Magic: The Gathering Foundations

Magic: The Gathering Foundations, or Foundations, is an entry-level Magic set designed to provide a common base for new and experienced players. It is a Standard-legal draftable set with additional fixed products, and was released on November 15, 2024. 
==Set details==
Foundations is a new type of set designed to carry through multiple Standard rotations. It contains mechanically unique card designs as well as "less-complex, clean and elegant" reprints, functioning similarly to an "evergreen Core set". Unlike other Standard-legal sets, cards in Foundations will remain legal in Standard until 2029, at least. Foundations is intended to be reprinted and released annually over that period.
The set is approximately 50% reprints and 50% new cards (133/136), designed to be similarly straightforward. They are aimed to have resonance, flavor, and top-down designs to create maximum understandability for new players. Conceptually, the set is intended and designed to represent "what Magic: The Gathering is" fundamentally and includes key cards from the game's past that are functionally useful to many decks and archetypes while also being iconic to the game's history and mythos. A big part of the set is a curated play experience designed for newcomers to the game (i.e. the Beginner Box and the Starter Collection), which is the most robust "learn to play" product yet. While the set also contains staple cards targeted at more advanced players, these can only be found in the booster packs. Thus, the products are split into different target audiences.
Foundations contains 292 regular cards , and includes randomly inserted traditional foil versions of all cards. The new cards are #1-133 and #730, and the reprints are #134-271. There are 20 basic land, including 10 full-art "face character" basic lands (#272-291). Alternate card frames have a different number than the original version. Borderless cards are #292-361. Mana Foils are #362-421. Japan Showcase are #422-431, and #432-441 in fracture foil. Extended art cards are #442-487. The Beginner Box reprints are #488-564 and the Starter Collection reprints are #565-727. The promos are #728-729. The new cards , , , , and are out of order as #197, #200, #514, #537, #570 and #730 respectively.
While the cards in Magic: The Gathering Foundations are intended to be played and drafted by players of all experience levels, the designers have taken some measures to help clarify existing keyword mechanics for new and returning players. Specifically, they have added reminder text to even Magic's most common mechanics to ensure a fun and understandable play experience. Additionally, to minimize confusion for new players, effects that force players to sacrifice one or more creatures they control are formatted with "of [that player's] choice" at the end of the effect, and the "forgettable" mechanics ferocious, formidable, and pack tactics are removed from cards that featured them on prior printings.
===Changes===
Starting with Foundations, the Nyx-frame will also be used for all non-creature enchantments as the default frame type to parallel the artifact frame. In card formatting, Wizards of the Coast is moving from “CARDNAME” to “this <card type>” by default when the card is referring to itself (e.g. "when this creature enters"). 
With the set's release, a functional rules change is made to the combat phase; specifically, the rules about the assignment of combat damage. When multiple creatures block or are blocked by a single creature, the single creature's controller no longer chooses a "damage assignment order" during the declare blockers step. Instead, the creature's controller assigns combat damage however they like among the multiple creatures during the combat damage step.
===Storyline===
The set features characters and locations from many different planes and at different points in time. Each color is represented by a planeswalker and a legendary creature as the "main characters" of the set. They also show up in promotional material, appear in sets released shortly after Magic: The Gathering Foundations' initial release, and are featured in the two cycles of full-art basic lands (see Trivia).
Color	Planeswalker 	Legendary creature
 	Ajani Goldmane	Giada
 	Kaito Shizuki 	Zimone Wola
 	Liliana Vess 	Tinybones
 	Chandra Nalaar	Kellan
 	Vivien Reid 	Loot
===Marketing===
 
 
Foundations is marketed as the backbone for Magic's years to come as the quintessential Magic set. 
Foundations is available in Play Boosters, Collector Boosters, a Beginner Box, a Starter Collection and the Foundations Bundle. Booster Fun includes extended art and borderless art. The set doesn't feature Commander decks.
Play Boosters may contain FDN #1–361. Collector Boosters may contain FDN #1–271, 282–487. Fracture Foil Japan Showcase cards may appear in <1% of Collector Boosters. 
Foundations (including the Starter Collection and Beginner Box) was released in tandem with Foundations Jumpstart as the Foundations product suite. Each of the products aims to help new players learn Magic and begin to build decks or their collection. Foundations will stay in print for as long as it is legal with an initial promise from Wizards of the Coast to keep the set in Standard until 2029 at the earliest. If a new version would be made in 2029, there would be space between the two where Wizards of the Coast will stop selling the old set to have it roughly sell out before the new set goes on sale.
====Special Guests====
Foundations features 10 Special Guests (SPG #74-83). These may be found in Play Boosters and may be played in Limited games. You'll find a non-foil Special Guests card in 1 out of 64 Play Boosters (1,5 %). Traditional foil Special Guests cards can be found in Collector Boosters. The Special Guests for this set showcase some previous plane-specific treatments. New for this set, the rarity of some of these Special Guests will be adjusted only on Magic: The Gathering Arena to more closely match what rarity each card would ordinarily be printed at. This change only affects the types of wildcards required to craft these cards; they still appear at the same frequency to other cards in the set and to each other as they do in Paper.
====Japan Showcase====
Foundations features 10 Japan Showcase cards (FDN #422-441). Each card has been reimagined by Japanese artists and illustrators and have a special frame and style that pays homage to Japanese hobby shops. Unlike Special Guests they use the standard Foundations set code and expansion symbol (). Japan Showcase cards appear only in Collector Boosters. In Japanese Collector Boosters, Japan Showcase cards will always be in Japanese. In non-Japanese Collector Boosters, they will appear in English two thirds of the time and in Japanese one third of the time. One-in-ten Collector Boosters will have a Japan Showcase card (9% traditional foil, 1% fracture foil).
====Events====
*MTG Arena release: November 12, 2024
*Prerelease: November 8 – 14, 2024 
*Standard Showdown: November 15, 2024 – January 30, 2025
*Friday Night Magic: November 15, 2024 – January 24, 2025
*Magic Academy: Learn to Play: November 15, 2024 – January 30, 2025
*Magic Academy: Deck Building: November 15, 2024 – January 30, 2025
====Promos====
*Prerelease: a stamped card that can be any rare or mythic rare of Magic: The Gathering Foundations.
*Standard Showdown: with Cowboy Bebop crossover art.
*Gift-with-purchase: alternate art 
*Buy-a-Box: alternate art and 
*Bundle promo: alternate art 
*Black Friday promotion: exclusive collectible Pinfinity pin.
===Magic: The Gathering Arena===
Cards from the Starter Collection and Beginner Box will be available on Magic: The Gathering Arena alongside cards from the main set. Unlike with the main set, the Starter Collection and Beginner Box products are not available for purchase on the client and the exclusive cards can only be obtained by crafting wildcards. Those cards do not appear in Magic: The Gathering Foundations packs or Limited events. In the initial set announcement, was listed as becoming available on Arena in the Foundations card image gallery. This was subsequently clarified as a mistake and the card would not be added to the client for crafting.
Alongside the Magic: The Gathering Foundations release, eleven new half-deck packets featuring cards from the main set will be added to the Jump In! roster on Arena.
===Magic Online===
To help support players acquiring premium and Booster Fun cards, Foundations will be available to purchase on Magic Online in both regular Play Boosters and the MTGO-exclusive Premium Booster. The premium boosters are ten card packs containing five rares/mythic rares and at least eight foils for $5.99. Similar to Magic: The Gathering Arena, the Starter Collection and Beginner Box products are not available for purchase on the client.
Players who purchase the Account Upgrade Kit will receive one copy of each reprinted card from the Foundations Starter Collection – 103 cards in all – in addition to the Kit's regular contents.
The set's Japan Showcase Fracture foils, Bundle and Buy-a-Box Promos, and foil Special Guests are only available via Treasure Chests.
==Tokens and emblems==
Foundations has 31 tokens and two emblems. Eight of these are only available through the Starter Collection.
# 1/1 Cat creature for <c>Arahbo, the First Fang</c>; <c>Cat Collector</c> and <c>Prideful Parent</c>.
# 1/1 Cat creature with lifelink for <c>Regal Caracal</c>.
# 2/2 Cat creature for <c>Ajani, Caller of the Pride</c>.
# 2/2 Cat Beast creature for <c>Felidar Retreat</c>.
# 1/1 Dog creature for <c>Release the Dogs</c>.
# 1/1 Human creature for <c>Stroke of Midnight</c>.
# 3/3 Knight creature for <c>Guarded Heir</c>.
# 1/1 Rabbit creature for <c>Hare Apparent</c>.
# 1/1 Soldier creature for <c>Heroic Reinforcements</c> and <c>Resolute Reinforcements</c>.
# 1/1 Spirit creature with flying for <c>Kykar, Zephyr Awakener</c>.
# 2/2 Drake creature with flying for <c>Drake Hatcher</c>.
# 1/1 Faerie creature with flying for <c>Faebloom Trick</c> and <c>Mischievous Mystic</c>.
# 1/1 Fish creature for <c>Fishing Rod</c>.
# , a 3/3 Serpent creature for <c>Koma, World-Eater</c>.
# 2/1 Ninja creature for <c>Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator</c>.
# , a 8/8 legendary Octopus creature for <c>Kiora, the Rising Tide</c>.
# 1/1 Rat creature for <c>Revenge of the Rats</c>.
# 1/1 Rat creature with “This creature can’t block.” for <c>Redcap Gutter-Dweller</c>.
# 2/2 Zombie creature for <c>Dread Summons</c>; <c>Liliana, Dreadhorde General</c>; <c>Maalfeld Twins</c> and <c>Suspicious Shambler</c>.
# 4/4 Dragon creature with flying for <c>Dragon Trainer</c>.
# 5/5 Dragon creature with flying for <c>Dragonmaster Outcast</c>; <c>Lathliss, Dragon Queen</c> and <c>Rite of the Dragoncaller</c>.
# 1/1 Goblin creature for <c>Dragon Fodder</c>; <c>Goblin Negotiation</c>; <c>Goblin Surprise</c>; <c>Krenko, Mob Boss</c> and <c>Searslicer Goblin</c>.
# 1/1 Phyrexian Goblin creature for <c>Ovika, Enigma Goliath</c>.
# 3/3 Beast creature, for <c>Primeval Bounty</c>.
# 4/4 Beast creature, for <c>Rampaging Baloths</c>.
# 1/1 Elf Warrior creature, for <c>Dwynen's Elite</c>; <c>Elfsworn Giant</c>; <c>Imperious Perfect</c> and <c>Lathril, Blade of the Elves</c>.
# 3/3 Raccoon creature for <c>Sylvan Scavenging</c>.
# 1/1 Insect creature with flying for <c>Infestation Sage</c>.
# Food artifact for <c>Bake into a Pie</c>; <c>Cat Collector</c>; <c>Eager Trufflesnout</c> and <c>Midnight Snack</c>.
# Treasure artifact for <c>An Offer You Can't Refuse</c>; <c>Brass's Bounty</c>; <c>Corsair Captain</c>; <c>Fake Your Own Death</c>; <c>Gleaming Barrier</c>; <c>Goldvein Pick</c>; <c>Involuntary Employment</c>; <c>Rapacious Dragon</c> and <c>Seize the Spoils</c>.
# Copy for <c>Abyssal Harvester</c>; <c>Chandra, Flameshaper</c>; <c>Electroduplicate</c>; <c>Extravagant Replication</c>; <c>Homunculus Horde</c>; <c>Rite of Replication</c> and <c>Self-Reflection</c>.
#.
#.
 Only available in the Starter Collection
==Themes and mechanics==
There are no new mechanics in Foundations. As an introductory product, more deciduous mechanics were utilized in this set than any previous (non-Time Spiral block) premier set. Returning deciduous mechanics featured in the set are distributed over the colors as follows:
Mechanic 					
Flashback					
Kicker 					
Landfall 					
Morbid 					
Prowess 					
Raid 					
Threshold					
The most ubiquitous predefined tokens, Food and Treasure, also make a return.
===Counters===
Foundations introduces Bait counters, Fellowship counters and Revival counters.
===Limited archetypes===
Magic: The Gathering Foundations features the following limited archetypes. These are the most quintessential, recognizable themes of each respective color pair. This was designed to introduce novices to each color pair's usual strategies and to prime them for orthodox draft archetypes in future sets.
*: Flying
*: Graveyard
*: Raid
*: Power
*: +1/+1 Counters
*: Life gain
*: Spells (instants and sorceries)
*: Morbid
*: Aggro
*: Ramp
==Cycles==
Cycle name 	 	 	 	 	
"Main Character" Planeswalkers 	 	 	 	 	
"Main Character" Planeswalkers 	Five mythic rare monocolor planeswalkers with MM in their mana cost. They act as the "main characters" of the set, appearing in promotional material, a cycle of full-art basic lands, and sets released shortly after Magic: The Gathering Foundations' initial release. 	Five mythic rare monocolor planeswalkers with MM in their mana cost. They act as the "main characters" of the set, appearing in promotional material, a cycle of full-art basic lands, and sets released shortly after Magic: The Gathering Foundations' initial release. 	Five mythic rare monocolor planeswalkers with MM in their mana cost. They act as the "main characters" of the set, appearing in promotional material, a cycle of full-art basic lands, and sets released shortly after Magic: The Gathering Foundations' initial release. 	Five mythic rare monocolor planeswalkers with MM in their mana cost. They act as the "main characters" of the set, appearing in promotional material, a cycle of full-art basic lands, and sets released shortly after Magic: The Gathering Foundations' initial release. 	Five mythic rare monocolor planeswalkers with MM in their mana cost. They act as the "main characters" of the set, appearing in promotional material, a cycle of full-art basic lands, and sets released shortly after Magic: The Gathering Foundations' initial release.
Mythic Rare Creatures 	 	 	 	 	
Mythic Rare Creatures 	Five mythic rare monocolored creatures. 	Five mythic rare monocolored creatures. 	Five mythic rare monocolored creatures. 	Five mythic rare monocolored creatures. 	Five mythic rare monocolored creatures.
Mythic Rare Noncreatures 	 	 	 	 	
Mythic Rare Noncreatures 	Five mythic rare noncreatures. 	Five mythic rare noncreatures. 	Five mythic rare noncreatures. 	Five mythic rare noncreatures. 	Five mythic rare noncreatures.
Cycle name 	 	() 	 	 	
"Main Character" Legendary Creatures	 	 	 	 	
"Main Character" Legendary Creatures	Five rare or mythic rare legendary creatures. They act as the "main characters" of the set, appearing in promotional material, a cycle of full-art basic lands, and sets released shortly after Magic: The Gathering Foundations' initial release. Although Zimone is , she is the representative for this cycle, according to the aforementioned full-art cycle.	Five rare or mythic rare legendary creatures. They act as the "main characters" of the set, appearing in promotional material, a cycle of full-art basic lands, and sets released shortly after Magic: The Gathering Foundations' initial release. Although Zimone is , she is the representative for this cycle, according to the aforementioned full-art cycle.	Five rare or mythic rare legendary creatures. They act as the "main characters" of the set, appearing in promotional material, a cycle of full-art basic lands, and sets released shortly after Magic: The Gathering Foundations' initial release. Although Zimone is , she is the representative for this cycle, according to the aforementioned full-art cycle.	Five rare or mythic rare legendary creatures. They act as the "main characters" of the set, appearing in promotional material, a cycle of full-art basic lands, and sets released shortly after Magic: The Gathering Foundations' initial release. Although Zimone is , she is the representative for this cycle, according to the aforementioned full-art cycle.	Five rare or mythic rare legendary creatures. They act as the "main characters" of the set, appearing in promotional material, a cycle of full-art basic lands, and sets released shortly after Magic: The Gathering Foundations' initial release. Although Zimone is , she is the representative for this cycle, according to the aforementioned full-art cycle.
===Double cycles===
Cycle name 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Gold Rares 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Gold Rares 	Ten rare dual-colored cards. 	Ten rare dual-colored cards. 	Ten rare dual-colored cards. 	Ten rare dual-colored cards. 	Ten rare dual-colored cards. 	Ten rare dual-colored cards. 	Ten rare dual-colored cards. 	Ten rare dual-colored cards. 	Ten rare dual-colored cards. 	Ten rare dual-colored cards.
Gold Signposts	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Gold Signposts	Ten uncommon dual-colored cards, each a signpost for one of the draft archetypes. 	Ten uncommon dual-colored cards, each a signpost for one of the draft archetypes. 	Ten uncommon dual-colored cards, each a signpost for one of the draft archetypes. 	Ten uncommon dual-colored cards, each a signpost for one of the draft archetypes. 	Ten uncommon dual-colored cards, each a signpost for one of the draft archetypes. 	Ten uncommon dual-colored cards, each a signpost for one of the draft archetypes. 	Ten uncommon dual-colored cards, each a signpost for one of the draft archetypes. 	Ten uncommon dual-colored cards, each a signpost for one of the draft archetypes. 	Ten uncommon dual-colored cards, each a signpost for one of the draft archetypes. 	Ten uncommon dual-colored cards, each a signpost for one of the draft archetypes.
Gainlands 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Gainlands 	Ten common taplands that enter tapped, gain the controller one life, and can tap for two different colors of mana.	Ten common taplands that enter tapped, gain the controller one life, and can tap for two different colors of mana.	Ten common taplands that enter tapped, gain the controller one life, and can tap for two different colors of mana.	Ten common taplands that enter tapped, gain the controller one life, and can tap for two different colors of mana.	Ten common taplands that enter tapped, gain the controller one life, and can tap for two different colors of mana.	Ten common taplands that enter tapped, gain the controller one life, and can tap for two different colors of mana.	Ten common taplands that enter tapped, gain the controller one life, and can tap for two different colors of mana.	Ten common taplands that enter tapped, gain the controller one life, and can tap for two different colors of mana.	Ten common taplands that enter tapped, gain the controller one life, and can tap for two different colors of mana.	Ten common taplands that enter tapped, gain the controller one life, and can tap for two different colors of mana.
===Pairs===
Mirrored Pairs	Mirrored Pairs 	Description
( - Trample) 	( - First strike)	Two common Creatures that give all of their controller's creatures with a +1/+1 counter a keyword ability.
( - Werewolf) 	( - Demon) 	Two uncommon Human Creatures that undergo a permanent transformation that gives them two +1/+1 counters, another type, and is a form of card advantage. Their arts also depict an umbra that reflects their future self.
==Changes in rarity== 
All Japan Showcase cards have the mythic rarity, which may differ from the rarity of the default printing.
===Mythic Rare to Rare=== 
*
===Rare to Uncommon=== 
*
*
*
*
*
*
===Common to Uncommon=== 
*
* 
*
*
===Uncommon to Common=== 
*
*
*
 New to the Pauper format as of this printing.
==Notable cards== 
*<c>Crystal Barricade</c> is an effective card against direct damage strategies.
==Gallery==
File:FDN Bundle.png|Foundations Bundle
File:UPR Foundations Tinybones pouch.jpg|Ultra•PRO Foundations Tinybones gamer pouch
File:UPR MTG Foundations 19 playmat.jpg|Ultra•PRO Foundations playmat
File:UPR MTG Foundations 20 2player-playmat.jpg|Ultra•PRO Foundations 2-player playmat
===Arena Avatars===
File:Vivien Reid MTGA Avatar FDN.png|Vivien Reid.
File:Zimone Wola MTGA avatar FDN.png|Zimone Wola.
==External links ==
*
*
*
*
*Official product page.
*WPN product page.
==References==
Category:Foundations