Outlaws of Thunder Junction has just launched on MTG Arena, hooray! It technically costs almost $2000 if you want to buy everything! What the fuck?! Talk about daylight robbery…
Thanks to all the hype during spoiler season, it’s no secret that Outlaws of Thunder Junction is jam-packed with content. Between the new constructed staples, Commander options, and stellar reprints, this set has it all. On top of all that, there’s even a bounty of card styles that are destined to become MTG Arena cosmetics.
Within the wider gaming world, usually, it’d be these cosmetics that boast an eye-watering, albeit entirely optional price tag. On MTG Arena, however, Outlaws of Thunder Junction is suffering from a completely different problem. Thanks to The Big Score, this set is phenomenally and disgustingly expensive.
Dastardly Dismal Odds
Now that Outlaws of Thunder Junction has launched on MTG Arena, players haven’t hesitated to start cracking packs. While arguably not as satisfying as doing it on paper, with so many cards to collect, opening packs is just natural. Unfortunately, on MTG Arena, there is one major problem.
While Play Boosters are now the standard on paper, MTG Arena still has its own packs. Available via the game’s storefront, these packs only contain eight cards, only one of which can be rare or mythic. Unfortunately for MTG Arena players, thanks to The Big Score, the set contains a lot more mythic cards than usual.
On its own, the total of mythic cards being pumped up by 30 would be bad enough for avid collectors. Unfortunately, Wizards has made the, quite frankly, baffling decision to make The Big Score cards worryingly difficult to obtain. During a recent MTG Arena announcements post, Wizards revealed the odds for finding The Big Score cards in packs.
“1 mythic rare card from The Big Score may replace the mythic rare in Outlaws of Thunder Junction Store packs at a rate of approximately 1:5.”
Wizards of the Coast
As much as one in five odds may not seem too bad, sadly, the reality of the situation is much worse. Since only a mythic card can be replaced by a Big Score card, first you have to get lucky there too. In Outlaws of Thunder Junction, the rate of opening a mythic card is “approximately 1:7.” Putting these odds together, you should find a Big Score card in one out of every 35 packs, which is madness!
Worryingly, these odds may not even be accurate, as one Reddit user has recently shared their very unfortunate experience. As soon as the game finished updating, u/TheBr0fessor claimed they cracked a staggering 188 packs. Despite this mass opening, TheBr0fessor claims they only “got 2 Big Score cards.”
Daylight Robbery
Worringly, it now appears that TheBr0fessor’s back luck isn’t an isolated incident. With Twitter user @BFollest finding zero The Big Score cards after opening 70 packs, it seems the odds may not be right. Even if we do trust Wizards and their advertised odds, however, Outlaws of Thunder Junction still isn’t cheap by any means.
If you want to get one copy of every single The Big Score card, from opening packs, it’ll cost you $1099.99. This immense sum is based on the odds (1:35) multiplied by 30, the number of Big Score cards. In total, you’d need to purchase 1050 Outlaws of Thunder Junction packs.
Even when purchasing packs and gems at the most efficient prices, you still need to sell out over $1000. Worryingly, you may have to spend even more money than this due to the fact that duplicates exist. Thankfully, since duplicates do exist, and Wizards has some mercy, MTG Arena does offer duplicate protection.
In theory, MTG Arena’s duplicate protection could drop the price of card acquisition down dramatically. Unfortunately, it simply depends on how lucky, or rather unlucky, you get in your pack cracking. The duplicate protection only really comes in clutch if you want four copies of every single card for a truly complete collection.
Should you want four of every mythic in Outlaws of Thunder Junction, $1399.86 appears to be the maximum spend. Mercifully, this worst-case scenario cost should never happen, since Breaking News cards also have a dedicated slot in packs. While cracking packs is obviously expensive, thankfully, there is a better way to get The Big Score cards.
Despite it being largely hated by MTG Arena players, the Mythic Wildcard Bundle somehow manages to come to the rescue. Costing $19.99 a pop, this controversial bundle can get you every Big Score card for just $159.92. If you want complete playsets of each card, that’d run you $599.7. While this is by no means cheap, it’s still an awful lot less than the expected spend you’d be faced with from buying packs alone.
Pick and Choose
Despite being hated for its overly high price for a digital game, miraculously the Mythic Wildcard Bundle is clearly the best deal. Not only is it the cheapest, but it also doesn’t rely on chase which can completely ruin the pack opening experience. While it may be the best, however, we still can’t recommend dropping almost $160 for every The Big Score card.
Since some of The Big Score cards are surprisingly terrible for MTG Arena players, it doesn’t make sense to collect them all. Subsequently, unless you’re a true completionist, we’d recommend you simply craft the cards you want instead. Even if you don’t have Mythic Wildcards saved up, this should dramatically cut any required spending.
The Big Score cards should, alternatively, be much easier to acquire via drafting Outlaws of Thunder Junction. That said, for players who really do not enjoy drafting, the numbers we’ve offered may be what you’re stuck with.
At the end of the day, it’s pretty clear that Outlaws of Thunder Junction has some major flaws on MTG Arena. Not only are The Big Score cards prohibitively difficult to acquire, but even the new in-game messages are disappointing. Costing 1000 gems for twelve words across five emotes, it seems this entire set is damningly expensive.
Technically, nothing could be more fitting for a crime-focused MTG set, however, we’re still not happy about this.
Read More: MTG Players Call for Change in Popular Arena Format!
