Outlaws of Thunder Junction is shaping up to be an exciting set with some potentially powerful new staples. Taking place in a Wild West frontier world, this set takes your Western tropes and gimmicks to the world of Magic. We’re going to see crime, duels, and lots of cowboy hats across this set. Today, let’s focus on what this set brings to Commander!

Final Showdown

Final Showdown depicts a lone survivor after a battle walking the dusty streets. The one-mana spell has no abilities on its own, but we can tweak this spell to our needs by paying one or more “Spree” costs. We can pay any number of Spree costs and make this spell unique to fit any situation.

We can pay one to make all creatures lose all abilities (hello, white Dress Down). One mana can also make a creature indestructible until the end of the turn. Or, paying an additional five mana will destroy all creatures.

This card is incredibly versatile. At its best, it allows us to wipe the board at instant speed, keep our best creature, and remove abilities from all other creatures. At its worst, it can be a combat trick that ruins your opponent’s attacks.

Being an instant, this reminds me of a lot of Rout and Fated Retribution. However, Final Showdown’s flexibility makes this stand head and shoulders above them. This card is going to be an amazing option for white decks at all parts of the game.

Spree is shaping up to be an incredibly versatile option. Modal spells are already powerful, however, modality in the cost is icing on the cake to push these cards to the next level. Expect to see more Spree in this article!

Satoru, the Infiltrator

Satoru is offering you a dare. I dare you to cheat. Satoru is a two-mana 2/3 with Menace. Whenever Satoru or another nontoken creature enters the battlefield under your control if they were not cast, or no mana was spent to cast them, draw a card. That is a bit of a mouthful, but in short, doing stuff for free draws you cards.

There are numerous ways to take advantage of Satoru. Firstly, you could treat him like Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain. Simply cast zero-mana creatures and draw to your heart’s content. Ornithopter and Memnite come to mind. You could also play X spells and treat them as pseudo-cycling cards. Walking Ballista on zero will die instantly, but draws you a card.

Alternatively, you can synergize with cards that put creatures directly into play. Show and Tell, Reanimate, or Ninjitsu effects can all accomplish this. The sky really is the limit with Satoru. We want you to cheat on mana and we do not care how you do it!

The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride

This is our second rendition of the Gitrog Monster in 12 months. What a treat! Gitrog comes with Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s new “Saddle” mechanic. This works kind of like crew for vehicles. We tap a number of creatures with power equal to the saddle number. The Gitrog does not need to be “saddled” to attack, however, there is a bonus if we do saddle it.

In the case of Gitrog, whenever it deals combat damage to a player, we can sacrifice a creature that saddled it. If we do, we draw cards and put a number of lands into play equal to the sacrificed creature’s power. This has the potential to be a card-advantage monster, churning out threats and replacing them thanks to our card draw.

Notably, we do not sacrifice a creature until Gitrog deals combat damage. This means it’s a sort of “no-hit, no downside” setup. Additionally, you can saddle a creature multiple times. If you have two creatures you were going to hold back with you can use them both to saddle Gitrog and then sacrifice whichever one is least relevant to you once you confirm the hit. This can also help you get around an opponent that destroys the tapped creature before Gitrog deals damage.

For a long time, Golgari did not have many Voltron options. Yargle and Multani, Skullbriar the Walking Grave come to mind. If you get creative The Most Dangerous Gamer might work too. However The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride just might stand above them all. Haste, Trample, card draw, and ramp all rolled into one, it’s hard to beat!

Lavaspur Boots

This card might have been missed by some of you amidst the flashy mythics and rares. Lavaspur Boots costs one mana and equips for one mana. It gives +1/+0, Haste, and Ward 1. At such a low cost, if you care about Haste, this card might be a worthy pickup. It seems Crystal Slipper, and Boots of Speed just keep getting better.

In decks that rely on getting their commander in play quickly and tapping them, the boots pair well with the classics. Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves are fantastic staples. I feel Lavaspur has its place among them if you value another chance of granting haste. Notably, costing only one mana makes this a great play turn one.

The ward cost, while small, is not insignificant. In aggressive decks, that extra one mana might be enough to tax your opponent out of removing it, especially in the early game. Decks like Krenko, Mob Boss, Marwyn, and the Nurturer can take great advantage of the low casting and equip costs.

Whether it’s for an extra chance at Haste, or as a budget alternative to the $5 Lightning Greaves, keep an eye out for Lavaspur Boots in your packs! This promises to be one of the best Commander cards from Outlaws of Thunder Junction.

Insatiable Avarice

Spree makes its second appearance today, this time on a tutor! This spell costs one mana and has two additional modes thanks to Spree. Two mana of any color lets you search your library for a card and put it on top. An additional two black will let you draw three cards and lose three life. Altogether this is a Cruel Tutor combined and Ambition’s Cost rolled into one.

Again, the versatility here is fantastic. You can tutor, draw, or do both at once! If you urgently need a card, you can pay five mana to put it straight into your hand, thanks to the draw ability.

While Cruel Tutor and Ambitions Cost are by no means the best tutor or draw spell. They are solid enough that with this newfound flexibility, Insatiable Avarice has real potential. I don’t think there is a whole lot more to say here besides this is just a solid effect for the cost.

Kellan, the Kid

Kellan is continuing his trend of changing colors every set. We now have Kellan in Bant colors. For three mana, a 3/3 with Flying and Lifelink is a solid body. Whenever you cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand you can cast a spell from your hand with equal or lesser mana cost for free. Or you can play a land from your hand instead.

Kellan reminds me of Kodama of the East Tree in some regards. Cast a spell, get a spell. This pairs incredibly well with Adventure as seen on Kellan, Daring Traveler, and Kellan Inquisitive Prodigy. Adventure is a consistent way to enable this ability and continuously get value. Unfortunately, Kellan, the Fae-Blooded cannot be included here due to his red identity.

We are not just limited to Adventure. Like the aforementioned Satoru, there are lots of ways to cast spells outside your hand. Cascade, Suspend, the new Plot, and Flashback all trigger Kellan. If you decide to play Kellan in your main deck, he will even trigger when you cast your commander!

When building Kellan, consider cards that have a cost reduction when you cast them outside your hand. For example, Roar of the Wurm has a flashback cost less than its main mana value. This means Kellan will consider it a seven-cost spell for the purposes of his ability. The same is true for cascade. If you cast Maelstrom Colossus and hit a seven-cost spell Kellan will let you cast a permanent from your hand with a cost of seven or less for free.

Vraska, the Silencer

Here, we have a fantastic, unique take on graveyard hate. Whenever a non-token creature an opponent controls dies, you may pay one mana. If you do, return that creature to the battlefield tapped under your control. It becomes a Treasure and loses all other card types.

That ability is a mouthful. In short, when creatures die we can steal them and turn them into Treasure tokens. They still have all their other abilities, they’re just not creatures anymore. This can be a great way to steal powerful effects for yourself. Whether it’s a simple enter the battlefield trigger like Mulldrifter, or a haymaker like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Vraksa makes our opponent think twice before letting their creatures die.

This reminds me of Athreos, Shroud-Veiled, and Lim-Dul, the Necromancer. Unlike these two examples, Vraska is very low cost. I am excited to see what Vraska brings to the theft archetype! The addition of Deathtouch makes things even better since it discourages attacks!

Lost Jitte

Lost Jitte has a little bit of everything rolled into one. For one mana to play and equip, it is a fantastic flexible card. When the equipped creature deals combat damage put a charge counter on Jitte. You can remove a counter from Jitte at any time to do one of three effects. Untap a land, prevent a creature from blocking, or put a +1/+1 counter on the equipped creature.

This is a callback to Umezawa’s Jitte. While Umezawa’s is much more powerful, Lost Jitte can still hold its own, especially at half the cost to play and equip. What makes both Jittes powerful is that they do not need to be equipped. If Jitte has counters on it but becomes unequipped, you can still remove the counters whenever you like. Jitte is always a threat!

Lost Jitte has a lot of versatility. Untapping a land can be a cute source of mana if you let it build up. Alternatively, if the Jitte is targeted with a removal spell, you can turn the charge counters into +1/+1 counters. This can enhance your threat even when the Jitte is gone.

Sword of Wealth and Power

We have another callback equipment. Sword of Wealth and Power is adding to the never-ending slew of “Sword of This and That.” Wealth and Power offers some of the best defenses thanks to “protection from instants and sorceries.” Most spot removal consists of instants and sorceries, so this makes Sword of Wealth and Power a no-brainer for many decks.

The second ability is solid, too! Making a Treasure and copying your next instant or sorcery has the potential to grow out of control. This plays nicely with Tetsuo, Imperial Champion. We can focus on equipment and spells!

Cracking Spellslinger

This one is just dumb fun. Crackling Spellslinger is a five-mana creature with flash. When it enters the battlefield, if you cast it, the next instant or sorcery you cast this turn has Storm. I am not sure how “good” this will be. Five mana is a steep cost. You might need that mana to storm off in the first place. However, the ceiling and potential uses have my head spinning.

Casting a big spell and giving it Storm is the dream. Casting a couple of ritual effects, cast the Spellslinger, and then a Time Warp, Apex of Power, or Torment of Hailfire is too good to pass up! Countless big spells could end the game if they had Storm!

On the other hand, we can use Crackling Spellslinger in sneakier ways, too. Storm counts all spells played in a turn. Wait for your opponent’s big turn, then cast Crackling Spellslinger, followed by a Sword to Plowshares to ruin their setup. Or, set up your next turn with a draw spell like Opt Storm!

Savvy Trader

Savvy Trader gives us a cost reduction for casting spells from anywhere other than our hand! This is a fantastic incentive that begs to be built around in some way. It offers us a taste of what is possible with its enter the battlefield trigger. It exiles something from our grave and lets us play it as long as it remains exiled.

My initial thoughts are to pair this with a commander that lets us play with the top of our deck. The Fourth Doctor, and Galea, Kindler of Hope come to mind here. This gives the Savvy Trader many homes where it can show value. A cost reduction is always appreciated. Of course, there are other places we can cast from. Playing cast from the grave is always an option. Kethis, the Hidden Hand already grants a cost reduction to legends. Pair him with the Trader to replay your grave with a deep discount.

Finally, Savvy Trader has a home in some combo decks. Eternal Scourge and Squee the Immortal are both known to go infinite with Food Chain. While this is the optimal option, redundancy is important. Savvy Trader, Squee, and Skirk Prospector lets you cast Squee as many times as you like! Pair this with any enters or leaves the battlefield trigger for an easy win.

Conclusion

That rounds out our look at the best Commander cards from Outlaws of Thunder Junction. This set is full of new mechanics. I am particularly excited for Spree. Let us know what you think in the comments. This set seems to have a lot of exciting and powerful designs hitting us all at once!

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