MTG reveals Thunder Junction’s cowboy dragon and fans actually love it

This totally unique dragon creature is set to strike fear into the hearts of desperados everywhere, and MTG fans have immediately fallen in love. 

With Magic: The Gathering’s first foray into the western genre, players have been waiting to see what imaginative new cards and Creatures the team at Wizards has cooked up. 

Now, with the debut of Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s first story episode, fans can see for themselves just how far Wizards is leaning into this bold new genre frontier. 

Outlaws of Thunder Junction debuts a unique dragon design 

With around a month to go before the launch of MTG’s next premier set, the hype train is back on the rails once again and building up to Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s launch. Players have been wishing for a western-themed set for years now, and their wishes are about to be granted. 

While players may have been expecting the requisite cowboys, tumbleweed, and other elements of genre iconography, they were likely unprepared for just how out-there the design of dragons on this plane is. 

Episode 1 of Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s story has dropped, immediately giving readers a sneak peek of a whole new look for MTG’s dragons.

The character Akul is encountered early in this part of the story, and their design somehow incorporates elements of classic dragons, gunslingers, horses, and scorpions all at once. There’s no doubt that this is one of the most unique and memorable art pieces to come out of Magic in quite some time. 

MTG fans discuss Thunder Junction’s dragon design 

WOTC

Magic fans over on Reddit were equally impressed by this new dragon design, with it being one of the main talking points in the wake of the first story episode’s release. 

Commenter Moist_Crabs had this to say shortly after the reveal: 

“Thunder Junction dragons are the coolest goddamn thing I’ve ever seen holy sh*t, what a blisteringly creative design.” 

Other commenters like zethren117 were also quick to heap praise on the design and its artist, Kekai Kotaki: 

“Saw everyone in here praising Akul’s design, so I had to check it out: oh, yep, it’s dope, and it’s Kekai who did the art so that checks out.” 

Will a great design translate to a great card? 

It remains to be seen how powerful Thunder Junction’s dragons will be when they inevitably show up as Creature cards. Wizards clearly has faith in their standout design as a way to grab players’ attention, and we’re sure they’ll be equally impressive mechanically when card spoilers begin to drop.  

Dragons are one of MTG’s most supported Creature types after all, with all-time favorite Commanders like The Ur-Dragon and Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm fronting thousands of decks worldwide. We’ll see if Outlaws of Thunder Junction adds the first episode’s Akul as a new contender to the roster of all-time great MTG dragons, as early signs are promising. 

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