Wizards of the Coast has added a Magic: The Gathering bonus sheet to the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Limited Draft and Sealed format, featuring over 60 reprinted cards in Breaking News.
The Standard-legal Outlaws of Thunder Junction (OTJ) set is packed with cards that aren’t from the main MTG set, featuring a bonus sheet and cards from The List. Each Play Booster pack will contain one Breaking News bonus sheet card, and in one out of five, you may find a card from The List that contains Special Guest and Big Score cards. The Breaking News bonus sheet is similar to previous sheets seen in Wilds of Eldraine and Brothers’ War Draft.Â
How Breaking News bonus sheet works in Thunder Junction
The Breaking News bonus sheet from OTJ contains a total of 65 reprinted Magic cards. When playing any of the Limited formats (Draft, Sealed, and Prerelease Sealed), Breaking News cards are legal to play. In any other MTG format, you can play the cards in the format they are legal in. Take Oko, Thief of Crowns, for example. The multi-format banned card is legal to play within the OTJ Limited format—and only in the other MTG formats Vintage, Commander, Oathbreaker, and Timeless. Every Play Booster pack has a dedicated slot for a Breaking News card. And almost every MTG card on the bonus sheet synergizes with the new OTJ mechanic, Crimes.Â
All Breaking News cards in Thunder Junction bonus sheet
The rarity breakdown for Breaking News cards is 20 Uncommons, 30 Rares, and 15 Mythic Rares, according to WotC. Each of the 15 Mythic Rares has an alt anime-textured full art foil treatment found only in Collector booster packs.
| Breaking News cards | Rarity | Breaking News cards | Rarity |
| Fierce Retribution | U | Journey to Nowhere | U |
| Essence Capture | U | Repulse | U |
| Heartless Pilage | U | Murder | U |
| Fling | U | Skewer the Critics | U |
| Clear Shot | U | Thornado | U |
| Back for More | U | Buried in the Garden | U |
| Decisive Denial | U | Hindering Light | U |
| Humiliate | U | Hypothesizzle | U |
| Ride Down | U | Savage Smash | U |
|
| |||
| Terminal Agony | U | Tyrant’s Scorn | U |
| Fell the Mighty | R | Pariah | R |
| Path to Exile | R | Archive Trap | R |
| Archmage’s Charm | R | Commandeer | R |
| Imp’s Michief | R | Reanimate | R |
| Collective Defiance | R | Electrodomiance | R |
| Skull Crack | R | Pest Infestation | R |
| Primal Might | R | Abrupt Decav | R |
| Bedevil | R | Cruel Ultimatum | R |
| Decimate | R | Detention Sphere | R |
|
| |||
| Endless Detour | R | Ionize | R |
| Outlaws’ Merriment | R | Siphon Insight | R |
| Vanishing Verse | R | Villainous Wealth | R |
| Void Rend | R | Unlicensed Hearse | R |
| Dust Bowl | R Land | Voidslime | R |
| Leyline Binding | MR | Mana Drain | MR |
| Mindbreak Trap | MR | Overwhelming Forces | MR |
| Thoughtseize | MR | Crackle with Power | MR |
| Indomitable Creativity | MR | Force of Vigor | MR |
| Anguished Unmaking | MR | Crime//Punishment | MR |
| Fractured Identity | MR | Oko, Theif of Crowns | MR |
| Contagion Engine | MR | Grindstone | MR |
| Mindslaver | MR | ||
Best Breaking News Thunder Junction cards for Draft and Sealed
Some of the best Breaking News cards depend on the OTJ Draft archetypes, while others can work as a splash. The MTG cards Mindslayer and Esoteric Duplicator potentially rank as the best combo between the Bonus sheet and The Big Score. But acquiring these cards in either Draft or Sealed takes some luck since they’re both Mythic Rares and Esoteric Duplicator is less likely to show up in a Play Booster pack. The UB archetype has payoffs for Crimes, making cards like Mana Drain, Murder, Overwhelming Forces, Thoughtseize, and Tyrant’s Scorn quite good within the archetype.
Cards like Oko, Thief of Crowns are worthy of splashing in any OTJ archetype while a card like Reanimate is really good within the BG archetype. If you can somehow come up with the mana, Crackle with Power is a game-ender. Primal Might gets better in an RG build and Bedevil is a solid form of removal in a BR deck.
