Sets (OTJ) Outlaws of Thunder Junction Previews

I particularly like the new Deserts, both for a rarity-restricted cube perspective (taplands that deal 1 instead of gaining 1 are better in my opinion), but also for a potential new take on a "Desert cube", that is a concept I really love
 
I think he meant something like "oh I wish that the 2/2 white flying token were any creature type other than Spirit, since we are much used to Spirits being the standard for 1/1 white flying tokens" and with this statement I think I agree
 
I am aware that it is an existing token that previously was used on one card which happens to be overly complicated and underwhelming. They did 1/1 spirits and 2/2 spirits within the same ascendancy cycle - not their finest moment.

If you like token variety, that's cool. Different players get to like different things, so I shouldn't simply say it's stupid. But I would rather see them print cards that use the token that's already in the token box. Most board games are designed with enough taste and restraint to avoid having 100 different types of tokens and meeples and resources and such. MTG didn't get the memo on that.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Just restrain yourself from including it into your cube. Problemo solved
I mean, you’re going to miss out on certain cards though if you do that. Cards that might really be a perfect fit for your cube, were it not for differently typed tokens.

E.g., there are 15 different vanilla white creature tokens. From a flavor standpoint this might make sense, but from a cube curator’s point of view I totally get why this can be annoying.
 
I mean, you’re going to miss out on certain cards though if you do that. Cards that might really be a perfect fit for your cube, were it not for differently typed tokens.

E.g., there are 15 different vanilla white creature tokens. From a flavor standpoint this might make sense, but from a cube curator’s point of view I totally get why this can be annoying.

If tokens are just bodies in your cube and you don't care about the types, you can just sharpie out the types and run one 1/1 white creature token.
 
I get around all this by just only using dry erase tokens and not including any cards that care about the difference between a 1/1 colorless spirit and a 1/1 white soldier or whatever. Chasing down having correct official tokens in a token box has always felt like a fool's errand to me. The first time I thought about getting a bunch of the right tokens and looked at the cube cobra tokens tool for my main cube, I saw that there were over 40 of them and decided that I was never going to care about this.

I totally get the appeal of having some nice official tokens or nice handmade ones and keeping everything in a box and having consistency between them but the constraint has never felt worth it to me. I'd rather spend my energy elsewhere.
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Yeah I do a non-zero amount of token consolidation via customs:
1710187192068.jpeg1710187221169.jpeg1710187238760.jpeg
I'm kinda getting similar vibes to our converstation over in the MH3 thread: do you want WotC to try new things, or do new stuff with the same old tools?

Because yeah, there's not enough cards that use 2/2 flying spirits right now, but hey if this set has 5 bangers that feature those tokens, maybe I'd change my mind
 
Thunder_Junction_Bingo_Card.png

Here is my OTJ Bingo Card! Will I get a Bingo?
 
MaRo posted his teaser game!
MaRo said:
Before previews for Outlaws of Thunder Junction officially begin, I thought it would be fun to do another of my Duelist-style teasers where I give tiny hints of things to come. Note that I’m only giving you partial information.

First up, here are some things you can expect:

• A new batch of five related creature types

• A card capable of returning three different card types from the graveyard to the battlefield

• A mechanic players have been asking us to do for many years gets made as the setting was the perfect place to finally do it

• Dual lands with a land subtype that has never been on dual lands before

• A new modal mechanic that introduces something different to think about

• A card that can swap/exchange control of up to three different card types

• A new creature token that has an ability no creature token has ever had before

• A typal card for Skeletons and Zombies

• Creature tokens in the set: (some might have abilities) 1/1 white Sheep, 1/1 blue Bird, 1/1 black Vampire Rogue, 1/1 red Mercenary, 2/1 green Varmint, 2/2 white Ox, 2/2 white Spirit, 2/2 blue and black Zombie, 3/1 red Dinosaur, 3/3 white Angel, 3/3 green Elk, 4/4 red Scorpion Dragon, X/X green Elemental, */* Blue Ox

• Some of the planes with legendary Villains in this set: Dominaria, Eldraine, Fiora, Innistrad, Ixalan, Kaladesh, Kaldheim, Kamigawa, New Capenna, and Ravnica

Next, here are some rules text that will be showing up on cards:

• “Then repeat this process X more times.”

• “if it wasn’t cast or no mana was spent to cast it.”

• “Plotting cards from your hand costs {2} less.”

• “You can’t cast this spell during your first, second, or third turns of the game.”

• “That card gains flashback {0}

• “Target creature becomes a white Rabbit with a base power and toughness 0/1.”

• “When you win that flip, copy that spell.”

• “If a triggered ability of a legendary creature you control triggers, that ability triggers an additional time.”

• “you get that many additional upkeep steps after this phase.”

• “Oxen you control have double strike.”

Here are some creature type lines from the set:

• Creature – Armadillo

• Creature – Shark Rogue

• Creature – Plant Bard

• Creature – Coyote

• Creature – Homarid Mercenary

• Creature – Rhino Brawler

• Creature – Ox Angel

• Creature – Porcupine Mount

• Legendary Creature – Kor Advisor

• Legendary Creature – Giant Scout

Finally, here are some names in the set:

• Claim Jumper

• Form a Posse

• Gold Rush

• Great Train Heist

• High Noon

• Quick Draw

• Reach for the Sky

• Resilient Roadrunner

• Shoot the Sheriff

• This Town Ain’t Big Enough

Tune-in to our official YouTube and Twitch channels on 3/26 to see Oko and the gang in action with new card reveals. In preparation, catch-up on Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s story

So, before I get into speculation, I just want to go over the cards which we already know are in the set.
MaRo said:
A new batch of five related creature types
This is the "outlaw" batch of Assassins, Mercenaries, Pirates Rogues, and Warlocks, as seen on At Knifepoint.

MaRo said:
A mechanic players have been asking us to do for many years gets made as the setting was the perfect place to finally do it
This is probably the Mount mechanic, as seen on Ornerry Tumblewagg.

MaRo said:
Dual lands with a land subtype that has never been on dual lands before
These are the Desert dual lands like Creosote Heath.

MaRo said:
A new modal mechanic that introduces something different to think about
The mechanic is probably Spree, as seen on Shifting Grift.

MaRo said:
A card that can swap/exchange control of up to three different card types
Hey, what do you know, it's Shifting Grift again!

MaRo said:
A new creature token that has an ability no creature token has ever had before
These are the Mercenary Tokens, as seen on Prickly Pair!

MaRo said:
Creature tokens in the set: (some might have abilities) 1/1 white Sheep, 1/1 blue Bird, 1/1 black Vampire Rogue, 1/1 red Mercenary, 2/1 green Varmint, 2/2 white Ox, 2/2 white Spirit, 2/2 blue and black Zombie, 3/1 red Dinosaur, 3/3 white Angel, 3/3 green Elk, 4/4 red Scorpion Dragon, X/X green Elemental, */* Blue Ox
We've already seen the Sheep created by Bridled Bighorn, the Elk created by Oko, and the Mercenary created by a bunch of cards.

MaRo said:
Creature – Ox Angel
Holy Cow!

Surprisingly, these are the only hint cards we for sure know about so far. That said, I have a couple of ideas about other hints.


MaRo said:
Legendary Creature – Giant Scout
*/* Blue Ox Token
I think this is a reference to the legendary hero Paul Bunyan, and his Big Blue Ox, Babe. Paul Bunyan is more of a character from the Northwoods folklore and not the Wild West, so he doesn't seem like a perfect fit here. That said, Minnesota and parts of Western Canada did still have their own "frontier settlement" period. While these areas were much more lush than Thunder Junction, I think they might still just be hitting on the trope here since the "Great Lakes and Ontario" world is unlikely to be happening any time soon.

They've already referenced Babe before in Giant Ox, so I don't think it's unlikely that they reference his caretaker here.

MaRo said:
• Creature – Homarid Mercenary
There is no speculation here, I am just happy to see more Homarids.

MaRo said:
• Some of the planes with legendary Villains in this set: Dominaria, Eldraine, Fiora, Innistrad, Ixalan, Kaladesh, Kaldheim, Kamigawa, New Capenna, and Ravnica=
We already know the villains from Dominaria, Eldraine, Innistrad, Ixalan, Kamigawa, and Ravnica are part of Oko's possie. We also already know through leaks and Commander Deck images that the Fiora and Kaladesh characters are Selvala and Gonti. We don't know who is from New Capenna or Kaldheim yet. Technically one of the new characters is a Transmasc train-robber turned cactus nanny who's originally from New Capenna, but considering he just looks like a vanilla Cowboy, I'm not counting him.

That's all I have to say for now. I am excited about this set, but it is turning out a bit different than I expected. That's not a bad thing at all; I'm just needing to adjust my expectations.
 
Poor MaRo. "Teasing" a bunch of stuff we've already seen lol.
The nice thing is that the Teaser usually contains the things that MaRo thinks will be the most exciting for players. Most of the things that were leaked and also in the teaser are pervasive themes of the set. I think this could be a banger!
 
Top