Everything You Need to Know About The Big Score Cards in Outlaws of Thunder Junction

Herko Kerghans 22 days ago Collecting, MTG Cards, MTG Products

Last updated on April 15, 2024

Loot, the Key to Everything | Illustration by Rudy Siswanto

Howdy, stranger!

Welcome to one of the most labyrinthic parts of Outlaws of Thunder Junction – tryin' to wrangle some sort of sense from all the set codes an' set symbols in an OTJ boost pack.

Most newcomers, they just wail, an' despair, an' just give up, an' yell, “What da hell, Wizards!? What's with all this heckin' mess!?” An' if I'm bein' honest, can't say I can blame them…

But you don't look like the wail ‘n' despair type, now do you?

Good, good… so, come an' join me for a lil' while, an' let me share with you the lay of this Big Score land.

Table of Contents show

What Are The Big Score Cards in Outlaws of Thunder Junction?

Molten Duplication | Illustration by Justyna Dura

The Big Score cards (BIG) are a mini-set of 30 cards included in Outlaws of Thunder Junction booster packs. They're incredible reprints and the strongest cards in the set (and the most expensive!).

OTJ booster packs are quite packed – The Big Score is one of the five (yeah, five!) different set codes you can find in an OTJ Collector Booster, and one of the four you can find in an OTJ Play Booster.

So if yer feelin' a bit lost, stranger, here's the lay of the land!

Source: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/collecting-outlaws-of-thunder-junction

Why so many mini-sets, you ask?

According to Mark Rosewater, WotC was planning Thunder Junction to have Epilogue Boosters, just like March of the Machine had March of the Machine: The Aftermath. But Aftermath turned out to be a failure, so they took the 31 best cards from that would-be epilogue, corralled one of those cards into the main OTJ set (Jace Reawakened), and the other 30 cards became The Big Score.

By the way, keep in mind the SPG code from the above image. That's from another mini-set called “Special Guests”, which I'll get back to later.

How Many The Big Score Cards Are in OTJ?

If you take Outlaws of Thunder Junction as a whole, you can find 30 BIG cards in Outlaws packs. Technically speaking, there are exactly zero Big Score cards in OTJ – “OTJ” is the set code for the base set (see the image above), and The Big Score has its own set code (BIG) and set symbol.

List of The Big Score Cards in Outlaws of Thunder Junction

Are The Big Score Cards in Play Boosters? The OTJ Draft Format?

Yes, and yes!

You can find BIG cards in about 18% of Play Boosters. And you can use as many as you can get your hands on in an OTJ Draft.

Where Can You Open The Big Score Cards?

Every OTJ booster, be it Play Booster or Collector Booster, has a chance to have The Big Score cards.

Source: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/collecting-outlaws-of-thunder-junction

How Many Are in Each Pack?

Short-ish answer: There's roughly an 18% chance to open one BIG card in an OTJ play booster, and a small chance to find around 1-3 BIG cards in an OTJ Collector Booster.

WotC really went off the rails with OTJ's pack complexity, so in case you want all the details:

You can find a card from The List in 1 out of 5 Play Boosters (that's to say, 20% of the time).

What on the planes is The List, you ask? In OTJ's case, The List is a group of 40 cards: 30 BIG cards, and 10 Special Guests cards.

And what, pray tell, are Special Guests? They’re reprints from older sets with new art in the style of Thunder Junction. They also have their own set symbol and set code: SPG.

According to WotC, you'll find a non-foil SPG card in 1 out of 64 Play Boosters. And we know that 20% of Play Boosters will have a card from The List – that's to say, nearly 13 cards among those 64 Play Boosters will be from The List.

If my math's right, then about 12 cards in every 64 Play Boosters (about 18%) should be from The Big Score.

Source: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/collecting-outlaws-of-thunder-junction

You could also find between 1 and 3 BIG cards in collector boosters, and the foil Booster Fun slot has a
10% chance of being either an extended art or vault frame:

Source: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/collecting-outlaws-of-thunder-junction

You could also find between 1 and 3 BIG cards in Collector Boosters. BIG cards from Collector Boosters could have a special Booster Fun treatment: the vault frame treatment. A few of these appear in raised foil with a special elevated golden stamp embedded in the frame.

Are The Big Score Cards Standard Legal?

Yes, they are!

All 30 of the BIG cards are Standard-legal – they do have their own set code and set symbol, and as we saw above they have their particular pack slot and rarity distribution, but are otherwise exactly the same as any card from the main OTJ set.

That makes them all legal in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, and Commander.

The Big Score vs. Breaking News Cards

Breaking News is another mini-set included in Outlaws packs, again with its own set symbol and set code (OTP in this case). Breaking News is what's called a “bonus sheet”: a reprint of staples from older sets, like Strixhaven’s Mystical Archive or Wilds of Eldraine’s Enchanting Tales.

The main differences with BIG cards are:

Breaking News cards are all reprints from older sets (whereas the vast majority of BIG cards are brand-new).
While a few of the Breaking News cards are Standard-legal (like for example Leyline Binding), the majority are not – they are only legal in whatever formats they were already legal in. In contrast, all The Big Score cards are Standard-legal.
Breaking News cards are easier to find in OTJ packs: You'll always find one OTP card in Play Boosters, and a minimum of three in Collector Boosters.

The main similarity is that you can use Breaking News cards in your OTJ Limited decks, be it Draft or Sealed (including Breaking News cards that are not Standard-Legal).

Round Up

Worldwalker Helm | Illustration by Camille Alquier

An' this would be the gist of this Big Score, my friend!

I hope you're a stranger no longer around these here parts, and you know now how to tell News from Score, an' Big from Breaking. You can draft all of 'em, codes an' symbols be damned – and all of 'em BIG cards are Standard-legal.

Hope that's been helpful, and in case of more doubts, bring yerself over to the Draftsim Discord and just ask.

And good luck out there!

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Herko Kerghans

Herko has been battling online since EVE was a thing, fell in love with digital CCGs nearly a decade ago, and got his first taste of MTG during Arena's Open Beta. He loves Limited formats, crunching data, and (usually silly) puns and wordplay.