MTG: Who are the Mysterious Shadows in “Outlaws of Thunder Junction”?
You might not think cowboys belong in Magic: the Gathering, but that hasn’t stopped Wizards from previewing a rootin’, tootin’ new set – “Outlaws of Thunder Junction”.
Preview season is always exciting, but sometimes the folks over at Wizards of the Coast outdo themselves. That’s just the case with the latest spoilers, which showed us MTG releases all the way out to 2026! We can expect Universe Beyond sets for Fallout and Assassin’s Creed, a return to several favorite planes, and a few new ones. One of the most exciting planes previewed was Thunder Junction, a Western-style arc packed with bandits and gunslingers.
In the preview art, we got a peek at some of the heroes returning to the set. We’ve confirmed Vraska, Oko, and even Tinybones, but the other three are still shrouded in mystery. Even without confirmation, though, we can make a few educated guesses as to who the others may be. Whether or not these guesses pan out, these characters would be great to see back in the limelight.
Rakdos
The leader of the cult with the same name, Rakdos is one of the founding entities of the city of Ravnica, and the head of one of its clans. He has been a popular character since his first appearance, and several iterations have popped up over the years. The demon on the far right of the image bears a lot of similarities to the demon lord, from the flame over his head to the twisting horns. However, up until now, Rakdos has been depicted as a massive creature, not the human-sized individual in the picture. Unless he shrunk to normal size, I doubt that’s him, but I still have hope. Even a diminished return from my second favorite guild would be worth buying into the set.
Jace
Jace was a powerful mage from Vrynn, adept at mental magic and one of the most powerful Planeswalkers of all time. However, during the invasion of New Phyrexia, he was betrayed by his love Vraska and compleated. He proved to be a dangerous foe, but after the fall of Elesh Norn, he and his beloved gorgon disappeared. Since we know that compleation can be undone, and we know the gorgon in the picture is Vraska, it’s possible our favorite mind mage has returned. Magic is notorious for writing sad stories, like forcing Nashi to watch his surrogate mother die. However, the do occasionally let love win. If Chandra can save Nissa, then it stands to reason they’d bring Jace and Vraska back together. Plus, everybody loves Jace; having a non-planeswalker version of him would be awesome.
Somebody New?
The character with the massive crossbow next to maybe-Rakdos doesn’t look like anyone we know. We’ve seen a few other pieces of art of them, and they look awesome. It would stand to reason the other heroes would need a local hero to show them the ropes, and this could be just the guy. Plus, that crossbow could be the way around the “no guns” policy Magic seems to have. Whoever it is, I can’t wait to see what they can do.
