It would be a lie to say that I’m a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, but it would also be a lie to say that it wasn’t part of my childhood. I watched the cartoon along with my friends (it’s been a bit of a shock to learn that Raphael was “cool but rude” and not “cool but crude”), played the side-scrolling game on the original GameBoy, and marveled at the huge arcade cabinet that let four - four! - people play at the same time (I can still hear the distressed “Shell Shock” uttered whenever your turtle got knocked out.
This is a roundabout way of saying that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set holds a weird nostalgic appeal for me. Sure, an 80s cartoon may fall on the sillier side of things, but I’ve always appreciated the wide range of flavor and attitude in the game. So why not! Let’s see what TMT has in store!
Mechanics and Themes
Sneak
Well, of course a set featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is going to use Ninjitsu - wait, what? What’s Sneak?
Turns out Ninjitsu has some implementation issues (ever had your opponent Ninjitsu in a Ninja post-damage?), and Wizards of the Coast decided to clean up the mechanic a bit. Sneak is now an alternative casting cost that allows you to cast the spell at instant speed during combat - but only during the declare blockers step (after an opponent declares blockers), and only if you return an unblocked attacker back to your hand. To offset these drawbacks, the Sneak cost is often (but not always) cheaper than the card’s regular mana cost.
Unlike Ninjitsu, a card with Sneak may be any castable card type. If the Sneak card is a creature (such as Leonardo, Big Brother), it’ll come in tapped and attacking. If not - well, rest assured you’ll have good reasons to Sneak in something like Shredder’s Technique anyway.
Mutagen
Ah, Mutagen, that incredible substance that turns animals into frighteningly powerful human hybrids. In TMT, that ability is represented by a single +1/+1 counter. Huh.
Okay, so maybe Mutagen tokens aren’t super flashy. That doesn’t mean they’re not effective; most Magic players have experienced a combat where a single power or toughness was the difference between victory and defeat. They’re also artifacts that can be sacrificed - two traits that tie into a variety of themes, as we’ll see later.
Mutagen tokens can pop up in a variety of ways. Zoo Escapees creates one when it leaves the battlefield; Ooze Spill creates one as a side effect of countering a spell.
Disappear
Our third “new” mechanic is an ability word that indicates the card has a special effect if a permanent has left the battlefield under your control this turn, and - wait, isn’t this just Revolt from Aether Revolt, rebranded to be more thematically appropriate for TMT? The answer is a resounding “Yep!”
Okay, so maybe Disappear isn’t actually new; however, the ways you’ll frequently be triggering it certainly are. Sneak does it, as do Mutagen tokens, as do a multitude of self-sacrificing Food cards that you’ll see later - and hey, there’s always combat as well. Disappear is not a flashy headliner mechanic; however it is a fun one that creates interesting decision points during gameplay.
Alliance
If you need another reason to play creatures, then Alliance is the perfect mechanic for you. Cards with Alliance have abilities that trigger when a creature you control enters. Many of these abilities are a murderously simple buff, as with East Wind Avatar; others are a little more complex, as with Raphael, Most Attitude. Note that Alliance does not specify that the creature has to be cast. That means tokens trigger Alliance, as do blink effects - and as do certain Sneak-y cards.
Archetypes
TMT is a small set; as a result there are only five Limited archetypes (which focus on the enemy color pairs). Each archetype has two signpost uncommons: a creature and a non-creature. On top of that, they also have two associated hybrid commons.
White/Black: Sneak
Perhaps it is not an earth-shattering revelation to decree that a Sneak deck wants lots of cards with Sneak; that’s why three of the four signpost cards in this archetype have that fun keyword. The other thing a Sneak deck wants is lots of early attackers. It’s ideal if these attackers are evasive, but if they’re not then support creatures such as Foot Elite can still help your attack go through. One important note: don’t forget that a card with Sneak doesn’t have to be played with Sneak; cards like Karai’s Technique can be just as good out of combat as they are within.
Blue/Red: Artifacts
It’s pretty easy to say that this archetype cares about artifacts. However it’s also important to note that all of Blue/Red’s signpost cards are slow: the uncommons are expensive, and the commons require some setup to be maximally effective. Expect to spend the early turns playing defensively while building incremental card and board advantage. And once the later turns arrive, slam Brilliance Unleashed for value or Baxter Stockman for sheer murderous effectiveness.
Black/Green: Disappear
“Disappear” is a haunting word, evoking thoughts on the ephemeral nature of… haha, just kidding; in TMT it’s tied to what may be the world’s grossest food (perhaps “Revolt” would have been fitting flavor after all). Food tokens are a great way to trigger Disappear (as sacrificing them does not put you back on the board), so it’s no surprise that both signpost uncommons can generate them; however a creature (?) like Ice Cream Kitty will also work as a way to trigger Disappear, as will the natural friction of combat. What’s the payoff? Putrid Pals grows from a four mana 3/3 into a four mana 5/5; Pizza Face, Gastromancer starts puking (sorry) +1/+1 counters all over the place. It’ll take some time and planning to pull all of this off, but it’ll be easy to win if you do.
Red/White: Alliance
The obvious way to trigger Alliance is to play creatures, and creatures that make extra creatures (such as Mechanized Ninja Cavalry) are great for this. The less obvious way is to blink your own creatures, and that’s exactly what The Neutrinos and Go Ninja Go allow you to do (and if you blink something with an “enters the battlefield effect” such as Mechanized Cavalry…). The payoffs on The Neutrinos and EPF Point Squad are a little less dramatic than those on Disappear cards - but they’re also far easier to trigger, and I suspect you’ll only have to do so a few times before your opponent is Alliance’d out of the game.
Green/Blue: Mutagen
A +1/+1 counters deck can be quite aggressive, but a Mutagen deck is not. The value of a Mutagen token is somewhat… incremental; however increments do build up over time. Start building up your Mutagen with Genghis Frog, continue with Slithering Cryptid, and then drop +1/+1 counters on an evasive or protected creature such as Punk Frogs. And hey, along the way you may as well do Blue/Green things like drawing cards and ramping with Lessons from Life.
Key Commons and Uncommons
White
Creatures
Lita, Little Orphan Amphibian: I mean, I guess she’s bad if you don’t play any creatures.
Mighty Mutanimals: This creature represents 5 power and 4 toughness for 4 mana, and the numbers only go up if you keep playing creatures.
Non-Creatures
Dimensional Exile: I am pretty sure you will have basic lands in your deck.
Uneasy Alliance: “Pacifism with upside” is pretty typical for Limited now, and it’s almost always quite good.
Blue
Creatures
Donatello, Way with Machines: Sure, this creature is bad if your deck doesn’t produce artifacts. But both Blue archetypes do exactly that, which means he’ll almost always be a growing evasive threat that can win games all on his own.
Utrom Scientists: Yeah, I’m in for an artifact creature that ties down an opponent’s creature for a turn.
Non-Creatures
Bespoke Bō: An artifact bounce spell that can also buff your creatures seems great to me.
Retro-Mutation: Blue’s best “removal” spell in the set.
Black
Creatures
Dream Beavers: Turns out the optimal enabler for Sneak is a flying beaver.
Lord Dregg, Insect Invader: I don’t think it’ll take too much work to generate a fatal swarm of insects. Bonus points if you can make Green mana, I guess.
Non-Creatures
Anchovy & Banana Pizza: Literally the grossest removal spell I’ve ever seen.
Stomped by the Foot: This is actually a slightly weaker version of a similar card printed in Final Fantasy. But it’s still really good, and it gets BIG bonus points for the Kicker pun.
Red
Creatures
General Traag, Heart of Stone: Do you have a cheap artifact creature that’s outlived its usefulness? This is a great way to trade up in value.
Raphael, Tough Turtle: Red decks can run out of steam before fully depleting their opponent’s life total. This creature’s cool (but rude) ability will push you over the finish line.
Non-Creatures
Manhole Missile: Good enough!
Spicy Oatmeal Pizza: Remember, life is a resource (and you can get your spent life back). Also, “any target”.
Green
Creatures
Michelangelo, Mutant BFF: This party dude gets out of hand pretty quickly.
Primordial Pachyderm: Hits hard and blocks well.
Non-Creatures
Novel Nunchaku: Removal spell that sticks around to give a creature +1/+1 and trample? Deal!
Tenderize: Instant speed punch, nice.
Other Cards to Know
Mana Fixing
TMT has a cycle of five enemy dual lands (that also gain you a life):
There are a few additional pieces of colorless mana fixing:
There’s a cycle of common basic landcyclers as well:
And - surprise! - Green has even more ways to fix mana:
Creatures with Reach
Summation
So what should you keep in mind when playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
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Small sets have very little filler. That means there’ll be more decisions for you to make, especially in the latter part of a pack. What’s your ideal curve? Do you need interaction? Is your main deck set, allowing you to choose for the sideboard? All of these are considerations to keep in mind.
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Most of the mono-color cards fit into both of that color’s archetypes. A Green card that makes Mutagen works well in Black/Green Disappear and Green/Blue Mutagen; a White Sneak creature is good in White/Black Sneak and can be used for instant speed tricks in Red/White Alliance. As a result, you can stay in one color for a pack and safely leave yourself open to choose your archetype later in the draft.
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I suspect that the smaller card pool may make it easier for some players to draft removal-heavy decks. To counter such decks, look for ways to generate value: card advantage spells or single cards that generate multiple creatures.
Good luck!
