Outlaws of Thunder Junction previews have finally wrapped up as of today! The full card image gallery has now been posted and as such every card is previewed. Today, I'd like to talk about some of the highlights among the cards previewed within the past few days.

While the majority of the main set was previewed last week, Monday brought with it a handful of remaining cards - including most of the commons. Since almost all of the relevant main set cards were revealed and gone over last week, I'll be covering the commons themselves in my upcoming Pauper review of the set. Make sure to check back on Wednesday to see what sweet commons the set has to offer!

Instead of focusing on the main set this time, I'd like to draw your attention to the two subsets and the Commander release this week, starting with...

BREAKING NEWS!

When the Breaking News bonus sheet previews started popping up, players were excited because it was clear Wizards was bringing some heat. The initial first look for the set showed us Thoughtseize, which was pretty good, and then the debut stream showed off cards like Mana Drain, Grindstone, and Oko, Thief of Crowns. Surely they gave us all the juice out of the gate, right? Wrong! This new bonus sheet includes tons of cards worth decent chunks of change in their own right. Here's just a couple examples of what we got:

If you've been playing any amount of Modern or Legacy in the last couple of years, you no doubt know how big of an impact many of the free spells from the Modern Horizons sets have been. Force of Vigor has been a particularly huge player thanks to its ability to shut down powerful artifacts and enchantments of opponents without much worry. As the card only had one proper printing in the original Modern Horizons, Force of Vigor has been creeping up in price for a while and is a great inclusion here as a result.

Over the last couple of years, Wizards has been giving all kinds of reprints to some extremely popular cards from various Portal sets, but most notably Portal Three Kingdoms. This set was exclusively released in APAC territories in small quantities, leading to it being one of the rarest and most sought after sets in the game's history. As such, it's quite a big deal when one of these cards gets reprinted, and we can check one more off the list now thanks to the reprinting of Overwhelming Forces, a major board wipe for Black decks. The card previously had a single Judge Promo reprint, but had yet to see a more widespread release until now.

Last but not least is the biggest of them all: Mindbreak Trap. Some players lamented the inclusion of Archive Trap (also an awesome reprint!) when it could've been one of the most needed reprints in Mindbreak Trap. Then, lo and behold, this was revealed by the end of the day on Monday. Mindbreak Trap is a staple of Commander and Legacy play and due to its singular printing in Zendikar nearly 15 years ago, the card has been the most expensive Modern legal card prior to this reprint. It's a highly welcome inclusion that has many players excited to get their hands on it.

The Vault Opened: The Big Score Revealed

Continuing the trend of awesome reprints isn't just limited to the Breaking News bonus sheet! The additional subset of The Big Score features a couple of really strong cards. Last week we got to see Torpor Orb, but now this week we were shown Grand Abolisher and Rest in Peace. All three of these are awesome reprints with tremendously impactful abilities. Grand Abolisher and Torpor Orb both enter Pioneer with their inclusions here and will no doubt be big players going into the upcoming RCQ season.

In addition to new reprints, we also got to see a number of new cards riffing on classic Magic concepts and cards. Lotus Ring plays on the concept of turning creatures you control into copies of Black Lotus while doing other things utilizing the number 3, reminiscent of the 3 mana the original piece of Power grants you when sacrificed. We also received Lost Jitte, a remix of the classic and famously broken Umezawa's Jitte, allowing players a new chance to experience the appeal of this old classic.

Last but not least was the real prize in the story-affiliated vault: Loot, the Key to Everything! Without getting too into the weeds of the story, Loot is what Jace and Vraska were after when they commissioned Oko and his gang to break into the ancient Fomori vault. This adorable little critter is going to have massive lore ramifications going forward and the card itself is no slouch either, offering up tons of card advantage for little cost.

New Commander Cards Loose - Players Rejoice!

With any new set these days comes a host of new Commander decks. Outlaws of Thunder Junction is no exception, bringing four all-new decks to the table. Last week we got our first look at the face cards of the set and this week we got our alternate Commanders.

All four of these provide some really awesome play that has players excited for the possibilities of what you can do in games. How about a silly Panharmonicon for combat damage or maybe turn all your treasures into creatures? There's tons of new options now at your disposal thanks to these awesome designs!

It's not just the cool new legends providing excellent designs either. Each deck comes with a total of ten brand new cards, with highlights such as these:

Ever wanted to give any of your spells Storm? That's what Crackling Spellslinger lets you do! There's tons of options that you can do with this, from something as simple as copying a Ponder or Lightning Bolt several times to getting several instances of Demonic Tutor or Return of the Wildspeaker to really close out games. Any deck running Red is going to want this just for the sheer value it brings to the table - particularly if you're piloting a Storm-centric deck.

Tower Winder is rather simple as far as designs go, without too much flashiness to it. What it lacks in glitz it makes up for in spades in terms of utility. The card allows you to fetch up a copy of Command Tower from your deck and then sits around as a threat ready to take out any opponents' big creature looking to come your way. It's extremely reminiscent of Baleful Strix, which has gone on to be hugely popular in various formats, though this one is likely only to see a real home in Commander due to the limitations of what it can find.

If you want something bigger and flashier, though, let me introduce you to Heartless Conscription. This card costs a whopping 8 mana, but it's well worth it for what you get out of the deal. Not only does it wipe out all creatures on the battlefield, it then lets you cast them yourself whenever you feel like, providing you tons of value and plays for the rest of any game you cast it in. Expect to see it become a quick staple of many Commander decks going forward.

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
• Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander Decklists
• 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)

That wraps things up for Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Make sure you check into your local game store next week for prerelease and check out CoolStuffInc's own store page for the set to get all your OTJ needs! There's tons of sets coming up in the months ahead so I'll be back with yet another preview round up soon enough. Until then, it's time to ride off into the sunset and play with some sweet new cards! Just don't leave your cowboy hat at home.

Paige Smith

Twitter: @TheMaverickGal

Twitch: twitch.tv/themaverickgirl

YouTube: TheMaverickGal