Magic Foundations Set Review: Green | Magic: the Gathering

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Foundations' full card gallery is out! That means it's time to start my set review, with a look at the set's multicolored and colorless cards.
What my grades mean:
I use a letter grade system, and my grades usually fall into a bell curve (Very few A’s and F’s, lots of C’s.)
A - Bombs that are always your first pick, they completely warp the game in your favor, and they easily pull you into their color(s). You always first pick these. These are cards you are ecstatic to have in your deck. Most sets have 15-20 of these. Tend to mostly be Mythics or Rares, though sometimes an Uncommon gets there.
(Overlord of the Mistmoors, Unholy Annex / Ritual Chamber,
B - Premium removal spells and highly efficient creatures, often worth first picking. Still strong enough to pull you into their colors, but not quite as game or draft warping as A’s are. These are cards you feel good about having in your deck, and you would play several copies of most of them. Mostly Uncommons and higher, but there are usually 10-15 commons that get there too.
(Trapped in the Screen, Fear of Isolation, Osseous Sticktwister)
C - Filler. These are cards you neither feel good or bad about having in your deck. You play them if you’re in their colors, but they don’t tempt you to go into their color at all. Usually includes reasonably efficient creatures, good combat tricks, and removal spells. These appear at all rarities, but are most frequently Common. (Cynical Loner, Hand That Feeds, Conductive Machete)
D - Playable in an emergency. These are cards that you don’t feel so good about playing, but in a pinch, sometimes you just have to play them. These are often inefficient vanilla creatures or overly narrow cards. These appear at all rarities. (Appendage Amalgam, Infernal Phantom, Rampaging Soulrager)
F - Unplayable. These are cards that you should never play. There are very few of these in modern Limited formats, but they do appear at all rarities, with the most usually appearing at Rare and Common. These are cards whose effects are pretty much useless or overly narrow. (Leyline of Resonance, Walk-In Closet / Forgotten Cellar, Unwanted Remake)
There are two categories of cards that I give two grades to: Build Arounds and Sideboard Cards.
Build Around: These are cards that need special synergy to be at their best - synergy that won’t just come naturally. For these cards, I give one grade indicating how I think the card will perform in a typical deck of that color, and another grade if you manage to get there on synergy. (Valgavoth Terror Eater, Smoky Lounge/Misty Salon, Cursed Recording)
Sideboard Cards: These are generally cards that are Ds or Fs in your mainboard, but can perform much better out of the sideboard - at least as a C or higher. We see less of these today than we used to, since so many cards are modal.
(Pyroclasm)
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creativecommons...

[@andyspendlove1019]

19:55 that was the most C- sounding B- I’ve ever heard 😂

[@david10808]

Kind of funny that in a set with multiple classic reprints, they decided to double the stats of Craw Wurm and it only ends up barely playable

[@number4497]

Yeah, plenty of older cards definitely still hold up, but stats and nothing else certainly have fallen off very hard

[@lanychabot-laroche135]

Often, it's going to trade with 2 decent creatures. That's not bad, but for a hard to cast 6 drop, it's not gamebreaking either.

[@brizobst]

I love how Quakestrider Ceratops is a green creature for 6 mana that has double the power and toughness of the similarly costed Craw Wurm

[@noahcheng2401]

My day is entirely scheduled around when Nizzahon uploads

[@SignsOG]

You’re genuinely a loser

[@roffe8751]

When I saw Blanchwood Armor the 11 year old boy in me woke up and was like ”Hey, that was like my wincon against my brother back in the day, totally a bomb”. And then reality hit me with a F.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Well, to be fair -- it is a lot better in 60-card formats where you can go mono-green and play a bunch of hexproof creatures.

[@xxANBUxx]

Waiting for people in the comments to argue a case for Doubling Season even though its always horrible in limited lol

[@quartersskates]

Is this a thing?

[@gigawarman12]

​@@quartersskates more than likely commander players who don't have extensive experience with 40-card limited. Not always, but usually.

[@fatbastard7346]

Ill make the argument that it’s playable in a counter heavy deck with tokens such as white/green and maybe borderline playable in green/blue but that ones less likely (would need a ton on counters).

[@superspen97]

Hey last time we had doubling season in limited - wilds of eldraine - there was a creature that could copy enchantments so it was kind of techy if you opened a mythic enchanting tale and rare creature

[@gigawarman12]

@@superspen97 counters were rather scant in WOE limited, although the argument for tokens is marginally better. It's just a junky Enchantment in limited

[@ReinoudtNoodelijk]

Like another reviewer said, any green 3 drop now has the "llanowar elves is legal" clause

[@falkranduhm10]

Green is very short on low cmc cards in this set. Especially with Dwynen Elite wanting to be played after another Elf.

[@woodysmith2681]

Quakestrider Ceratops is a vanilla creature as designed by COSTCO

[@Kasigi03]

Wanna really break the Wurm? Play first or double strike creatures with it. Get those counters before your opponent's creatures get to deal damage back!!!!

[@delta3244]

I was going to say that I didn't think this worked because players don't get priority between when first strike and 'normal' combat damage is applied, but on review of the rules I think you're right. To anyone else who would've made this mistake, I'd like to direct your attention to the rules: 510. Combat Damage Step 510.1./510.2. (summarized) damage is applied 510.3. Third, the active player gets priority. (See rule 117, “Timing and Priority.”) 510.4. If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step. The only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike nor double strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as the remaining attackers and blockers that currently have double strike. After that step, the phase proceeds to the end of combat step. Because the entire combat damage step is duplicated, the third substep where players gain priority happens before second damage. In my head, the first two substeps were duplicated without the third going between them. (edit - typo)

[@Kasigi03]

@@delta3244 And double strike pretty much ends the game with this creature. Say you just have the Greatwurm and give it DS from a Fireshreiker. You deal the 7 (which already tramples), get the 7 counters and then deal another regular 14 trample!!!! A truly terrifying wurm.

[@jackiespaceman]

Elfsworn Giant being a common is kind of insane to me.

[@troyk2443]

It is very good. I commonly got 3-6 elves and a couple games it saved me and won the game for me when my opponent had multiple non trample fatties and I had fliers.

[@AingealWroth]

Overrun gets better with the changes to the damage assignment. I think that's part of why they reprinted it in this set.

[@therealHLY]

I like the hydra a lot, considering just how much of a focus green in this set has on +1/+1 counters. that thing can snowball like crazy for a 3 mana creature XD

[@troyk2443]

Agree. I had one at prerelease and it won me games. There's so many other ways to get counters on it besides landfall trigger. Sure, it sometimes comes down as a 2/2 trample turn 4, but half the time it started as a 4/4 for me, and rarely wasn't an 8/8 trample in short order.

[@NathanielSimpson1481]

Overrun in the LRR Pre-Pre-release won several games for different people

[@justinb2824]

That gave trample and was quite a bit cheaper.

[@ben_clifford]

​@@justinb2824Overrun is actually in this set. OP is probably referring to this set review's mediocre grade.

[@ben_clifford]

9:48 Me: *chokes on my soda when I see the statline* Nizzahon: Meh. It's passable. 😂

[@Gaenzdad93]

Loot would be nice at turning 3 mana ramp spells into 2 mana ramp spells. Instead of play to the field ones that are put in hand are just as viable. Might be somwtbing i add to my mono green but i dont see it as a real improvement

[@sebastiaoalmeida7796]

Sylvan Awakening is nothing short of an A and it's one of the biggest bombs in the set. Enchantment removal is not common in Foundations.

[@Nebukanezzer]

Preposterous proportions is crazy. It reminds me a bit though, of how Reynad once said that a vanilla, 10 mana, 30/30 would be unplayable in constructed formats, and it changed how I view cards like this. Red can blow up your tramplers with instants before they get the buff, and black can kill them. And if you don't have tramplers, this isn't too bad to endure.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Proportions would definitely be bad in constructed. But I think it’s legit in Limited

[@samuelrussell5760]

You need probably at least 3 creatures on the board for proportions to be good. But for every creature the opponent can't kill in response, he is either taking 10+ damage or losing a creature of his own. On a stalled board, this card will win you the game. If you're behind but still have a few creatures, it can still potentially win you the game.

[@troyk2443]

Seems like people have nostalgia for doubling season and overrun. I agree neither are grest in today's game, but overrun is significantly better and if you have enough creatures I think it still can be very good.

[@Turkin4tor]

Even with all the +1/+1 counter stuff Doubling Season is still an F? I'm sure it'll takeover some games

[@NizzahonMagic]

It can take over some games. But an F means more often than not, it hurts your chance to win -- 9 times out of 10, just playing a vanilla 5-mana 5/5 is better than playing Doubling Season in Limited -- because it adds to the board and doesn't require any sort of set up.

[@alexstef6965]

but there are 2 onedrop elves in the format…llanowar and the black one

[@sambojinbojin-sam6550]

This set sort of feels like they got three colours in, then got to Red and Green and went, "Reprints! All of them. About half of them!". Which is sad. I think they Blacked-out at and on Vampire Nighthawk reprints, and never recovered.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Every color in the set is half reprints.

[@sambojinbojin-sam6550]

@NizzahonMagic they just seem worse. There is Sorc/ instant/ buff / aggro and big boys available in the set, but black/ blue/ white just "seems" stronger as cornerstones or linchpins for draft. Especially U or W. This is one of the few that I'd think White actually might be good with most things.

[@ben_clifford]

​@@sambojinbojin-sam6550Offhand G and W seem the strongest

[@GkK-to3jr]

Are the Universe Beyond sets going to be draftable coming in the next year? (I hope not)

[@lucianocortes8636]

Most likely 🎉🎉

[@NizzahonMagic]

They are, yeah.

[@GkK-to3jr]

We can get ready for spiderman and Spongebob draft then sigh.

[@bobboberson6664]

​@GkK-to3jr yeah, i just came back to magic (again) for the third time. I keep getting sick of their crap, then enjoy a set (duskmourne) then hear about the sheer idiocy they are doing, and quit again. I hate the universes beyond so so so much

[@NizzahonMagic]

@@GkK-to3jr Won't be any Spongebob draft -- will be Spider-Man and Final Fantasy, though.

[@locustkllr]

Ouch. i think Overrun is still a bomb. Ends the game when cast, most of the time. A-

[@NizzahonMagic]

It'll be interesting to see what the data says -- but my isntinct is that a card that costs triple green and is only good in mid-to-late game board stalls probably isn't a bomb. In other words, it doesn't get cast often enough.

[@christopherfu2169]

12:41 Potentially dumb question, but can you still get the counter if you have a creature with 4 or more power?

[@AroWolfArts]

Yes, you can still choose either option then. Most of the time you'll want to get the token whenever you can tho

[@samuelrussell5760]

I mean, if you want to go even dumber, you can technically always choose either option. It's just the second option doesn't do anything if you don't have a creature with power 4 or greater. It will feel bad if your only 4 power creature gets removed while the ability is on the stack.

[@babypuppykitty]

Is Loot a digimon? Digimon canon in MtGU?

[@TheLuckySpades]

MtG original, introduced in Thunder Junction, though I agree the critter has digimon vibes

[@Omaxar]

why is Loot CGI lol

[@datalorev]

Nizzahon sure doesn’t like green. Lol. What did he have, one A card?

[@NizzahonMagic]

What cards do you think deserve A's that I didn't give them to?

[@quartersskates]

A 6 cmc 12/8 will be a two for one most of the time unless you are incredibly behind. Definitely better than a C. On the lower end, you arent sroked about playing a grizzly bear 2 cmc 2/2 but it still has to be done if your curve is trash. Agree with most of the evaluations tho 👍

[@andyspendlove1019]

How is a vanilla 12/8 a 2 for 1? Like he said, it can be chump blocked for days and it dies easily to all non-damage removal

[@starmanda88]

How is it a 2 for 1? I don’t understand.

[@samuelrussell5760]

@@andyspendlove1019 Forcing your opponent to chump block is a source of card advantage unless they have blockers that aren't real cards. Yes, sometimes they will have non-damage removal sitting in hand that will take care of it right away. Sometimes they will have a bunch of 1/1 tokens that can chump it forever. But a lot of times, they will either have to chump with a real card, take 12, or stack block to kill it. All of those are going to feel pretty good.

[@andyspendlove1019]

@@samuelrussell5760 idk, I guess I see what you mean that it’s power is so big that it often forces your opponent to make bad blocks to avoid getting domed for 12, and it’s 8 toughness should help it survive til another combat to force that same choice for your opponent. But that is making a TON of assumptions, like that this even survives to attack once, that the game even lasts til turn 8 for that second attack, that your opponent doesn’t have a deathtoucher, that your opponent doesn’t have expendable tokens worth less than a card to chump block, etc etc etc. Calling it a straight up 2 for 1 is just not correct.

[@samuelrussell5760]

@@andyspendlove1019 Oh, it's for sure not a 2 for 1 all the time. I didn't make the original comment. I was just explaining what I think it was getting at. There are enough ways to deal with it that it isn't any sort of bomb. But it will also win games sometimes. Limited magic is sometimes about forcing your opponent to actually have the answer. And this is a card that he won't always have an answer to. Overall, I think C is correct for this card. Maybe it's a C+, but I think it gets pulled down by the fact that you can't really have more than 1 or 2 cards that are this expensive in a reasonable curve. It's also triple green which means you won't be able to cast it off 6 lands in a 2 color deck a non-trivial amount of the time. On the other hand, 1 for 1 removal is still just 1 for 1. This card isn't getting blown out very often. The cards that can remove it are either high draft picks themselves, expensive to cast, or have some other downside.

[@giancarlodisalvo1784]

Ceratops is better than a C WTF

[@NizzahonMagic]

How?

[@giancarlodisalvo1784]

@@NizzahonMagicbecause it is 12/8 for 6. When your opponent plays ot against you it is a problem. Blacks removal isn’t that good this set. Neither is white. It outclasses every other creature If it was 8/8 for 6, to me that is a C. 4 extra power gotta be worth something

[@troyk2443]

I don't understand why you think white removal is bad. Two common removal spells take it out, one for 3, the other for 2 if you turn it sideways. Two blue enchantments also take this out. Still, a 12/8 vanilla is for 5 is better than a C, but I don't think better than a B-.

[@justinb2824]

A- for a 5GG pump spell that doesn't provide trample is a gamble. I think this one is overrated.

[@NizzahonMagic]

It's not a gamble, though -- vigilance prevents that from being the case.

[@theinscrutablebaldness2597]

I think the gamble would be getting to 7 mana (and therefore probably having the card stuck in your hand for several turns) and still having enough of a board to capitalise when you do have the mana to cast it. This kind of card is inherently situational and I think I'd rather have a cheaper (albeit weaker) card like Overrun, which you have a higher probability you can cast. I think A- is too high for a 7 mana card with setup. Could definitely be wrong though.

[@justinb2824]

@@theinscrutablebaldness2597 absolutely. It's at rare so it's not a big issue, I'd say it's a B+ for token decks and a C for everyone else. I can't see it ever being better than a 4th or 5th pick in drafts.

[@NizzahonMagic]

@@theinscrutablebaldness2597 It might be too high! Though I think it is worth mentioning that triple green makes it so Overrun is about as difficult to cast as a 6 mana card, so the difference isn't quite as significant.

[@zanderfus2723]

Can't wait for doubling season believers in the comments 🙏