Expensive Singles from Foundations Jumpstart
Hello all, and happy Wednesday. Today we’re deviating a little bit from a pure discussion of the Modern meta to discuss the Modern-adjacent, but not Modern-legal, product that is
A History of Jumpstart
Jumpstart as a supplemental product line has a rather storied history for something relatively new to Magic’s vast product portfolio. Originally releasing during the pandemic,
Jumpstart, while praised as a product, found quieter success due mainly to the pandemic, but was popular enough to warrant a follow-up standalone set
Jumpstart is also a font for new mechanically unique cards and choice reprints for eternal formats. The original Jumpstart knocked it out of the park with new pieces like
This brings us to today’s Foundations Jumpstart (also known as Jumpstart 2025). While attached to a larger-set, it feels like it’s relatively standalone in terms of the design space in spans, and the density of mechanically unique cards it possesses. While this strays a bit away from Modern more formally, Jumpstart is a “modern” (lowercase “m”) product with implications for some sanctioned formats that are worth a wider discussion. Without further ado, let’s discuss a few of the most in-demand singles from the set!
Scythecat Cub
And I thought Bristly Bill was a powerful Nadu enabler… More or less, Scythecat Cub is a slightly more pushed version of
The main advantage Cub offers by comparison to Bill is that the second Landfall trigger you generate on your turn allows you to double the amount of counters on a creature it would target. You could imagine that this gets out of hand very quickly. In many ways, Scythecat Cub enables Legacy Nadu decks to win reliably through combat damage faster relative to
Its low mana-value, and potent triggered ability make it a worthwhile consideration across many decks in the Legacy format, and it’s likely we’re only just scratching the surface with this card’s potential. Of all the cards on our list, this is the only one I could very well see continue to climb in value, especially in a Legacy meta that will likely be shaken up with a
| Scythecat Cub |
Rev, Tithe Extractor (Anime)
Rev is an answer to the hypothetical question “What if all my creatures could be Ragavan?” Whether or not you or anyone asked this hypothetical question is irrelevant, as the fact of the matter is that Rev, Tithe Extractor exists, and packs a potent punch. That potency is also reflected in Rev’s current market price: just above $50 a piece.
It’s pretty wild that this card exists. Even if it’s not necessarily legal in many constructed formats, its legality in cEDH alone, and Commander more broadly, has enormous implications. In mono-black, Rakdos, or Mardu shells that love combat and spreading damage around, Rev plays in perfectly to those synergies, and reaps a lot of value at the same time. It gives one of your attackers deathtouch effectively ensuring that it goes unblocked, and Rev herself doesn’t have to attack for your other attacking creatures to still be granted
Ragavan’s downside in pretty much every format was that in the late game it became increasingly less likely that Ragavan would be able to trigger his ability. Rev solves this problem by simply letting your creatures swing optimally and reward you for hitting a player. Rev creates incentives for you to run creatures with evasiveness like Skulk, landwalk of some variety, unblockability, Shadow, and so forth, to ensure that they connect for maximum potential gains from your opponents’ libraries, and maximum ramp from Treasure token generation. Because Rev is in the black part of the color pie, she’s easy to ramp out with
| Rev, Tithe Extractor (Anime) |
Dionus, Elvish Archdruid
Just when I thought the design space for Elves had reached its limits, Dionus enters into view. Dionus is a green, uncommon, legend - I repeat: a green, uncommon, legend - that does a lot for Elf-centered archetypes, particularly in Commander.
Specifically, Dionus grants your Elves the ability to untap themselves when they tap themselves during your turn, be it for combat or, more commonly, mana generation. Oh, and they also give themselves a +1/+1 counter when they do this, too. Even for an ability that triggers strictly once each turn, you could imagine a scenario where Dionus is in play along with three lands and two one-mana elves (say
Even in the most simple setup, Dionus enables some pretty explosive mana generation for relatively low investment, especially in a deck archetype oriented toward playing cheap, innocuous creatures that produce single pips of mana. Dionus also allows you to buff up your creatures so you can tap to float mana, untap them, put counters on them and then attack after the fact making for really neat tempo plays that don’t usually exist in Elves.
So for an Elf that’s almost exclusively viable in Commander, how in-demand is Dionus? About $20 in demand, which is an astounding price for an uncommon. I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen an uncommon command more than $20, let alone even $5 in the past five years or so, which makes Dionus a unique point of discussion. Do I expect Dionus to hold at $20? Not really. As more product gets opened, and as Jumpstart continues to circulate over longer periods of time, I would generally expect Dionus to fall in price.
| Dionus, Elvish Archdruid |
Final Verdict
Jumpstart products feel closer to the days of old, specifically echoing the design spaces of
Boxes are 24-packs, and just under $120 if you were to buy one on TCGPlayer. While 24 packs is less than the 36 one would receive from a Play Booster, it’s important to note that Jumpstart packs have 20 cards each, while Play booster packs contain 14. For a Jumpstart Booster Box, you’ll find yourself with 480 cards compared to 504 for a Play Booster Box. While basic lands comprise many cards in the Jumpstart Boosters to make them playable right out of the pack, it still stands to reason that these gems of booster packs are packed with value, fun, reprint equity, and one of the most balanced design spaces in any Magic product.
Is it worth speculating on the singles in Jumpstart? Not exactly. Unlike Play Booster products where the singles market gets flooded shortly after set release, Jumpstart products have a time-release element to their singles market, wherein product tends to be opened much more slowly, but over comparatively longer intervals. Jumpstart Boosters will be available as long as Foundations is, which will be for years to anchor the Standard format, thus my expectations are that the market prices for the in-demand Jumpstart singles will bottom out not in weeks, but rather months, or even a year out from now as product slowly drips into the market. Happy hunting!
Further Reading:
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.
