Foil Old-Border Pickups with Only One Printing
There are few things I enjoy more in this world than picking up a shiny new piece of retro cardboard. The foiling… the iconic swishy star… the old-school fantasy art… these all add up to create a beautiful game piece that's made even more notable if I’m, well, playing it.
It’s because of this that many people, myself included, love the idea of filling their Commander decks with the most “bling” versions of cards they can get their hands on, most of the time being either their original foil printing or some fancy new Secret Lair or bonus sheet variant.
However, the problems with foils nowadays are plentiful. An oversaturation of the market with Collector Boosters makes all but the most exclusive modern-border variants undesirable. Also, the number of unique old-school foils is ever-dwindling with the constant need to reprint cards at breakneck speed.
There’ll always be a need to fill a slot in a release with somewhat recognizable cards. It’s why we have so many versions of Lightning Greaves, Sol Ring, and more. Anything with any sort of widespread relevance to the Commander metagame has had at least one reprint at some point because of this.
But what about those cards, specifically older ones, that have somehow managed to dodge a reprint? Assuming they don’t get one through a Secret Lair or bonus sheet printing soon, which ones are worth picking up at their current price in foil for their utility in Commander? Let’s take a look.
Words of Wisdom
First up we have Words of Wisdom, a neat little draw spell from
On first glance it doesn't seem that great - sure, a straight up draw-two effect for just as much mana is efficient, but who wants to give their opponents cards? Surely this downside negates any sort of positives that come from the cheap draw, right? Well depending on who helms your deck this downside may actually be a good thing.
Take a look at
On top of this, Words of Wisdom also synergizes with some of the most played cards in high-powered Commander, further making for a solid pick-up. First there’s
And if you do decide to run it, why not spring for a foil? At just over $10, the foil printing is bound to stand out, and for a card with just a single printing you could do much worse.
| Words of Wisdom |
Elvish Guidance
Next up is something completely different, but just as familiar as blue card draw: mana production in green, only instead of land ramp we find it in the form of
Some might argue that this is a “win more” card that doesn't need to be in your Elf deck as green has so many ways to ramp as it is. And while the classics like
It's also important to remember that Elvish Guidance adds on to the mana that land already produces, so even if someone wipes the field your land will still tap for something at least - it’s not a replacement effect. Board wipes are still a threat, but Elves are so low-cost it's not that hard to rebuild your board state, allowing you to win with a
On top of all of this, Elves are one of the top creature types in Commander, meaning this will always retain some sort of relevance as long as people keep building
| Elvish Guidance |
Goblin Lookout
Staying with typal cards that have only seen a single printing, Goblin Lookout serves as a great way to close out games with Goblin strategies, most notably with
I’ve seen this thing in action, and I can tell you it’s no joke in the right build. It only costs two mana to play, and its presence isn’t an immediate threat until it’s too late and suddenly your twenty damage is sixty, and one of your opponents is knocked out of the game.
On top of all this, it’s important to remember that Krenko is currently the #4 most popular commander according to EDHREC, so I don’t see the demand for this, as niche as it is, fully disappearing.
As long as Goblin decks continue to be built, there’ll always be some sort of use for Goblin Lookout, which is why I think for just $6 this is a more than solid foil pickup. Give it a try; when you're in a pinch and need that little extra damage to take out some attackers or just need to close the game out, Goblin Lookout comes in handy.
| Goblin Lookout |
Accelerate
Draw spells are a staple of Magic: The Gathering, but as time has gone on, we've started to run out of blue variants for this powerful effect.
Now, as someone who has a fairly competitive
For just $8 for a foil, this is another relatively cheap pickup given how widely the card can be implemented; it doesn't go in every red deck, but it can go in any red deck. And since it was printed just once, like the rest of the cards listed in this article, foil supplies are bound to dwindle over time.
| Accelerate |
In Conclusion
These are just a few of the potentially useful cards for Commander that have only seen an old-border printing. While there are plenty more that become more and more situational, they’re all beautiful in their old-border frame. I definitely recommend picking some of these up, or grabbing any cheap old-border cards in general, purely for aesthetics alone.
Collecting foils may not be for everyone, but if you want some unique ones that are relatively cheap, this is where I would start.
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Jason Cominetto
Jason is a longtime lover of Magic, falling in love with the game at Seventh Edition, as well as an EDH enthusiast for both casual and competitive metas alike. He's also a screenwriter with a produced feature and plans to proceed with many more creative projects in and out of film. His favorite card is Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, but he firmly believes that Mana Drain is the best card.