Magic: The Gathering Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles review

If the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set had come before Fallout, the Rad counter could have been completely different! *ba-dum-tish* I’ll see myself out…The TMNT set feels like familiar territory because the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set is our second “small set” following on from Spider-Man from last year. We haven’t seen small sets in Magic since we left the block release structure all the way back in 2018, and so far, I think we left them behind for good reason. With this being the second in these new small sets, I’m beginning to understand their design philosophy. A lot of my analysis of the TMNT set is going to be repetitive, as the set itself seems to be. This is jumping the gun just a tad, so let’s take a look at the new mechanics TMNT introduces to the game.

Mechanics Overview - Turtles in Time

The first new mechanic that TMNT adds is Sneak. Sneak is an alternate casting cost for a spell if you can return an unblocked attacker to your hand during the declare blockers step. If this is a creature spell, that creature will enter tapped and attacking. 

The other new mechanic added is Disappear. Disappear checks if a permanent left the battlefield under your control. Most of the Disappear cards check at the beginning of your end step, but not all of them. 

TMNT does add a new game object in the form of another artifact token. The Mutagen token joins the game as a way to add a +1/+1 counter to a creature. 

As with any set TMNT has returning mechanics to fill it out. Here we have Alliance from New Capenna making a return. Alliance triggers when another creature you control enters.

Pros and Cons - Lessons from Life

So here’s the problem with reviewing this set. We’ve been here before. As I mentioned, this is the second of the new “small sets.” If you read my Spider-Man review, pretty much all my criticisms apply to TMNT as well. Both of these sets feel like they’ve been made from the same template. We have two new mechanics that are iterations of existing ones, and an existing mechanic used to fill out the set. Interestingly, both Connive and Alliance are from New Capenna. If this is intended, pulling mechanics from New Capenna is a good idea. New Capenna is a modern urban setting within Magic. 

Similar to Web-Slinging, Sneak is an alternate cost that teaches players good use of their creatures. It is an update to the age-old Ninjitsu mechanic. The big change here is that Sneak can be on non-creature spells. Disappear is another iteration on Revolt. These are good updates to existing mechanics that refresh their design for 2026 and beyond. None of this is bad, but it is all so familiar. We will eventually run out of mechanics to iterate on. The Mutagen token is a great new token, even with it being such a simple addition. I hope it finds use outside of this set. 

I’ve noted a few similar designs from previous sets such as Frog Butler/Poison Dart Frog and Featherbrained Filtcher/City Pigeon. Functional reprints are nothing new to Magic. (A functional reprint is a mechanically identical card with a new name.) Why make new cards with slight changes?  As a Magic old person, all of this makes the set seem more mundane. Did the designers have a new card quota? I do keep in mind that the design doctrine around Universes Beyond is that these are intended to bring in new players. These mechanics are easy to understand and fun to play with.

If Lorwyn Eclipsed is a maze you can get lost in, TMNT does its job of being easier to pick up and play. There’s still some depth of play here. I particularly like the hybrid mana team-up cards. We’ve seen a lot of hybrid mana in sets lately, but it is a good way to add flexibility to a set. I like a lot of the individual card designs in the set. There are a lot of powerful new cards that let you feel smart when you put them together. Again, we’ve seen these design techniques within the past few sets. If the TMNT set uses the same design tricks but isn’t as interesting, why am I going to pick TMNT over, say, the Avatar set?  I like TMNT more than Spider-Man, but it is still suffering from the same problems. 

There just isn’t enough variety in the small sets to make these as interesting as their larger brethren. You’ll see too many of the same cards go by. There are small changes that help make this set better. We’re still printing legendary creatures at common rarity, some of them have land cycling, so if you end up with too many, you’ll have a potential use for the dead card in your hand. I’d like to stop printing legends at common, but if we’re going to keep doing it, finding alternate uses for them is great. There appears to be a template for these new small sets with two new mechanics that iterate on existing ones and top-down design that makes interesting cards, but doesn’t mean the set will synergize as a whole. I am curious to see if the trend will continue with the small sets.

We do receive a commander deck for a small set, and the Turtle Power! Commander deck is a highlight of the set. Five-color pre-cons are difficult to balance, and this deck does a good job of providing an enjoyable deck while also providing decent value. Like a lot of commander pre-cons, I think this is a good place for someone starting in Commander or looking to add to their collection.

Artwork/Art Treatments - Omni-Cheese Pizza

I’ve had a bit of a revelation around the artwork in Universes Beyond sets, and my opinion on the artwork has softened a little. The artwork here is a definite improvement over Spider-Man. However, I’m still not enthralled with the artwork in TMNT. There are cards that I think make fantastic use of the TMNT world. Maybe I’m just uninterested in seeing alternate versions of our real world, or perhaps I just don’t like New York City. Am I a NYC hater? I think the artwork for these Universes Beyond sets is fighting an uphill battle. We’ve seen the TMNT/Marvel universes depicted across comics, TV shows, and movies. The Magic set art, however good, isn’t adding much we haven’t seen. In-universe sets depict brand-new planes. Even when we return to existing ones, there’s advancement in the timeline, which means there are still new things to see. It’s hard for existing properties to compete with that wonder. 

Lastly, I find the various alternate artworks…harmless? The cartoonish style isn’t my jam, but I can see why people would like them. I will say to all the artists who did the various pizza artworks, you did a great job. I would never eat those pizzas.