The Magic the Gathering x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) set has been spoiled – including what Wizards of the Coast didn’t leak themselves. Which means it’s Commander upgrade shopping season yet again!
This set uses a lot of familiar Magic the Gathering designs to create new interpretations with attitude. That means a lot of popular deck archetypes, such as +1/+1 counters and artifact spam, eat particularly well. Thanks to the turtle flavor, these selections still stand out when compared to cards in a similar vein. Fans of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles should be pleased to know these cards have a home in Magic’s biggest format.
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Between the one Commander deck and the turtle-packed main set, there are goodies for all kinds of decks and new inspiration. Here are the five best cards to consider for each of the color pie, along with multicolor and colorless.
White
Continue? | 1 Colorless Mana, 1 White Mana
Instant
Choose up to four target creature cards in your graveyard that were put there from the battlefield this turn. Return them to the battlefield.
What may be the actual best card of the entire product line is this little instant that could. Emulating the classic continue screens of arcade games, Continue? can immediately bring a player back into the game.
This kind of effect has been seen in other forms, like Cosmic Intervention or Brought Back; this is the least restrictive such an effect has been for White at instant speed. Build back from a board wipe, repeat death triggers, safely trade blockers, Continue? will let players do it all.
Leonardo, Sewer Samurai | 3 Colorless Mana, 1 White Mana
Legendary Creature — Mutant Ninja Turtle Samurai
Sneak 2 Colorless Mana, 2 White Mana (You may cast this spell for 2 Colorless Mana and 2 White Mana if you also return an unblocked attacker you control to hand during the declare blockers step. He enters tapped and attacking.)
Double strike
During your turn, you may cast creature spells with power or toughness 1 or less from your graveyard. If you cast a spell this way, that creature enters with a finality counter on it. (If a creature with a finality counter on it would die, exile it instead.)
2/2
Being able to grab only 1 power or toughness creature back from the graveyard might seem only okay at first, until a quick Scryfall search shows just how many options are really available with this low bar to clear. Leonardo Modular, anyone?
What’s more, this Leo doesn’t have much in the way of costs associated with using this ability. Sure, it can only be during his controller’s turn. But the effect can be used multiple times, with the only downside being the finality counter, which barely counts. Power Conduit exists, after all. Okay, wait, Leonardo Modular actually might work.
Triceraton Commander | XX Colorless Mana, 2 White Mana
Creature — Dinosaur Soldier
Flying
Whenever this creature attacks, Dinosaurs you control other than this creature get +1/+1 and gain flying until the end of the turn.
When this creature enters, create X 2/2 white Dinosaur Soldier creature tokens.
2/2
Hopefully, your pod wasn’t completely sick of the Pantlaza, Sun-Favored player. Even without the token making – which only scales up as the game goes on – Triceraton Commander would be worth looking at for those decks just as a way to get more dinos over blockers. However, it does make the tokens, so this absurd creature is likely to be a recurring villain in many token-focused decks.
Usually, big “dump mana, make token” cards focus primarily on that, but should the Commander make it around the table again to lead his charges into battle, that’s additional damage and evasion even for decks that don’t use typal strategies. That said, Soldier is just as valuable a creature type as Dinosaur. Last year’s Heidegger, Shinra Executive from the Final Fantasy Commander decks, can stack even more power based on the number of tokens this card sticks down.
Endless Foot Assault | 2 Colorless Mana, 1 White Mana
Enchantment
Squad 1 Colorless Mana, 1 White Mana (As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may pay 1 Colorless Mana, 1 White Mana any number of times. When this enchantment enters, create that many tokens that are copies of it.)
Whenever you attack, for each opponent, create a 1/1 black Ninja creature token that’s tapped and attacking that player.
The Warhammer 40k mechanic Squad is stapled to an enchantment for the first time to drive home the “endless” part of this card’s name. While three mana for no immediate payoff is a tough ask that gets tougher with the Squad costs, patience can be rewarding.
Even one copy of this enchantment in play with Isshin, Two Heavens as One, is effectively two, and Squad makes it exponential. Making easy Skullclamp fodder for something as simple as attacking is always worth consideration as well, and any token that survives one round of combat can then retrigger this enchantment on the next attack.
Leonardo’s Technique | 3 Colorless Mana, 1 White Mana
Sorcery
Sneak 1 Colorless Mana, 1 White Mana (You may cast this spell for {1}{W} if you also return an unblocked attacker you control to hand during the declare blockers step.)
Return one or two target creature cards each with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Honestly, getting a maximum of six mana’s worth of creatures for four is not a terrible rate in White. But it’s the Sneak mechanic that pushes up the value of Leonardo’s Technique. As other cards on this list highlight, the ability to pull back creatures for low investment is extremely potent. Getting to ignore timing rules and do it on the cheap is even better. White rarely gets to cheat costs for so little investment – Flying is secondary in the color, so getting an unblocked creature isn’t a high hill – so even if it’s not as good as Continue? there’s a deck looking to learn Leonardo’s skills.
Blue
Donatello, Gadget Master | 2 Colorless Mana, 1 Blue Mana
Legendary Creature — Mutant Ninja Turtle
Sneak 1 Colorless Mana, 1 Blue Mana (You may cast this spell for 1 Colorless Mana, 1 Blue Mana if you also return an unblocked attacker you control to hand during the declare blockers step. He enters tapped and attacking.)
Whenever Donatello deals combat damage to a player, create a token that’s a copy of the target artifact you control.
3/2
Get used to seeing Sneak on this list. Getting a permanent copy of an artifact is a solid effect on its own. Getting one at instant speed, along with some damage on top to surprise opponents, is even better. Artifacts are the lifeblood of Commander, given the omnipresence of Sol Ring and Arcane Signet. Copying even these baseline mana artifacts can get players quite a bit ahead for a very limited mana investment. In the right deck, Donatello can copy all kinds of potent artifact effects or even pair with the fun alternate win condition of Mechanized Production.
Kitsune’s Technique | 4 Colorless Mana, 2 Blue Mana
Instant
Sneak {1}{U} (You may cast this spell for {1}{U} if you also return an unblocked attacker you control to hand during the declare blockers step.)
Target opponent mills half their library, rounded up.
That’s right, yet another pretty potent effect made incredibly efficient in a format where people let chip damage in regularly! Even with several similar effects already out there, Kitsune’s Technique is the lowest cost – when Sneaking – and is the only one to round up instead of down without being tied to an additional cost or being on a creature.
At the rate this card is going, it’s going to be a bad surprise and ruin people’s days. Commander players are all going to start blocking all the time. That’s not the only way Kitsune’s Technique can be cheated out. Classic Commanders like Mizzix of the Izmagnus and Jeleva, Nephalia’s Scourge love casting big spells cheaply or even for free in Jeleva’s case. Zaffai, Thunder Conductor, adds additional payoffs, and Lord Xander, the Collector, can follow up by attacking and doubling up on the mill party.
Mondo Gecko | 1 Colorless Mana, 2 Blue Mana
Legendary Creature — Lizard Mutant
1 Colorless Mana, Discard a card: Until end of turn, Mondo Gecko becomes the color of your choice and gains hexproof from that color.
Whenever Mondo Gecko deals combat damage to a player, draw a card for each color among permanents you control.
Unlike a lot of the cards on this list, the usefulness of Mondo is less self-evident. This card requires far more commitment, but it may be absolutely worth it. Hexproof from a specific color doesn’t show up too often these days, but it can be very disruptive and tricky for opponents. Discarding cards is barely a cost these days, too; any Blue/Black deck is actually benefiting from cards going to the graveyard by default.
However, Mondo Gecko might live best in decks that want to take full advantage of both of the card’s effects. “Voltron” decks, where stacking a bunch of powerful buffs on one creature – Mutate from 2020’s Ikoria comes to mind – gain another valuable attacker that can plus card advantage, which can then feed Mondo’s own protection effect.
Baxter, Fly in the Ointment | 3 Colorless Mana, 1 Blue Mana
Legendary Creature — Insect Mutant Scientist
Whenever Baxter enters or attacks, each creature you control with a counter on it gains flying until the end of the turn.
Whenever you draw a card, put a +1/+1 counter on Baxter.
2/2
Close enough, welcome back, Toothy, Imaginary Friend. Baxter doesn’t have Toothy’s same reverse draw effect on death, but the ability to give reliable evasion to an entire board of buffed creatures might even be better. If you’ve never ended a game full of big blue/green creatures littered with counters by giving them all wings, you’ve never even lived.
All kinds of blue draw effects immediately buff Baxter, from Rhystic Study to slapping Curiosity right on him. He also synergizes well with TMNT’s own Mutagen mechanic, naturally. Just don’t forget that much like his video game inspiration, Baxter doesn’t always fly!
Irma, Part-Time Mutant | 2 Colorless Mana, 1 Blue Mana
Legendary Creature — Human Mutant Shapeshifter
At the beginning of combat on your turn, Irma becomes a copy of up to one other target creature you control, except her name is Irma, Part-Time Mutant, and she has this ability. Then put a +1/+1 counter on her.
1/1
Creatures that copy other creatures create all kinds of consistency for Commander. Usually, once they enter, they need some kind of other effect or spell to reset them to another impersonation target. That’s not the case with Irma.
She can take on another creature’s form as needed each turn – and gets more powerful as she does. Additionally, she retains her own name, meaning that the pesky legend rule won’t cause grief. This immediately makes her one of the better clone creatures available, which is getting to be a bit of a crowded class of cards for blue.
Black
Savanti Romero, Time’s Exile | 3 Colorless Mana, 2 Black Mana
Legendary Creature — Demon Wizard
Trample
At the beginning of combat on your turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Savanti Romero. Then you draw X cards and lose X life, where X is the number of counters on Savanti Romero.
4/4
Savanti is everything a Commander card should really be – a big creature with a high ceiling that also has two popular creature types. This card isn’t breaking the mold, but they don’t all need to.
Savanti is going to either be a magnet for removal – hardly a deterrent in black, the color of reanimation – or create a dilemma for everyone at the table. Of all the text, Trample might be the most relevant. Opponents won’t be able to easily sit back and let the black player go all Dark Confidant on themselves that easily.
Super Shredder | 1 Colorless Mana, 1 Black Mana
Legendary Creature — Mutant Ninja Human
Menace
Whenever another permanent leaves the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on Super Shredder.
1/1
Spoilers, the rest of this section is going to be heavy on the Shredder. It’s hard not to when cards like Super Shredder exist. While Super Shredder isn’t self-enabling, the simplicity of the trigger opens up so many options. Crack a bunch of treasures for mana? Super Shredder gets bigger. Playing a deck that cares about sacrificing creatures? Super Shredder sees them go.
Blinking other permanents? That’s right, Super Shredder loves it. But that’s not all! Any opponents doing the same? Super Shredder is eating off those game actions, too! The end result is a nasty piece of work that almost demands quick answers, despite not being all that threatening on its own.
Shredder, Shadow Master | 3 Colorless Mana, 2 Black Mana
Legendary Creature — Human Ninja
Whenever Shredder attacks a player, for each of their opponents, create a token that’s a copy of Shredder tapped and attacking that player, except it isn’t legendary. Sacrifice those tokens at end of combat.
Whenever Shredder deals combat damage to a player, that player loses half their life, rounded up.
5/5
Speaking of must-answer threats, the second Shredder on the list is just as scary. Having Myriad in all but name (the legend rule strikes again), Shredder is always attacking all opponents. Even though Shredder can’t end a player’s life total on his own, plenty of black cards love seeing the life-halving effect on Shredder.
From commanders like Astarion, the Decadent and Blitzwing, Cruel Tormentor, enablers like Wound Reflection, to the various Sanguine Bond/Exquisite Blood style loops now available, Shredder is a must-block. You may see the Shredder coming, but if he can’t be stopped, you will be instead.
Shredder’s Technique | 2 Colorless Mana, 1 Black Mana
Sorcery
Sneak 1 Black Mana (You may cast this spell for 1 Black Mana if you also return an unblocked attacker you control to hand during the declare blockers step.)
Destroy target creature or enchantment. If an enchantment was destroyed this way, you lose 2 life.
Enchantment removal is still relatively new in black, but the boundaries already seem to be pushed. Normally, being a sorcery would put Shredder’s Technique behind other removal options, particularly Withering Torment from Duskmourn. But Sneak once again changes the math, making this the first proper 1 mana removal for enchantments in black.
Not to be a broken record at this point, but it really is going to be easy to surprise opponents with these sneaky spells. And at its worst, Shredder’s Technique is extra redundancy for a black deck that otherwise couldn’t hit enchantments.
Swift Demise | 2 Colorless Mana, 1 Black Mana
Instant
Swift Demise deals 1 damage to the target creature. Then destroy each creature you don’t control that was dealt damage this turn.
One-sided board wipes remain pretty overrated by many Commander players, but running them is often worth it. Swift Demise turns an otherwise uneventful combat phase into a blowout. Instant speed means it doesn’t even have to be your own combat; you can punish an aggressor after blocking yourself.
However, Swift Demise also pairs well with light damage red spells like End the Festivities, Blazing Volley, or Brotherhood’s End. These spells usually don’t scale well and can put red behind a bit compared to other colors, but Red/Black decks can really leverage the synergy and catch up.
Red
Slash, Reptile Rampager | 3 Colorless Mana, 2 Red Mana
Legendary Creature — Mutant Berserker Turtle
Alliance — Whenever another creature you control enters, Slash deals 2 damage to each opponent.
Whenever Slash attacks, create a 2/2 red Mutant creature token.
7/5
Okay close enough, welcome back Purphoros, God of the Forge. Slash doesn’t quite reach the highs of Theros’ Commander all-star, but a lot is going for this card anyway. Both of Slash’s triggered abilities sing a fine harmony, with a hefty power and toughness to boot.
Any kind of doubling effect – for tokens, damage, or triggers – compounds a pile of damage in that same classic way. Obviously, Slash also pairs well with the God of the Forge to give those long-standing mono-red burn decks yet another heavy hitter.
Ravenous Robots | 1 Colorless Mana, 1 Red Mana
Artifact Creature — Robot
Whenever you cast an artifact spell, create a 1/1 colorless Robot artifact creature token.
1 Red Mana, Tap: Creature tokens you control gain haste until end of turn.
2/1
Now this is the good stuff: cast artifacts, make artifacts, rinse, repeat. These robots are clean, untouched, and have so much potential. Sacrifice them to the Phyrexian Altar or the Krark-Clan Ironworks to generate more mana to make more robots. Play enough to set up a Mechanized Production win.
Play out a veritable army and give them haste right to deliver a crazy amount of damage. Loop a Scrap Trawler and Goblin Bombardment, and burn the entire opponents away. Artifact synergy is one of the cleanest and most effective ways to run away with a Commander game, and Ravenous Robots is another entry in that tried and true tradition.
Raphael’s Technique | 4 Colorless Mana, 2 Red Mana
Instant
Sneak 2 Colorless Mana, 1 Red Mana (You may cast this spell for 2 Colorless Mana, 1 Red Mana if you also return an unblocked attacker you control to hand during the declare blockers step.)
Each player may discard their hand and draw seven cards.
At this point, there’s no need to explain that Sneak discounting a well-known and powerful effect is good. Wheeling away a hand for a full new grip is often enough to shift the direction of a game on its own. These kinds of effects are fan favorites, so a decent one is always welcome. The Sneak cost on Raphael’s Technique is a cheeky and fun callback to the card the term “wheel” comes from: Wheel of Fortune.
That card’s on the Reserved List, so Wizards of the Coast can’t just reprint it. Any time they can (dare I say) sneak around that limitation is great to see. Of course, the original Wheel forces all players to discard, and Raphael’s Technique gives all players a choice. But sometimes, the choice can be worse for an opponent. Do they risk giving up an important card to see more? Only they can decide with this wheel.
Fast Forward | 4 Colorless Mana, 1 Red Mana
Sorcery
This spell costs 1 Colorless Mana less to cast for each opponent you attacked this turn.
Goad all creatures your opponents control. (Until your next turn, those creatures attack each combat if able and attack a player other than you if able.)
Sometimes, a card just captures everything about its color. Fast Forward is one such red card. It only gets a discount when the player is aggressive, and it’s all in service of making everyone else aggressive, whether they like it or not. Goad has been gaining popularity over the past few years as a subversive way to drive a game to its conclusion for a good reason. First, it’s an ability that feels most appropriate in red, a color that has been lagging a little behind the rest of the color pie in the Commander space.
Second, it breaks up the way boards get gummed up by value machines and players unwilling to get their hands dirty. Sure, one could Teferi’s Protection away from a goad effect like they would a board wipe, but it doesn’t exactly net the same kind of value. Fast Forward sits nicely in a similar spot to Lord of the Rings’ Taunt From the Rampart without being too similar, and cutting white makes this card more versatile.
Special Move | 2 Colorless Mana, 1 Red Mana
Instant
Choose two:
- Jump Kick — Destroy target artifact.
- Dash Attack — Put two +1/+1 counters on the target attacking or blocking creature you control.
- Foot Toss — Target creature you control deals damage equal to its power to any other target. Then sacrifice it.
Spells with multiple options are almost always worth a look. Options are incredibly potent in a game mode built around single copies of cards. Special Move isn’t doing anything drastic to shift a game, but it has a lot of utility and the instant speed to back it up.
Every mode ends up being the removal of potentially two targets, and the Dash Attack mode could save a creature in a pinch. While this card isn’t as flashy as its name implies, these kinds of incremental and flexible spells are the kinds of cards that catch opponents off guard the most.
Green
Michelangelo, Improvisor | 3 Colorless Mana, 1 Green Mana
Legendary Creature — Mutant Ninja Turtle
Sneak 2 Colorless Mana, 2 Green Mana (You may cast this spell for 2 Colorless Mana, 2 Green Mana if you also return an unblocked attacker you control to hand during the declare blockers step. He enters tapped and attacking.)
Whenever Michelangelo deals combat damage to a player, you may put a creature card and/or a land card from your hand onto the battlefield.
4/4
Unsurprisingly, being able to drop a creature for free is an incredible effect in general, much less the color that loves creatures the most. It’d take a whole separate article to go over every possible great option for Mikey to drop after sneaking some damage. Even with no creatures, green’s second favorite thing is dropping an additional land. That said, this iteration of the Party Dude is the most balanced Sneak has been yet, technically being harder to cast for the cost, but his effect all but demands it.
Of course, this means Michelangelo can sit pretty in the command zone until he’s ready to turn it up or be combined with other clever creature strategies. Rhyming with a similar set, Peter Parker/Amazing Spider-Man and his granting of Web-Swinging to legendary creatures would gladly scoop up Mikey to play out another potent threat.
Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11 | 1 Colorless Mana, 1 Green Mana
Legendary Creature — Mutant Ninja Turtle
When Michelangelo enters, create a Mutagen token. (It’s an artifact with “1 Colorless Mana, Tap, Sacrifice this token: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery.”)
If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on it instead.
1/1
Just as Baxter, Fly in the Ointment is a discount Toothy, this Mikey is a discount Pir, Imaginative Rascal. This card only cares about +1/+1 counters versus Pir, but that makes sense with the Mutagen that it comes in with. There are so many +1/+1 counter support cards that it’s hard to justify which ones to run.
Mikey is a cheap enabler, along with the additional counter for such a low mana rate, making him a stronger candidate than many you’ll already see in these decks. He also synergizes with the Mutagen mechanic natively, making this card a valuable upgrade for the TMNT preconstructed deck as well.
Michelangelo, the Heart | 1 Colorless Mana, 1 Green Mana
Legendary Creature — Mutant Ninja Turtle
Trample
Raid (the Fridge) — At the beginning of your second main phase, if you attacked this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature and create a Food token.
Partner—Character select (You can have two commanders if both have this ability.)
2/1
Alright, so some of these Turtle cards really start to blend, but Michelangelo, the Heart is a different card from Weirdness to 11, and a better one at that. This Mikey can start getting bigger and stronger right out of the gate, which is far more threatening thanks to Trample ensuring damage gets through. The Food token that also gets created alongside the counter is not only a good stockpile option to survive games longer, but there are actually several strong Food synergies these days.
Mikey would easily join Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit, and Sam, Loyal Attendant, on their journey, feed Ygra, Eater of All, or give options to Gyome, Master Chef. In fact, Michelangelo, the Heart, might be the new best Food commander of them all due to being able to pair with any of the other preconstructed deck Turtles, particularly Leonardo, the Balance. That particular Leo gives a full five color identity to the deck and buffs all creatures when Mikey creates the Food token.
Mona Lisa, Ever Adaptable | 3 Colorless Mana, 1 Green Mana
Legendary Creature — Lizard Mutant
Whenever a player casts a creature spell, you create a Mutagen token. (It’s an artifact with “1 Colorless Mana, Tap, Sacrifice this token: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery.”)
4/4
The only thing better than getting value off your own cards is getting value off your opponents. Mutagen tokens may not be the most potent artifact token out there, but an extra buff at the player’s discretion can swing the direction of a game quickly. As artifact tokens, there’s a lot of use they can have beyond their own effects as well.
Mona Lisa shines best both against and in creature-heavy decks, especially kindred strategies centering around specific creature types. Those decks will inherently want to be playing as many creatures of that type as possible, so she rewards her controller for just hanging out.
Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker | 2 Colorless Mana, 2 Green Mana
Legendary Creature — Crocodile Mutant Rogue
Trample
Leatherhead enters with a hexproof counter on her.
Whenever Leatherhead deals combat damage to a player, you may remove a counter from her. When you do, destroy target artifact or enchantment that player controls.
5/4
Green is generally the best at hating on artifacts and enchantments, but the possibility of reliable, repeatable, and protected removal? Wizards of the Coast might be reading my letters after all. Obviously, one could remove the Hexproof counter on Leatherhead to blast the nearest Rhystic Study to smithereens. But given that she has Trample already, why not buff her up with some of all these +1/+1 counters running around and then turn that power into even more value by getting to eat an opponent’s resources every turn? Sounds yummy.
Multicolor
Don & Leo, Problem Solvers | 3 Colorless Mana, 2 Hybrid Blue/White Mana
Legendary Creature — Mutant Ninja Turtle
Vigilance
At the beginning of your end step, exile up to one target artifact you control and up to one target creature you control. Then return them to the battlefield under their owners’ control.
4/6
While Don & Leo are hardly the best blinking effects the game has to offer, these kinds of effects are always powerful. Repeating entering effects is a potent strategy at any phase of a turn, and Don & Leo can tip all those dominoes over by blinking two targets.
They particularly pair well with Final Fantasy’s Y’shtola Rhul, who not only has a blink effect but also repeats the end step entirely, giving another instance of Don & Leo’s own blink. The two more mature brothers have a particularly powerful stat line to keep combat handled while setting up a chain of enter triggers.
Don & Raph, Hard Science | 1 Colorless Mana, 2 Hybrid Blue/Red Mana
Legendary Creature — Mutant Ninja Turtle
Menace
Whenever Don & Raph attack, the next non-creature spell you cast this turn has affinity for artifacts. (It costs 1 Colorless Mana less to cast for each artifact you control.)
2/4
Once again, this artifact synergy effect is simple but potentially massive. Affinity is one of Magic’s most potent mechanics, especially when checking for artifacts. The ability to shave a ton of mana off of expensive spells for little investment – just consider Ravenous Robots above for an example – always puts players ahead of the rest of the table. Menace is a great keyword to pair with the attack trigger, forcing two blockers from opponents and generally making sure these two brothers can safely get in the zone and provide value.
Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers | 5 Colorless Mana, 2 Hybrid Red/Green Mana
Legendary Creature — Mutant Ninja Turtle
Trample, haste
Whenever Raph & Mikey attack, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a creature card. Put that card onto the battlefield tapped and attacking, and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
7/7
Yes, this pairing of the wilder Turtle brothers costs an absolutely absurd amount of mana. But that investment pays off immediately. Raph & Mikey can attack and trigger their ability to play another creature from the deck in the same turn. Given they can’t miss and have no restrictions on creature details, the possibilities are endless. Pull into either Etail, Primal Conqueror, or Etali, Primal Storm to play even more free cards off the top – and from your opponents.
Vaultborn Tyrant is powerful, hard to remove, and draws a card. Or just hit Craterhoof Behemoth and blow the table away. Bonus points for the very aesthetically pleasing 7/7 statline for 7 mana; very appropriate for a card that encourages some gambling.
Tokka & Rahzar, Terrible Twos | 2 Hybrid Black/Red Mana
Legendary Creature — Turtle Wolf Mutant
This spell can’t be countered.
Menace
Whenever a player casts a spell, if the amount of mana spent to cast it was less than its mana value, Tokka & Rahzar deal 3 damage to that player.
3/2
Tokka & Rahzar is another candidate for the best card of the whole set for the format. Commander is a format that loves finding shortcuts for mana costs, and these baddies want to punish exactly that. Plenty of Black/Red strategies can maximize and amplify the damage that players will incur for not playing fair Magic the Gathering. Counterspell protection and even a little bit of combat evasion should put this terror on the watch list, especially for any fan of Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls, or Tor Wauki the Younger. Teach your opponents a lesson in fair play!
Bebop, Skull & Crossbones | 1 Colorless Mana, 1 Black Mana, and
Rocksteady, Mutant Marauder | 2 Colorless Mana, 1 Green Mana
Legendary Creature — Boar Mutant/Legendary Creature — Rhino Mutant
Partner with Rocksteady, Mutant Marauder (When this creature enters, the target player may put Rocksteady into their hand from their library, then shuffle.)
Deathtouch
Whenever Bebop deals combat damage to a player, you may draw X cards, where X is the number of counters on Bebop. If you do, you lose X life.
Partner with Bebop, Skull & Crossbones (When this creature enters, target player may put Bebop into their hand from their library, then shuffle.)
Trample
Whenever another nontoken creature you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
2/1 & 3/3
Cheating just a little bit on this one, which feels appropriate for these two bumblers. There’s no reason not to run Bebop & Rocksteady together, given their ability to both hang out in the command zone and search each other when they aren’t. The way these two synergize together is very flavorful and consistent: Rocksteady puts counters on Bebop, which will increase the number of cards that Bebop can draw on doing damage.
Both of these sidekicks have great keywords to keep the damage and cards flowing as well. The best use case for these two is to build a deck around, but other decks with Black/Green and a creature focus can benefit from the low-cost draw, power boosts, and searching. Probably the most useful Bebop & Rocksteady have ever been!
Colorless
The Ooze | 2 Colorless Mana
Legendary Artifact
Whenever a creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it leaves the battlefield, create a Mutagen token for each +1/+1 counter on it. (A Mutagen token is an artifact with “1 Colorless Mana, Tap, Sacrifice this token: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery.”)
Tap: Exile target card from a graveyard. Create a Mutagen token.
Never count out a good utility artifact. The Ooze is able to recycle lost +1/+1 counters into Mutagen tokens, which can not only become new +1/+1 counters but also have other utilities as artifacts. That’s enough to find a home in some decks.
But the ability to remove a critical card from a player’s graveyard is all upside. Take a critical reanimation target right out, limit the impact of mechanics like Threshold or Delirium, or just keep making Mutagen tokens. Your opponents might not want to waste valuable removal on something that doesn’t make mana, but that just allows The Ooze to keep its secrets until the best moment.
Krang, Utrom Warlord | 9 Colorless Mana
Legendary Artifact Creature — Utrom Robot
Flying, trample, indestructible, haste
Other artifact creatures you control have flying, trample, indestructible, and haste.
9/9
Sure, welcome back, Avacyn! By comparison, Krang comes up short of one of the most iconic angels in Magic The Gathering, but there are benefits to that. No one will ever pay full retail mana cost for this metal menace (though it doesn’t HAVE Menace, don’t get confused!) Instead, Krang makes for a valuable top end to come down fast for artifact decks looking to stack damage.
The recent Secret Lair Horizon Forbidden West crossover card Aloy, Savior of Meridian, would love to Discover into Krang and protect her army of mastered machines. Vehicle and Spacecraft-focused decks could easily close the game with a boost from Krang, too.
Weather Maker | 3 Colorless Mana
Artifact
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, put a charge counter on this artifact.
- Tap: Add one mana of any color.
- Tap, Remove two charge counters from this artifact: Add 2 Colorless Mana.
- Tap, Remove three charge counters from this artifact: It deals 3 damage to any target.
Three cost mana-generating artifacts have to be really interesting these days to get a look-in from players. Weather Maker has all the makings of a very good shenanigans card, in addition to the mana generation it offers. Paradoxically, it may fit best in decks with a heavy investment in green ramp spells to maximize the number of charge counters obtained each turn.
Untapping and retapping an artifact is the easiest thing in the world, which will surely inspire some intrepid brewers to find ways to blow the entire table away in weather domination. Even without shenanigans, the popular Ulalek, Fused Atrocity could get a lot of value out of the flexibility offered by Weather Maker’s mana generation – either to pay the cost of Ulalek’s copy ability or make the right colors to cast another Devoid Eldrazi.
Big Mother Mouser | 4 Colorless Mana
Artifact Creature — Robot
- This creature enters with two +1/+1 counters on it.
- Whenever this creature attacks, double the number of +1/+1 counters on it.
- When this creature dies, create a number of 1/1 colorless Robot artifact creature tokens equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on this creature.
0/0
Simple, sweet, and exponential. The artifact creatures of TMNT continue to be joyous extensions of what the best artifact cards do best. Big Mother Mouser continues in the tradition of Hangerback Walker and Myr Battlesphere: snowballing effects that can also spread out an army of creature tokens.
The only investment here is in combat, which makes the Mother Mouser more threatening every turn. Even if they interact with the robots, the robots left in their wake have all kinds of other utility. Sometimes, simple is great.
Manhole Cover | 2 Colorless Mana
Artifact
Flash (You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant.)
When this artifact enters, target creature gains indestructible until end of turn. (Damage and effects that say “destroy” don’t destroy it.)
2 Colorless Mana, Sacrifice this artifact: Target player draws a card.
Manhole Cover is an entry in a suite of cards that prove to be very useful in a pinch to save a single target, like Silver Shroud Costume and Tamiyo’s Safekeeping. As Commander games can often become all about the commander themselves, the ability to save some commander tax for the price of one instance of commander tax is pretty solid. Being colorless and mana efficient, this little utility has a lot of potential to prevent a blowout.
It can then be used as a one-time card draw, meaning it has use beyond its one-and-done protection. While a single use Flash artifact may not seem as inherently useful as a pair of Swiftfoot Boots, there’s power in leveraging that protection in hidden information. Combos using creatures like Urza, High Lord Artificer, in particular, can get a lot of mileage out of this ordinary object.
The TMNT x Magic the Gathering set pre-release is February 27th. The set releases March 3rd on MTG Arena and March 6th everywhere else.
