Away From Keyboard - Magic: The Gathering - Foundations
Feature
Setting the Foundations
Foundations is the classic Magic you know and love, modernised for a new era of gameplay. Longtime fans will appreciate the return of beloved cards and artists as new players are introduced to the best cards from Magic’s history. We at Hooked Gamers were lucky enough to be invited to test out the Foundations set at a pre-release event at Fortress Melbourne.
Set Mechanics
As mentioned above, Foundations is based on the classic Magic you know and love, modernised for a new era of gameplay, and as such there are no new mechanics. However, there are several mechanics that have returned for the Foundations set.
Flashback
Flashback is a returning mechanic that allows players to cast a spell - this time for its Flashback cost - from your graveyard, effectively giving the players the chance to use the spell twice. Of course, the spell can only be cast in the phase that it would normally be cast.
Threshold
The returning Threshold mechanic applies whenever a certain amount of cards are sitting within your graveyard (which we believe for the Foundations set is seven). If your graveyard has more than the threshold, triggered or passive abilities may result when the spell is cast or played.
Prowess
Prowess is a returning keyword that helps make sure your creatures are the biggest around. It is a triggered ability that gives a creature +1/+1 whenever you cast a non-creature spell, effectively ensuring that spells such as instants, sorceries and enchantments have dual effects when cast.
Raid
Creatures with the Raid keyword are given a bonus for whenever they attack. In Foundations, most raid abilities are triggered abilities such as 'At the beginning of your end step, if you attacked that turn, the ability will trigger.' The hope is that your creatures got through and dealt some damage, or overcame some poor chumps sent to block them. But even if the attack didn't go so well and your attackers didn't survive, raid abilities will still see that you attacked.
The Cards
Planeswalkers
One of the main features of the Foundations set is the return of the Planeswalkers - each of which make a return from earlier sets. There is one Planeswalker for each colour. In our game, Vivien Reid created quite a stir with her ultimate ability, but the other Planeswalkers each have similarly devastating abilities at their disposal.
Vivien Reid (Green)
Liliana, Dreadhorde General (Black)
Ajani, Caller of the Pride (White)
Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator (Blue)
Chandra, Flameshifter (red)
Lands
As with all other Magic: The Gathering sets, the lands in the Foundations set are beautifully drawn. The lands a featured in a range of styles, including basic lands, borderless variations, multicolor and colorless.
Product Types
● Play Boosters (14 cards)
● Collector Boosters (15 cards)
● Jumpstart Boosters (20 cards)
● Bundle (includes 9 Booster Packs, 40 Land Cards, 1 Foil Promo Card, Spindown Life Counter, Card Storage Box, and 2 Reference Cards)
● Starter Collection (includes 387 Magic Cards, 3 Play Boosters, 13 Double-sided Tokens, 1 How-to-Build-Your-Deck Booklet, 2 Reference Click-wheel Life Counter, and Card Storage Box)
● Beginner Box (This includes all the essentials for a quintessential Magic experience, including two different decks with hands-on guided play, a reference booklet, special Foundations playmats and bonus packs for easy jump-in play with a friend)
For more information of the Foundations set, visit the Foundations site, and as always, follow us on Instagram for news updates, reviews, competitions and more.