My top cards from Outlaws of Thunder Junction

Along with some initial testing impressions and a few decklists

Plot, Crimes, and Spree are all awesome brewing mechanics. The Join Up cycle is great. And then you have a healthy dose of interesting cards without any of the set mechanics. Making OTJ an exciting set to explore for us brewers.

This post is a bit late, but that has the benefit that I have testing results with a number of these cards, so you can get my initial impressions. So let’s hop into it.

Pair with Kroxa cards

Anyone who follows this blog knows I’m a Kroxa fan (understatement), so I’m always looking for cards that help me maximize Kroxa.

Rakdos Joins Up

If you have a Kroxa in your yard this is basically 5 mana, deal 11 damage to your opponent. Is that good enough? Seems possible. Even if you have to reanimate something else, having Rakdos Joins Up sitting on the board is such a threat for any future Kroxas you draw.

I tried a few decks that were getting 3-2s and 4-1s. The decks still need some optimization but I think there is likely something real here.

Here’s one of the lists I ran:

Tinybones Joins Up

When I read this card in spoiler season I did not think much of it. Fortunately, I decided to test it and its now my favorite card in the set.

I played it for crime enabling (see the next card), but while playing it I realized it plays great with Kroxa. I ended up targeting myself with Tinybones Joins Up way more than I expected (mostly for the mill, but sometimes to discard a Kroxa).

The mill from Tinybones Joins Up essentially turns Kroxa into an Escape 4, which makes it brutal for any midrange or control deck to try and grind through. The damage also really adds up against your opponent and in the right build Tinybones Joins Up can do ~4 damage across the game, so you can really go with the burn them out with Kroxas plan at a certain point.

Magda, the Hoardmaster

What a cool card. Kind of needs to be paired with Tinybones Joins Up. At that point it works well with Kroxa as both way for Tinybones Joins Up to reliably trigger and Magda’s treasures ramp you into an early Kroxa.

The scorpion dragons from Magda are also the real deal if you pair with another treasure creator. Fortunately, Fable is a treasure creator.

I got a trophy with this list:

Aggro cards to pair with build around enchantments from recent sets

Duelist of the Mind

I’ve been brewing a bit with Proft’s Eidetic Memory, since they talked about it on Faithless Brewing, and have been quite impressed. Duelist of the Mind as an evasive card that puts on a lot of pressure with card draw seems like a perfect pair.

I have yet to test Duelist, but I am planning to. I see two potential issues that will potentially hold back Duelist: first, it is hard to commit crimes on plan in Proft’s Eidetic decks. Second, Duelist dies to both Fatal Push and Fiery Impulse, which may make it too easy to disrupt.

Forsaken Miner

Mono-Black Aggro was what I played at the start of the format. It was a deck so strong it got Smugglers Copter banned. Smugglers Copter is now unbanned. I’ve been wanting to play Corpses of the Lost in a 4x Mutavault Mono-Black Aggro deck. Enter an awesome Skeleton one drop. Is it time for Mono-Black aggro to shine again?

I played a league with the deck and it is fine. But playing it you really realize how much the format has changed since the days of Mono-Black Aggro. Not being able to block feels brutal.

Whenever you played Forsaken Miner with Corpes of the Lost in play it felt great. Also, Corpse being a value engine in grindy games was solid, so there is potentially something here, but it will take some tuning.

Here’s what I played (with some small changes):

Land destruction- Some Dos and Don’ts

I thought I was so clever when I realized in the last two sets we’ve gotten three artifact land destruction cards, so we could use Powerstones and other artifact synergies with them.

I tried a deck with them and Territory Forge and Boom Box are just too slow. Krenko’s Buzzcrusher is borderline too slow as well for that matter.

The card that surprised me as being a big add for land destruction was Arid Archway:

Here’s the list I played and it felt quite strong.

I think Spelunking + Arid Archway + land tutor has serious legs as a package. Just like with original Ravnica draft it’s kind of hard to appreciate the karoo effect until you see it in action. You just never miss a land drop, even out to double digit lands.

I think this package will have applications beyond land destruction, this just happened to be a good location for it with the decks desire for ramp and having plenty of mana sinks.

Some awesome sideboard options

Like I discuss here, in a lot of ways the heart of competitive brewing is sideboarding. I will frequently brew decks to play certain well positioned sideboard cards and we got two strong new sideboard cards here.

Magebane Lizard

The common problem with sideboard cards is they come at the expense of advancing your gameplan. Magebane Lizard is great because while it stopping your opponent from casting a bunch of spells in the same turn, it is still advancing your gameplan by chipping in some damage.

It can also block well and in the situation where it eats removal immediately it is still doing a damage and eating a premium removal spell.

Pest Control

Likely not that relevant in the current meta, but if Rakdos Sacrifice or Boros Convoke become major meta players Pest Control will be a reason to play Orzhov.

I will be interested to see how big a deal the Cycling feels in practice. When I sideboard I like to run 4 ofs to hard target certain matchups. I suspect the Cycling will really help with running 4 in the board.

The brewers are out testing these cards

I tend to not brew right away with the cards that are popular on set release, so I have yet to test with these next two cards. I am seeing some awesome decks with them in the leagues.

Slickshot Show-Off

Slickshot seems like the consensus best card in the set. My last article was about Prowess decks, so I am of course excited for Slickshot. When I get around to brewing with Slickshot I am going to try pairing it with Fugitive Codebreaker and really lean into haste, while having a bit of ability to grind.

Jace Reawakened

I am struggling to figure out if the Jace/Valki decks I’ve faced are good. I am always surprised at how bad the Valki/Release the Winds decks were. These Jace decks, seem like a definite improvement.

I suspect the See the Truths are a mistake (just like they historically have been in any deck trying to play it). See the Truth is a lot of hoops to jump through to draw 3 cards, for a color that already has a one mana draw 3 with fewer hoops.

I will probably try Jace Reawakened in a version with one of Jace, Perfected Mind or Jace, Wielder of Mysteries as the wincon.

Three Steps Ahead

This one I have tested and faced a fair amount. It’s in an interesting spot where it has been fine in what I have seen and tested, but I suspect it has the chance to be great in the right deck.

The core issue is that three mana counterspells just do not cut it when you are on the draw. So I think you want to pair it with ramp and creatures you want to copy rather than just counting the first and third mode. It felt great when I could use it as effectively cast a flash Graveyard Trespasser and even better when I’ve used it to copy a Risen Reef.

An upside of Three Steps is that blue does not have many good looting effects for decks that want to play at instant speed, so the last mode plays a bit closer to draw two. It also allows you to run a lower curve with the rest of your deck because Three Steps can count as some of your value.

Let’s Wrap and My Top Card in the Set

I started writing something where I was comparing Honest Rutstein to Fable and Uro…and took that as I sign it was time to wrap up this article! So without comment a few more cards that interest me before I get to my top card.

And now my speculative top card in the set.

Pitiless Carnage

This seems like three mana Memory Jar. There has to be some deck that can plot this, then later in the game draw 7+ cards with all of their mana available and win the game that turn. “Free” Draw Sevens just do not exist since Urza’s Block for good reason.

I have not been able to figure out what the list is. Maybe it needs to be paired with Splendid Reclamation style effects. The key thing is this card provides a unique, high power effect that has the chance of unlocking entirely new decks.