Get the lowdown on Magic’s newest foil treatment.
What is a Mana Foil in Magic: The Gathering? Well friends, that’s a good question. Unlike ye olden days of Magic, where just getting a (traditional) foil card was a big deal. Nowadays, there are several new foiling types, with a new one coming around with nearly every set, and if you’re someone who’s been keeping track, that’s a lot of new foil treatments every year. It’s a lot, and while it’s certainly pretty, it’s also a hard thing to keep track of sometimes.
Because we are, in fact, the keepers of some knowledge, and one of the bits of knowledge we know is what a Mana Foil is in Magic, we’re going to go ahead and teach you everything you need to know about them. That means that by the end of this article, you’ll not only know what they are, but also where you can get them as well.
What is a Mana Foil in MTG?
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Mana Foils are a special kind of foiling treatment that you’ll only be able to find in Foundations; the pseudo-beginner set that’s going to help become the backbone for Standard going forward. A lot of these special foiling treatments can feel very fleeting, but as Foundations is meant to be around for at least the next five years, it should mean that this particular style of foil is a lot more common.
They being more common is a good and bad thing, depending on where you sit in the community. For collectors, it’s a good thing because you’ll be able to get your hands on more of them, and the likelihood of you finding your favorite Mana Foil card is a lot higher, especially as time goes on. The same is true for more casual players, because shiny things are always pleasing to newer players. However, if you’re someone who likes to invest in MTG, then it could be an issue with the long-term value of the cards. It’s just something worth keeping in mind.
The foils themselves display an image of every mana symbol in MTG on the foil itself. It’s a very clever way of helping Foundations feel like a true celebration of everything Magic, alongside the mix of reprints and new cards. It should look pretty good in person, although we’re not 100% sure how good that’ll be just yet as we’ve yet to see them ourselves. It’s worth noting this treatment uses the same approach as the Step-and-Compleat Foils from Phyrexia: All Will Be One. So, if you like that kind of foil treatment, you’ll love these.
As with a lot of other special foil treatments, you’ll only be able to get Mana Foils in Collector Boosters, and these ones only come in English, even if the pack you bought is in another language. It’s also on the Borderless Rare and Mythic Rare cards that can be found, so if you’ve got a Mana Foil, it’s very likely going to be a card that’s worth having. It’s a bit of a shame not to see it as a general treatment in the set, but it’s still something worth chasing for those who want to.