Law Don’t Go ‘Round Here

Welcome back to EDHREC for our last round of precon guides for Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Did we save the best precon for last? Let’s find out, as we dig into Most Wanted, the red, white, and black deck led by Olivia, Opulent Outlaw.

Who Are the Commanders for Most Wanted?

Olivia is a 3/3 Vampire Assassin with flying and lifelink for four mana. Whenever one or more outlaws you control deal combat damage to a player, you make a Treasure. And you can pay three mana and sacrifice two Treasures to put two +1/+1 counters on each creature you control. (The outlaw classification works similarly to party, in that it includes a group of creature types. In this case, it’s Assassins, Mercenaries, Pirates, Rogues, and Warlocks.)

Similar to the Grand Larceny deck, which also dealt with combat damage triggers, we should expect to see a lot of creatures with evasion and plenty of Treasure synergy.

Our backup commander is Vihaan, Goldwaker, a 3/3 Dwarf Warlock for three mana that gives outlaws vigilance and haste, and at the beginning of our combat we can turn our Treasures into 3/3 Construct Assassins until end of turn. Because Treasures just weren’t valuable enough, apparently.

Here’s the full deck list:

What Are the Themes and Strategies of Most Wanted?

The first thing this deck wants is outlaws dealing damage. So let’s see what kind of outlaws we’ve been given to work with. For Pirates we’ve got Angrath’s Marauders to double all the damage we’re dealing, Captivating Crew for some thievin’, Dire Fleet Daredevil to snatch an instant or sorcery out of an opponent’s yard, and Dire Fleet Ravager to lower life totals and speed the game up.

We’ve also got plenty of Rogues, including Grenzo, Havoc Raiser for some Goading and card advantage, Humble Defector and Morbid Opportunist for card draw, Kamber, the Plunderer and Laurine, the Diversion work together to make Blood tokens and Goad creatures, and Rankle, Master of Pranks for multiple benefits.

For Warlocks we have Witch of the Moors and Veinwitch Coven for some graveyard recursion, Tenured Inkcaster to drain some life, Misfortune Teller for more tokens, Breena, the Demagogue for some politics, and Marshland Bloodcaster to help us cast some expensive spells earlier. We’ve also got Massacre Girl, Mari, the Killing Quill, and Queen Marchesa filling up the Assassin slots, and all working to take out creatures.

What, no Mercenaries? We’ll get to those in a moment. But let’s not forget our Shapeshifters, which count as all creature types: Mirror Entity and Changeling Outcast. 

Treasures are the second big theme of the deck. Olivia makes them when your outlaws hit, but we might need a bit more than that. We’ve got a couple of Pirates to help, with Captain Lannery Storm and Impulsive Pilferer. Fain, the Broker can turn our +1/+1 counters into Treasure. Seize the Spotlight gives our opponents a choice of lending us a creature or giving us a card and a Treasure. Life Insurance turns creature deaths into Treasure, Rain of Riches makes two Treasures and gives our spells Cascade if we spent Treasures to cast them, and Shiny Impetus gives us a Treasure each time the enchanted creatures attacks (which it has to do, thanks to Goad).

How Do You Play Most Wanted?

The main goal of this deck is to attack. That’s simple enough, and the deck does that really well. You’ll have no trouble getting your engine going, since Olivia is very affordable and there’s plenty of ramp in the deck, particularly with all the Treasures. 

But don’t be too hasty to cash in those Treasures! Remember that they serve multiple purposes here, including overrunning your opponents as an army of 3/3s with Vihaan, Goldwaker, or they can be sacrificed to Fain, the Broker to make an Inkling, or for Laurine, the Diversion to Goad a huge threat. And there’s Olivia’s own ability to add +1/+1 counters to all of your creatures.

Also keep in mind that the deck isn’t terribly efficient at making Treasures. There’s nothing nearly as strong as Smothering Tithe in here, and most of your production will come from Olivia’s damage trigger - which isn't always reliable. So it really helps to have a plan of what you want your Treasures to do each game (and it should be said, the fact that you have options is one of the deck’s true qualities).

Put emphasis on your creatures with evasion, since you’ll need these most for Olivia’s Treasure-making. Anything with flying is a huge plus, since they’re harder to block, like Rankle, Master of Pranks, Nighthawk Scavenger, or Aetherborn Marauder. Unblockable is nice if you can get it, which you’ll find with Changeling Outcast or Rogue’s Passage.

Keep in mind that Olivia’s activated ability can only be done at sorcery speed, which is quite a big weakness. I mean, it would be awesome if Vihaan could turn a huge haul of Treasures into 3/3s and then have Olivia turn them all (minus the two you sacrifice) into 5/5s right away, but it sadly can’t be done until you go back to your main phase, which is really a bummer. But that doesn’t mean that ability doesn’t have its uses. A handful of creatures is always better with an extra two power and toughness.

The unsung MVP of this deck is definitely Fain, the Broker. In particular, his second and third abilities are huge for this deck and all of its themes. Play him as soon as you can, because he will do a lot of work.

What Are the New Cards in Most Wanted?

Hey, remember we mentioned the lack of Mercenaries? Here they are! We’ve got three new Mercenaries coming with this deck. Graywater’s Fixer gives all of the outlaws in your graveyard Encore, which is a great way to (temporarily) get a few extra creatures on the board for swinging. Bonus points if they have ETB effects, obviously. Charred Graverobber also works with the dead, bringing an outlaw back to your hand from the grave when it enters. It also has Escape, so you can keep bringing it back as long as you have cards in the yard to exile. And we’ve got Angelic Sell-Sword, who makes Mercenary tokens when it or another nontoken creature enters your battlefield. It also has some attack-trigger card draw if you can pump its power up just a bit.

For more outlaw recursion, we’ve got Back in Town, an X spell that brings back X outlaws from your graveyard to the battlefield. Because you can’t keep a good bad guy down. 

Dead Before Sunrise is somehow both versatile and limited at the same time. You can use it to knock out opponents’ creatures, or to power up your combat. Or if you had Zagras, Thief of Heartbeats (who just so happens to be an outlaw) giving all of your creatures deathtouch, it’s almost a non-symmetrical board wipe (assuming you have enough creatures). But let’s not forget what this card is really supposed to be used for: my favorite pugnacious Goblin, Brash Taunter. I mean, why deal the damage to other creatures when you can send it all to Brashy T and have him slap your opponents around instead?

Bounty Board brings back Bounty counters, which so far have only been seen here and there, on cards like Mathas, Fiend Seeker and Chevill, Bane of Monsters. It’s another in a long line of three-mana rocks that are likely to be forgotten.

For a card that definitely won’t be forgotten, let’s look to We Ride at Dawn. In case you didn’t know, legends decks are still pretty hot. And I think this will be an auto-include in many of them. The token-making is probably irrelevant, but could be useful in a pinch.

Our last new card in this deck is Discreet Retreat, a land Aura that’s specifically only useful for outlaw decks. One might think that would make it too limited, but there are a pretty decent number of Pirate and Rogue decks out there that would be happy to have this.

Don’t forget the bounties! Each precon from Outlaws of Thunder Junction comes with three bounty cards to include in a mini-game. For full details on how to use them, check my review of Desert Bloom.

The bounties included in this deck are:

• Squeakers the Sly - if a legendary creature you controlled attacked alone this turn, collect
• Eriana, Wrecking Ball - if you committed a Crime this turn, collect (targeting opponents, anything they control, and/or cards in their graveyard is a crime)
• Lyssa, Sterling Collector - if the player with the most cards in hand was dealt combat damage this turn, collect

Is Most Wanted Worth Buying?

Does this motley crue of outlaws have what it takes? Here’s my grade for this precon:

B-

This deck is very fun to play, with really solid commanders and excellent synergy. There are a few cards in here that are easy cuts for our upgrade, but that’s true of almost any precon.

The reprint value is pretty average. Nothing exceptionally valuable, but some decent hits with Breena, the Demagogue, Academy Manufactor, Rain of Riches, and Command Beacon.

The biggest dent in this score is the new cards. Sadly some are forgettable, and some just won’t be played outside of this deck or possibly Pirate and Rogue typal decks. The only true standout is We Ride at Dawn.

Can I make this deck better? Find out in my Upgrade Guide, here on EDHREC.

More Precon Fun:

Quick Draw - Thunder Junction Precon Review

Desert Bloom - Thunder Junction Precon Review

Heavenly Inferno - Kaalia Precon Upgrade