Ridin’ Checklist for Your Outlaws of Thunder Junction Prerelease
With the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Prerelease Events right around the corner, we thought it mighty right to cover some essentials for your prerelease events. So here is a short guide to pulling off the biggest heist!
But first, what is a prerelease, and what do you do? At a prerelease event you are given a kit that contains 6 packs of Outlaws of Thunder Junction, and a promo card. You can use the cards in your kit to build your best 40 card deck. You will then play 3 rounds of Magic with your new limited deck. Each round is a best of three and you are free to add or change your deck using only the cards from your prerelease kit.
So now knowing what a prerelease is and how it works, but how can you make it better?
Step 1
Step 1 is making sure that you are registered for the event. We have three different locations all running these events the weekend of April 12th. Make sure you sign up for the correct day, time, and store. Click on the store location below for the Outlaws of Thunder Junction prerelease registration of your choice.
Step 2
Step 2 is having the right tools for the job. We like to recommend having a fresh pack of sleeves on hand to sleeve up your deck. Sleeves like the Double Sleeving Pack from Gamegenic. Sleeves make shuffling cards a dream, as well as help protect em’ from harm.
We also recommend having a deck box that is big enough to store your deck and the extra cards from your prerelease kit. There are plenty o’ options to choose from when it comes to boxes. The Bastion or Squire from Gamegenic are great options.
Finally, we recommend a way to take notes and keep life totals. There are a few accessories you can pick up like LifeLink life counter made by Die Hard Dice or a Jot 8.5 Boogie Board. Both are great options and something that you can use at your next showdown to boot!
Step 3
Step 3 is to look over the new mechanics of Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Outlaws of Thunder Junction introduces the concept of crimes. Any spell or ability that targets an opponent, or their stuff (spells, permanents, hand, library) is committing a crime. Since this is a plane of outlaws, committing crimes is incentivized, not punished. In the villain set, you get to be the villain.
The set also introduces the plot mechanic. It’s similar to both foretell and suspend. When you pay a card’s plot cost, it goes into exile, and you can cast it on a later turn without paying its mana cost (as a sorcery). Plot can be used to hold cards up for explosive turns, but your hand’s on the table: opponents can see the plotted cards and plan around them.
Saddle is a keyword ability associated with the new Mount creature type. In a similar way to the Crew ability, it is activated by tapping any number of creatures you control with total power equal to or greater than the saddle value. Creatures with saddle, unlike Vehicles, can still attack and block like normal, but they have powerful abilities that only trigger when they become saddled or attack while saddled.
Finally, spree is a keyword found on instants and sorceries that grants them modality in a very similar way to escalate. Spells with spree have several effects, each with an additional cost. However, these costs can be different from each other. A spell with spree can have a very different impact when it’s cast in the early game using cheaper effects than when it’s cast as a finisher going all-out on expensive effects.
Step 4
Step 4 is to have fun! Prerelease events are casual fun events for all levels of players. They offer the first chance to learn and play with the new cards, and with a great community and fun environment, we can’t recommend attending these events enough.
Hope to see you saunterin’ on through our doors soon!