Sphere of Influence: November 14, 2025

Spinner of Souls | Illustrated by Xavier Ribeiro

Welcome to Sphere of Influence, a pre-FNM look at some potential movers and shakers that are worth picking up before their prices increase.

One year ago this month, Foundations revitalized core sets with a passion, introducing countless new cards into Commander and reprinting many favorites for far lower prices. On the eve of Avatar: The Last Airbender, it felt appropriate to turn on the wayback machine and identify some goodies from Foundations that can serve as an excellent foundation for your deckbuilding needs. Here are some of the best:

Blasphemous Edict - $4

This card's $4 price is an absolute steal. Blasphemous Edict is easily the second best black board wipe in the format, after Toxic Deluge, and has become an absolute staple for its ability to be cast for a single black pip and for how it gets around things like indestructible. It only takes one casting of the spell to become a convert. Pick up at least one per every black deck you own.

Loot, Exuberant Explorer - $4

Loot often gets overlooked when searching for cards that let you play more than one land a turn; often, Oracle of Mul Daya and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove come to mind first, but Loot has them arguably beat. For three mana, it contains the same text that enables playing more than one land, but includes an outlet for you to spend all of that mana, and at instant speed, no less. Grab a few to power out some fatties of your own.

Crystal Barricade - $1

This card may not look like much, but that's precisely the point. It protects against Blasphemous Act, keeps you safe from targeted direct damage or discard effects, and absorbs some early attacks fairly well. Best of all, your opponents won't want to waste a removal spell on your Wall when there will likely be much better targets out there. I predict this one sticks on the board for awhile.

Spinner of Souls - $0.50

The only sorts of cards I want to draw in my green decks are creatures, and Spinner of Souls cuts right to the good stuff in that regard. Plus, for only three mana, you also get a 4/3 reacher to protect from tiny flying annoyances, which isn't something Evolutionary Leap can claim. The fact that Spinner is a creature itself is simply green icing on the St. Patrick's Day cake.

Quilled Greatwurm - $3

In an even semi-dedicated +1/+1 counters deck, it's hardly an issue to cobble together six of those counters to recast Quilled Greatwurm from the graveyard, meaning this one is perennially a threat. Its ability to put counters on other creatures is quite strong, and it fuels itself. As long as there are +1/+1 counter decks, there will be a need for Quilled Greatwurm.

Lost but Found

Which cards from Foundations do you see continually making an impact in Commander? Let's revisit this set together!