Everything Revealed At The Outlaws Of Thunder Junction Preview Stream
On March 26th, Wizards of the Coast kicked off the official preview season for Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Magic: The Gathering's 100th expansion set! Wizards began to preview cards over Twitch and YouTube. As such, we are here to relay the news to you! Let's spare no time; here are the cards Wizards revealed for the public on stream today.
WANTED: Outlaws of Thunder Junction's Legendary Creatures... And Oko
To start, let's look at the legendary creatures showcased during the stream, as well as Oko, The Ringleader, who we are adding here strictly for posterity.
Regarding the Mount creature type and the Saddle ability, saddling a Mount creature like The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride is much like crewing a Vehicle, except that Mounts can already attack and block. Therefore, Mounts will generally have some sort of upside for becoming saddled. This mechanic is another one that people can check off of their wishlists, as it is something that Magic Head Designer Mark Rosewater says players have consistently requested.
The Plot mechanic alluded to on the card Fblthp, Lost on the Range works like foretell, but you cast plotted cards without paying their mana costs at a later turn rather than for an alternative cost. This allows players to bank their spells for an explosive later turn. However, the plotted cards will be exiled face-up, in further contrast to foretold cards.
Other Cards In Outlaws of Thunder Junction
Before we get to the showcase treatments or Commander contents for the new set, let's look at some of the other cards within.
Spree is another new mechanic for the set. A modal mechanic, Spree asks that you pay at least one additional cost to cast the spell, but you could cast all of them! You can only choose a mode once, however, so keep that in mind when you cast Spree spells at the Outlaws of Thunder Junction prerelease event or elsewhere.
The "Wanted" Poster Showcase
Naturally, when an outlaw gains a reputation, wanted posters spring up of that outlaw. Therefore, Wizards of the Coast has created the set's showcase fashioned after wanted posters of the Old West. Here are a few of them!
There are plenty of other treatments for cards in this set, including a bonus sheet! Let's look at that next.
"Breaking News" Bonus Sheet
Much like Strixhaven: School of Mages, The Brothers' War, and Wilds of Eldraine among others, Outlaws of Thunder Junction is getting a bonus sheet. This sheet, known as "Breaking News", is based on the press's sensational coverage of criminal activity at Thunder Junction. As such, all cards in the Breaking News bonus sheet will commit a "crime" in some fashion. For reference, you commit a crime by targeting an opponent's spell, permanent, or a card in their graveyard. Here are some of the cards in the Breaking News bonus sheet!
Kaladesh Fast Lands Make a Reappearance in Thunder Junction
The set of dual lands first printed in Kaladesh will return in Outlaws of Thunder Junction! These duals enter tapped unless you control two or fewer other lands. Let's look at the gorgeous new art for these reprints!
The "Big Score", or, The Vault, Plus a Special Guest
As a holdover from March of the Machine: Aftermath's commercial shortcomings, Outlaws of Thunder Junction, which was originally meant to contain an epilogue set, includes the "Big Score", a special set of cards from the Fomori Vault of the titular frontier plane.
The "Big Score" also has a special showcase treatment known as the Vault treatment. Let's have a look into the Vault!
In addition to all of these special showcase cards, Outlaws of Thunder Junction continues the trend of "Special Guest" cards started in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. We have only one card to show you right now, but it's pretty significant!
Commander Cards From The New Release
Now, it's ab0ut time we showcase the cards that many of you are here to see: the face commanders from the Thunder Junction Commander precons! This time around, Wizards of the Coast has decided that the face commanders will all have a borderless treatment. Here they are!
Additionally, in the preconstructed Commander decks for this release, Wizards of the Coast is introducing an all-new supplemental format to add to any of your games! Bounties are a new supplemental concept that allows players to gain incremental advantage for performing game actions. There are rules for taking bounties as well. Take a look!
While a minimum of six unique Bounty cards are necessary to play with this supplemental ruleset, Wizards has recommended that the full suite of twelve is the most fun for players. Each preconstructed Commander deck for Outlaws of Thunder Junction comes with three predefined Bounty cards.
Borderless Planeswalker Cards
Finally, we wish to showcase the two borderless planeswalker cards in the set. Yes, we are receiving two planeswalker cards this set. The cards will also receive borderless showcase treatments. The first one is Oko, the Ringleader, as one might expect.
...Wait. What? Ah, that's not - what was I writing again? Ah, no matter. On to the conclusion!
Into the Sunset
Thunder Junction is shaping up to be a pretty innovative Magic set, perfect to be the 100th expansion when you discount Core Sets, Un-sets, supplemental releases, starter sets, boxed sets, and the like. Are you excited for Outlaws?
