Strictly better cards on MTG fundamentals

In every Magic: The Gathering set that comes out, there are some cards that are much better than others. Often times they give a 3 mana 2/2 a better ability than no ability.

But sometimes you get a powerful card that marginally pushes other similar cards out. Whether you're looking for the next upgrade for your Commander deck or just want to make a few changes to your Standard deck, we've got all the upgraded cards from Magic Foundations.

1

Twinflame Tyrant

Definitely Better: Fiendish Duo

Big ol' Dragons are a popular card type in Magic, so it's much better to get cards with powerful effects. Twinflame Tyrant is a new dragon that is a 3/5 with flying and only costs 5 mana. If you deal damage to an opponent or something they control, that damage is instead doubled.

This functionally makes Twinflame Tyrant a 6/5 flying dragon, but more importantly, all other damage is doubled. Therefore, all burn spells are upgraded and all combat damage becomes much more lethal.

This is a strict upgrade over the other Foundations card, Fiendish Duo. This is a 6-player card that has the same effect against demons rather than dragons. Twinflame doubles the damage Fiendish Duo deals to players, while Dragon gets an additional bonus because it deals all damage dealt to opponents and permanents.

2

kinship flag

Strictly speaking, it is better than: sentence

Have you ever played a magic game with a crest? Does it matter whether you play or your opponent plays? It's an artifact found almost exclusively in Kindred decks, and it's actually quite powerful. Each of your creatures gets +1/+1 for each other creature that shares at least one creature type with it.

For example, if you have a Cat Warrior and a Cat Noble, both creatures get +2/+2. But it gets a little more complicated because it also takes into account your opponent's creatures while also affecting them.

To simplify this effect a bit and make it much easier to track, Baner of Kinship has you pick one when a creature type is played and then add a fellowship counter for each creature you control of that type. So if there are 10 elves in play, Banner of Kinship gets 10 counters and they all get +10/+10. There is no natural way to add counters, but you can always increase them separately.

3

Herald of Eternal Dawn

Strictly speaking, it's better than Platinum Angel.

Very similar in almost every respect, Herald of Eternal Dawn and Platinum Angle share most of the same effects and abilities, with the Herald barely taking the lead in terms of versatility. Platinum Angel is an almost infamous card that says you can't lose the game and your opponent can win the game.

This type of lock ensures victory because while your angel is on the battlefield, nothing your opponent can do will stop you. There are 52 poison counters, you have no cards left in your deck, and you can still participate in the game even when your health reaches -100.

Herald of Eternal Dawn comes in with a little keyword that can help you get a little bit ahead. Herald of Eternal Dawn has the same abilities, but its power is upgraded to 7/7 rather than Platinum Angel's 4/4, and it has Flash. This allows you to hit the Herald seconds before a certain Doom occurs, giving you the opportunity to cast the Herald in response to almost anything your opponent can do.

The downside to Herald is that it's tied to a mana commitment, as it requires 3 white mana and 4 common mana to cast, rather than Platinum Angel's 7 common mana.

4

blasphemous edict

Strictly speaking is better: an act of sacrilege.

Take one of the better mass damage spells in Magic, give it a little upgrade to help solve one of the game's biggest obstacles, and that's what you get with Blasphemous Edict. Blasphemous Edict, a slightly more sideways upgrade to Blasphemous Act, does a similar job, does it a little better, and sometimes does it a little worse.

The Desecration Edict costs 5 mana and requires each player to sacrifice 13 creatures of their choice. If you have 13 or more creatures in play, only 1 black comes with an alternative casting cost, which makes it very easy to attack in Commander. Forcing your opponent to sacrifice 13 creatures will help you avoid indestructible creatures. Blasphemous Act suffers because it only deals damage.

The downside to Blasphemous Edict is that if you're up against a token list with significant board presence, sacrificing 13 creatures probably won't help you much.

5

judgment day

Strictly speaking, it's better than: Split

Day of Judgment isn't a new card, but it's definitely the best at what it does. This Foundations reprint will be a standard all-star as long as it's legal, so be prepared to stick with it for quite some time.

Most other mass removal spells in current Standard cost more mana, have some sort of stipulation that gives the opponent something in return for blowing up the board, or aren't as efficient as Judgment Day.