A new mechanic is coming to Magic: The Gathering’s top-played format, Commander. Outlaws of Thunder Junction introduces Bounties, which will shake the game up a bit.
Bounty, a new mechanic exclusive to Magic’s Commander format, is a huge shift in the zeitgeist, even if it’s optional. It’s split into 12 different cards, available in threes across the new Thunder Junction Commander decks.
It’s not often Wizards of the Coast, developers of Magic: The Gathering will slot in a permanent new mechanic into their formats. The game is over 30 years old now, and while new mechanics come and go with each set, it’s rare for one to directly alter how the game plays.
Commander is a massive iceberg, with its own rules committee and overseers. While Wizards make the cards, it’s not up to them whether they remain playable in the format, despite it being the company’s top seller.
What is Bounty in MTG Commander?
Bounty is a new mechanic introduced with Outlaws of Thunder Junction. It allows a player to work towards a detailed goal to claim a reward. It has four levels that increase as players leave the bounty unclaimed.
How does Bounty work in Commander?
Before you begin, you’ll shuffle a separate deck of six Bounty cards together and place it face down. From turn three of the game, you can begin to draw and reveal a bounty card. If you meet the requirements for it, you can claim it.
Once the deck runs out, this is called a Jailbreak, and the Bounty deck is reset. If a bounty can’t be completed by the player that turns, it is amped up with a better reward across four levels.
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While we’re currently unsure if more than one list of rewards will be made available, here’s what we have on hand:
- Create a treasure token
- Create two treasure tokens
- Create two treasure tokens or draw a card
- Create two treasure tokens and draw a card
One example we’ve seen of a Bounty card is “The Outsider”. This can be claimed if you cast a spell anywhere other than your hand before your end step.
Is Bounty required to play Commander?
No, this is an optional method of play for Commander and can be cut from the game entirely if the players don’t want it.
How to get Bounty cards
As there are only 12 Bounty cards to get, if you want the official tokens you’ll need to seek them out in each of the Commander decks being sold.
Once we’ve seen all 12, as they’re just token cards, we believe you’ll be able to just get and represent them along with other tokens – by using anything around the room.
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