‘Pioneer Masters’ and ‘Foundations’ reviewed: ‘Magic: The Gathering’ reimagines its past to court new players

Hours deep into the streamer event Wizards invited me to, I couldn’t help but feel like “Pioneer Masters” was invented precisely for me.

While “Magic: The Gathering” often repackages past hits, none have captured a more personal, formative era. I returned to the game between 2013’s “Dragon’s Maze” and “Theros,” a transitional time when Master of Waves could surf to victory on Nightveil Specters and Frostburn Weirds, and when my budget heroic deck aced a Standard tournament — punching way above its weight-class.

The designers of “Pioneer Masters,” out Tuesday on the digital “MTG Arena” app, clearly remember those days fondly, but they’ve got their own ideas too. They fortified draft staples like Wingsteed Rider with Rimrock Knight and Ardenvale Tactician synergies. They combined Converge cards with enablers like Courier’s Briefcase. They even included Opal Lake Gatekeepers and Guild Summit for greedy multicolor decks and those foolhardy enough to build around Maze’s End.

This revisionism also ratcheted up the power level, of course. Dreadbore, once rare, is now a common (if premium) removal spell. Numerous rares are now uncommon — one of them, Anax and Cymede, supercharged a draft deck of mine that claimed the maximum seven wins. I suspect that similar Red-White aggro decks (and the White-Green Hexproof/Auras archetype) will dominate the draft format, but I’ve snatched some surprise wins with a silly Chromanticore/Ashen Rider build too.

Overall, “Pioneer Masters” succeeds at bringing “MTG Arena” closer to the paper format it draws its name from, finishing a job left incomplete by digital re-releases like “Shadows Over Innistrad Remastered.” Its draft format may not be unique enough to endure, but it still let me revel in an era that launched my current “Magic” obsession.

“Foundations,” meanwhile, faces a tougher task. Out in time for the gift-giving season, this massive digital and physical set is designed to appeal to tournament grinders and fresh-faced, casual players.

It’s more successful at the former aim than the latter. “Foundations” injects numerous old and new cards into the competitive scene to scaffold strategies for years to come (unlike typical releases, “Foundations” cards don’t rotate out of Standard play — they’re essentially evergreen). As a draft format, it’s also one of the best back-to-basics sets we’ve seen — and I say that as a fan of Core sets like 2015’s “Magic Origins.” While it’s not as fun as this year’s “Duskmourn,” I’ll take it over the cute-but-confining “Bloomburrow.”

However, I’ve found that even the most welcoming “Foundations” product can confound the uninitiated. Wizards sent me a “Beginner Box,” which I tested on my sister-in-law over the Thanksgiving holiday. An avid gamer, she was still frustrated by the game’s first guided match and overwhelmed by its invitation to dive into its eight “Jumpstart” mini-decks.

It didn’t help that the “Beginner Box” booklet gave bad directions. You’re not supposed to shuffle the introductory decks, instead you’ll draw cards in a specific order — but they’re arranged precisely opposite the way the game intends should you place the decks face-down, as it directs! We had to play with them face-up to have the intended experience, which also happened to hand one player a game-winning advantage. I can’t recommend the “Beginner Box” as a teaching tool. “MTG Arena” offers much better tutorials for free.

Wizards also sent me a “Starter Collection,” intended for players who’ve already grasped the basic rules. I sprung it on a buddy who last played “Magic” in the 90s and was intrigued by the collection’s hundreds of fresh cards. I crafted a White-Black deck out of these contents, and my friend built a Red-Green monsters deck that he persisted in fine-tuning game after game. Though it lacks a comprehensive guide, this Collection is indeed a decent place to start.