MTG’s Outlaws of Thunder Junction set is packed with interesting, powerful cards, from high-value Creatures to potent new Spree Sorceries.
MTG’s Wild West set Outlaws of Thunder Junction is winning over plenty of players, introducing cards that add exceptional value to many MTG game plans. The western-themed set’s power level hits surprising heights, and players looking for upgrades should definitely check out the best of what this set has to offer.
With innovative mechanics like Spree and Saddle that improve upon MTG cornerstones Kicker and Crew, alongside boosts to tried-and-true archetypes, Thunder Junction is perfect for trying out new strategies or getting back to basics with some old favorites.
Following Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s full release, we’ve compiled the best new cards to add to your decks, so you’ll know when you’ve opened a pack and struck gold.
MTG Outlaws of Thunder Junction: Best Cards
15: Aven Interrupter
The Aven Interrupter packs just the right tools to allow white-mana players to be a real thorn in the side of anyone looking to take advantage of exile or a stacked graveyard. Thanks to its inherent flash, Aven Interrupter can allow for an additional ETB effect on your field or entirely remove an opponent’s key card for the turn.
This card puts a fairly steep tax on casting from exile or the graveyard, so reanimation decks and Thunder Junction players relying heavily on Plot will have their engines significantly stalled.
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14: Annie Joins Up
Effect-doubling is always a welcome sight in MTG, and Annie Joins Up will significantly boost the triggered effects of any color combo that can fit this Enchantment.
As a bonus, Annie Joins Up’s initial burst of targeted damage is often enough to take out a troublesome Creature or Planeswalker, whittling down other players’ forces as you prepare to build up your own.
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13: Pest Control
Coming straight from The Big Score’s vault, Pest Control is a hard counter to token strategies and can wipe out any early Commander lead opponents would get from having a Sol Ring.
Single-mana Artifacts are used across the Commander format for ramp, and Pest Control sets that resource advantage back to square one. Opponents looking to block any oncoming attacks with a wave of weak Creatures will be left with no defense at all when Pest Control hits the field.
This card’s mana value is absurdly low considering the damage it can wreak to an enemy board full of tokens, and it will never be a dead draw, thanks to a reasonably priced cycling effect.
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12: Oltec Matterweaver
Another Big Score card that is a tremendous boon to Artifact decks, Oltec Matterweaver boosts token output to ridiculous levels.
This card is a step up from previous Artifact stalwarts like Digsite Engineer, drastically increasing the number of Artifact Tokens at your disposal without having to pay any additional cost.
In any deck making use of Artifact Creature tokens like Karnstructs of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan’s new Gnomes, this card should be guaranteed a spot. Oltec Matterweaver will copy your heavy hitters and build them up into a game-winning presence in a few short turns.
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11: Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
Thanks to the abundance of green decks that already make good use of +1/+1 counters, Bristly Bill will find a home with many MTG players.
Landfall is a tried-and-true MTG strategy that can not only be used to trigger a wealth of effects from burn to token generation, it also leads to its player having a huge mana advantage over the rest of the table.
Having a wealth of mana is a hallmark of playing green, and Landfall makes it a certainty. By combining counters and Landfall, this card’s secondary effect can be paid for repeatedly, boosting even an initially weak board into a game-ending threat.
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10: Simulacrum Synthesiser
Karnstructs are a rare but exceptionally powerful Artifact Token type, building in power with every Artifact – including themselves – under your control. Any magic player who’s tinkered with the Urza’s Iron Alliance pre-con deck knows just how quickly these massive machines can get out of control. Simulacrum Synthesiser allows you to spit them out onto the battlefield like clockwork, whenever an Artifact of mana value 3 or higher enters the field under your control.
Big-mana Artifacts are all teed up for a resurgence thanks to this card, but even less specialized Artifacts decks are starting to include this card more and more, thanks to its ability to put out hugely powerful beaters for very little initial investment.
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9: Great Train Heist
A Spree card that packs in both versatility and overwhelming power. Great Train Heist can be cast for all of its costs to utterly overrun your opponents, or its individual effects can still provide excellent combat bonuses and value through treasure generation.
Additional combat steps can allow for game-winning turns, swinging out until the job is done. While usually, the cumulative damage to your Creatures makes multiple combats a risky endeavor, the additional first strike granted by this card prevents most opposing damage from getting through, leaving your forces fresh to attack again. If any opponents are left standing by the end of the fight, you can secure enough Treasure to make finishing up the game a breeze.
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8: Tinybones, the Pickpocket
Another member of Oko’s gang slots in quite happily on this list, thanks to a unique and useful recursion mechanic. No MTG player is happy to block Deathtouch, having to sacrifice the creature that does the defending, and Tinybones plays on that reluctance to plunder opponents’ graves with glee.
For just one black mana, Tinybones provides access to your opponents’ best destroyed or discarded cards, allowing you to cast them with mana of any color. Tinybones boosts Thunder Junction’s crime mechanic thanks to its reliable graveyard interaction, making this the perfect card for use both in and outside its debut set.
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7: Three Steps Ahead
This is a blue card that packs so much of what the color does best into a single design. Thanks to its optional Spree costs, Three Steps Ahead can be used as a counterspell, for card drawing, token generation, or all three, making it as versatile as it is powerful. This card covers so many bases that it is incredibly easy to justify including it in a wide swathe of blue decks.
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6: Goldvein Hydra
Hydras never truly go out of fashion in MTG, being the iconic Creature type associated with green mana. But Goldvein Hydra puts most of these monsters to shame, coming with a package of powerful and evasive combat tricks. What’s more, Goldvein Hydra effectively pays for itself, granting a boatload of Treasure on defeat and building up a huge stockpile with clever +1/+1 counter use.
This Creature is going to have an exorbitant price tag for quite some time, but with luck, players won’t need their own pile of treasure to afford this hydra.
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5: The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride
MTG players have been clamoring for a crew-like ability for Creatures for years, and Saddle is here to answer the call. The best Saddle card in Outlaws of Thunder Junction is this infamous beastie from Innistrad, and the risk that other Creatures will take in riding it is your reward.
Thanks to its unique ability, you can Saddle up your high-power Creatures and attach them to the Gitrog, sacrificing them at the end of combat for a worthy price: A boatload of card draw and land drops.
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4: Kellan, the Kid
Another Thunder Junction Commander with sky-high potential, Kellan can help build up a truly terrifying board presence with ease. Thanks to the number of Plot cards available in this set, as well as graveyard recursion and theft from the Grand Larceny pre-con, Kellan’s ability will trigger for you on most turns, playing cards directly onto the field without needing to cast them at all.
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3: Slickshot Show-off
A mana-cheap red card with enormous early-game potential, Slickshot Show-off takes full advantage of the new Plot mechanic to drop reliably on turn 3, with enough mana left over for protection, buffs, and more.
Prowess has always been an MTG ability with enormous potential, and Slickshot Showoff trades in Prowess’ usual +1/+1 boosts for an aggressive +2/+0. That power can soon stack up, especially when taking Plot into account.
With huge power potential and flying to soar past enemy blockers, this is an auto-include in many red decks.
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2: Obeka, Splitter of Seconds
Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s most intriguing and powerful Commander breaks the usual turn order and grants her controller additional upkeeps. Thanks to the variety of powerful cards that trigger during the upkeep – such as Mechanised Production or Twilight Prophet – Obeka can get out of hand extremely quickly.
When built right, Obeka can amass a ridiculous number of upkeep steps, rattling off effect after effect that will build your board up to insurmountable levels or even just win the game before opponents have the chance to take their next turn.
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1: Final Showdown
Spree is quickly proving itself to be Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s most popular mechanic, and it isn’t hard to see why. While Crimes and Saddle both have their fans – and for good reason– Spree has many admirers thanks to its versatility and choice-forward gameplay.
Final Showdown displays Spree at its best and most potent, allowing players to wipe the board clean, protect a Creature of their choice, and remove abilities like Indestructible that would otherwise negate this effect.
This boardwipe gets around almost all forms of protection, making it an excellent, last-resort strategy to pull when other players inch a little too close to the win. Final Showdown’s versatility and ability to reset the board and clear out even the toughest threats makes it the best card in MTG’s Outlaws of Thunder Junction.
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