The Pop Shop will be kicking off Standard Showdown’s new season in August.
In late Spring Wizards of the coast announced it would be collaborating with the Cowboy Bebop, to produce promo cards featuring characters from Outlaws of Thunder Junction. This special set of promo cards celebrate playable staple worthy Standard Tournaments cards using the styling often seen in the beloved Japanese animation, Cowboy Bebop!
The POP Shop, located in Sandusky, OH, will participate in the distribution of the cards as they are released beginning in August 2024 and running through the rest of the Summer going into the Fall. This program is a great way to invite local players back into the Standard Tournament scene with an inexpensive entry window and exciting promotional cards. Watch our Event Calander for more details.
Get Promo Cards at Standard Showdown
Starting in August, players can earn a Cowboy Bebop promo card by winning weekly Standard Showdown events to be held every Tuesday starting at 5pm. This event will be free to enter. The event will be run as a tournament limited to 8 players and three rounds. The Winner will earn the a promo card, Additional promo’s may be earned each week based on the total prizes provided by Wizards of the Coast. Promo Boosters will be provided to the top four players, and a “Kicker” prize will be made available as a paid option for additional prizes.
There are five special promo cards, all of them traditional foil. Each of them will be distributed during specific time windows as follows,
August 2, 2024 – September 19, 2024: Ossification
Ossification (Cowboy Bebop promo)
September 27, 2024 – November 7, 2024: Disdainful Stroke
Disdainful Stroke (Cowboy Bebop promo)
November 15, 2024 – January 30, 2025: Go for the Throat
Go for the Throat (Cowboy Bebop promo)
February 7, 2025 – March 2, 2025: Lightning Strike
Lightning Strike (Cowboy Bebop promo)
April 4, 2025 – May 29, 2025: Snakeskin Veil
Snakeskin Veil (Cowboy Bebop promo)
What is Cowboy Bebop?
Cowboy Bebop is a Japanese neo-noir space western anime television series about a group of four bounty hunters and a dog, which aired on TV Tokyo from 1998 to 1999. Cowboy Bebop is a science fiction action animation featuring stylish visuals and music. “Bebop” is a style of jazz that was popular in the 1940s and emphasizes improvisational arrangements. As the title suggests, each episode revolves around the intertwining of various characters, with each episode having a different taste, ranging from serious to comedic. A playful sci-fi entertainment piece for adults.
The series is set in a future in which human activity has expanded out to Saturn. However, the power of the police was not able to reach everywhere; violent crimes were rampant, and the bounty system was reinstated to combat this. Spike and Jet are “cowboys” aiming for the prize. The spaceship Bebop continues to hunt bounties and travels around the solar system, involving strangers such as the female gambler Faye, the genius hacker Ed, and the “data dog” Ein who has human-like intelligence.
How Standard Format Works.
Participants sign in and play using a deck of a minimum of 60 cards that they build utilizing cards they own. Decks are comprised of cards from the sets listed below and are allowed four copies of any card along with any quantity of basic land. There is a small list of cards that are considered banned and cannot be used, you can view that list [ HERE ]. Each round players are paired randomly against someone with a similar record. Tie breakers may be used to determine the outcome of the Tournament.
Beginning August 2, 2024, the following sets are legal in Standard Tournaments.
- Bloomburrow
- Outlaws of Thunder Junction
- Murders at Karlov Manor
- The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
- Wilds of Eldraine
- March of the Machine: The Aftermath
- March of the Machine
- Phyrexia: All Will Be One
- The Brothers’ War
- Dominaria United
