Outlaws of Thunder Junction (OTJ) Limited Primer — Breaking News (OTP)

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Outlaws of Thunder Junction (OTJ) holds its prerelease events on April 12, 2024, and launches officially a week later on April 19, 2024. Want to know more about how each card rates in Limited, plus some interesting possible combinations? Then check out this series of OTJ Limited introductions!

For the mechanics, see this article: Outlaws of Thunder Junction Mechanics Breakdown

Rating Scale

5.0: Always take it
4.0: Worth a first pick
3.5: Strong enough, but not necessarily a first pick
3.0: Above average (you would really like it in your final deck)
2.5: Average, maybe around the 6th or 7th pick of a draft
2.0–1.0: Below average (you would rather not play it than play it)
0.5–0.0: Unplayable (basically don’t play it; it will only help you lose)

Breaking News (OTP)

Every card in OTP is a reprint, positioned similarly to Multiverse Legends (MUL) in MOM or Enchanting Tales (WOT) in Wilds of Eldraine. Besides being usable in Limited, these cards are legal only in the formats where they were already legal, and generally are not added to Standard, except for Leyline Binding, which was already Standard-legal.

cephille: 2.0

It can’t sweep up a lone creature or a pile of creatures with equal power, and if your creatures are bigger but you’re about to be killed by your opponent’s little fry, this card can’t save you. A rather subtle sweeper.

cephille: 2.0

A two-mana instant that kills an attacking creature leans defensive, and six-mana cleave to make it a straight kill is still too slow.

cephille: 3.5

A two-mana enchantment version of creature exile is strong enough. Remember its wording is the same as Oblivion Ring: you can respond to the enters-the-battlefield trigger by returning this enchantment to hand, so that creature stays in exile forever and never comes back.

cephille: 3.5

Even the five-mana flash Banishing Light is strong enough, not to mention that you can usually cast this one for a lower cost!

cephille: 3.5

Usually put on your opponent’s damned big creature to make their attacks cautious; if you have an indestructible creature on the battlefield, that’s wonderful.

cephille: 3.0

PTE gets worse the earlier it is in a Limited game, because the consequences of speeding up your opponent are too hard to predict, but in the mid to late game you need a clean, crisp answer, and PTE does that quite well.

cephille: 3.5

In a Limited deck of around 40 cards, without a mulligan you draw 7 for your opening hand, then draw five more cards leaving 28, and milling 13 takes about half. If your opponent has some ramp cards, or even Prismatic Vista, then after your opponent happily finishes searching their library, you can cast this for zero and mill 13 of their cards first!

cephille: 2.5

Very flexible, but three of the same color of mana is harder to gather in a multicolor environment than three different colors, so basically it can only be used after turn five, and by then these effects may be much worse than if made on turn three.

cephille: 0.5

It probably wasn’t printed for Limited, but I can’t rule out someone developing a bizarre use, such as bringing in from the sideboard to use the Mindslaver your opponent casts, so I gave it an extra 0.5.

cephille: 2.5

Although a two-mana counter for a creature that also makes your own creature bigger is quite good, two of the same color of mana can sometimes leave it stuck and unusable.

cephille: 3.0

A very strong counterspell: after you counter on your opponent’s turn, it’s your turn to make a ramp play, and if you can ramp because of it, that’s a big profit.

cephille: 0.5

Four mana is too clunky for a counterspell, and the cost-replacement effect is a bit harsh in Limited. If I want a counterspell, I would choose another that is easier to cast.

cephille: 3.0

Return a creature to hand and draw a card; it is also quite flexible to use. A good card!

cephille: 2.0

Mind Rot is always useful in Limited, and if you can trigger Raid for an extra Treasure, even better.

cephille: 1.5

A sneaky trick with a relatively narrow use; if your opponent has lots of direct damage or removal spells, just bring it in from the sideboard.

cephille: 3.5

A three-mana straight kill; an old card with a good effect. There are no face-down creatures with ward 2 in this set, so a 3.5 is reasonable.

cephille: 3.5

If you can cast it you usually win, but eight mana is still too big.

cephille: 3.0

I thought I was playing Legacy Cube! Being able to use ancient god cards like Reanimate in Limited should be a great experience! Remember you can dig up your opponent’s creatures too, and if you have enough life, pay it boldly!

cephille: 0.0

Don’t use it; this set has no Relentless Rats or Slime Against Humanity.

cephille: 2.5

For one mana you can see through your opponent’s next game plan, and take the most precious threat or cause the greatest hand destruction, at the cost of just one black mana and two life. In Limited, even if you have it in your opening hand, you don’t have to play it on turn one; you can wait for the most appropriate moment to deal your opponent the most painful, heart-piercing blow! However, the problem of discard itself still exists, and when you topdeck it, it’s agonizing.

cephille: 4.0

This card can do a lot, and the more modes you can choose with escalate, the better it performs.

cephille: 3.0

If your deck has enough ramp, it will perform very well; if not, it is just a plain five-mana 5-damage spell.

cephille: 3.0

Pay two extra red mana to deal X damage to any target and cast another card from hand with mana value X or less; basically X >= 3 will be great.

cephille: 2.0

Throwing out a big creature to finish things sounds great, but in practice you usually won’t want to do that; sometimes making it wins the game, but sometimes there’s no chance to use it and it is awkward.

cephille: 0.5

Unless you can assemble a deck full of high-cost creatures, Mindslaver and other threats that can also produce lots of tokens, it’s better not to play it.

cephille: 3.0

A three-mana sorcery dealing 3 with a chance to be cast at reduced cost; the more you take, the better.

cephille: 2.0

Still more of a sideboard card; sometimes stopping the player from gaining life has miraculous effects.

cephille: 3.0

A very good green removal spell, combining pump and removal in one.

cephille: 1.0

A sideboard card. OTJ is a legendary-heavy environment, but not an artifact or enchantment environment.

cephille: 1.5

Same as FOV but better: the more it destroys, the more it also makes double the Pests, but still a sideboard card.

cephille: 4.0

A five-mana tutor for a creature + put one of the opponent’s noncreature threats on top of their library, or gain 7 life; if needed it can also shuffle your graveyard back into your library as resource recovery. Choose right and it’s all great.

cephille: 3.0

A very strong fight, but at sorcery speed watch out that the opponent doesn’t two-for-one you with an instant-speed removal. Also this is a pump card, and after the creature you give trample-like evasion (trample, flying) fights away the blocker, it may also finish with one punch.

cephille: 2.5

Three mana to kill an annoying green flier, and if you can’t use it, you can cycle it away for two mana.

cephille: 3.0

A two-mana instant that removes a nonland permanent of mana value 3 or less; you deserve to have it. Of course, if there aren’t many targets, it’s fine to board it out.

cephille: 3.5

A three-mana instant-speed answer to anything is very strong, but taking 3 damage is no small side effect, so if you use it, watch your life total.

cephille: 3.0

Instant-speed graveyard digging plus a fight will often be a two-for-one or even three-for-one (if the creature you dig up has an enter-the-battlefield ability). The only drawback is that it can only dig up your own, so sometimes it isn’t that profitable.

cephille: 3.5

It is almost an answer to anything except enchantments and lands. If it weren’t for the heavy three-same-color requirement, it could probably get 4.0.

cephille: 3.5

I originally thought of this as the fastest reprint ever, but it’s not the first time. A four-mana Banishing Light + ramp; play it if the colors are right!

cephille: 2.5

I’m so excited that it can dig up my opponent’s stuff (monotone). In black-green it is pretty good for sweeping tokens, and if needed it can also hard-remove a threat of mana value 3-4, but with a higher cost it’s harder to use.

cephille: 3.0

If you can cast it on time it is certainly a game-reversing card, but the color requirement isn’t just heavy, it is also too closed, so I deducted some points. Basically it’s a custom weapon that only a pure Grixis deck has a chance to use.

As long as you play Grixis colors and you have seven lands, you must act as if you can produce what it takes to cast Cruel Ultimatum. Welcome to revisit Gabriel Nassif’s classic topdeck in the yellow cap!

cephille: 2.0

Four mana to destroy one target each: artifact, creature, enchantment, and land. If you can use it, it’s a big profit, but it doesn’t work if even one target is missing, and assembling four targets on the battlefield is really not easy. But in this set white has many enchantment-only removal spells, so you can consider bringing it in for sideboard games against white, and when it works out it’s explosive. But to make sure you can use this trick, you may need to give away one of your own Treasures to fill out the targets.

cephille: 2.5

Countering a noncreature spell or an instant-speed fight is a good option, a solid card for the blue-green pair.

cephille: 3.5

An Oblivion Ring with a higher ceiling, with a chance to exile a bunch of tokens with the same name, or exactly two or more nonland permanents with the same name.

cephille: 2.5

A very flexible card: it can serve as a soft counter by bouncing a targeted spell, or bounce a nonland permanent, and at worst can pick up something from the graveyard. Apart from the heavy color requirement there are no drawbacks. Don’t forget you can respond to your opponent fetching a land by shuffling the threat on their battlefield back in too.

cephille: 4.0

Basically a Mind Control for nonland permanents, but with a stronger effect: the opponent’s nonland permanent you take can’t come back, and making a copy of that permanent can earn its ETB ability once more, worthy of its mythic rare strength!

cephille: 1.5

Basically a protection spell that also gains cards, but the timing of use is a bit narrow.

cephille: 2.5

A two-mana targeted discard can still be played as a one-of in Limited, and making one of your creatures bigger along the way is also a useful effect.

cephille: 3.0

Roughly a five-mana instant dealing 4 to a creature + draw a card; even at worst it is a five-mana instant draw two (if after drawing you have all lands or all stuff you don’t want to discard), and if you don’t count the restriction of discarding a nonland card it is worth a 3.5.

cephille: 2.5

A Cancel with a less heavy color requirement; the effect of dealing 2 has no target, so basically it always hits.

cephille: 7.0

Even if everyone in this set is an outlaw, that doesn’t mean you should be let out. That man, aka the overlord of banned cards in six formats, isn’t called that for nothing.

I give it an off-the-chart 7.0 to show my sincere respect, and hope your Limited opponents don’t have this card, giving us back a peaceful Limited environment!

cephille: 3.5

Although you can’t choose which kind of creature token it makes, from the upkeep after it enters on turn four you begin making haste creatures, and making two is already worth the price of admission. In the red-white pair that leans heavily on those colors, lay out a few plays first, then slam this down on turn four and you’re about to win.

cephille: 2.0

A removal spell with a very narrow range of use, basically better in small-creature aggro decks. The upside is that if the creature you were blocked by has a triggered ability on dealing combat damage to a player, it can still be done thanks to the trample it gains.

cephille: 2.5

A +2/+2 fight, a plain and unadorned good card.

cephille: 3.0

The stronger the opponent’s cards, the better it gets; with a flashback ability it can NTR two of your opponent’s cards, suited for you who always look at what’s in someone else’s bowl.

cephille: 3.0

A four-mana sorcery straight kill, or when you loot or filter, take away a threat for two mana on the side, quite practical.

cephille: 3.0

A two-mana instant killing mana value 3 or less has sufficient range, and a big creature it can’t kill can also serve as a soft answer.

cephille: 2.0

After all it’s a multicolor environment, but if you see your opponent has quite a few mono-color bombs that must be answered, you can still bring it in from the sideboard.

cephille: 3.0

With X >= 5, don’t exile too many lands, and it should be quite explosive, but relatively unstable. Considering it needs three of the same color and a large enough cost to be strong, don’t rely on it too much when using it; treat it as a strong enough topdeck.

cephille: 3.0

An answer to anything with no drawbacks except that three colors of colored mana are hard to cast; being uncounterable is a bonus, though only occasionally useful. Since it’s basically a two-color environment, although it’s strong, it’s not strong enough to be worth building an Esper three-color pair for; it’s more for when you have two of those colors and still lack removal, where you can lightly splash the third color to add this one for more removal; if you have enough removal, skip it.

cephille: 2.0

Just a Cancel that is not easy to splash, and occasionally can counter a deadly ability to keep you safe.

cephille: 4.5

On entering it first sweeps to weaken the opponent, and if you survive, proliferate twice and it is about as good as a sweeper, and at the same time your own +1/+1 and other assorted counters can each get two more. Even if you’re beaten to the brink of death, it has a chance to turn things around, not to mention when you are ahead!

cephille: 3.0

Cast on turn one, mill starting on turn three, and a game where even one pair gets milled means you are about to win. Of course that is unlikely, but milling can win in Limited, so consider adding it as plan B, and against opponents who love to loot, use this one to speed up their defeat.

cephille: 5.0

The strongest bomb in the set, bar none. And your opponent being controlled and played badly by you will be super annoyed even if in the end they don’t lose; be careful.

cephille: 1.5

A graveyard-hate sideboard card, but in Limited you need targets or to be able to Crew and take part in combat, and if the game drags on a bit it may not be that efficient.

cephille: 1.5

A sideboard card; if your opponent plays five colors with a bunch of dual lands, just bring it in.

Conclusion

OTP reprints many classic spells to simulate various crimes. Basically, except for Contagion Engine, every card should have synergy with this set’s commit-a-crime mechanic, so it should be great fun in Limited, and you’ll occasionally be blown to pieces by some Legacy-level power card or play!

There are 65 Breaking News cards in total this time

• The average score is 2.7
• The highest score is 5.0
• The lowest score is 0.0