I finally got around to playing throwback sidescroller Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and, yeah, everyone was right about how good it is. Where can I go for more TMNT goodness? Oh right, they’re the next Magic: The Gathering crossover set.
We’re returning to everyone’s favorite plane in the multiverse, New York City. Unlike the last Universes Beyond expansion, Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Ninja Turtles are getting a pre-constructed Commander deck—a five-color deck inspired by TMNT videogames with cards like Game Over, Level Up, High Score, and Arcade Cabinet. Some of the cards have pixel art by Kirokaze, to enhance your arcade nostalgia.
Image credit: Wizards of the Coast
Image credit: Wizards of the Coast
The set will also include a Turtle Team-Up box designed for co-op play. Up to four players choose a deck themed around an individual Turtle and work together to take down bosses, which seems like an ideal way to teach Magic to new players. It even has difficulty levels you can work your way through to build up to the full rules.
New mechanics in this set include Sneak, a keyword for cards that can be played when your opponent is selecting blockers, letting you substitute the new card for an attacker you bounce back into your hand. It’s like the Ninjutsu mechanic from Kamigawa, only it covers instants and sorcery cards as well as creatures.
There’s also Disappear, the “ninja vanish” complement to Sneak’s “ninja suddenly appear out of nowhere”. Cards with Disappear have effects that trigger at the end of your turn if one of your cards left the battlefield earlier—even if they vanished before you played the card with Disappear on it. And yeah, cards you bounce with Sneak count can set off Disappear effects. As an example, Krang & Shredder force your opponent to exile cards, and if you Disappear something, let you play one of those exiled cards yourself.
The TMNT set also sees the return of the Alliance mechanic from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which lets cards that share the Alliance keyword set off their effects whenever a new card with Alliance is played. It’s just as fitting here, given that whole Saturday morning cartoon emphasis on teamwork.
Image credit: Wizards of the Coast
Image credit: Wizards of the Coast
If you just gritted your teeth and muttered something about how the Ninja Turtles were a comic before they were a cartoon, you’ll be mollified by the cards with new artwork by TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman in his traditional style. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Magic set will be available in Arena on March 3 and in paper form on March 6, with prerelease events beginning on February 27.
