Magic: The Gathering’s Outlaws of Thunder Junction set takes players on a whirlwind tour through an evocative and richly detailed Wild West setting that brings a fantasy twist to its tales of steampunk cowboys, prospectors and, of course, the more dastardly and devious characters of the title.
Though the set already features special cards such as those styled after Wanted posters or newspapers of the Old West era, there’s a very exciting collaboration on the way to celebrate the entirely new setting of Thunder Junction.
Five new cards featuring classic Japanese anime series Cowboy Bebop will be available as prizes, one per prize period, for winning weekly Standard Showdown events.
These events are held at Wizards Play Network (WPN) stores, and the Cowboy Bebop promo cards will be available from August 2024, right through to May 2025! Let’s take a look at the five cards that’ll be available.
P0001: Ossification (August 2nd 2024 – September 19th 2024)
A White Enchantment card costing just 1 White and 1 colorless Mana, Ossification attaches to a Basic Land card and exiles an opposing creature or Planeswalker. The exiled card can only return to the game once Ossification leaves the battlefield. Ossification will be available as a prize card from August 2nd to September 19th 2024.
P0002: Disdainful Stroke (September 27th 2024 – November 7th 2024)
Disdainful Stroke is a Blue Instant, allowing players to counter a target spell with a mana value of 4 or more. Costing just 1 Blue and 1 colorless Mana to play, Disdainful Stroke will be available as a prize card from September 27th to November 7th 2024.
P0003: Go For The Throat (November 15th 2024 – January 30th 2025)
Allowing players to destroy any target nonartifact creature, Go For The Throat is a Black Instant that costs 1 Black and 1 colorless Mana to play. It’ll be available as a prize card from November 15th 2024, all the way through to January 30th 2025.
P0004: Lightning Strike (February 7th 2025 – March 2nd 2025)
Another Instant card, in this case a Red one, Lightning Strike costs 1 Red and 1 colorless Mana to play, and deals three damage to any target (yes, that includes an opposing player!). It’ll be available as a prize card from February 7th 2025 to March 2nd 2025.
P0005: Snakeskin Veil (April 4th 2025 – May 29th 2025)
Finally, there’s Snakeskin Veil, an Instant that costs just 1 Green Mana to play. This card allows players to put a +1+1 counter on a target creature they control, also granting it hexproof until the end of turn (making it immune to the effects of spells cast by opponents).
This will take the Cowboy Bebop prize cards through to the end of the promotional period, with availability from April 4th 2025 to May 29th 2025.
Where Can I Find My Closest WPN Store?
If you’re looking to take part in the events that could see you winning Cowboy Bebop MTG cards, you can use the official WPN store and event locator, which you can find here.
Has Cowboy Bebop Featured In Other Card Games Before MTG?
First emerging as a weekly, serialised manga way back in 1997, Cowboy Bebop’s popularity exploded when it became a stylish, heavily influential anime series in 1998.
Surprisingly, there’s never been a dedicated Cowboy Bebop CCG, but there is a Cowboy Bebop Challenger Series deck available for the UniVersus game.
UniVersus has been around in one form or another since 2006 (not quite as long as MTG of course, which first launched over thirty years ago, in 1993!), and allows players to use characters from wildly different series, taking on opponents in one on one battles, reminiscent of the combo heavy style of arcade fighting games.
So if you want to pit Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat characters against Cowboy Bebop or My Hero Academia characters, you’re perfectly free to do so! UniVersus has picked up some exciting licenses beyond Cowboy Bebop this year, so it’s a great time to get involved with the game. Check out the upcoming release schedule for UniVersus, with cards from Godzilla, Attack on Titan, Star Trek and Tekken all on the way, amongst many others.
