Modern Set Review: Foundations

Magic: The Gathering's last set of 2024 has arrived. Foundations is the game's new Core Set and will be legal in Standard until 2029, being the pillar that solidifies the game's expansion projects during this period.

With several iconic reprints and cards with a more balanced power level for Standard, Foundations doesn't bring many new features to Modern, being limited to just a few cards that can see play in occasional situations and almost none of them are expected to become immediate staples, although some show a lot of potential.

In this article, we present our Foundations review for Modern.

Celestial Armor may deserve a test as a one-of in a toolbox with Stoneforge Mystic. Its cast and equip costs are relatively high, but the mix of built-in protection and evasion is useful for lists that already use options like Cryptic Coat, but it shouldn't reach decks like Hammer Time.

There are some broken things we can do with Hare Apparent if we stack it with mass reanimation effects after milling a significant amount of them with Stitcher's Supplier and stack them with Impact Tremors or similar cards. Its deckbuilding concessions and the fact that this combo is probably too slow and easy to counter should keep it out of Modern.

Raise the Past is very powerful in a vacuum because its reanimation potential is huge. From returning entire combo pieces with a single card to a mix of Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, it becomes a definitive recursion effect for Aggro decks and creature-based combos.

It may see play in the Sideboard of archetypes that rely on pieces that are within the spell's mana value range.

Drake Hatcher may have potential in some Izzet Prowess variants that need more resilience against removal at the expense of a more explosive clock with Sprite Dragon or Slickshot Show-Off. Its ability seems more relevant to Legacy, where we have more access to cheap cantrips and free protection, and also more utility in creating 2/2 bodies with flying on the board.

Kiora, the Rising Tide has potential due to its ease of reaching the Threshold in a format with Fetch Lands and Thought Scour, but the main decks that would like her in the format today already have Murktide Regent, Abhorrent Oculus and Psychic Frog to feed on graveyards.

She has potential, an 8/8 body in combat makes a difference and the looting ability interacts positively with other cards, so it may deserve a testing space in lists like Dimir Murktide, but it competes with Fable of the Mirror-Breaker in versions.

Abyssal Harvester interacts with the elementals of Modern Horizons II similarly to Feign Death, where we can take advantage of their death to copy them and double their ETBs. Three mana seems like a lot for this type of effect, especially considering that we still have to untap with it, but being able to also copy the opponent's creatures can guarantee it a place in some list.

Blasphemous Edict is a decent sweeper that escapes Indestructible for five mana and its alternative cost of if there are 13 or more creatures on the battlefield is a relatively tangible cost in a Metagame of Ocelot Pride and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah. It doesn't seem like the ideal answer to Energy today, but it can help turn around some lost games.

Boltwave is an instant staple for Burn decks and the first unconditional three-damage-for-one-mana spell in nearly two decades. It should replace Rift Bolt in Boros Burn, given its interaction with Skewer the Critics.

Loot, Exuberant Explorer is worth some testing on Amulet Titan for its mix of abilities that allow it to find other enablers and win conditions, but its range is significantly lower than Azusa, Lost but Seeking, and it doesn't have the same combo-kill potential that Dryad of the Ilysian Grove and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle offer.

Spinner of Souls seems like a useful addition to decks like Golgari Yawgmoth or other sacrifice-based archetypes to generate card advantage from the death of non-token creatures. It's not likely to become a staple, but its body and abilities are decent for its cost.

Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate has the simple challenge of surviving to generate value, being able to reanimate creatures cheaply and for free the moment she attacks. In the current Metagame, Alesha seems too slow to make a difference, but I can imagine scenarios where we combine her with Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and low-cost creatures to create a small engine.

Sire of Seven Deaths is essentially a replacement for Wurmcoil Engine and Phyrexian Fleshgorger in Tron decks. Its cost and type matter for Eldrazi versions, and it can be used as a pitch for Ugin's Labyrinth, and it's more effective at protecting itself in and out of combat than other cards in the same category.

People will try to do something with Leyline Axe to increase the number of artifacts in play, and a free Embercleave has some value. Maybe some Affinity variant will try to break this card, but I don't see it doing crazy things with an artifact that costs and to equip, especially in a format without Mox Opal.

Hammer Time might want this card to trigger Metalcraft faster, but it already has a very tight equipment core and doesn't pay the mana values ​​of Leyline Axe easily.

Foundations is not a set designed with Modern in mind. In fact, with Wizards' recent updates on the expansion of Universes Beyond to Standard, I believe that 2025 will be, intentionally, a quiet year for Modern in terms of rotation. We'll have a dozen cards that affect the Metagame, some may even break the format, but we won't have such high-power creep that changes the entire environment.

It's a good time to calm down before a likely Modern Horizons IV in 2026, where another power creep may occur. Meanwhile, we still need to assess and recover from the problems and dilemmas caused by MH3, such as the predominance of Boros Energy, and finally define what future we want for Big Mana: their existence and competitive viability with The One Ring, or the chance of them fading into oblivion by banning the artifact from competitive tables.

Thanks for reading!