Will Any Reprints from Foundations Affect Modern?
With
Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Lathril is the quintessential go-to Elf-typal commander in EDH. Coming to Foundations has some interesting implications, namely its ability to now be slotted into Modern decks, which have access to as vast of a card pool as ever for Elves and friends of Elves. The question is whether Lathril will help push Elves out of the fringe of the competition.
At the very least, the market looks optimistic about Lathril’s viability in a 60-card format as per its acute upward price trend over the past couple weeks, and it’s easy to see why with cards like
The issue with Lathril isn’t about how difficult it may be to utilize its activated ability, but rather its use as a win condition that doesn’t rely on combat, which is typically the direction that Elves lean, with
With this in mind, what Lathril really does is offer an alternative to Ezuri. Is it an effective alternative? Perhaps. Lathril does act as a token generator, but not a particularly efficient one in the current meta. At four mana, Lathril isn’t the easiest to run out onto the board even with mana dorks that Elves have a myriad of. Creature removal, board wipes, and all the traditional vulnerabilities that Elves have haven’t gone away. In fact, with
Unlike Merfolk – the only really competitive typal-deck in the format – Elves lack stack interaction and rely on building a dense board state of creatures to secure a win through combat most of the time. Lathril doesn’t make Elves faster, nor does it offer an appealing alternative to win that circumvents the weaknesses of the archetype. All this is to say, while the optimism of this card’s potential in Modern may be driving some demand for it as people brew or incorporate her into brews, I doubt she’ll move the needle considerably on the viability of Elves in the meta.
| Lathril, Blade of the Elves | ||
| Lathril, Blade of the Elves | ||
| Lathril, Blade of the Elves (Borderless) (Mana Foil) |
Authority of the Consuls
Authority of the Consuls is a powerful one-mana enchantment that has been a staple in most casual Commander decks leveraging the white slice of the color pie. For one mana, you gain life every time your opponents play creatures, and said creatures enter tapped to boot, thereby slowing the game down for everyone, except you.
This card has always been growing in demand concurrent with the growth of Commander in popularity. Couple this with very few reprinting events, and you have a single sitting around $12 or so in market price. While this card doesn’t see much Modern play, a release in a set as widely printed as Foundations will likely offer a new surge of supply to the market for the first real time since its original release in
So where does this mean the price for this card will fall to in the long-run? I would imagine that Foundations version of this card will be $5 or less once the dust has settled post-release. That’s kind of the beauty and Magic of Core Sets. They really do offer opportunities for generically good cards to be reprinted regardless of the flavor or aesthetic of their original printing. Authority of the Consuls is just a good Magic card, and while it doesn’t see a ton of play in Modern, it is a great game piece that’s been difficult to access for some time. In my opinion, this is the ideal reprint target for Core Sets like Foundations.
| Authority of the Consuls | ||
| Authority of the Consuls |
An Offer You Can't Refuse
This little unconditional non-creature counterspell is a staple in cEDH, but doesn’t see a ton of play in Modern, or many other eternal formats for that matter… Nevertheless, as an uncommon from a fairly recent set (which is to say, it’s not difficult to obtain sealed product of), Offer commands a non-trivial price of almost $4 a copy.
This price point might seem relatively low compared to some of the other cards discussed today, but as an uncommon that sees play in almost every cEDH deck in blue, $4 really signifies the raw demand of this card relative to its availability. While it has been reprinted on The List, and has had a couple promotional printings, it really hasn’t seen a large-scale printing since its original iteration in
Given this, it’s actually kind of nice to see a valuable uncommon occupy a slot in Foundations booster packs. Pieces like Offer add some nice expected value to sealed products outside of just the rare or foil slot(s). Given how large and continuous the print run for Foundations will be to service Standard for the coming years, I could very well see a world where Offer falls to a dollar or less. So if you’ve been hungry for a playset, then Foundations is doing you a huge favor as packs get opened and games find themselves with a new float of Offer inventories.
| An Offer You Can't Refuse | ||
| An Offer You Can't Refuse | ||
| An Offer You Can't Refuse (Borderless) |
Doubling Season
Much like
Notwithstanding the limited use of Doubling Season, it is an objectively powerful card that is a must-include in Commander decks utilizing green in any way compatible with tokens or counters. Superfriends decks also love Doubling Season, as it enables many planeswalkers to utilize their ultimate abilities the turn they come into play.
For a long time, Doubling Season was a $50+ card. While it has had some significant reprinting opportunities in sets like
Right now, preorder prices for Doubling Season from Foundations are around $35, and I expect them to fall much lower. In my mind, I can see Doubling Season settling at $20 once all is said and done and the secondary market fully absorbs the stock of Doubling Season from Foundations.
| Doubling Season | ||
| Doubling Season | ||
| Doubling Season (Showcase) |
Future Foundations
Overall, the landscape of Magic feels like it’s returning to a familiar era where Core Sets anchored the Standard format for years and allowed for a common, accessible, and moderately powerful card pool to regularly pull from for deck building. Core Sets also offer opportunities for reprints that might otherwise be thematically difficult to justify in traditional Expansion Sets (I know, I’m using some antiquated language here). Because there’s no “theme” or “aesthetic” associated with Core Sets, there are some fresh opportunities for meaningful reprints we wouldn’t otherwise see at higher frequencies than we ordinarily would. The cards discussed today represent just the tip of the iceberg for what Foundations has to offer, and I look forward to its role in the competitive environment for years to come.
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Corey Williams is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. He considers himself a macroeconometrician with his research body reflecting work in applied macroeconomics and econometrics. Corey is an L1 Judge who started playing Magic around Eighth Edition. He enjoys Modern, Commander, cEDH, and cube drafting. Outside of Magic, he loves running, teaching, and the occasional cult movie.
