Howdy, y'all! It's time for yet another preview season, this time for the long-awaited Western-themed world with Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Previews kicked off this Tuesday with the debut stream and aftershow discussion with the team to talk about the mechanics and other elements of the set. Since then we've seen all manner of sweet cards throughout the week and there's plenty to talk about. Let's dive right in and check out some of the cool new stuff the set has to offer!

The Cards People Are Talking About

Everybody loves a good premier removal spell as well as a good bit of light humor on a card. Put them into one simple package and it gets everyone talking! The one simple line of reminder text here in "Everyone else is fair game" took MTG social media by storm. Similarly, it got players trying to figure out if it would be better than other top removal spells for different formats and scenarios based on creature types available. Its use will probably come and go depending on the relevant types, but there's no doubt this is going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Speaking of humorous cards that are forces to reckon with, how about some cows? After all, what would a set based in a Wild West environment be without some cattle? Here it's played up strongly with the amazingly named Holy Cow and then also Bovine Intervention providing yet another light bit of removal fun. Both cards are powerful in their own right, yet they simultaneously have a bit of fun that makes them that much more endearing.

One of the bigger story moments to be revealed at the end of Outlaws of Thunder Junction's story was not the payoff to Oko and Kellan's story. That happened, yes, but the moment that got everyone talking was Ashiok - who commissioned Oko's gang to hunt down a treasure vault - turning out to be Jace hiding himself behind an illusion. While nothing has been made clear just yet, it's highly suspected that he's the story's new villain and to match this big story moment, Jace received a planeswalker card here. It's very reminiscent of Serra Avenger mechanically and has players wondering exactly what kind of silliness you can get up to by plotting spells turn after turn.

What's New and Pricey?

While I could talk about the cards such as Oko, the Ringleader and Sword of Wealth and Power, we already knew these cards were coming. Instead, why not focus on some other cards that are proving fairly early on to pack a real punch to the wallet?

Final Showdown just does it all. Seriously, have you read it? It either shuts down powerful abilities from creatures, protects one creature on your side, or you can even cast a board wipe at instant speed. Oh, yeah, and if you have enough mana you can do all of that at once. The card is incredibly strong and is bound to be a staple in Commander going forward, as well as potentially several Constructed formats as well.

Kindred lords are always fairly popular, but they're usually rather fragile and easy to pick off. Gisa, the Hellraiser laughs at that notion, with both her sizable body and ward ability making her a formidable adversary. Even if you don't have a single other skeleton or zombie in your arsenal, just playing Gisa alongside a suite of removal spells and countermagic is sure to provide you with incredible amounts of creatures to take down any opponent.

Everyone loves a good Clone effect, but you know what people really love? Getting multiple clones for the low, low cost of only 4 mana. I'll be honest, I don't know exactly how you can break this one, as the creature types you can utilize are both specific and not what you'd always think of utilizing together until now. But now that we have access to this, I have no doubt that players are going to find some ways to make this do some really silly things.

Notable Reprints

Outlaws of Thunder Junction is absolutely stuffed with reprints. You'd almost be forgiven for thinking it was something akin to a Masters set for the amount of awesome cards showing back up in this set. We've got a couple bonus bits to start us off here.

The Breaking News subset includes all manner of cards capable of committing crimes. While we'd seen a handful of them previously, I don't think many people were expecting Mana Drain of all things. That's right, the famous counterspell from Legends sees a reprint here, bringing the card to Timeless on MTG Arena. Additionally, we also see Oko, Thief of Crowns making an appearance to show off just how utterly broken he is in Limited environments. If you ever see this Oko staring back at you in your draft, take him and run!

Additionally, we have our new set of Special Guests. There's some truly iconic cards in the mix such as Stoneforge Mystic, Scapeshift, and Prismatic Vista. But there's also some lesser ones that are still extremely cool to have around, such as the classic Simic creature in Mystic Snake. All of these provides some interesting additions and texture to the Limited environment while enabling more players to have better access to these cards at the same time.

The bonus slots aren't the only place to feature sweet reprints! The main set is chock full of them as well. All five enemy color fast lands will enter Standard with this set, providing well-timed mana benefits to the format as well as better availability going into the next Pioneer season. Archangel of Tithes has proven to be a decently popular casual card and sees its first major reprint here since Magic Origins. Even more popular of a card, though, is Terror of the Peaks, which commanded a mighty $40 price tag prior to its reprinting here.

Additional Resources

If you'd like more information on this set, check out the following links to various official resources from Wizards of the Coast:

• Outlaws of Thunder Junction official card image gallery
• Where to Find Outlaws of Thunder Junction Previews
• Collecting Outlaws of Thunder Junction
• Outlaws of Thunder Junction Mechanics
• Outlaws of Thunder Junction Story Episode One (additional stories can be found on the right side of the page)

The Outlaws of Thunder Junction train is just picking up steam, and we've still got a whole week's worth of additional previews left to go! Next week we're seeing even more cards from Breaking News, the subset The Big Score that I honestly didn't even get to touch on at all this week, and Commander products. I'll be back once again next Friday to bring you the rundown on those, so make sure you check back and see what awesome cards await!

Paige Smith

Twitter: @TheMaverickGal

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