Outlaws of Thunder Junction Releases!

As of today the latest Magic expansion, Outlaws of Thunder Junction, has been released. While cards were made available in most spaces last week thanks to prereleases, it's now available via all spaces. This includes big box releases in paper, as well as digital releases on MTG Arena and Magic Online. Stop into your local game store to get your Western on, or check out the CoolStuffInc store page for the set now to pick up some awesome new cards today!

Wizards of the Coast President Resigns

Interesting. Wizards president Cynthia Williams steps down effective next week. https://t.co/BWeHo0SEoj pic.twitter.com/qNmr34WTj3

— Saffron Olive (@SaffronOlive) April 17, 2024

News broke earlier this week that the most recent Wizards of the Coast president, Cynthia Williams, has stepped down. Official resignation documents were found online and shared by various sources, such as content creator SaffronOlive. Seth also notes that this is effective next week, while there is an upcoming earnings report coming next week as well, and the two have thus been speculated to be related to one another. Many have pointed out that sets like Ravnica Remastered and Murders at Karlov Manor have performed pretty poorly, at least compared to many recent successes such as The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth last year. At this time, Wizards and/or Hasbro has yet to announce Williams' replacement.

MagicCon Las Vegas Early Info and Applications Revealed

MagicCon: Las Vegas is October 25-27, 2024!

Badges and events will be available soon, but today applications for #MCVegas are officially open for panels, cosplay competitors, creator badges, Art of Magic and more!https://t.co/ykDKu2XvBu pic.twitter.com/DPq5j8dghH

— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) April 17, 2024

Coming hot off the trail of both MagicCon Chicago and MagicCon Amsterdam is now MagicCon Las Vegas being held from October 25-27. While badges and events have yet to be announced and go on sale, Wizards announced this week that the various applications for things such as panels, cosplay, creator badges, and so on are now available. If you'd like to join in on the fun, check out the above linked tweet and sign up today!

Additionally, this announcement gave us a few minor looks into the upcoming set of Duskmourn: House of Horror. This set appears to feature Kaito Shizuki, suspected to be the planeswalker of the set, in a seriously dark setting. The set will feature a horror aesthetic heavily inspired by modern horror, particularly from around the 1980s. At this time, it seems the MagicCon will be fittingly themed heavily by this set, just in time for Halloween when the event will be taking place.

Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction Begins Next Week

Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction is right around the corner, bringing a look at some of the best players trying to perform strongly in a fairly new Standard meta. While we already knew the event was coming, Wizards released a viewer's guide this week ahead of the event coming up next week. Many players are excited to see what happens as the set is considered extremely powerful and may have a sizeable impact on the Standard format as we know it. Tune in to the official Magic Twitch page next Friday to get in on the action!

Commander Format Update and New Philosophy Document

As is usual for whenever a new premier Magic set is released, the Commander Rules Committee releases a new format update. As has become fairly standard with most updates for the format, there were no changes announced in regards to the ban list. However, the update provided a fresh update to the format philosophy document from the Rules Committee. You can find it linked in the greater announcement article right here.

Decklist of the Week

Mono-Red Prowess | Pioneer | Terp, 5-0 MTGO League

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Ghitu Lavarunner
• 4 Monastery Swiftspear
• 4 Slickshot Show-Off
• 4 Soul-Scar Mage

• Instants (12)
• 4 Monstrous Rage
• 4 Play with Fire
• 4 Wizard's Lightning

• Sorceries (9)
• 1 Reckless Impulse
• 4 Light Up the Stage
• 4 Skewer the Critics

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Kumano Faces Kakkazan // Etching of Kumano

• Lands (19)
• 11 Mountain
• 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 3 Den of the Bugbear
• 4 Ramunap Ruins

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Witchstalker Frenzy
• 3 Case of the Crimson Pulse
• 3 Rending Volley
• 3 Tears of Valakut
• 4 Rampaging Ferocidon

Buy This Deck Export text

Outlaws of Thunder Junction is hitting the scene in force and players are super stoked to make use of all the new powerful cards available through the set. One card that's got many competitive players particularly excited to play with is Slickshot Show-Off. This Bird Wizard has had people chomping at the bit to make use of it for explosive finish in aggro decks, and we've already seen it show up in a variety of formats right out of the gate. Take this Mono-Red Prowess list, a Pioneer classic in the past that's fallen off in favor of a more standard Mono-Red Aggro deck and the Boros Heroic list as well. Now with the Slickshot Show-Off, players are trying to make it work once again, and here's an early example primed and ready for the start of Pioneer RCQ season. Give it a shot if you're looking to try something fresh!

Paige Smith

Twitter: @TheMaverickGal

Twitch: twitch.tv/themaverickgirl

YouTube: TheMaverickGal