After a surprisingly short preview season for such a monumentally massive set, we’ve arrived at MTG Foundations Prerelease season. Players are going to be flocking to their LGS all weekend long to try out the new cards and get a taste of the set. If you’re part of this group, then you’ve come to the right place. I’m going to go through each color in MTG Foundations and give you my picks for the best Limited cards on offer. These are the cards you really want to see in your Sealed pool, or passed to you in Draft.
White – Removal And Early Pressure
White is always a very solid color in Limited. Access to premium removal and aggressive creatures is a potent combination, after all. This remains true in Foundations.
White gets access to Banishing Light at common, which is an all-timer removal spell as far as I’m concerned. Sure there’s the chance it gets blown up and undone, but the ability to exile any nonland permanent easily outweighs that. This is a card good enough to pull you into white, honestly.
Removal aside, white also gets some very tasty creatures in Foundations. There’s a strong Cat subtheme, with a number of strong payoffs for running the type. This makes Helpful Hunter a premium two drop in the common slot. Enabling typal synergies is great, and even if you don’t hit any it’s still a white Elvish Visionary, which is more than playable.
Moving up to uncommon, Sun-Blessed Healer is a surprisingly strong creature. In addition to Cats, Foundations also has a lot of lifegain synergy going on in white. A 3/1 with Lifelink helps enable all of that while being aggressive enough to play well without it. Throw in the fact it can double as a surprisingly flexible reanimation spell and you have one of the best Limited cards in MTG Foundations.
Blue – Top-Tier Tempo Tools
Blue is a color most commonly associated with powerful spells. In Foundations, however, it actually fares better on the creature side in my eyes.
At common blue gets Mocking Sprite, which provides a handy Goblin Electromancer effect. Getting to jam out your spells early can be a huge tempo boost, especially if you’re running a lot of removal and disruption as you should be. On top of this, Sprite also provides a 2/1 Flying body for three mana, which is more than acceptable in Limited.
Bigfin Bouncer is another stellar blue common creature. While not quite Man-o’-War, it’s still a great tempo swing for four mana. In close games, this can clear the way for a winning swing, or it can bounce a ramp piece to delay a huge creature. The possibilities here are endless, and you get a 3/2 body as well which is no joke. Pick this one up early and often.
Blue has a pretty stacked uncommon slot, but Spectral Sailor gets my vote. One drops can struggle in Limited due to games typically going longer, but this one is an exception. That repeatable card draw effect is an absolute godsend, and can easily lead to wins in drawn-out games. Flash and Flying on a one-mana creature is also a potent combination. If you can snag a Pirate’s Cutlass, or any kind of Equipment really, it can really do some work over the course of a game.
Black – Solid Threats And Removal
Like white, black usually gets an easy ride in Limited due to being one of the primary removal colors. That’s certainly true in Foundations, but it also gets a number of other potent tools as well.
Most of black’s good removal is actually at the uncommon slot in this set. Hero’s Downfall and Deadly Plot are both fantastic options, the latter doubly so if you’re running a few Zombies. When it comes to common removal, however, I think Stab rules the roost. It’s simple, it’s effective, and it can wipe out opposing one and two drops before they rack up any kind of advantage.
Stab feels right at common, but Gutless Plunderer feels more like an uncommon that got a last-minute downshift. This spooky guy does a bit of everything. He trades beautifully thanks to Deathtouch, and he offers both card advantage and selection on entry in most cases. Filling your graveyard is relevant in Foundations too, since there are a number of solid reanimation tools in the set.
On the uncommon side, the best of the black cards in MTG Foundations for Limited is probably Vampire Nighthawk. This card is something of a Limited legend and even saw some play in Standard back in the day. It’s no surprise, either. It attacks well, it blocks well, and it keeps you in the race via Lifelink. For just three mana, you really can’t do much better than this.
Red – Damage, Damage, And More Damage
Red is often pigeonholed as “The burn color,” and Foundations took that idea and ran with it. There’s a staggering amount of damage in red in this set, to the point where all three of my picks fall under that category.
Burst Lightning, like Gutless Plunderer in black, really feels like it should’ve been an uncommon. One mana for a Shock is completely fine, and scaling up to four damage later is even better. The sheer flexibility on this one is fantastic. It’s removal both early and late, and it’s also excellent reach for closing out a game. An easy slam-dunk if you open it.
Speaking of Shock, next up we have Gorehorn Raider. This isn’t quite as good as Burst Lightning, but it’s still an excellent red creature in the common slot. 4/4 stats are tough for many decks to deal with, and two damage is enough to remove a small fry or mop up a big one. This is a great tempo card and it has Pirate typing too, which can occasionally be relevant.
Red’s best uncommon is, you guessed it, a damage spell. Fiery Annihilation can’t go face, but it makes up for it with its excellent cost-to-damage ratio. Five damage will kill the majority of creatures in the format, and three mana is easily affordable even for Aggro decks. The fact that Annihilation exiles is also very relevant, both against black and green decks in the format. The Equipment part is mostly flavor text, but if you ever pull it off you’ll feel like an absolute king.
Green – Ramp, Recursion, And Removal
Green is one of the better colors in Foundations Limited for one reason alone: Llanowar Elves. This is a card good enough to see play in Pauper, Pioneer, and Legacy, so it’s safe to say it’ll play great in Draft or Sealed too. Getting to your big plays a turn early is excellent, and coming down on turn one is even more so. This is one of the best commons in the set, and a valid reason to run green by itself.
Of course, there are other excellent commons in green too. Bite Down is a straightforward bite effect, letting your creatures serve as removal. These kinds of cards always play much better than they look, and I expect that to be the case in Foundations as well. There are plenty of Deathtouch creatures in the set, which play very nicely with effects like these. Two mana at instant speed is also a very good rate.
Finally, Elvish Regrower gets my vote for best green uncommon. There are plenty of standout chonky creatures in the slot, such as Quakestrider Ceratops. These cards are inconsistent, however, whereas Regrower is a reliable source of advantage in most games. It’s not quite Eternal Witness since it can only grab permanents, but in Limited that’s not much of an issue. You’ll play this card every time, and feel good about doing so.
