MTG Foundations spoiler season is underway, and there are a lot of cards that are bound to impact Standard and beyond. There are sweet new build-arounds, like Arahbo, the First Fang, as well as solid reprints, including Hero’s Downfall.
Since the panel at MagicCon: Las Vegas showcased a boatload of Foundations spoilers on Friday, there have been a handful of new reveals that are also worth discussing. Once again, there’s a solid mix of designs that should show up in Standard and beyond. To kick things off, let’s look at a neat enchantment that has plenty of infinite combo potential.
A Combo Enabler
Valkyrie’s Call is a really cool card that, on the surface, seems like a reasonable inclusion in value-based creature decks. Getting extra enters-the-battlefield triggers whenever your non-Angel creatures die is decent, and this card helps protect you from board wipes in the process.
Where things get really spicy, however, is when you have a creature with Persist and a sacrifice outlet at the ready. This allows you to sacrifice your Persist creature infinite times. With a sacrifice outlet like Altar of Dementia, winning the game then becomes trivial. Let’s say your Persist creature is a measly Putrid Goblin. The combo works as follows:
- Sacrifice Putrid Goblin to Altar, milling an opponent of your choice.
- Both the Persist trigger from Putrid Goblin and the trigger from Valkyrie’s Call will go on the stack. Let the trigger from Valkyrie’s Call resolve first.
- Putrid Goblin will come back as an Angel with a +1/+1 counter on it. Now, sacrifice Putrid Goblin again to Altar, milling an opponent again.
- Putrid Goblin’s Persist ability will trigger, bringing it back to play with a -1/-1 counter on it. Because it was previously an Angel, Valkyrie’s Call didn’t trigger, so Putrid Goblin is not an Angel when it returns via Persist.
- Repeat steps 1-4 over and over, milling out all of your opponents to win the game.
While this combo is not legal in Standard, it’s sure to draw attention in EDH.
Cool New Designs
Exemplar of Light may not have the combo potential of Valkyrie’s Call, but it’s still bound to show up in a variety of EDH decks. Even ignoring the final ability, Exemplar of Light functions as a Flying Ajani’s Pridemate. This is a great floor to have. Add in some Soul Warden effects, and this card will grow very quickly.
What really makes this card very appealing, though, is the card-draw ability. Generating card advantage isn’t always easy for mono-white Commander decks. In the right shell, Exemplar of Light is likely to draw you an extra card on each of your turns. If you have ways to gain life on an opponent’s turn (say, with Pristine Talisman), you can start to pop off.
It’s unlikely that Exemplar of Light will have much of an impact in Standard unless a dedicated life gain deck emerges. Nonetheless, impactful EDH cards are welcome in MTG Foundations, and Exemplar of Light delivers.
Speaking of Commander-focused cards, Homunculus Horde is an incredibly sweet design. It’s likely a bit too inefficient for Standard play, but you should have plenty of time to set things up in EDH.
To maximize Homunculus Horde, you’ll want to play a cantrip immediately following casting Homunculus Horde. This way, you’ll have two copies your opponents will need to deal with when you pass the turn.
From there, any instant that you cast during an opponent’s turn that draws multiple cards will let you create more Homunculus Horde copies. Before you know it, the whole board will be flooded with 2/2s.
Classic Reprints
MTG Foundations also has a plethora of reprints that should make some noise in Standard from time to time. Slagstorm is a classic reprint that is a welcome addition to the format.
We’ve seen multiple similar cards get printed over the years, such as Brotherhood’s End. Being able to deal three damage to all creatures for only three mana is quite strong versus aggro decks.
Slagstorm isn’t quite as versatile as Brotherhood’s End, since the second mode typically won’t come up that much. That said, having this type of sorcery survive rotation is certainly important, and there will likely be Standard formats where Slagstorm is the best option available.
Angel of Finality is yet another decent sideboard option that will remain in Standard for years. Unlike most examples of graveyard hate, Angel of Finality’s exile ability comes stapled to a relevant 3/4 Flying body.
Depending on the metagame at hand, Angel of Finality could be quite impactful. With any Angel synergies or blink effects, Angel of Finality only gets better.
We’re still very early in spoiler season for MTG Foundations, and we’ve already seen a bunch of cards that could shake up Standard, Commander, and more. Make sure to be on the lookout for any new spoilers that get previewed in the coming weeks.
