MTG Thunder Junction Commander rides to victory with unique design

MTG players who can work out how to tap this new Thunder Junction Selesnya Commander will be swimming in cards and life points.

Wylie Duke, Attin Hero is a Selesnya (white and green mana) Commander from MTG’s Outlaws of Thunder Junction set with an interesting new way of building up lifegain and card draw. Costing just 1 GW (one generic mana, one green, and one white) whenever this card becomes tapped, its controller gains 1 life and draws a care.

While this seems like a straightforward ability at first, its interaction with Wylie Duke’s Vigilance mechanic complicates matters. If you can work your way around this card’s Viliglance puzzle and crack its untapped potential, you’ll accrue a huge amount of value through life and card draw. 

WotC

Vigilance is almost exclusively a positive ability for an MTG Creature to have, but interestingly enough, in this case, it is used as a downside for players to work their way around. Creatures with Vigilance do not tap when attacking, meaning that Wylie Duke, Attin Hero’s ability cannot be triggered by throwing him into battle alone.

Thankfully, there are ways to tap Creatures in combat beyond simply attacking, and a new, effective tap option has debuted in Outlaws of Thunder Junction: Saddle. Creatures may be tapped manually to pay the cost of Saddling Mount creatures, granting additional combat bonuses.

This synergy with the Saddle ability is absolutely intentional and provides more evidence for the ability being one of Thunder Junction”s absolute successes. Having great Mount creatures to ride was a promising start, but building on the mechanic by creating new Creatures that benefit from being used to Saddle Mounts is a slam-dunk design decision from Wizards.

MTG players on Reddit have been quick to praise Wylie Duke: Attin Hero’s unique design, with user RealityPalace stating:

“OK “vigilance as downside mechanic” is a pretty good bit.”

Commenter Blaze_1013 was quick to back up this positive reception:

“It’s a really clever use of the mechanic and I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything do this before which is really cool.”

Wylie Duke, Attin Hero will see stiff competition in the Commander format from existing Selesnya powerhouses like Sythis, Harvest’s Hand, and Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s pack of Legendary Creatures.

But by providing a twist on classic Selesnya strengths, synergy with Saddle, and an ability that requires creative thinking to make the most out of, this card will find a home in many new decks when the set fully launches on April 19.