Magic: The Gathering Foundations/Trivia

Magic: The Gathering Foundations

 

Beginner Box

 

Starter Collection

 

Card comparisons

 

Trivia

 

Art Series

 

MaRo's Foundations Teaser

After some internal debate and community consultation, Mark Rosewater gave his traditional teaser with the following hints.

First up, here are some things you can expect:

• The five iconic species each show up on multiple cards
  • Angel — 14 (e.g. Giada, Font of Hope, Exemplar of Light, Herald of Eternal Dawn)
  • Sphinx — 3 (Curator of Destinies, Sphinx of Forgotten Lore, Sphinx of the Final Word)
  • Demon — 5 (e.g. Abyssal Harvester, Arbiter of Woe, Fiendish Panda)
  • Dragon — 15 (e.g. Ancestor Dragon, Niv-Mizzet, Visionary, Twinflame Tyrant)
  • Hydra — 4 (e.g. Heroes' Bane, Mossborn Hydra, Progenitus)
• Two monocolor reprints, each of a different color, that together win you the game — Demonic Pact and Harmless Offering
• Some creature tokens in this set: 1/1 white Rabbit, 2/1 blue Ninja, 3/3 Green Raccoon, 4/4 red Dragon, and a copy that’s a Nightmare — See Tokens, emblems and markers
• A character from one of our most popular online Magic stories returns — Alesha (Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate)
• An 8/12 creature with ward — Koma, World-Eater
• A creature with seven evergreen keywords — Sire of Seven Deaths (first strike, vigilance, menace, trample, reach, lifelink and ward)
• A Magic Invitational winner’s card gets reprinted (and no, not the most powerful one) — Solemn Simulacrum
• Counters in the set: +1/+1, bait, fellowship, incubation, loyalty, revival, soul, stash, and stun.
• A card that’s in the top 10 cards I sign gets reprinted — Doubling Season
• More deciduous mechanics get used in this set than any previous (non-Time Spiral block) premier set — See themes and mechanics

Here are snippets of rules text you’ll see:

• “This spell costs less to cast for each Cat you control.” — Claws Out
• “You can’t lose the game and your opponents can’t win the game.” — Herald of Eternal Dawn
• “Target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn.” — Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
• “Creatures you control get +10/+10” — Preposterous Proportions
• “A deck can have any number of cards named” — Hare Apparent
• “Then exile all other Nightmare tokens you control.” — Abyssal Harvester
• “Whenever you draw your second card each turn, create a token that’s a copy of this creature.” — Homunculus Horde
• “Double the number of each kind of counter” — Zimone, Paradox Sculptor
• “You may pay rather than pay this spell’s mana cost if there are thirteen or more creatures on the battlefield.” — Blasphemous Edict
• “Draw a card for each different mana value among nonland permanents you control.” — Lunar Insight

Here are some creature type lines from the set:

• Creature – Rabbit Noble — Hare Apparent
• Creature – Demon Warlock — Abyssal Harvester
• Creature – Shark Pirate — Bigfin Bouncer
• Creature – Eldrazi — Sire of Seven Deaths
• Creature – Hyena Rogue — Cackling Prowler
• Creature – Spider Spirit — Spinner of Souls
• Creature – Elemental Hydra — Mossborn Hydra
• Creature – Bear Demon — Fiendish Panda
• Artifact Creature – Phyrexian Construct — Scrawling Crawler
• Legendary Creature – Zombie Warlock — Zul Ashur, Lich Lord

Finally, here are some names in the set:

• Boltwave — Sorcery
• Electroduplicate — Sorcery
• Fishing Pole — Equipment
• Goblin Negotiation — Sorcery
• Hare Apparent — Rabbit Noble
• Homunculus Horde — Homunculus
• Midnight Snack — Enchantment
• Perforating Artist — Devil
• Refute — Instant
• Stab — Instant

Miscellaneous

• Bloodthirsty Conqueror is a callback to Exquisite Blood and references it in its flavor text.
• The Illustration and flavor text of the borderless Preposterous Proportions are callbacks to the art mix-up that occurred with Hyalopterous Lemure (Ice Age), where the card mistakenly depicted a lemur instead of a lemure. This was previously also referenced in the flavor text of Viscid Lemures (Time Spiral).
• Tragic Banshee combines Tragic Slip and Morkrut Banshee.
• Banner of Kinship is partially Patchwork Banner and Coat of Arms without the constantly changing math problem.
• Blasphemous Edict refers to Blasphemous Act in name, cost reduction and board wipe potential.
• The illustration for the Buy-a-Box promo Solemn Simulacrum has the golem emerge from an archway adorned with the main story beats of Mirrodin.
  • From the bottom to top; Karn creates Argentum, Karn is corrupted by glistening oil, Elesh Norn rises to power, archangel Elspeth defeats Elesh Norn, the Omenpath Era begins.
  • Originally, the artist Forrest Imel wanted to depict the Solemn Simulacrum as an identical version of its first printing in Mirrodin, which shared a likeness to Jens Thorén as it was his Magic Invitational card. However, Wizards requested to change it, as it was too similar to the first printing's depiction. Although some features were subsequently removed, some features remained as an homage to the artifact creature's first appearance.
• Elfsworn Giant was the last designed card for Foundations. It used "slush art" from the Lorwyn–Shadowmoor block to create a strictly better version of Sporemound.
• For unknown reasons, Hinterland Sanctifier's collector number (#730) is separate from the rest of the cards in the main set and places it after the Starter Collection and promo cards.
  • The new cards Firespitter Whelp, Goblin Surprise, Starlight Snare, Dropkick Bomber, Dawnwing Marshal and Hinterland Sanctifier are out of order as #197, #200, #514, #537 and #570 respectively. Each of these are counted as new cards in Foundations Jumpstart, which was edited prior to Foundations.
• Kellan, Planar Trailblazer shows off Kellan's character growth, as previously seen on his four cards printed in the sets of the Omenpath Arc that gradually changed across colors. The Foundations card notably only contains red, the color he "started" at in Kellan, the Fae-Blooded.
• Zul Ashur, Lich Lord had flavor text written for it but the final version of the card did not have room to include it.
  • Zul's flavor text was "You pity me? My soul was a small price to pay for this power. I would trade it a thousand times over without a second thought."