Where the heck did Jace go? Back during the events of March of the Machine, Magic’s most iconic Planeswalker was startlingly Compleated. An impossibility to many before the events of Phyrexia: All Will be One, it looked like Jace was truly in trouble.
At the beginning of March of the Machine, Elesh Norn simply seemed to leave Jace to his own devices, and he simply disappeared. Despite all of the events in March of the Machine, and even the terribly received Aftermath set, Jace seemed to be gone.
That is, until now. Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s spoiler season has just kicked off, and some shocking spoilers were dropped as the gates to a new set were opened wide. Let’s take a look at all the new MTG cards in the main Outlaws of Thunder Junction set revealed during the spoiler season kickoff. Do note that Commander cards and reprints can be found in another article.
Jace Reawakened
As we alluded to in the introduction, Jace has returned. Even more shocking is that he returned as a two mana Planeswalker! Before you get up in arms about a new potentially broken Planeswalker, I don’t think you need to worry too much. The static ability on this card, while flavorful, is a doozy.
Jace cannot be played in your first, second, or third turns. This means that, even though Jace is a two-mana Planeswalker, it cannot come out on curve, which is generally where these Planeswalkers create issues.
This card may still be quite strong regardless of its dreadful drawback. Jace is still only two mana. Even on turn four, you can probably resolve this Planeswalker while holding up a counterspell in a controlling strategy.
Jace Reawakened ultimately allows you to set up explosive turns. Whether you’re digging for certain pieces or Plotting your cards for a discount later, Jace truly shows his prowess once you’re given time to line things up.
On that note, Plot is a new mechanic that shows up on Jace Reawakened. While we explain it in more detail in this article, Plot basically is a take on Foretell from Kaldheim. You can choose to exile a card for its Plot cost and play it for free at sorcery speed on a later turn. Notably, you can only Plot and play Plotted cards at sorcery speed, and the card exiled is face-up. The benefit to Plot is very nuanced, allowing you to play a bunch of cards in one turn. It may be difficult to understand at first glance, but the ability to, for example, play a free Prowess Haste creature and follow it up with a ton of spells is possible with this new mechanic.
Jace Reawakened is unlike any MTG card we’ve ever seen. This Planeswalker has a ton of potential, but its also very difficult to assess. I believe its quite good despite its downside.
When first seeing this Planeswalker, many players wondered whether or not Magic was going back to multiple Planeswalkers a set. As a reminder, Oko has already been confirmed as a Planeswalker in this set.
Jace was originally designed to be part of the following Epilogue set that has since been discontinued. Since it was, the card was moved to Thunder Junction. This is simply a quirky exception. The ‘one Planeswalker per set’ rule is not being reneged.
Vraska, the Silencer
Unlike Jace, Vraska is no longer a Planeswalker. That doesn’t make this Gorgon Assassin any less deadly, however.
If your opponent plays creatures with some powerful abilities, Vraska gives you an opportunity to steal it. It will come back as a Treasure Token, losing all other card types, but the ability is still incredibly powerful. Imagine stealing an opposing Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Raffine, Scheming Scholar and having it sit on the battlefield as an artifact. It could become an absolute nightmare to remove.
While Vraska does need to react to a metagame to be truly strong, the card definitely has potential to see play in Standard, Pioneer and Commander.
The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride
Have you ever wanted to ride the Gitrog? You can now quite literally have your creatures saddling up on the Gitrog in your MTG games. Of course, the Gitrog does not take kindly to being used as a horse, so it may gobble up its rider and turn it into extra cards and land drops.
Saddle is yet another new mechanic in Outlaws of Thunder Junction. This functions similarly to Crew, but there are some differences. Saddle generally just grants an additional ability, and is not needed to turn your Saddle creatures into a creature. Creatures that can Saddle will also have a new unique creature type: Mount.
Trample and Haste makes this card the real deal. Being able to immediately threaten damage and turn a less relevant body into card advantage make The Gitrog an interesting option.
The most interesting application for this card is using it as a sacrifice outlet for opposing creatures. Imagine Act of Treasoning something and sacrificing it to this.
This will certainly see Commander play, and could see some constructed play as well.
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Slickshot Show-Off
Slickshot Show-Off showcases the power of Plot. This is a creature that has obvious benefits to being held back a turn. If you’re worried about your Show-Off being removed before you can use its triggered ability for a bunch of damage, you’re better off Plotting it. Alternatively, if you don’t think the Show-Off will get removed, you can immediately run it out for an extra point of damage. This decision making is really deep, and can add some brilliant gameplay to Magic across all of its formats.
As a card, Slickshot Show-Off seems absolutely incredible, and is likely the best card spoiled today. This easily slots into Standard, Pioneer and Commander.
Kellan, the Kid
There is a lot going on with this card. As long as you’re casting spells from outside of your hand, Kellan, the Kid has some explosive potential. Fortunately, Plot just so happens to be a fantastic accomplice to this card.
Casting Kellan and following it up with a Plotted card can get something else in your hand onto the battlefield for free! If, for whatever reason, you don’t have a great payoff, playing a land is always a nice consolation prize. Notably, the land is untapped, which could lead to some shenanigans.
Kellan is one of those cards that is generally either absolutely fantastic or terrible. Is there a way to take advantage of it? Kellan then provides some insane value. If not, Kellan will likely be ignored.
Rakdos, the Muscle
Another member of Oko’s heist team, Rakdos, the Muscle grants card advantage whenever you sacrifice a creature. Obvious synergies with Gitrog aside, Rakdos can also become a difficult beater to remove. The indestructible effect synergizes with the card advantage one, making Rakdos a fantastic curve-topper for competitive archetypes. In formats where five mana is not too big of an ask, Rakdos is likely to see some play.
Great Train Heist
Great Train Heist introduces yet another new MTG mechanic that offers some excellent decision making opportunities: Spree. This is yet another variant of Kicker that allows the player to pay extra mana costs for different abilities. You do need to pick at least one ability to cast this card, adding the mana value of that ability to the existing one.
This technically means that Great Train Heist has seven different modes attached to it. You can simply choose to activate one of the three effects, use a combination of two of them, or cast all three. This grants an obscene amount of utility to the card, making it capable of a bunch of different things.
Spree cards with this much utility look absolutely fantastic. The more useful multiple modes are to your deckbuilding, the more powerful these cards will become.
Gisa, the Hellraiser
Gisa, the Hellraiser is a fantastic new toy for Skeleton and Zombie typal decks. Even past that, this card is fantastic in any deck that can reliably resolve and Commit a Crime afterwards. Should you manage this, Gisa essentially creates three bodies with a total stat pool of 10/10. If not dealt with, the card can keep creating bodies, making it an absolute nightmare in Limited.
If that wasn’t enough, Gisa even has a Ward effect, making it difficult to target. This is likely going to be the strongest card in Outlaws of Thunder Junction Limited (maybe aside from some Breaking News reprints), and will be terrorizing Commander tables everywhere.
Freestrider Lookout
Green won’t get a lot of payoffs for Committing a Crime, but Freestrider Lookout can ramp you fast if you’re a convicted felon. Committing a Crime a turn translates into multiple land drops over time. If you manage to find a way to Commit a Crime on each turn in a Commander turn cycle, Freestrider Lookout could represent four land drops per cycle. You won’t have an issue of running out of cards in hand either since the Lookout takes them from the top five cards of your library.
If you manage to find a way to Commit a Crime on each turn, including your opponent’s, this card goes absolutely nuts. The mana value makes it a debatable inclusion for Standard as well.
Annie Flash, the Veteran
Annie Flash is rather expensive to cast, but is likely worth the trouble. Flash gives this card a lot of game, and takes away from weight of the expensive mana value quite a bit.
Annie Flash can both revive a piece from your grave and provide card advantage when it taps. This, combined with the creature’s body, is already enough reason for some decks to consider playing it. Sadly, the mana value does remain expensive, and could rule this card out of competitive play. That said, Annie Flash will likely find a place in any Commander deck that can abuse either of its effects.
Magda, the Hordemaster
One of Commander’s dealiest… well, Commanders returns as a much less scary MTG card. Magda, the Hordemaster can only create one Treasure per turn, but committing a Crime is a rather trivial condition. You can read more about that here.
Just like Magda’s original printing in Kaldheim, this one also provides a payoff for an abundance of Treasure Tokens. The payoff, however, is much tamer than Magda’s previous variation. While this Magda is leagues behind the original, it should easily see some play in decks that care about Treasure.
Tinybones Joins Up
Judging from some early spoilers that hit the internet before this did, the ‘joins up’ enchantments seem to be some kind of cycle coming out in Outlaws of Thunder Junction. This likely features all of the prominent characters in Oko’s heist team.
If you’re looking to build a ‘Legends matter’ theme for your deck, these ‘joins up’ enchantments also seem to be pretty powerful. Each one offers an ETB effect followed by a perk for Legendary creatures. This one seems mediocre, but the other cards in the cycle look quite good. Still, this could be an interesting card for a milling strategy in Commander.
Deserts Return!
Absolutely no one should be surprised that Deserts are returning in Outlaws of Thunder Junction. The setting was fantastic for it, and we already got some leaks that suggested that Deserts would return for the set.
Players wanting Desert Dual Lands now have them, but the Monkey’s Paw may have gotten you here. These tapped lands are obviously intended for Limited play, but do damage your opponent on entry. Combine this with an effect like Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might, and you have a gameplan.
From the information we have thus far, these Deserts appear to be a common cycle within the set.
The Best Pun in the Set
Holy Cow is now an MTG card. better yet, it’s an Ox Angel.
Unfortunately, if this MTG pun elicits a groan from you, the card actually looks quite good in a Limited setting. There’s not much else to it, but those who really want to set Holy Cow loose on their opponents will likely have the opportunity to do so.
Hardbristle Bandit
Because Committing a Crime is so easy in the world of MTG, many Crime mechanics are going to come with additional restrictions. This is demonstrated by Hardbristle Bandit, a mana dork that can untap if something Commits a Crime, but only once per turn.
In Limited, this could be more relevant than you think. Use your Bandit to cast a removal spell, Committing a Crime. Untap it and cast something for tempo purposes.
Vault Cards
As a reminder, there will be two different Bonus Sheets coming out alongside the Outlaws of Thunder Junction. One of them, the Breaking News Bonus Sheet, is layered with some shocking reprints that will not have their legalities affected by their reprints. We’ll talk about that more in a different article.
The other Bonus Sheet is The Big Score, is a Standard-legal Bonus Sheet introducing some mechanically unique cards that were originally available in a kyboshed Epilogue set. These will now be available in the core set instead.
Vaultborn Tyrant is a mechanically unique example. This Dinosaur can be surprisingly tricky to kill. Sadly, the mana value of this card kind of relegates it to Commander, but Dinosaur fans should be perfectly happy to have a new toy to play with.
More Info is Available!
We only covered new cards appearing in the main Outlaws of Thunder Junction set here. Some absolutely incredible reprints, like Mana Drain and Oko, Thief of Crowns have also been confirmed as part of the new Bonus Sheets. Having an opportunity to play Oko, Thief of Crowns at a prerelease already has some players excited.
Otherwise, if you want to see what new Commander legal cards were introduced today, you can take a look at that here. If you want a deeper dive into the new Outlaws of Thunder Junction mechanics, you can take a look here.
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