Best Pack Themes In MTG’s Foundations Jumpstart

Best Pack Themes In MTG's Foundations Jumpstart



Key Takeaways

  • Foundations Jumpstart format mixes two 20-card packs for 40-card decks, offering 46 random themes.
  • Chaos theme includes Averna, enabling land ramp with Cascade mechanic, using Chromatic Lantern for mana fixing.
  • Nefarious theme features Vilis and Dark Confidant for draw power and removal, while Modified boosts creatures’ power.

If you are looking for a new Magic: The Gathering experience when you play you should definitely take a look at the Foundations Jumpstart format. This unique game mode has you jam two 20-card packs together to make one complete 40-card deck and battle against your opponent using an equally random deck.

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Each pack has a random theme, which in itself can vary in card selection and power, with some rarer than others. Foundations Jumpstart has 46 different themes to play with, but if you’re after some of the best the set has, we gathered them for you to explore.

5

Chaos – Mythic Theme

Cascade Calamity

Mana fixing is the name of the game with the Chaos theme pack from Foundations Jumpstart. The main card you are looking for from this pack is Averna, the Chaos Bloom. With Averna out, you can snag a land from cards that are exiled when you cascade.

Cascade is a very powerful mechanic that lets you exile the top card of your deck until you find a nonland card with a mana value less than the initial spell. New players might struggle with this mechanic bit though, so beware.

A five-color theme might be a bit difficult to swing, especially in such a small deck, but there are a few ways that the Chaos theme helps you along. There is at least one basic land of each color in the pack and three different cards that can search for a basic land of any type. Even better, you are guaranteed a copy of Chromatic Lantern, which lets all your lands tap for any color. Any opening hand with a Lantern and at least three lands can bring you to victory in just a few turns.

4

Prideful – Mythic Theme

Cat Abound

The king of the pride is back in the Prideful theme featuring Brimaz, King of Oreskos. This Cat-themed pack gives you a wide range of mechanics, and in turn, options, to play with. Dawnwing Marshal gives you a flying creature, and in a tiny format where there aren’t likely to be lots of flyers outside of specific themes, it can be a strong card.

You also get Leonin Scimitar, which isn’t a particularly strong piece of equipment but does upgrade any of your creatures nicely. You get to keep the pressure on with other strong cat creatures like Ingenious Leonin and King of the Pride, which gives your other Cat creatures a bonus +1/+1.

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Perhaps key in this deck are the two instant spells and single enchantment that can wildly disrupt your opponent’s game plan. Impeccable Timing deals three damage to an attacking or blocking creature, which can be used to turn the tides on an otherwise disadvantageous attack. Then there’s Take Up the Shield, giving a creature a +1/+1 counter, lifelink, and indestructible for a turn, saving your creature from certain doom. Finally, you get a single Pacifism, which disables a creature’s ability to attack or block, effectively removing them from all combat actions for the rest of the game.

3

Nefarious – Mythic Theme

It’s Me, Ya Boi

This demonic Jumpstart Theme gives you access to one of the most powerful Demons ever to defile Magic, Vilis, Broker of Blood. This massive eight-mana Demon sees play a ton in Commander, and with its ability, it’s easy to see why.

You can pay one black mana and two life to give a creature -1/-1 for the turn. That may seem like a steep cost for a small effect, but Vilis then has you draw cards when you lose life. This effectively makes its ability to pay one black, draw two cards, and potentially remove a problematic creature from the board.

Partnering with Vilis is the extraordinarily powerful Dark Confidant, even if it is a bit of a non-bo with Vilis. At the start of your turn, you get to reveal the top card of your deck and put it into your hand, losing life equal to the mana cost. While you don’t ever want to his Vilis off of this card, you can burn through lands and other cheap cards for just a few life points.

2

Modified – Mythic Theme

Love Those Counters

In a format where you want to overpower your opponents using a semi-fixed deck, anything that can give you the advantage is going to be key. With the Modified theme, you get to give all your creatures a boost in power, upgrading them turn after turn with a number of spells to keep them above your opponents.

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Kodama of the West Tree headlines this deck, and it’s easy to see why it’s so powerful. All your modified creatures get trample, and dealing damage with a modified creature lets you thin your deck out a bit by searching for a basic land and putting it into play tapped.

The rest of the deck is filled with cards that either are creatures that modified themselves, have effects that let you modify creatures, or are spells that help modify your creatures. As a reminder, a modified creature is any creature that has an equipment or auras attached to it or if it has any type of counter on it.

1

Beasts – Rare Theme

Go Big Or Go Home

Unsurprisingly, the Beast-themed pack is filled with all sorts of very strong Beast creatures for you to take over the battlefield with. Leading the pack is the legendary creature Slinza, the Spiked Stampede. This rare Beast reduces the cost of your other Beast cards by two generic mana, letting you cast your bigger creatures quickly. Those Beasts you are casting also get a power boost, since they come into play with a bonus +1/+1 counter on them. Finally, when Slinza or any other creature with a power of four or more comes into play under your control, you can pay two mana to have Slinza fight another creature.

The rest of the deck is filled with some strong creatures that don’t generally cost a ton of mana. At the top end, you have Spined Tyrranax, which only costs you five mana, tied with Slinza in cost. After that, you have a single Obstinate Baloth, which comes in a four mana, while everything else in the pack is three mana or less. All this comes together to make a very powerful deck that can carry a match almost on its own.

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