and will continue to see play. Anything that can reward you for something that was going to happen – and in this case happen a lot – is a card worth giving your attention to, which puts Vengeful Bloodwitch on the list of to-be-expecteds. 

That’s all for this one, i’ll be back later on this week for a part 2 where I cover all of the reprinted cards that will be entering Pioneer for the first time. There’s just so much to say about Foundations that one webpage just cannot handle it all. So until then, stay safe, play smart, and thanks for reading.