When I first heard that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was coming to Magic, I got very excited at the possibilities of the many Commander decks that would be released alongside the set. With sets like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Marvel’s Spider-Man not getting a Commander precon release, I was interested to see how Wizards would handle TMNT. My initial thought was that they would do four decks like they did with Final Fantasy and each deck would be themed around a single turtle, but what they did worked so much better than I anticipated. The Turtle Power! precon is one of the most versatile decks that Wizards has ever released.

Meet The Commanders

As with every Commander precon, the intended commanders are printed as foil full art mythic rares. What really sets Turtle Power! apart from other precons is the level of customization in Commanders. Leaning into the deck’s video game vibe, a partner ability called Character Select was added to most of the commander options to make them work with each other. The full list of commanders intended for this deck are:

• Leonardo, the Balance
• Raphael, the Muscle
• Donatello, the Brains
• Michelangelo, the Heart
• Splinter, the Mentor
• Heroes in a Half Shell

Heroes in a Half Shell features all four of the turtles on one card to give the feeling that all four are acting as your commander. It has all five colors in its color identity making it possible to use it as your commander despite it not having Character Select. Leonardo also has all five colors in his identity and therefore could be used by himself as commander, but because he has Character Select, it makes more sense to send in some backup. Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Splinter are all mono-colored cards and by themselves wouldn’t be able to command the deck, but because of Character Select, one of them can join forces with Leonardo to be the deck’s commander. 

Alternatively, April O’Neil, Live on the Scene has Character Select so despite her not being one of the “intended” commanders, she does qualify to join forces with Leonardo. What I found weird was that even though Casey Jones is also a friend and ally to the turtles, Casey Jones, Back Alley Brute does not have Character Select and so a pre-game conversation in a casual game would be required if you really wanted to use him as commander with the consent of your pod.

Strong Commander Options

Most of the options we’re given in this deck for commander team-ups work surprisingly well. There are three however, that stand out above the rest. Heroes in a Half Shell costs WUBRG to cast and commands the deck alone. The strategy for playing Heroes as your commander is simple. Make sure you’ve got things to cheat in additional counters. Level Up and High Score are great ways to get counters added for free any time that you would normally get just one +1/+1 counter. Heroes along with any other Mutants, Ninjas, and/or Turtles get a +1/+1 counter any time they connect combat damage to a player as long as Heroes is on the battlefield. Its downfall is that at 5 to cast with none of it being generic, it can be a bit slow to get out and it eats removal in this deck fairly easily.

When you pair Leonardo with April O’Neil, the unintended commander option becomes one of the best combos that the deck offers. April investigates any time a Mutant, Ninja, or Turtle enters the battlefield under your control. At only 1U to cast, she can be put out very early in the game. Then putting Leonardo out allows them to combo. Leonardo’s first ability allows once per turn for a token entering under your control to cause all of your creatures to get a +1/+1 counter. With most of the deck’s creatures being Mutants, Ninjas, and/or Turtles, the whole board gets pretty strong very fast. 

Leonardo’s best pairing in my opinion is Raphael. Raphael has an ETB trigger that creates a Mutagen token. Because of Leonardo’s first ability, you can give all your creatures a +1/+1 counter as soon as Raphael enters. You should totally do that because Raphael doubles any damage dealt by creatures you control with a +1/+1 counter. Suddenly, Leonardo isn’t swinging for the 4 damage that his 3/3 plus a counter offers him. He’s swinging for 8 and because Raphael and Leonardo’s triggers both affect the whole board state, the army gets buff very quickly. More than once, opponents I fought took the nuclear option and wiped the board including their own armies just to put a stop to how powerful my army had suddenly become.

Mid-Tier Commander Options

Two of Leonardo’s commander team-ups are fine…just fine. Michelangelo has an ability that if you attacked this turn, you put a +1/+1 counter on a target creature, then create a food token. He’s only 1G to cast and so he can have moments where he’s just as good as April O’Neil but what made me put him in the mid-tier list is the timing. His triggers don’t start until after combat. So, yes — he can buff an army with Leonardo just like April can, but it’ll take a full turn cycle to see the fruit of that labor. That’s a long time in most Commander pods to hope your army doesn’t eat removal spells.

Donatello is my favorite Ninja Turtle, so I was disappointed to see that his ability to team up with Leonardo was not anything special. His triggered ability says that anytime you create one or more tokens, create a Mutagen token as well. This would be a great way to exploit Leonardo’s first ability except for one small problem. Leonardo’s first ability can only trigger once per turn. Now, if Leonardo added a +1/+1 counter to every creature you control every time, then yes, Donatello becomes one of if not the best commander options in this deck. As it stands though, Donatello is just okay.

The Weakest Link

Honestly, putting Splinter in as the weakest commander option for team-up with Leonardo feels like a disservice to the franchise on two fronts. Leonardo and Splinter have a much different relationship than Splinter has with his other proteges. Additionally, Splinter is supposed to be the master, the mentor, the teacher, the dad figure, etc. It really undercuts how the franchise has positioned him to have Magic: The Gathering make him so utterly useless in the deck. 

Splinter’s mechanic is based on creatures leaving the battlefield. His ability says that when he or another non-token creature leaves the battlefield, create a Mutagen token. That of course will cause Leonardo to trigger but remember, that trigger came at the expense of a non-token creature leaving. Leonardo works best by creating large armies and Splinter is over there banking on you losing creatures. It’s an asymmetry that doesn’t work in this deck. I think if the deck were structured more on reanimation mechanics, Splinter would do so much better here, but as constructed, Splinter leaves a lot to be desired.

Conclusion

The Turtle Power! deck is potentially the best precon that I’ve ever played with. With most commander options, it sits comfortably in bracket 3 and feels fun, flavorful, and is accessible for players of most skill levels. The video game theme takes me right back to the 90s, when I was trying and failing to play the old NES game. If you aren’t a big fan of precons, I doubt this deck will sway you otherwise, but for fans of Commander precons, I can enthusiastically recommend Turtle Power!

*Note — MTG Salvation was provided with a copy of Turtle Power! that was used to write this feature.*