In just over two weeks, MTG Foundations is set to be released. This unique set will add a boatload of cards to the Standard format for the foreseeable future. With a mix of old cards and potent reprints, MTG Foundations is sure to shake things up.
Like other premier sets, MTG Foundations comes equipped with Play Boosters, Collector Boosters, Bundles, and other products. As you might expect, this means that plenty of booster fun treatments make an appearance here as well. This includes a mix of returning treatments as well as one brand-new foiling that looks absolutely beautiful.
Borderless Cards
As we’ve seen in plenty of sets already, borderless cards make an appearance here. These cards feature artwork that expands to the outer frame. There is a total of 43 borderless rares and 17 borderless mythic rares, including five borderless Planeswalkers.
In Play Boosters, your best shot at pulling one comes in the typical rare/mythic rare slot. 7.7% of the time you’ll get a borderless rare, while borderless mythic rares show up 1.5% of the time.
In Collector Boosters, there are multiple slots dedicated to booster fun treatments. Two slots are guaranteed to contain a non-foil borderless or extended-art rare or mythic rare. One other position in the pack offers a foil with a variety of different booster fun treatments possible. In this spot, opening a borderless card is the most common option, occurring roughly 41.3% of the time.
Mana Foil
Following in the footsteps of borderless cards, we have those featuring the distinct mana foiling. Cards with the mana foil adaptation are indeed borderless but with a lot more flare. As you can see from the Twinflame Tyrant above, these cards showcase the mana symbols throughout their backgrounds.
All 60 borderless cards also come in mana foil. This is a rather interesting twist, as it appears as though Wizards continues to come up with new design space for these booster fun treatments.
Mana foils only appear in Collector Boosters. Importantly, though, they can only be found in English but can appear in boosters of any language.
In the foil slot dedicated to booster fun treatments, you can find a mana foil in 10% of Collector Boosters. Considering this is the only place in a Collector Booster you can find mana foils and mythic rare mana foils only make up 1.6% of boosters, there’s a good chance they’ll be worth a decent amount of money.
Japan Showcase
This brings us to a sweet card style that is making a triumphant return: Japan Showcase. There are 10 cards given the Japan Showcase treatment in MTG Foundations.
As the name suggests, the goal is to “pay homage to Japanese hobby shops” that have played an important role in MTG’s evolution. Each of these 10 cards presumably boasts art from a Japanese artist.
The Japan Showcase style debuted back in Duskmourn, and it makes perfect sense to bring back these highly sought-after designs. Once again, they are exclusive to Collector Boosters.
In Japanese Collector Boosters, these cards will always be in Japanese. In Collector Boosters of other languages, two-thirds of them will be English and one-third will be Japanese. You can find any of these 10 Japan Showcase foil mythic rares in 10% of Collector Boosters.
If you’re lucky, you’ll even pull a Japan Showcase card in rainbow foil rather than traditional foil. Traditional foil Japan Showcase cards are nine times more likely to be found.
Special Guests Showcase Variety
Last but not least, while they’re not directly part of the MTG Foundations main set, we wanted to discuss the Special Guest cards that can be found in Play Boosters and Collector Boosters alike. In this set, there will be 10 different showcase treatments displayed amongst the Special Guests, with the objective being to show off different unique ideas from MTG’s past.
For reference, showcase cards were introduced back in Throne of Eldraine years ago. Showcase cards don’t follow one specific treatment structure. Rather, the cards embellish the spirit of the sets they come from.
These Special Guests could bring back anything from the neon ink style in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty to the stained glass variety in Dominaria United. For more information on different showcase frames, take a look here.
In MTG Foundations, Special Guests can appear in non-foil in Play Boosters as well as foil in Collector Boosters. In about 1.5% of Play Boosters, a Special Guest card will replace the slot of a common. Meanwhile, in about 5.5% of Collector Boosters, you’ll find a Special Guest card in traditional foil in the dedicated booster fun treatment slot.
Each one of these frames and designs helps make MTG Foundations more memorable. If you’re a fan of collecting and adding pizazz to your decks, MTG Foundations has you covered.