Yee-haw Cowboy, it's time to saddle up and find what hidden treasures can be found in the rootin tootin new set Outlaws of Thunder Junction.

This is a set all about some of the most infamous villains in Magic's history making their way across the Thunder Junction in an attempt to pull off the greatest heist the multiverse as ever seen. There are a tonne of new cards in this set perfect for upgrading your commander decks and a bunch of new legendaries too, which can be overwhelming. Fear not dear reader, as I will sift through the chaff and reach the nuggets of gold in this set. Here are my top 5 picks for cards you should pick up to include in your Commander decks at home.

Number Five

Want to put the most broken Magic: The Gathering Mechanic ever designed on to your favourite Instant or Sorcery Card? Well Crackling Spellslinger is the card for you! As this enters the battlefield, we can give the next Instant or Sorcery card we cast Storm. Honestly, that should be enough, but we also can Flash her in at instant speed.

Storm, for those who missed the days in which this Mechanic was legal, allows you to copy the spell for each time any spell was cast, by anyone, before it. This includes your opponent's spells too (importantly it does not count spells you copy, copying is not the same as casting).

This card probably works best when following up with cheap cantrips like Opt or using it to further an already massive Storm count in Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty style decks, but there is something even more hilarious you can do.

Want to punish a Peregrine Drake Combo player? Flash this in and follow it up with classic Storm win con Brain Freeze and mill everyone out. Like Prowess and Cascade it is possible to have multiple instances of Storm on a card (Comprehensive rule 702.40b for all you rule fans out there) You can find Crackling Spellslinger in the Quick Draw Commander deck, which let me tell you, is a lot of fun to play!

Number Four

This is maybe one of the best Board wipes I've seen, outside of Farewell. Final Showdown is an instant for one white mana that has Spree. Spree is a type of modal spell that allows you to sink as much mana as you want to add additional modes to the spell, making the utility on these cards excellent. So, let's break this down into each mode: for additional Mana we can make all creatures lose all abilities until the end of turn. Giving White access to Dress Down was not on my bingo sheet but I am here for it! We can also pay additional Mana to give a creature we control Indestructible until end of turn, which is quite nice as a combat trick when needed. Finally, for an additional we can destroy all creatures.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Six mana for a board wipe? That's super expensive!" Dear reader, you are not wrong, but I think you are seldom casting this simply as a board wipe. The way these Modal spells work is the abilities resolve in order so if you can sink enough mana into this, you can protect your commander and blow up the rest at instant speed. Doing this on the end step leading into your turn is incredibly powerful. Not to mention you're wiping the board as a combat trick. It almost makes this a White version of an overloaded Cyclonic Rift. It's super powerful and definitely worth an include in your next White deck!

Number Three

I am probably going to get a bit of flack for putting this one in my list, but I honestly think, once the dust has settled, Pitiless Carnage is going to be an auto-include in every sacrifice deck. By casting this sorcery we can sacrifice any number of PERMANENTS we control and then draw that many cards. We can also plot this card in the early game for mana, giving us an opportunity to set up for an explosive turn later. The fact that this is Permanents and not Creatures is utterly absurd. We can use any type of sacrifice fodder like Food, Clues, Map or treasure tokens before we even need to consider sacrificing our hard-earned creatures. Even then, this is great for Creatures like Junji, the Midnight Sky who wants to yeet themselves in the bin faster then Forky from Toy Story 4! In decks like Korvold, Fae-Cursed King this is going to create a back-breaking amount of value that your opponents are going to struggle to overcome.

Number Two

You know it, I know it, and Wizards of the coast knows it too! Commander players are suckers for value, and getting additional triggers is about as good as it gets! Annie Joins Up is another entry into the "that's cool, let's do it again" club but with a bit more of a restriction on it when compared to the likes of Roaming Throne and classic Commander Staple Panharmonicon. First, it's in Naya (Red, Green and White), which means this can't go in every deck, but every deck that can play it, will want it. Playing everyones' favourite and totally fair mechanic Landfall with Omnath, Locus of Creation? Annie Joins Up is going to get you so much value from all that landfall, especially as you can run Omnath, Locus of Rage, Omnath, Locus of the Roil, and Tatyova, Benthic Druid for a ridiculous amount of landfall triggers. What about everyones' favourite legendary matters commander Jodah, the Unifier? You'll get a double cascade for each legendary creature you cast, which is enough to just empty your deck right onto the battlefield.

It also has a removal ability on it too, which is nice. If you want to get Janky about it, you can use the likes of Starfield of Nyx or Opalescence to double its own trigger, making this a great include in Go-Shintai of Life's Origin for a Five-colour Enchantment matters decks.

Number One

White really has been getting some excellent staples in the past few sets and this one may be one of the best yet! Aven Interrupter is a 2/2 flyer with flash and when this feathery friend enters the battlefield we exile a spell from the stack, and it becomes plotted. Plot is a brand-new mechanic that lets you exile a card face up and you can cast it on a later turn but only at sorcery speed. If there was ever a card that was going to be a gotcha for Blue players it is this Bird, because counterspells simply cannot be cast at sorcery speed, they need to have a target on the stack. This stops your win from getting countered, which is great!

That's not all this Winged Weapon offers us either, it also has a mini tax effect, increasing the cost of our opponents' spells from Exile or the Graveyard by .

That isn't as irrelevant as it first seems. This hoses Graveyard strategies that revolve around Gravecrawler loops by making them too expensive be able to successfully present the loop, and a lot of Mono-Red "card draw" actually requires players to exile the top card of the library. It's going to feel pretty bad if you need to spend another mana to cast those spells you exile with Jeska's Will. Not to mention, for cEDH players, being able to stop Atraxa, Grand Unifier decks from using Food Chain and Eternal Scourge combo loops is just another reason that this is going to be auto-include in any White deck.

Honestly, I was a bit hesitant on this set but Outlaws of Thunder Junction is shaping up to be a fan favourite and it's easy to see why. These are just my Top 5 cards and there are so many more that are going to take your commander decks up to the next level. Some of these cards are going to be super valuable, so be sure to pick some singles up whilst you have the chance. Until next time!