MTG Breaking News Bonus Sheet Boasts Plethora of Pricy Reprints!

One of the more unique aspects of the upcoming Outlaws of Thunder Junction set is the focus on two different bonus sheets. Cards from both the Breaking News and Big Score sheets can be found in play boosters. Notably, cards from Big Score will actually be Standard legal, while Breaking News cards will not be.

The Breaking News bonus sheet specifically emphasizes Crimes of MTG’s past. As such, every card is a reprint that can target an opponent or some of their stuff. From Mana Drain to Thoughtseize, we’ve seen a decent number of high-profile reprints spoiled already. In the last 48 hours, a multitude of other elite additions to the bonus sheet were previewed. Let’s take a closer look at the best of the best.

Contagion Engine

Contagion Engine requires a decent amount of mana input to make use of, but in Commander, can have quite the effect on the game Obviously, getting to Proliferate twice means that you can slowly shrink the Creatures of the opponent that you targeted when Contagion Engine entered the battlefield. However, Proliferating is rather easily abusable and getting to do it twice every turn can be a massive swing.

Whether you are getting extra +1/+1 counters on your Creatures or increasing the number of poison counters each opponent has, there are lots of ways to abuse Contagion Engine. This powerful Artifact from Scars of Mirrodin has only been reprinted as a card on The List and in a Secret Lair drop. It currently sits at roughly $20 in its cheapest traditional form according to TCGPlayer market price.

Force of Vigor

Unlike Contagion Engine, Force of Vigor gets a ton of its strength from its efficiency. In some cases, you may end up paying four mana to cast it like normal. In Constructed play, though, what makes the card so strong is that it can be effectively cast with no mana invested. Sure, you have to pitch a green card from your hand in this case, but that’s a small price to pay to be able to meaningfully interact.

Force of Vigor is excellent against various Urza’s Saga decks from Modern down to Vintage. It also helps a multitude of graveyard-based combo decks, such as Vintage Dredge, answer problematic hate pieces like Leyline of the Void in an easy manner. Force of Vigor was part of a cycle of “free” spells from Modern Horizons. It has since been a part of The List but has received no other non-foil printings. With a price tag of about $21 for the cheapest traditional version, Force of Vigor is a solid reprint to see here.

Archive Trap

Archive Trap is an interesting card and a staple of the Modern Mill deck. Alongside other Mill cards like Fractured Sanity, forcing your opponent to lose via decking is a real strategy. Archive Trap often leads to the most explosive starts that the Mill deck has to offer, assuming you can cast it for zero mana.

Of course, your opponent does need to search their library for this to happen, but in a format reliant on Fetchlands, this happens regularly. Additionally, the Mill deck plays Field of Ruin, which can force the opponent to search their library whether they like it or not.

Archive Trap first appeared in Zendikar and has seen no reprints besides showing up on The List. It currently sits at roughly $14.

Reanimate

Reanimate is an elite Legacy staple. Getting to bring back Atraxa, Grand Unifier from the graveyard for only one mana is an easy way to win a game in short order.

In Legacy, Reanimate sees play in one of the strongest decks in recent memory, pairing the graveyard recursion spell with threats like Grief and Troll of Khazad-Dum that naturally go the graveyard at little cost.

Perhaps the most impactful aspect of this reprint is the fact that Timeless decks on MTG Arena will get to make use of the card. We already know Solitude will be a Special Guest reprint with the release of Modern Horizons III, so there’s a good chance that the Grief+Reanimate package will be implemented on Arena as well.

Reanimate has been reprinted many times, appearing in multiple recent Commander decks. The fact that players start at 40 life in Commander really helps mitigate the life loss. Even still, the card is worth roughly $12 in its cheapest traditional form.

Leyline Binding

If you’ve been following the Modern metagame over the past few months, you know just how good Leyline Binding is. The combination of Leyline of the Guildpact, Scion of Draco, and Leyline Binding has completely warped the format. In Legacy, Leyline also pairs exceptionally well with Up the Beanstalk, which ultimately received the banhammer in Modern.

Even in Pioneer, five-color Bring to Light decks rely on Leyline Binding to help interact in an efficient manner. Leyline Binding helps make sure you don’t fall too far behind when setting up your manabase, which uses a decent number of tapped Lands, like various Triomes.

As a multi-format all-star that hasn’t been printed outside of Dominaria United, it’s no surprise that Leyline Binding has a somewhat hefty price tag. The cheapest variant costs about $10.

While none of these cards quite hit the reprint value of Mana Drain, they help showcase the sheer number of awesome reprints the Breaking News bonus sheet has to offer. For those who enjoy cracking packs, these interactive powerhouses should help make opening Outlaws of Thunder Junction product an even more exciting experience.