What is Magic Foundations?
It feels as if the past few weeks have set a new record for information overload in the Magic world.
What is Magic Foundations?
Magic Foundations is Magic’s newest onboarding set for the game, aimed at welcoming potential players into the fold while rounding out the Standard release schedule with a steady stream of fundamental effects. While Wizards of the Coast has said that Magic Foundations will have cards aimed at all players – and as such, some more complicated designs as well – they did take care to stress in the release announcement that this set would be full of “less-complex, clean and elegant” reprints, like
For anyone who has been around long enough, this should immediately bring back memories of Magic’s retired Core Set system. Under that system, each summer brought with it a Core Set – a Standard-legal release containing a bevy of reprints, some more traditionally-complex designs, and a lot of overall simpler cards. The purpose of these releases was very similar to that of Magic Foundations, to bring on newer players while maintaining Standard stability at the same time.
Where these two systems differ substantially is that Magic Foundations – unlike anything else ever released – is going to be Standard-legal for five years. Core Sets may have been similar in their overall architecture and design (meaning a significant overlap in the reprints and effects between each set), but that scale is far from comparable to simply keeping the same roster of cards legal for as extended a period of time as Magic Foundations sets out to do.
Looking to the Market
This five year legality (and corresponding release schedule) is going to have significant repercussions for the pricing of Magic Foundations, both as a sealed product and for the singles within. So, what can we expect?
First, assumptions. Keeping a product legal in Standard for five years, especially one aimed at new players, means that it’s going to have to be readily available for at least as long, and with that task comes some serious risks. So in order to avoid as much risk of price collapse as possible, I’m going to assume that Wizards will take the safer route for release and drip feed the market this product, rather than releasing it in the large restock waves which are typical for most Standard products. Keeping supply artificially low, although not too out of reach, will help to maintain an air of desirability, as opposed to flooding the market with too much product and subsequently tanking its appeal.
Under this system, Magic Foundations will almost certainly have an extended price plateau for sealed products that starts upon release and lasts at least a year after it finally rotates out of Standard. Since the market has been given information about Magic Foundations’ unorthodox release schedule far ahead of time – rather than that being revealed as a surprise much closer to release – we’ve been granted the ability to price in this information before presale prices even hit websites. This is setting the stage for Magic Foundations to be released with less hype than a traditional set, since the fear of missing out has been all but abolished, and as such will lead to depressed prices ahead of release. The market knows Magic Foundations will be around for a long time, so there’s not nearly the same rush to acquire it.
What about singles? Well, while sealed product has the benefit of price support thanks to long-run attrition, there’s no such force at play for singles. Magic Foundations may have stable sealed prices if managed correctly, but the outlook for its singles is not nearly as fortunate. It will take a long time, if ever, for the cards contained in this set to appreciate in value, and I imagine they will be absolutely crushed in price during the duration of Magic Foundations’ release timeline. Sealed product can be drip-fed and absorbed by a hungry market, but that same appetite is much more readily satiated when it comes to singles.
Wrap Up
Magic Foundations is an interesting product that has the potential to be a great boon for Magic as a whole. More players is always a great thing to see in a game, and I’m eagerly looking forward to the rollout of this never-before-seen type of product. That being said, the market reception for such a set rests nearly entirely with Wizards. If this is overprinted or overreleased, even if only in the early days of its life cycle, odds are the price may never recover. But, if Wizards plays it safe, this could be the start of a very important product line.
Further Reading:
Harvey McGuinness is a student at Johns Hopkins University who has been playing Magic since the release of Return to Ravnica. After spending a few years in the Legacy arena bouncing between Miracles and other blue-white control shells, he now spends his time enjoying Magic through CEDH games and understanding the finance perspective. He also writes for the Commander's Herald.
