Oko, the Ringleader – Outlaws of Thunder Junction
Date Reviewed: April 8, 2024
Ratings:
Constructed: 4.13
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 4.38
Multiplayer: 3.63
Commander [EDH]: 4.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
There are too many characters in Outlaws of Thunder Junction to be a literal Seven Samurai / Magnificent Seven reference; on top of that, I’m still not entirely clear on which villains are part of Oko’s crew and which ones aren’t, as some are obvious and some are not. But at least they’ll be in good company regardless of how the operation goes, and they have a pretty strong ringleader. He followed up almost destroying Will and Rowan’s lives by retaining his spark and learning a couple of new tricks – especially since green and blue is no longer the hardest color combination in which to commit a crime. If all else fails, you can just spam the graveyard mode of Return to Nature and similar cards, and get card filtering that’s almost as advantageous on loyalty as his first card’s infamous abilities. He also seems to have stolen Garruk Wildspeaker‘s famous -1, which has been winning games since 2007 (not that Oko would ever admit to it in-universe). And while most planeswalker ultimates are a bonus, he reaches the threshold for his quite fast; if doubling every powerful green and/or blue creature you ramped out wasn’t enough to finish the game, the confusing board state that results might make your opponent concede!
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
After the crimes he committed and the chaos he wrought in his first outing, it’s somehow fitting that Oko came back to be bad. Can’t keep a shirtless fae trickster down, I suppose. Oko, the Ringleader looks less miserable to play against, but I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.
Oko’s thing is about shapeshifting and about bang Bad; his +1 enables that somewhat by either serving as looting or just as card advantage, and his passive lets him charge into battle as a copy of something. The verbiage “committing a crime” refers to targeting something your opponents control (or your opponents themselves) with a spell or an ability. Evn just being straight looting is pretty potent, and the upshot of keeping more than you drew is nice. His passive can be potent, since you also grant Oko hexproof…but kep in mind that Oko is not inherently indestructible, so attacking with him can be a bit fraught. Speaking of that, he can create an Elk with his -1, which is a nice homage to his Elkification of Eldraine in the past. His ultimate is potent, but it feels more showy than spectacular.
Four mana is priced to move, and Oko can put up a lot of pressure if you’re ahead or dig for answers and time if you’re behind. That sort of flexibility is quite useful, and being a looting engine with upside was what earned Dack Fayden notoriety in many formats. I do think Oko is a bit more consistent, albeit with lower highs…that said, he’s almost always going to be strong as a day-to-day card, and his tricks can be pretty tricky if you give im room to work.
Constructed: 4.25
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4.75 (probably going to win games just by sitting there and making Elk in a worst-case)
Multiplayer: 3.25
Commander [EDH]: 4
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