I've had this idea floating around my head for a couple of years. In fact, I've written half an article about this on three separate occasions while broken constructed formats drove the discourse. Andrea Mengucci's recent article is making me think again.
There's a lot to like about Pauper as the gateway to 60-card constructed, but I think I have a better one. Hear me out.
the elevator pitch
Foundations Constructed is a competitive, 1v1, non-rotating format in which players make 60-card minimum decks (and up to 15-card sideboard) from asymmetric card pools.
Players construct their decks from two sets: Magic Foundations, and their choice of one printed-for-Standard set from the “Omenpath Era” (starting with Wilds of Eldraine up to the most recent set.)
To be clear, your cardpool is chosen by you, and your opponent's card pool is chosen by your opponent. You might not be playing from the same card pool.
the logic
reduce the barrier of entry
Foundations Constructed has, arguably, the lowest barrier to entry of any constructed format in Magic: The Gathering. Your deck consists of only two sets, Magic: Foundations and one other set of your choice. That’s it. Your card pool is 800 cards.
Imagine explaining this format to a new player:
“We play Foundations Constructed at Friday Night Magic. You use your Foundations cards plus one other set of your choice. Here's a quick rundown of the themes for the sets we have in stock and you can pick some packs of whatever sounds cool to you. If you tell me what cards you like from Foundations, I can help you find which set has more of that style.”
or
“We play Foundations Constructed at Friday Night Magic where you can play all your (Final Fantasy) cards plus Magic Foundations. There are some other (Final Fantasy) players, but others are playing their favorite sets too. So you should check out Magic:Foundations, it’s literally the 'foundation' of the format. That’s all you need!"
60-card constructed really needs a format where packs of the current set matter, which is just absent in every other constructed format. It's not healthy for all the hype caught up in the new hot commander chase rares. There needs to be an ecosystem where you could win a bunch of packs at a prerelease, or draft a lot, or buy a box, and then more or less immediately jump into a constructed FNM.
Pauper is cheap, but you still have to find cards. You're relying on the internet, or relying on Wizards to build precons. Building a deck of all commons from just the newest set isn't going to work.
maintain deck viability indefinitely
Foundations Constructed is a non-rotating format with the goal of maintaining deck viability indefinitely. If you have ever in your life built a Foundations Constructed deck, you can show up to an event, play with it, and expect to have competitive games.
The “Ship of Theseus” is a thought experiment in philosophy. If you start replacing planks in the ship as you travel, at what point is it no longer the ship you originally set sail on? This is the experience of other non-rotating formats. Decks tend to change over time as more and more cards are introduced to the format. If you, as a player, sit out several seasons of your favorite format, you will see that your deck is no longer optimized, and as such, your deck is essentially rotated out of viability in the supposedly non-rotating format.
This phenomenon doesn’t happen in Foundations Constructed. New cards are added to the format every two months, but they will never directly impact the cards in your deck. If the cadence of Magic releases is exhausting to you, you are free to focus on your favorite set as long as you want to. If you want to take a break from Magic, you can do so without being punished for falling behind.
steady format churn
Constructed formats have a tendency to get stale. The best decks sit atop the meta-game until their welcome is worn out. We just have to wait for rotation, bans, or new power outliers to shake things up.
New cards introduced to Foundations Constructed can only create new decks. Every new set release is a brewer's paradise! The low barrier of entry allows you to choose to build a new deck at any time. Since 517 cards of your pool are always Magic Foundations, a robust collection of Foundations will allow you to switch decks fairly easily.
for the vorthoses
In Magic lore, one no longer requires a planeswalker's spark to travel between the planes. Anyone can! If you think of tournament Magic as a planeswalker competition, it makes sense that players are collecting the most powerful spells from all over the multiverse to do battle. It's intimidating! Everyone is so experienced!
But now you can just be anyone and interact with people from other planes. A wizard from Lorwyn could meet a wizard from Tarkir. Who's magic is stronger? Foundations Constructed gives you a more forgiving arena, a little more of the "theme deck" experience. Lets play a game and find out what happens!
And you are not necessarily punished strategically for not wanting to play cards with certain themes. If Duskmourn gives you the creeps, if Edge of Eternities is a bit too science fiction for you, if Spiderman isn’t your cup of tea, or if you're sick of magic schools and want to skip Strixhaven, you can avoid those cards.
But if you love Final Fantasy and just want to play a bunch of summons, you can do that and have a reasonable expectation of success. The lower power level lets you be a little more Vorthos for your set, and I think appreciating the Universes Beyond happens more when it's not so mixed.
for magic design and development
I think it would benefit Magic design to have a simpler baseline of constructed decks to test with, and I think Foundations Constructed could be a way to balance power level over time.
unanswered questions
Is this format fun?
Is this format skill-testing?
Are the strategies and lines of play deep enough to keep players interested?
How does banning work? Is a card from Foundations banned from the entire format or just from the "paired" set?
Do you disclose your set choice in pre-game? (I think so!)
What happens when Foundations 2 comes out in 2029?
decklists
At this point, Foundations Constructed is all theorycraft. I am but one person, a parent approaching middle age with grown-ass man responsibilities and limited free time. That being said, I had about 50 decks, or deck ideas, or maybe just interactions that I'd like to explore more.
Here's a few of my more polished brews:
Here's a list of other interactions I'd been working on last:
Harmless Offering and Demonic Pact are both in Foundations. Duskmourn has some enchantment sacrifice synergies and a Demonic Tutor variant that might work.
What's the best home for Maze's End? I have one with Up the Beanstalk in Wilds of Eldraine, and another in Tarkir Dragonstorm since it seems like a rampy set.
Bloodthirsty Conqueror and Marauding Blight Priest are an infinite drain combo. Maybe Lost Cavern of Ixalan has some other vampire stuff going on?
Are there some draft build-arounds that could graduate to Foundations Constructed?
Lich-Knight's Conquest with some of the large creatures in Foundations
Spiderman Bant Soul Sisters with with Jackal, Genius Geneticist
Final Fantasy landfall with Tifa, Traveling Chocobo, and Mossborn Hydra.
Many more scribbles...
I haven't thought about this list since last fall, so there's new sets to consider...
Here's a list of observations:
The mana is pretty bad, but as someone who's been loving Premodern, it can be kind of charming to play with Temples.
You have to dig a little bit for playables and I can imagine getting down in the grime when a metagame emerges.
I like the feeling of old block constructed.
The janky rares nowadays are so close to playable it just makes you want to try something.
I do worry that the low to the ground aggro decks might be overrepresented.
Does this format have legs? I don't know. I've been enjoying this thought experiment though. It's always fun thinking about new ways to play Magic!