MTG’s Outlaws of Thunder Junction is more complex than (insert Wild West idiom here)
polygon.comMagic: The Gathering’s next set of cards, titled Outlaws of Thunder Junction, is a departure for the trading card game in more ways than one. The Western-themed setting puts a group of ambitious villains at its center for a high-profile heist. It also adds a heapin’ helpin’ of new mechanics, and several sub-sets of cards that fans will be eager to chase after — both for their unique art treatments, and their impact on the game’s larger meta. But golly is there ever a lot to unpack here.
“Last year, we had a big event called March of the Machine, which was the end of a four-year storyline where one of our main villains, the Phyrexians, invaded the entire multiverse,” explained head designer Mark Rosewater on a recent conference call with press. “And as a result of that event, the cosmology of the multiverse changed. [...] One of the things that allowed us to do from a design standpoint is, we can make some sets that we couldn’t make before. So this that is the first sort of, of our new sets, we’re doing something that we just couldn’t have done a year ago.”
That includes putting Oko’s abs front and center. Magic’s most ripped (and previously banned) shape changer introduced with Throne of Eldraine, plays the role of the ringleader in this band of outlaws. Joining him is Dominaria’s impish skeleton, Tinybones, Eldraine’s Kellan, fan-favorite gorgon assassin Vraska, the fiery Rakdos, and the all-new Annie Flash, a native of Thunder Junction roped in for one last score.
They’re each apparently available as wanted posters as well, although if you’re thirsty for the one depicting Vraska you’ll apparently need to wait for previews to kick off later today.
Hosting a heist implies that there’s something worth stealing, and this particular plane of the Magic multiverse offers quite the haul — relics secreted away inside a vault by the mysterious Fomori, a group first introduced with The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. These items comprise The Big Score, the first sub-set of cards
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