Outlaws of Thunder Junction (OTJ) Limited Set Review: Multicolor

Hey everyone! Are you ready to get crazy with cowboys? All of Magic’s villains (At least the currently available ones. Sorry, no Elesh Norn in a cowboy hat) are up to some shenanigans on Magic’s newest plane. They are setting up a massive heist so we are getting all kinds of bonus sheet stuff going on here that will surely shake up limited formats. While it won’t happen often, you will assuredly remember that time you got destroyed by Mana Drain.

Per usual, I’ll be grading the entire set for limited purposes. Maybe one day I’ll get to see sunlight again, but today is not that day.

Here’s the usual grading scale:

• 5.0: Disgustingly powerful and basically unbeatable. Either answer it the turn it comes down or just pack up your cards. (Gruff Triplets, Virtue of Persistence, The Eternal Wanderer)
• 4.5: Incredible bomb that still gives your opponent a slim chance. (Virtue of Loyalty, Imodane's Recruiter, Realm-Scorcher Hellkite)
• 4.0: Great rare or the absolute best uncommons and removal. (Faunsbane Troll, Gumdrop Poisoner, Talion's Messenger)
• 3.5: Great role filler or removal that you never cut. (Candy Grapple, Hearth Elemental, Torch the Tower)
• 3.0: Good playable that I’m basically never cutting. (Shrouded Shepherd, Spellscorn Coven, Sharae of Numbing Depths)
• 2.5: Decent playable and the bar I hope nearly every card in my deck to reach. (Evolving Wilds, Archon's Glory, Flick a Coin)
• 2.0: Mediocre filler that normally is your 20-23rd card(s). (Mintstrosity, Ice Out, Grabby Giant)
• 1.5: Replaceable, overall bad filler. Could also be decent sideboard cards. (Titanic Growth, Scarecrow Guide, Territorial Witchstalker)
• 1.0: Bad filler. Gets cut most of the time. (Dark Tutelage, Kindled Heroism, Impact Tremors)
• 0.5: Very unhappy to main deck this, but maybe it has fringe sideboard applications. Cards that “could” be situationally decent, but bad in most situations. (Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, Mana Flare)
• 0.0: Unplayable in every possible situation. They rarely print cards this bad these days. (Hew the Entwood, One with Nothing)

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Akul the Unrepentant

Rating: 4.0/5

The casting cost is kind of rough, but not really a problem if you are straight up Rakdos. I don’t have to explain to you how a 5/5 flying trample for four mana is really, really good. That other ability might be flavor text in most games, but it’ll be memorable when you sacrifice three random tokens to drop a bomb.

Annie Flash, the Veteran

Rating: 4.5/5

I’m glad the gave Annie flash so I don’t have to complain about a giant flavor miss. That lets her pop in to potentially eat an unsuspecting creature. She also gives you plenty of value both up front and when she’s attacking. Great card that would be close to a 5.0 if it was two colors.

Annie Joins Up

Rating: 1.5/5

All of these cards that give triggers for legendary creatures are going to massively fluctuate in value and that portion of the card should be an after thought that feels like a bonus when it happens.

Five damage for four mana is totally fine, but three colors is pretty rough for that.

Assimilation Aegis

Rating: 4.0/5

Three mana to exile a creature is the going rate these days, but this lets you copy whatever you removed when you equip it. There are plenty of ways to make 1/1 tokens which would love an upgrade into your opponent’s (former) best creature.

At Knifepoint

Rating: 2.0/5

Another card that is heavily dependent on the rest of your deck. If you have multiple Deadeye Duelist and other repeatable ways to commit crimes, this is probably a 3.5. If you’re a goody two shoes who lives life on the straight and narrow then this is most likely unplayable.

Badlands Revival

Rating: 3.5/5

I can’t begin to express how disappointed I am that this isn’t a Rakdos card. Everyone who grew up tapping badlands for red or black should feel slighted here.

The card itself I am a big fan of. Reanimating a creature and returning another permanent to your hand is big game for five mana.

Baron Bertram Graywater

Rating: 3.5/5

This dude definitely sounds like he should have been in the Clue set.

Totally busted if your deck makes a lot of tokens while merely “Just a guy” if you don’t.

Bonny Pall, Clearcutter

Rating: 5.0/5

The only slight knock on this is that the casting cost makes it hard to splash the blue part, otherwise this card is straight up bananas. The ability triggers on any attack, so you can get that extra Growth Spiral right away when you play this. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that you get two huge critters out of one card?

Breeches, the Blastmaker

Rating: 3.5/5

This works great alongside some treasure makers so you always have an artifact to sacrifice. There are going to be plenty of times where you don’t even want to “win” the flip because you’d rather burn something like their face.

Bruse Tarl, Roving Rancher

Rating: 4.5/5

You already get your value when this enters the battlefield by either “drawing” you a card or giving you a 2/2 double strike. Then you get to repeat the process when you attack with it. Seems pretty busted to me, just be prepared to have some ways to ensure that he survives his trip into the red zone.

Cactusfolk Sureshot

Rating: 3.5/5

Giving your other large beasties trample and haste feels great considering that you would be fine playing a four mana 4/4 reach with ward two on its own.

Congregation Gryff

Rating: 3.0/5

This counts itself so you’ll always have at least one mount when you saddle this up. While it doesn’t seem too impressive, the lifelink makes this hard to race when it can crack in for a decent amount. It’s also a great defensive creature early on.

Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius

Rating: 3.5/5

It sure does feel like there are an insane number of powerful cards that would be 4.0s in most sets, but are around a 3.5 in this one due to the overall power level.

Imagine playing this turn two and then plotting let’s say Loan Shark and Visage Bandit on turn three. Doesn’t it feel like you’ve already won the game? There is a bonkers amount of upside here.

Eriette, the Beguiler

Rating: 1.5/5

That’s a whole lot of flavor text written on this card. There just aren’t the right auras running around to support this. If you’re in the market for a 4/4 lifelinker and are already these specific three colors, then feels free to grab it.

Ertha Jo, Frontier Mentor

Rating: 3.5/5

Ertha doubles all your mercenary pumps and even conveniently provides you with one to get the party started. You’re never going to be mad about this card as it provides enough value on it’s own while also having an insane amount of upside.

Form a Posse

Rating: 2.5/5

Kind of an odd card because it’s dead without being actually dead early on. You’re certainly not going to want to be casting it for three mana to make a 1/1. I’d say it’s “playable” around when you can make three tokens and is a fantastic late game top deck.

Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds

Rating: 3.5/5

Is this potentially powerful? Of course. Is it for every deck? Not even close.

I’m grading this assuming that you can support the third color and have plenty of good tokens to copy.

Basically, you’ll roll them if you make a crap ton of the tokens with power toughness equal to the number of lands you control. Even pumping out a few extra mercenaries is pretty dece. If it’s just a 3/3 haste for this cost, you probably don’t want to play it.

The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride

Rating: 4.0/5

I wonder how long the wait is to get on this ride? I’ll be at the front of the line prepared to windmill everyone’s favorite frog horror.

This is a whole lotta hasty damage coming at you for only five mana. Being able to sacrifice creatures for new cards is a great extra ability especially considering that you can bump their power with those 1/1 mercenary tokens first.

Honest Rutstein

Rating: 3.5/5

Bigger, cheaper Gravedigger that makes all of your other creatures cheaper. Yes, please.

Intimidation Campaign

Rating: 2.5/5

This is going to range from pretty bad to completely busted depending on your ability to commit crimes and what your opponent is doing. I’m rating it here based off of what it should be like on average.

Jem Lightfoote, Sky Explorer

Rating: 3.5/5

There are plenty of easy ways to continue playing a normal game without casting spells from your hand. The base stats on this are worth it so once you draw that first card, you can consider yourself up on this.

Jolene, Plundering Pugilist

Rating: 3.0/5

I’m sure there is a Dolly Parton joke to make about Jolene, but I’ll let you come up with your own.

While this can make a treasure on its own, you’ll probably want other ways to trigger it so you’re not trading Jolene off without getting the opportunity to ping off some creatures with those treasures.

Kambal, Profiteering Mayor

Rating: 3.0/5

One of those “maybe this totally screws my opponent” cards that can still do some decent work on its own.

Kellan Joins Up

Rating: 0.5/5

This is definitely a nepo hire. Someone needs to talk to Oko about that.

As I previously said, you can’t really expect the legendary triggers to happen unless you have a ridiculous pile of them. The up front of this card is pretty terrible and it’s three colors. I don’t think I can pass on this hard enough.

Kellan, the Kid

Rating: 4.0/5

Now Kellan himself is a totally different story. While it is still three colors, it gives you the possibility of jumping massively ahead in the game through plotting. A 3/3 flyer with lifelink certainly isn’t something to sneeze at either.

Kraum, Violent Cacophony

Rating: 3.5/5

It really is nice to draw an extra card when I double spell because it makes it that much more likely that I can do it again the next turn. Getting a growing flyer at the same time is just the icing on the cake.

Laughing Jasper Flint

Rating: 4.5/5

You’ll be the only one laughing at your table when Jasper is robbing your opponent blind. All it takes is some mercenaries (Jasper doesn’t live that lifestyle so you need at least one to get the party started) to quickly start wrecking their deck while beating them with their best cards.  

Lazav, Familiar Stranger

Rating: 3.5/5

This can grow out of control fast while copying other creatures can lead to some nutty interactions. It’s in the mythic uncommon range and the only reason it’s not a 4.0 is the two-color requirement.

Lilah, Undefeated Slickshot

Rating: 3.0/5

Coincidently enough Lilah, Undefeated Slickshot is really good with Slick Sequence. If you have multiple multicolored instants or sorceries in your deck, you might want to bump it up to a 4.0 If you have zero, probably down to a 2.5 because a 3/3 prowess is still pretty good.

Make Your Own Luck

Rating: 3.5/5

One of the problems with expensive card draw spells is that you fall behind on mana. While you do only get to plot one of these, it still lets you get some mana value out of it while pulling ahead on cards.

Malcolm, the Eyes

Rating: 4.0/5

2/2 flying haste for two is a solid limited card. Getting that and adding a clue to all of your double spells is something to keep your eyes on.

Marchesa, Dealer of Death

Rating: 4.0/5

Feel free to splash Marchesa if you are already two of these colors because she can keep your criminal empire running smoothly. She’ll dig deep into your deck to keep coming up with new ways to commit more dastardly acts to repeat the process.

Miriam, Herd Whisperer

Rating: 3.0/5

I would prefer to have a decent chunk of vehicles and mounts for this because a 3/2 for two that takes two colors is merely decent these days.

Obeka, Splitter of Seconds

Rating: 1.0/5

I’m sure the commander players are coming up with some shenanigans with this. Don’t waste even a second on this for limited.

Oko, the Ringleader

Rating: 4.0/5

Luckily, they toned this down from the last Oko because there’s no way anyone ever wants to play against the OG in limited ever again (sigh…). This still pumps out Elks like a champ and can draw through your deck with a swiftness. What can I say, other than Planeswalkers are good.

Pillage the Bog

Rating: 2.5/5

You’re looking at a pretty decent card when the floor is a Golgari sorcery speed Impulse and the ceiling is Demonic Tutor.  

Rakdos Joins Up

Rating: 3.0/5

I’ve been a fan of all of the reanimate with a bonus spells as long as they don’t have additional hoops to jump through. This fills that slot with the two +1+1 counters making even a small creature a very real threat. Your mileage will vary with the other ability, but having them take a chunk of damage when one of your legendary creatures dies certainly isn’t nothing.

Rakdos, the Muscle

Rating: 5.0/5

This one is going to be fun to play against. Massive flying trampler that is well ahead of the curve in its mana slot. Oh, and you can sacrifice another creature to make it indestructible for zero mana. Yeah, you can only do it once per turn, so they can still get you with the double removal spell.

We’ve already reached bomb status with the above so of course it draws you a bunch of cards when you sacrifice something. Just in case you’re worried about decking, you can target your opponent to take their cards or just deck them.

Riku of Many Paths

Rating: 3.0/5

Spree cards count as modal spells so as long as you have a few of them this can get pretty bonkers. If you end up with zero, then there’s also an almost zero percent chance you should be running this.

Roxanne, Starfall Savant

Rating: 4.5/5

For the original cost of a Meteorite, you still get it along with Roxy that keeps making them every time they attack. It is even a Mana Flare for those mana rocks she makes. Busted card that can take over a game.

Ruthless Lawbringer

Rating: 3.5/5

You obviously want some creatures that you don’t mind sacrificing to maximize your value, but this is still fine when you trade a random bear for a 4/4.

Satoru, the Infiltrator

Rating: 4.0/5

This isn’t bad on just it’s base stats and you really are ahead of the game once you draw your first card off of it. Plotting works great, but you also get triggers when something enters play from being blinked or killing their Mystical Tether.

Selvala, Eager Trailblazer

Rating: 4.5/5

I keep rereading this, but it doesn’t say only do this once per turn. Getting an extra creature every time you play a creature is busto! Being a giant creature with vigilance that can add a pile of mana certainly matters too.

Seraphic Steed

Rating: 4.0/5

You all know I love 2/2 lifelinkers for two and this sweet ride even adds first strike. Oh, what’s that? It can also pump out 3/3 angels when you attack. There are plenty of green creatures you can drop on turn three that have four power letting you immediately start the angel party.

Turn two on the play, this is close to a five. It’s still fine later in the game, but not nearly as ridiculous.

Slick Sequence

Rating: 3.5/5

Totally fine in a situation where you absolutely have to hit something for two. You’ll start to feel pretty slick when it draws you a card though.

Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot

Rating: 3.0/5

That stats aren’t bad so you’re never going to be unhappy playing it if you are in these colors as long as you have the possibility to grip an extra card off of it at some point. Once you get one, this feels great for the cost.

Vial Smasher, Gleeful Grenadier

Rating: 3.0/5

The stats are solid and it will probably end up doing a few extra damage over the course of the average game. Of course, it can go off with the right cards so you can bump it up if you are really heavy outlaws.

Vraska Joins Up

Rating: 1.5/5

It’s going to take some special boards for this to really shine. Do you have a bunch of stuff with first strike or trample? How about a bunch of legendary creatures? If so, then feel free to pick this, if not let Vraska sit on the bench.

Vraska, the Silencer

Rating: 3.5/5

Turning all of your opponent’s dead creatures into stone treasures is good even if you do have to pay one for it. It does say loses all other card types, not abilities so there could definitely be some shenanigans that pop up.

Wrangler of the Damned

Rating: 3.0/5

While a bit pricy, you are pretty even as soon as you get your first 2/2 out of this. Just like all the other “haven’t cast a spell from your hand” cards, this loves plotting and instants.

Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero

Rating: 3.0/5

Heavily dependent on the number of mounts you have to enable turning it into a card draw machine. If it’s just a 4/2 vigilance then drop it down to a card twenty-three.

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Wrap Up

The multicolored spells are mostly completely busted as long as your deck can support them. Whether that’s through mana or having certain card types varies by the situation, but these cards are going to win some games.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be back soon with my limited review of the Big Score and Special Guests from Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Until then, stay classy people!

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.

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