Thunder Junction's a place where it pays to be bad, but even the bad guys want to be good when it comes to drafting. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gathering's Wild West set, Outlaws of Thunder Junction, is incredibly dense when it comes to new mechanics and Play Booster contents, but it still follows the tried-and-true two-color pair structure. Ignore all those three-color cards for a momentಞ.

The intended archetypes in Thunder Junction are very well-defined, with multiple gold cards at uncommon for each color pair directing players how those decks should play out. Some fall into familiar territory, some are much more exprerimental; either way, the sign-post uncommons should guide players pretty smoothly through🐻 a Draft or Sealed event.

The following color pair titles come 🍰directly from Wizards of the Coast in theirܫ public Limited archetype breakdown.

Dishonorable Mention: The Deserts Deck

Deserts are a returning 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:land type in Thunder Junction, but they're not heavily supported in a meaningful way. They sort of just exist in the format, with a few cards that scale up in power if you contr🎀ol a few Deserts. For reference, there are only nine nonland cards in the entire set that even reference Deserts, and most of them are fine playables without Deserts.

Do not go into a Thunder Junction Draft attempting to build a 'Desert deck.' That's just not a supported strategy in the for♑mat. Instead, strive to take a few utility Deserts to improve your manabase, and maybe cards like Cactarantua and Desert's Due will be more powerful as a result.

Blue/White: Take A Break

"Take a break" is not normally advice you receive in modern-day Limited sets, where everything's fast and you have to get on board in the first few turns of the game or get steamrolled. Still, the description's a clever way to explain what blue-white's doing; that is, this color pair rewards you for playing turns without casting spells directly from your hand.

This theme's spelled out pretty clearly on the two sign-post 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:uncommons. Both Jem Lightfoote and Wrangler of the Damned pay you off for leaning into this strategy, one with extra cards and one with board presence. The important thing to note here is that this theme doesn't want you to just skip your turn, it specifically wants you to cast 🌠spells from zones other than your hand.

The workarounds are pretty loud and clear. First off, there's 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the plot mechanic. This lets you spend mana efficiently on your turn, an🅠d gives you action for later 𝕴turns without ever casting anything from your hand. In other words, you still get to play the game while also fulfilling the condition on your payoffs.

Second, there's a high density of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:good cards with flash. There's nothing stopping you from casting spells on your opponent's turn, so a blue-white deck should prioritize cards like Holy Cow or Mystical Tether fairly highly. It's also worth noting that the payoffs also naturally work if you just so happen to have nothing to do during your turn anyway, which is a nice incidental benefit.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Activated abilities that cost mana also play well with this♓ theme. Anything that lets you use your mana without casting spells from your hand will fit in with blue-white's strategy.

Blue/Black: Crimes

Turns out Magic players have been seasoned criminals all along. You 'commit a crime' whenever you target an opponent, a permanent or spell they control, or a card in their graveyard. The key word is 'target,' which you'll notice shows up a lot in this set. Committing a crime is relevant in every color, but blue-black specializes in law-breaking💫.

Lazav, Familiar Stranger is the most straightforward payoff for the deck, starting off as a decent blocker and growing in size every time you commit a crime, sometimes even becoming a sizable threat itself. Intimidat🍒ion Campaign is much more of an all-in buildaround, and encourages you to play a slow, grindy game full of interaction.

While there are plenty of cards seeded into the main set that naturally commit crimes, there's also an entire Breaking News 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:bonus sheet of cards, all 65 of which are capable of committing crimes.♕ With one of these cards guaranteed in every Play Booster, you should have no trouble getting your hands on the cards you need, which makes this deck much more about the payoffs.

Some explicit mono-colored payoffs slot right in, like Raven of Fell Omens and Nimble Brigand, alongside some off-color payoffs that might be worth splashing, like At Knifepoint. The two-color Deserts become some of your most important cards if you do end up 💟splashing, since they fix your mana and commit crimes all at once.

Black/Red: Outlaws

Outlaws in Outlaws of Thunder Junction? You don't say. This terminology refers to a batch of different creatures, specifically Assassins, Rogues, Pirates, Mercenaries and Warlocksꦜ. It's important to note that 'outlaw' isn't a creature type itself, just a term that refers to a collection of creature types and ties them all together mechanicall🎃y.

As expected, outlaws are all over the set, so you'll have to be cognizant of creature types as you build your decks. They also exist across all colors, though the actual outlaws payoffs are centered in red-black, with a few blue cards as tertiary support. You can draft outlaws in other colors, but red-black is the only true 'outlaw deck' in the format.

At Knifepoint and Vial Smasher, Gleeful Grenadier are both decent payoffs for the archetype. The enchantment makes it hard for your opponent to tussel with your offense, and even spits out some of the ever-present Mercenary tokens you'll see scattered across the set. Vial Smasher's more of a straightfo🐟rward 'just push damage' kind of card.

Underneath the textural outlaw description, red-black is essentially an 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:aggro deck backed by cheap creatures and good removal. You'll want a low-curve deck full of creatures and a few outlaw payoffs peppered in. Rakish Crew is at its best in this color pair, and Hellspur Brute can be an incredible payoff for committing to the bꦐit.

Notably, there are a couple removal spells that interact in different ways with outlaws. Shoot the Sheriff is a hyper-efficient kill-spell that actually misses on outlaws entirely, meaning it'll have some polarizing match-ups. There's also Caught in the C🍷rossfire, which can be backbreaking both in the hands of and against the outlaws deck.

Red/Green: 4+ Power

Many formats have attempted to label their red-green deck as a '4-power matters' archetype, and rarely does it feel like a top contender. The issue is that this tagline usually translates to 'play a bunch of expensive creatures,' which isn't great advic💝e in a world of efficient L🐼imited threats and removal.

Thunder Junction isn't revolutionizing the theme, but it has the support to make the deck work, even if it's not a top-tier archetype. There's a fairly high density of 4+ power creatures, plenty of which only cost three mana. There's also Bristlepack Sentry, an exact fꦰunctional reprint of Drowsing Tyrannodon, on𓂃e of the key cards that made this deck tick in Core Set 2021 Limited.

The gold cards are also pretty gnarly. Cactusfolk Sureshot looks to be the standout, with burly stats, stabilizing power thanks to Ward and Reach, and a threatening payoff for other large creatures. Joleneꦡ's also decent, but 4/2 for three mana has never been an impressive statline in Limited𒈔.

Scalestorm Summoner is a powerhouse uncommon for the deck, though it's powerful 𝐆enough that plenty of other red decks will prioritize it. Drover Grizzly and Gila Courser are also key cards for the deck as additional 4-power creatures you can play on turn three.

Honestly, don't get too caught up in the intended theme here. You'll have a few payoffs for playing 4+ power creatures, but you'll mostly be a red-green beatdown deck with large creatures and a few removal spells and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:combat tricks. Your typical red-green deck, as it were.

Keep in mi🐈nd that Mercenary tok𒉰ens can modulate your creatures' powers. If you need a 4+ power creature for one of your payoffs, those tokens might be able to help!

Green/White: Mounts

Green-white is playing around in novel territory here. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Mounts and Saddle are very mechanically similar to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Vehicles and Crew, with a few differences. First off, Mount is a creature type, and each Mount is a creature by default. They can attack and block independent of their Saddle abilities. Additionally, unlike Crew, Saddle can only be activated as a sorcery.

This color pair incentivizes you to draft Mounts highly, though it's ostensibly a creature beatdown deck. The Mounts add a bit of flavor to the archetype and change your pick order a little bit, buဣt "greܫen-white creatures" is still a pretty close description of the deck.

Congregation Gryff and Miriam, Herd Whisperer both pay you off for prioritizing Mounts, but they're also generically strong cards on their own. There are also a number of Mount payoffs scattered throughout the set, though many of them are desirable for other decks.

Intrepid Stablemaster, Fronteir Seeker, Shepherd of the Clouds and Throw from the Saddle are all cards that get better when you have Mounts, but are also perfectly playable in their respective colors with no Mounts in sight. In other words, the green-white drafter might be fighting for payoffs more than some other color pairs will have to.

From a strategic standpoint, be careful how you're using your Saddle abilities. It's easy to tap down too many of your own creatures to Saddle somethin𒉰g for a big attack, which could leave you vulnerable to the crackbaꦕck. Don't leave yourself defenseless just to Saddle up a creature.

A small number of cards in this color pair mention Vehicles as well as Mounts. You'💝d be best to ignore that part, since neither of the two Vehicles in the set are priority cards.

Black/White: Attrition

Attrition's a weird way to describe black-white in this set, since most of the cards geared towards this archetype are sacrificing-oriented. There are go-wide elements and token payoffs, but you're mostly trying to gather sacrifice fodder to make your other effects work. Attrition is technically correct, but sacrifice feels like a better description.

Ruthless Lawbringer is pushed for a three-drop, and one of the strongest gold uncommons in the set. It can blow up any nonland permanent, which includes any of the many enchantment-based removal spells in white. Baron Bertram Graywater's also solid, giving you a source of token generation and a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:sacrifice outlet at the same time.

As with most Limited sacrifice themes, the goal here is to scope out expendable bodies. You want to sacrifice creat𒅌ures that were made to be sacrificed, not actual creatures you intend to be attacking and blocking with. Mercenary tokens fill this role well, since they're tacked on to a number of other effects basically for free.

Be on the lookout for cards like Forsaken Miner and Nezumi Linkbreaker, ones that leave behind some amount of value when they die. Mourner's Surprise is one of the many recursive graveyard cards in the set and works perfectly for this archetype. Green-black also has a few gold cards that match this deck's theme well, so💯 expect to see the occasional♛ black-white-green deck pop up.

Blue/Red: Second Spell

You've had one spell, yes. But how about second spell? That's what blue-red wants to be doing, which is honestly just rewarding you for doing something you want to be doing anyway. Of course, you'll have to set yourself up with the right cards to make sure that's happening on a regular basis🅷.

Both of blue-red's gold uncommons go from pretty weak on their own to amazing when you're effectively double-spelling. Slick Sequence is a mediocre removal spell that cantrips if it's your second spell,ಞ and Kraum, Violent Cacophony grows while drawing cards when you cast your second speﷺll each turn.

Plot's also here to help this deck in almost the reverse of blue-white's strategy. Stockpile a few cards for later turns and unload your plotted cards for easy double-spell turns. Also be on the lookout for anything that can effectively draw an extra card, like Loan Shark or Irascable Wolverine, since these can sometimes fuꦺlfill the double-spell condition on their own.

This can be a skill-testing deck at times. You'll have to make decisions about when to hold off on casting a spell now so you can maybe cast two spells in the same turn later. You'll also have to go against instinct sometimes and just cast your instant-speed effects on your own turn if they guarantee casting your second.

Black/Green: Creatures In The Graveyard

Funny that Wizards came up with the fancy 'Gravebreak' name for black-green's color combination in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Murders at Karlov Manor, yet despite having a very similar theme in Thunder Junction, it's literally just called 'creatures in the graveyard.' Vague, but 'graveyard stuff' tends to be black-green💯's modus operandi in most sets anyway.

There are some cards in green and black that scale with the number of creatures in your graveyard, while another subset of cards wꦰork to bring creatures back from the graveyard. It's a little disparate in that sense, as doing one half of the strategy weakens the other, but it all comes together for a decent graveyard-based package.

The key card here is Rise of the Varmints, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a Spider Spawning callback that should excel in exactly black-green, despite being playable elsewhere. This is also the best home for Hollow Marauder and Stubborn Burrowfiend, but those too are desirable cards for other decks touching black and green.

The two gold uncommons are perfectly in tune with one another. Both Honest Rutstein and Badlands Revival pull creatures out of the graveyard with extra bonuses thrown in. There's also a higher-than-average number of reanimation spells in the format, so green-black can play that game too.

Spinewoods Armadillo is an excellent card in general, but especially strܫong in green-black, where🐻 it can put itself in the graveyard as a target for reanimation spells.

Red/White: Mercenary Aggro

'Mercenary Aggro' is a tiny bit misleading, in that red-white doesn't need Mercenaries to do its thing. It's your average aggro deck that just so happens to have a large number of cards that make Mercenary tokens. Don't go into a draft feeling like you have to prioritize actual Mercenary creatures though; there's very little payoff for doing so.

Form a Posse is one of the least reliable gold uncommons in the set. It really needs to be cast for five or more mana before the investment's wﷺorth it, and red-white decks only have so much room for five-drops. That's somewhat made up for by just how good Ertha Jo, Frontein Mentor is. It's a ton of stats for four mana, and essentially doubles up all your Mercenary token activations.

This is the simplest two-color gameplan in Thunder Junction: Curve out, play creatures that make multiple bodies, and try to kill your opponent as quickly as possible. Prickly Pair's a top-tier common for any red deck, but really excels here. The same goes for cards like 🐟Wanted Griffin, or𒐪 really anything that leaves behind a Mercenary token.

Outlaws' Fury is a specific common to be on the lookout for. Not every deck will want this effect, so you might be able to float it until later in a Draft, but it's a key card for red-white. The power lies in the fact that it usually replaces itself with another card, so you can feel comfortable firing it off just to push a ton of damage when 🌄possible.

Blue/Green: Plot

Blue-green is leaning into a specific set mechanic, as it often does in ꧋Limited. It's labeled as a plot archetype, which is a head-scratcher given that blue-white and blue-red a♓re also essentially plot-based decks. Plot's also good enough as a standalone mechanic that you don't really need to build around it.

Still, blue-green has a strong plot enabler with Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius. Cast this two-drop legend early enough in the game, and you'll get a substantial mana discount by plotting a few extra cards for cheap. Make Your Own Luck is also a potent draw spell, though being able to cast it depends on how much pressure you're under.

Outside the two gold uncommons, there aren't any 'secret gold cards' that absolutely want to be in blue-green specifically. If it's a good plot card for this deck🧸, it's probably just a good enough plot card anywhere. That probably leaves blue-green as the base of a multicolor deck looking to splash around into other colors.

Despite not havi𓆉ng that many explicit pulls into the color, blue-green has Bonny Pall, Clearcutter, one of the best cards in the entire set. Take it and bias towards blue-gre🌊en when possible.