Foundation’s Best Cards (In the 99) | The Command Zone 640 | MTG EDH Magic Gathering

[@commandcast]

What do you think about this set? Are you excited about it? What new cards slot in perfectly to your existing commander decks?

[@derekgarcia3069]

Top 3 for me (in no order) - Nine-Lives Familier - Blasphemous Edict - Exempler of Light Runner up is Banner of Kinship ( i enjoy typal decks).

[@hundleydr123]

Personally banner of kinship in toxrill is going to be great for closing the game with slugs. Proliferating the counters can speed it up quickly.

[@lukesaosky1860]

I want to put the cat in my vampire deck because welcoming vampire

[@HurtPower]

I know its boring but im surprised you didnt mention bloodthirsty conqueror even in passing

[@proudnerd8068]

Scrawling Crawler is 100% going in my Sheoldred the Apocalypse deck. Banner of Kinship is probably going in quite a few decks.

[@BlueBarren115]

Video starts 7 minutes in.

[@DaveSwitch7]

Thx

[@SnowFoxWithAGasMask]

Thx man

[@ryansprenkle6356]

At least they do timestamps now so it's easier to skip

[@insomnyteq]

THE LORDS WORK

[@pepdawg18]

The real MVP

[@alicewaterfall]

Can I just say I love your hair Rachel, so cute! Idk if it’s new or I just missed it but the lil money pieces suit you so much, sorry for off topic :)

[@bc6292]

They really only talk about Abyssal Harvester in terms of self mill but I'm most excited to play him in a control style deck with a ton of instants/sorceries. Being able to pick off an opponent's best creature, exile it, and then copy it is really intriguing to me

[@AlaskanBullworm907]

I was looking for another comment that said this! I put him in my Gisa the Hellraiser crime deck. I have so much 2 mana instant speed kill spells that make this guy is basically able to clone my opponents best thing if they play it with no protection

[@johnlayton5966]

Toshiro Umezawa likes him I think

[@techpriest8965]

​@@AlaskanBullworm907 Do you have a list? P.S. Try Ghosy Vacuum. It can be hilarious

[@Shimatzu95]

Personally i see him as a variation of mimic vat, which i like to use in grixis colors to get better enchantment removal. That being said as a creature it might be better since the artifact/enchantment removal i want cant get him, while at the same time mimic vat could give repeated etbs so its a draw in my opinion.

[@YourPalRowan]

​@@Shimatzu95mimic vat might be worse with the enchant removal if you're not seeing a ton of Reclamation Sage effects

[@jeypi6658]

Another neat use for Abyssal Harvester is in Mutate decks. You can revive something, mutate over it so it's no longer a token, and you can potentially revive something different each turn and keep them as long as you can keep mutating over the different creatures.

[@georgeswagg413]

crystal barricade in osgir is super great because you can create two copies of it that protect each other

[@12jacobmar]

I never thought of that, great input. 🎉😊

[@16BitKamek]

That doesn't work because the Crystal Barricade gives you yourself hex proof, not the barricade or other creatures you control

[@JeffreyKramer]

Good call!

[@calebbrown1068]

Osgir is also very graveyard-focused and Boros struggles to deny effects like Bojuka Bog. Seems like a slam dunk!

[@CAPTAINCHAOS_]

The first few mins already showcase how great this set is. And how other sets should be more like it (but never will). It’s simpler but also still GOOD. It’s just well designed Magic, pure and simple. I am glad it’s going to be around awhile for Standard just sad it isn’t the actual STANDARD

[@daneburke6592]

Blasphemous edict not killing more than 13 creatures can be an upside in a go wide aristocrats deck. Make your opponents sac their important creatures and you sac a bunch of tokens with a blood artist effect out

[@geraldsmith4184]

Kaito might go in my Felix, Five Boots Deck. Only need to connect with 3 creatures with Felix out to Ultimate, which is pretty easy for that deck.

[@josearjona3413]

I feel like Foundations is putting more focus on second main phase interactions. It's great! I'm still newish to new magic, started back up again like during Thunder Junction but played standard in high school, and I often overlook my second main phase so this season has been helping me look for post combat/second main phase interactions

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

Banner of Kinship is a card i will need around 10-15 copies of. I have a lot of token decks and Kindred decks and this is basically a 1-sided Coat of Arms. My Urza, Prince of Kroog deck LOVES it so much.

[@JovialRoger]

41:15 Josh! Baylen is your card draw. Once you have 7 Hares Apparent out, each additional one covers a card draw and a cast of another Hare Apparent. If you have a token or etb/trigger doubler, it's 4+, then you make tons of Rabbits, play Concordant Crossroads, and kill with a swarm of BUNNIES. It's Nadu but HILARIOUS

[@traycarrot]

Commander + 28 creatures on board feels like you could be... killing people? Instead of committing more to the board?

[@Tclark6199]

Not mentioning Valkyrie's Call feels criminal

[@Hemlocker]

Really? It's Luminous Broodmoth for 1 more mana without a body, and Luminous Broodmoth doesn't see much play. Feels very very niche to me

[@Tclark6199]

@Hemlocker that's another card that I think deserves much more attention

[@spawn9892001]

Abyssal Harvester is gonna be great in be'lakor demon selfmill reanimator. being able to immediately get back a demon that is saced can be enough damage to end games. I was already working Zinnia and he's the perfect hare apparent commander. giving red and blue adds tons of fun interaction.

[@CodyFoxworthy]

Crystal barricade is gonna go so hard in my arcades deck for sure. If only i could give it flash more consistently

[@brockmckibben637]

High Fae Trickster

[@GorbashKazdar]

One aspect of Blasphemous Edict I haven't seen discussed that makes it even more powerful is it's incredible used offensively. Paying one black to sweep the board and recover first when you're ahead can be very strong to begin with. If you're the one with the Scute Swarm, it's completely backbreaking.

[@Dazer87]

Being cheap to cast is one of it's main features, the fact that it's also good when cast for it's full cost is just a bonus

[@montanax8127]

You haven't seen it discussed but Josh mentions it at 19:50. Literally word for word what you said. Lol?

[@Pensuke628]

I'm excited for the Sire of Seven Deaths to go in my Kathril deck. I never cast the expensive cards anyways, just entomb them.

[@migsterman67]

They never even mentioned Kathril, sadly. I can’t wait for it to go in my Kathril deck!

[@jordanutsalo1838]

On Crystal Barricade, I was a bit surprised you didn't mention the somewhat niche cantrip effect it offers in an Arcades, the Strategist deck. on top of all the upside you mentioned, I think there is enough to slot it in the 99.

[@conerchambers1214]

Really interested in creating a second Kitt Kanto deck and filling it with tons of Hare Apparent, use the 1/1’s to goad everyone’s stuff 😂

[@salem326]

Scrawling Crawler is so perfect for Winter, Misanthropic Guide. Boosts what winter already does, cheap, plays into wheel and draw punishing strategies, And it's an artifact creature, so it's two creature types towards delirium.

[@fishbones8167]

the foundations sealed event was the most fun ive had with magic in years.

[@harrykinghorn1930]

I really like Lunar Insight for Kefet God Eternal. With him out and you draw insight, you can play the copy as a cantrip.

[@Rudepetsclub]

I’m just glad that there is BloomBurrow representation 👍✨ Hare Apparent and banner of kinship both have that flavor and that to me signals another set!! (in the next 5 years lmao)

[@shinobi13]

As a Rendmaw player, who does give out infinite birds to everyone, that was the absolute best ad I've ever seen.

[@jturn314]

Crystal Barricade is a decent one time protection piece in Firesong and Sunspeaker decks to keep your creatures/FS&SS around after a big damage spell boardwipe

[@taerar]

Surprised they didn't mention how well Nine-Lives Familiar would work with an altar and Ygra as commander. Sac it 9 times, Ygra gets +18/+18

[@Dazer87]

It will take 9 turns to get there (but you can use your opponents turns)

[@totakekeslider3835]

It’s already slotted in my Ygra for recurrable sac fodder and because it will actually survive when I inevitably clear the board.

[@joshuawade38]

Blasphemous Edict is nuts with Rakdos, the Muscle and The Balrog, Durin's Bane

[@jamesknowles9236]

Crystal Barricade: what deck wants it? My Pramikon wall tribal deck is salivating over this card.

[@MissingNovice]

My Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves deck runs Crystal Barricade effects, cus whenever my wolves enter they get to fight a creature, and fight damage is technically 'non-combat damage' as unintuitive as that sounds. It protects my doggos when I'm machine-gunning them at other peoples boards. Also my Hare Apparent deck is Zinnia. Cast my first hare with offspring means I get token triggers on the first cast, and gives me access to funny stuff like Nanogene Conversion and Mystic Reflection to do shenanigans with.

[@Jordan-iw1ih]

In defense of Crystal Barricade, with the release of the Marvel secret lair, I think there will be a small wave of Storm (storm) decks that are trying to hit face really hard. This seems like it would be a decent way to pull the rug out from under that to some extent.

[@XerexB]

the thumbnail got me smirking so hard lol. i love a lot of the designs they did in this set, but some are VERY strong to be in a foundational set in my opinion

[@BrandinoYT]

I feel like High Fae Trickster was made for my alela cunning conqueror deck. I love it

[@jacknelson8640]

I need High Fae Trickster for my faerie deck 😁 Alela for the win !

[@fran823]

I’ve built a Hare Apparent deck with Zinnia Valley’s Voice in the command zone. It goes absolutely nuts with Zinnia’s offspring effect, plus all those 1/1 rabbits make Zinnia huuuge!

[@Alex-fe5gu]

I think crystal barricade is a great redundancy piece in decks like Rem Karolus, where the goal is to cast these red damage spells that hit all creatures!!

[@kyleperry7913]

Nine lives familiar works with The Ozolith. It dies on one turn and the revival counters go onto the Ozolith. Next turn you go to combat and put the counters back on it so it sits on the board psuedo permanently.

[@TristanL3]

Almost £80 for the unsigned version deck box shipped to the UK is crazy..

[@diddowning2012]

I mean they can't help the shipping cost factor, they aren't a big organisation with distribution centers in ever country

[@FrostSylph]

I'm shocked that the jumpstart mentions didn't include Dionus Elvish archdruid. He looks like an absolute bomb for Elfball decks, basically doubling your mana dorks, giving all your tokens vigilance, AND making them all bigger each time they do so to keep them out of ping range?

[@mjcuaresma1633]

Those highlights?!? Yasss queen looking incredible

[@atriumgamesmore4336]

1:20:06 my first thought on this kind of thing is it stacks with those Green combat tricks in a really crazy way, if you have Unnatural Growth on the field, the thing gets doubled (so a 4/4 becomes 8/8), then deals that damage, and basically triples its power after combat. Same thing with Green instants that grow something for turn, those become "Deal more now, and also get an extra 3 +1/+1 counters" type stuff. Xenagos also loves this I think.

[@Crushanator1]

Crystal Barricade looks so fun for the sort of Orzhov Exquisite Blood combo decks. Especially because now you can just toss in Pestilence

[@sakurakinomoto52]

I want the Scythecat Cub on my Mowu deck... Doubling the +1/+1 counters and adding 1 more due to Mowu's effect is delicious.

[@majestyzx9081]

Valkyrie's Call is one of my favorite cards for Commander this set. It's great creature recursion and is killer in any decks that feature a bunch of ETB triggers. Can also recur your entire board post wrath effect giving a major advantage.

[@friedpinnapple]

42:00 Preston is a great commander for the hare apparent. The best part is since you increase the number of hare apparent you do not need nearly as many copies in the 99. Ive been testing with 15 and it does fine

[@joemariani115]

Abyssal Harvester is a BEAST. Great in control strategies where you can counter/kill the best thing on the table and then (1) exile it from their grave, acting as graveyard hate and (2) you get it for your own uses. This card won me a couple of games by itself at pre-release. Do *not* underestimate this card

[@hamishbeadle4778]

The best deck for exemplar of light is Giada. In Giada it’s an auto include as it puts a counter on it when it enters you’ll probably get it turn 3 and angels have a lot of incidental life gain

[@maxbodifee3263]

Homonculus goes great in Kadena with Wavecamp Hippo or Beast Whisperer and a flash enabler. Which are becoming more abundant these days as well. Good times 🤗 I am building a second draw matters deck with Gretchen Titchwillow and this will slot right in as well

[@FrostSylph]

Looking at crystal barricade, maybe a Lurris deck wants it? protects you from graveyard hate, your small guys from getting pinged, and you can recur it when it gets removed or caught up in a boardwipe.

[@Forgebrother]

Rem Karolus, stalwart slayer loves crystal barricade. Fits so perfectly there...for the 700ish decks people have for them

[@chrisjeffery8783]

homunculous horde seems fun with the high fae trickster to draw cards on others' turns to quickly ramp up the token count

[@shrimp6348]

Scrawling Craler is such the perfect Card for my Ian Malcom deck, makes for some really fun interactions and everyone gets cards!

[@marcguilliod3640]

Yo command zone staff, I was waiting for this banger. Thank you.

[@kaiokenx100]

Valkyrie's Call is a sweet one. It's like a Luminous Broodmoth on an enchantment. Also a sleeper uncommon I think is Ravenous Amulet. It's one of those cards that just sits there and people forget about because there's so much other crazy stuff going on and the next thing you know you're just hitting opponents for 8-10 damage

[@tomcourtney4206]

I had 2 thoughts immediately for Crystal Barricade. Firstly, I want it for my Doran deck, also would be good in Arcades if I ran him. Second thought was that it essentially turns all of your fight spells into bites. How many "fight spell" heavy decks are in white is in question, but the potential is there

[@BrunoCasagrandaNeves]

Crystal Barricade creates a hedge for go wide winnies against pingers, such as orcish Bowmasters. Very good in the right deck.

[@1notdeadfred]

53:50 "Only on your turn" AAHAHAHA the original Zimone would like a word with you about harrow and fertilid...

[@-Quiz]

I'm excited to put Sire into my Valgavoth, Terror Eater deck. Best case scenario I gain 16+ life each turn to then play my opponents cards, worst case scenario Sire baits removal before I'm ready to cast Valg

[@WizardLogic]

Surprised Archmage of Runes wasn't talked about here. Reducing instant and sorceries and drawing a card for them is very good, and most spellslinger decks have a pretty weak 5 slot overall that this fits very nicely into.

[@Raymx3]

Pretty stoked on the hominculus. I made a morska artifacts/draw 2 per turn deck. This is going right in!

[@somereptilesandanimals2403]

I was hoping someone would mention Lathiel when they were talking about exemplar of light, thank you Rachel! Lathiel needs some love

[@casperpedersen223]

I'm just really excited to put Bloodthirsty Conqueror into my Torgaar, Famine Incarnate. Lots of other cool things as well though.

[@darthwhit]

Using Myriad with Duke Ulder Ravengard and Hare Apparent just sounds like insane fun!!!

[@niallquinlan8050]

Can't wait to play Lunar Insight in Edgin, Larcenous Lutist. Just foretell it away until it draws me 3+ cards!

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

Quilled Greatwurm does have great +1/+1 synergy, just not with the ‘when counters add more’ stuff. When it comes to things that pay off adding counters it is an exceptional way to dump huge numbers of counters at once - Evolution Witness or All Will Be One become preposterous for example.

[@MitchellClark3000]

I am SO excited to put Crystal Barricade in my Arcades, The Strategist deck. But tbh I care a lot more about preventing non-combat damage than hexproof.

[@Jurassic-Paul]

1:44:50 I think you're overlooking Kathril, Aspect Warper. Even if it's the only card in there, it'll get 6 abilities and 6 +1/+1 counters immediately to get a 9/9 commander

[@daishzen]

Heh, kinship banner is so cracked! Played it last night in my hare apparent deck. Came in with 91 counters on it!

[@MikhailHudon_ZerithFarron]

very happy with all the cards with multiple pips. Devotion means few of these cards will be truly ubiquitous

[@MintoBeast]

Abyssal harvester is going straight into my Toshiro deck. Can’t wait to yoink the best things I remove off the field.

[@TripsAhoy]

Kaito goes right into my Tetsuko deck.

[@VincentWolfeye]

Heads up for the new players, Homunculus Horde does _not_ work with Guardian Project.

[@jross890]

It will work for the first trigger is what I believe they where referring to get the doubling doubling going

[@Doombot2point0]

​@@jross890 It's such a nonbo with Horde though. I guess if the rest of your deck cares about having Guardian Project, then sure...but I wouldn't say it pairs well with Homunculus Horde specifically (considering it literally doesn't lol). Even then, the decks that want Guardian Project probably aren't the same decks that want a Horde. I think Josh forgot the clauses on Guardian Project and misspoke? Idk

[@Will_Morand]

40:18 I’m building Hare Apparent with Tymna and Kamahl. Tymna is early card draw and Kamahl is my late game finisher.

[@leSmokySmoke]

quilled greatwurm, mossborn hydra are GREAT cards in commander! dont underastimate timmy cards. because like you two, other people do too! there are 3 diffrent players at the table, and there are often many creatures with powerful effects on the board. your Timmy cards that "just" get big will therefore often be ignored, coupled with the fact that green is so powerful, and you beeing able to present multiple of these huge "threads" makes them really valuable in many situations and enable politics as a green player. managouger hydra and forgotten ancient are often very good pieces in all scenarios, such a defense, potential offense thread, and politics. just getting more of these is awesome! (especially from the perspective of trying to build "fair" green decks that are still fun for a timmy, which is harder these days as you might think.. the first time I build a deck it is always a 7 or 8 immediately and you need to power down green so much to not always feel like the archenemy.)

[@tonarinookami]

I have been watching older Game Knights episodes, because I'm all caught up, it I was suprised to see that Jimmy was the first between Josh and Jimmy to play Vedalken Orrery. Now Josh was like that is a good card, and Josh being Josh being a blue player started to put it in his decks. There are a few cards with this effect but High Fae Trickster being mono blue lets Josh put this in all decks he has that has blue. I can't wait to see him use it in a game.

[@joshwingart8188]

Lol nice rendmaw use for the ad. Hes a fun commander

[@SwedishWookie]

Exemplar of light is going right into my Queza deck :} Kaito is going into my Felix Five boots I'm brewing. It only needs 3 creatures to connect. Aaaand the new Koma >__>

[@Onimaru924]

I think Crystal Barricade could be entertaining in an enchantress type deck. They will already have white. And if you can pull of a combo with Greater Auramancy, it could be a neat way to combo. Also a fun add for an Arcades deck.

[@crashka5860]

having already played quilled greatworm a number of times in commander (khona deck with lots of tutors so im tutoring for it to test) it is really good, most of the time if you get one attack off you get enough counters to recast it from the yard which means people often wont bother to remove it. goes insanely hard with any deck that likes counters as it is a recurring enabler. my khona deck just likes big creatures and it is great there as it turns a random assortment of 6/6-10/10 creatures into lethal in 1-2 turns. the other thing is cause its putting counters they have to remove all the things that get big unlike with anthem effects where they can often remove the pump effect (banner of kinship) but that is a tradeoff for the not immediate nature of the pump effect

[@rathlord]

Ya'll forgot Ghyrson Starn for Scrawling Crawler. It is batshit insane in that deck. Doing a minimum of 6 damage per round to every opponent.

[@tylerboydstun527]

Homunculus hoard is really good in Marneus Calgar.

[@isaacalien]

An Extra Turns where each player takes a different "your deck can contain any number of cards named-" card and pushes it to the extreme could be fun?

[@Hemlocker]

I think Augustin is kind of a hilarious commander for Hare Apparent. You're gonna spit out a billion hares before your opponents get to cast a single 5-drop.

[@lokirip2372]

Crystal barricade seems good in firesong when you are mass damaging to save your own board.

[@cruthius6154]

Banner of Kinship also has the downside of not getting any counters on it if your board is wiped before it resolves

[@paulszki]

That seems slightly niche. Not THAT many instant speed boardwipes in commander, that see play. Like sure, Final Showdown maybe in white-heavy decks and Cyclonic Rift and other blue instant mass bounce.

[@jacobnestle3805]

Crystal Barricade turns all Fight effects into Bite effects, if you're also in green.

[@duk2112]

Crystal Barricade is definitely going into my Arcades deck

[@Ceriva09]

Crystal barricade seems to be a great answer to lord of pain or similar burn Decks and Kaito seems a okay Option to make Obeka splitter of seconds unblockable to get the extra upkeeps

[@JonnyDevon]

I feel like they had a massive opportunity to make the game more affordable with foundations by either printing shocks lands or trioms lands they would be printed for the next five years and it would make it more affordable for players across all formats, and it would make the set worth buying throughout the five years The main problem I see with Magic right now is everybody’s getting fatigue with how much you’re coming out with every two months but something like this would stabilize and make it more affordable because the most expensive things in a lot of decks is lands

[@Ovcharka88]

Surprised you didn't mention how good crystal barricade is in arcades! After the pre release it was the first card I swapped out (and the rune wall that lets you surveil) for that deck and so far the 2 games I've had it in play it's been a menace! Mind you a lot of my playgroup runs targeted non combat damage, NIV mizzet, blasphemous act, etc etc

[@TheAlmightyPillock]

High-Society Hunter. Amazing budget black card draw on a flying beastick that costs 2 less mana than Bloodgift Daemon. This is soemthing I think you sometimes miss. Really good cards that just help lots of normla deck builders who can not afford the top cards. :)

[@InariNoSasuke]

One thing about Abyssal Harvester I was thinking, and they didnt mention. If you have anything else that makes some kind of Nightmare token Abyssal Harvester will destroy those as well. If there even is any other card that makes Nightmare tokens. lol

[@benji-obi]

I'm most excited for Bloodthirsty Conquerer and Twinflame Tyrant 😌

[@utahgeoff]

I;m looking forward to pairing Exemplar of Light with Answered Prayers.

[@jordanmartin2430]

Elesh Norn Mother of Machines and Hare Apparent would be insane!

[@kurtjones3528]

27:33 For Crystal Barricade decks I'm surprised they didn't mention anything about putting it in a Arcades, the Strategist deck, With Arcades out it's functionally becomes a 2 mana 4/4 that gives you hexproof and protects your other creatures from non-combat damage and draws a card, seems much better in those decks than a boros damage based wrath deck

[@Nick3570]

I cannot wait to put Homunculus Horde in my Council of Four deck and make an army of homunculi

[@GridRivers]

crystal barricade is definitely going into my alela artful provocateur deck

[@Keljan2008]

Lunar Insight could be great in an Iron Man deck, depending on how you decide to build it

[@platypus121212]

I actually really like Crystal Barricade in my Taii Wakeen deck. She's boros burn and is rewarded for hitting creatures, so damaged based wipes work out really well for her. Notably it does stop me from wiping my own creatures off the board and being rewarded for it with cards, but it just means until the Barricade is dealt with i can commit to the board a little harder than I usually do.

[@simonblanchard2676]

I don’t know what your build is, but be careful if you run brash taunter, stuffy doll, or any of the combo lines with spitemare and boros reckoner. This card is a nonbo with those

[@jonlee1700]

Sire of Seven Deaths is insane in Indominus Rex, Alpha. Love is card for that or like Atla Palani