A cursory glance at Outlaws at Thunder Junction's Draft format can seem overwhelming. Between multiple bonus sets of cards jammed into Play Boosters and several modal mechanics to familiarize yourself with, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gathering's Wild West set is brimming with possibilities.

The overall structure of the set is based on two-color pairs, which is the norm for most modern Magic sets, but the mechanics within the set add a lot of texture and ꦦdecision-making to those color pairs. For the greatest shot at success in this lawless land, you'll want to understand exactly what drives the Limited format and lean into those elements during the draft𝄹.

Understand Play Booster Structure

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Thunder Junction is only the second outing for Play Boosters, so players are still getting used to the idea of wildcard slots, fewer commons, cards from The List, and so on. These Play Boosters are incredibly dense, so it's worth breaking down exactly what to expect when you open up a Thunder Ju𒁃nction pack.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Wizards of the Coast has provided a breakdown of Thunder Junction Play Boosters slot by slot. As usual, you're guaranteed a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:rare or mythic, three uncommons, and a handful of commons, but it gets complicated from there. Packs will usually have six commons, but there's a 20 percent chance that the sixth common will be replaced by a card from The List.

The List changes from set to set. In this case, Thunder Junction's List consists of 40 cards, 30 of which come from 'The Big Score,' a sub-set of cards that were originally intended to be printed in an epilogue set that got scrapped during development. The remaining ten List slots are Special Guests, an ongoing collection of cards that also changes from setܫ to set.

Very few cards on The List wer🍬e intended for Limited play, and many of them interact with artifacts. If a Big Score card effect seems strange and out of place, it is best to ignore it altogether.

All 40 cards on The List are mythic rares, though that rarity doesn't necessarily indicate anything about the power level of the card. In any case, that means 20% of boosters will replace a common with a mythic, which on average is about four to five additional mythics per Draft pod. That's pretty daunting, and that's only one slot in the boo༺ster pඣack!

Play Boosters also contain two Wildcard slots, which can be any random card of any rarity from the set. These slots are the reason you'll 🍨sometimes see duplicate cards in Play Boosters. It also means a s🌼hot at more rares in the cardpool.

There's also a slot dedicated to Thunder Junction's 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:bonus sheet: Breaking News. Each of the 65 cards on the Breaking News sheet is an interactive spell that can commit a crime in the Limited format. Packs are guaranteed to have exactly one of these, replacing what would normally b🌠e a common slot in🍨 the pack.

Between the main set and Breaking News, there are tons of enchant♛ments that temporarily exile creatures. A few enchantment removal options 💦for your sideboard can go a long way!

Finally, there's a dedicated land slot. Half of packs have 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:an ordinary basic land, and the other half have one of the set's two-color tapped Deserts. These are incredibly important to the Draft format, and there will be about 12 opened per eight-player pod. If you get passed a pack that doesn't have a basic or tapped Desert, you can safely assume someone 𒐪drafted a Desert out of that pack.

Plot Ahead, Literally

Plot is the most inherently powerful mechanic in this set, and you'll want to be familiar with all of the intricacies surrounding it. A card with plot can be exiled🎐 from your hand at sorcery speed and cast from exile for free on a later turn. It's essentially a way to invest your mana on an earlier turn to have a more explosive turn later on.

A plotted spell ca𝐆n only be cast as a sorcery. Given the opportunity, don't plot your counterspells, people!

So much of this set was deliberately designed with plot in mind. The blue-white Draft archetype incentivizes you to play your turns without casting spells from your hand. Plot gives you a way to use your mana without just skipping through your turn. Blue-red is a 'two-spells-matter' archetype; plot makes it much easier to cast two spells during the same turn.

As powerful as plot is, you have to be conscious of how and when you use it. If your opponent's just beating you down with creatures, you might not have the time to postpone your spells for a turn. Likewise, if you suspect an opponent's representing 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:countermagic, you might want to conside✨r plotting a♋ spell rather than casting it and waiting for an opening down the line.

Let Your Criminal Side Out

Some advice is best kept at the Draft tables. In Thunder Junction, it pays to commit a crime. In-game, you commit a crime whenever you target your opponent, a permanent or spell they control, or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a card in their graveyard. This is a huge driving force behind the set, as well as the explicit theme of the blue-black color pair. And it's painfully easy to ꧑commit crimes.

If you're in doubt, look for the word 🃏'target.' If a card doesn't use the word target, it doesn't commit a crime.

Between the Breaking News bonus sheet, Mercenary tokens that can target any creature, and the tapped two-color Deserts, it shouldn't be an issue stocking up on criminally inclined cards. And if you have any semblance of a deck that specifically cares about committing crimes, you'll need to prioritize interaction highly.

The criminal part of Thunder Junction also means you should take a close look at how cards interact in this set. Deadeye Duelist would be pretty lackluster in most sets, but it's a repeatabไle way to commit crimes here. Similarly, cards like Desperate Bloodseeker and Vault Plundere🍬r have been worded in such a way that they commit crimes if you desperately need them to.

Two-Color Deserts Are Important

Deserts isn't a fully fleshed-out theme in this set. None of the two-color archetypes are designed with Deserts in mind, and only six cards in the entire set even reference Deserts on the battlefield. You should never enter a Draft with the intention of drafting a 'Desert deck,' but🌃 you'd be missing out if 🌳you ignored them completely.

There are a few decent utility Deserts worth considering, but the real appeal is the ten-card cycle of two-color dual lands. These are Deserts that fix y⛦our colors, but more importantly, shoot your opponent𒁏 for a point of damage when they enter the battlefield.

That's significant for a couple of reasons. First, it just means players functionally start a lot of games at 18 life, sometimes even lower. A few extra points of damage from just playing lands can make a world of difference for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:aggro decks. Second, these are lands that commit crimes. It's funny to t൩hink about, but highly relevant in the context of the set.

Death And Destruction Abound

'Committing crimes' being such a huge part of Thunder Junction means that there's an above average amount of removal in the set. Remember, every pack comes with a guaranteed Breaking News card, and while all 65 aren't created equally, they all commit crimes. That means an extra 24 interactive spells are floating around any given Draft pod by default.

If the inclusion of Murder on this bonus sheet wasn't enough of a dead giveaway, creatures will be dying left and right. Maybe that's pure removal spells, maybe it's counterspells or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:bounce spells; regardless, there's a ton of interaction in Thunder Junction, and🗹 you should be prepared to fight back against it.

Snakeskin Veil is better here than it has been in previous sets. Your opponents will have removal aplenty, and a well-timed hexproof trick can really set them back.

The best way to combat increased removal is to draft sticky threats or cards that make multiple bodies. Your op🎶ponent might have a clean kill-spell at the ready𓄧 for your creature, but if it's something like Wanted Griffin or Nezumi Linkbreaker, you'll be left with something on board and trade off profitably against your opponent's removal.

Graveyard recursion helps quite a bit here, too. The green-black color pair is all about returning your creatures to play, with cards like Honest R🎃utstein and Badlands Revival giving you a nꩵotable edge against one-for-one removal.

Draft Three-Color Cards Responsibly

The rares and mythics in Thunder Junction are strong, almost universally across the board. That power extends to the color-intensive cards, too, nine of which have three colors in their casting costs, not counting additional cards on the bonus sheet. You should always be skeptical about starting off a Draft with a three-color card, which applies to most formats💝, not just Thunder🍨 Junction.

Eriette, the Beguiler and Obeka, Splitter of Seconds are a bit out of place in this set, but the other seven have pretty tempting abilities. However, taking a three-color card early in the draft is much more committal than just taking a solid one- or even two-color card. If you do start on a three-color rare, you need to prioritize mana fixing highly.

If you do end up drafting a three-color card or a multicolor deck, try ꦯmaking green your base color, since green has access to more color-fixing 🎐options than other colors.

The problem with fixing in the set is that everyone is going to want the two-color Deserts, since they bridge the gaps between so many different strategies. Don't take a three-color card expecting to get a ninth-pick or tenth-pick dual land; they will b🀅e drafted before that point, especially w🍌ith only 12 on average per Draft.

If you're not willing to take a two-color land third or fourth pick, maybe don't take the three-color cards at all. There will be plenty of other rares to pick from, given the nature of Play Boosters. As a side note, don't be swayed by the mythic rare symbol on The Big Score cardsไ. A lot of these have weird and undesirable effects for Limited and should be evaluated independently of thei🍬r rarity.