This week has been a big week for Magic fans, especially those interested in Magic’s next set, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  As part of this preview week, The Command Zone got an exclusive reveal on the Commander deck being released alongside the main set.  Let’s take a look at some of the highlights in the Turtle Power! precon Commander deck.

Deck Design

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is intended to be a celebration of the last 40 years of tv, video games, comics, and movies.  The Commander precon specifically was built with TMNT video games in mind. In fact, according to senior game designer Melissa DeTora, in an article on Daily MTG, the Character Select mechanic that was ultimately just an extension of the partner ability found in other dual-commanders originally had a very different look. Tapping into that video game theme, Character Select was intended on having a very flexible commander structure:

Character Select (Reveal up to five cards with this ability before the game begins. Their combined color identity is your commander's color identity. Then select two of them. They are your commanders. Shuffle the rest into your library.)

Ultimately, DeTora says they encountered multiple issues during play-testing including rules considerations and an overly verbose card text.  The color identity rule was an especially large barrier and the prevailing thought was that the rules couldn’t be bent that heavily for a single commander deck.

New Cards

The Turtle Power! Precon has 43 new cards, which sets a record for the most new-to-Magic cards in a single deck.  Previously, this record was held by Final Fantasy at 25 but typically, a precon Commander deck will only include between 10 and 15 cards. For example, Lorwyn Eclipsed had two Commander decks with only 10 new cards each.  Prior to Final Fantasy, the record was held by multiple sets at 17.  

With a deck that relies heavily on tokens, it was important to look at the decklist and figure out what cards are helping reach that goal.  Big Mother Mouser was one that I immediately thought of as a prime example of how a creature can support the overall engine of this deck.  It’s a 0/0 but comes out with two +1/+1 counters on it.  Then when it attacks, you double the +1/+1 counters on it.  When it dies, you create 1/1 token creatures equal to the number of counters that Big Mother Mouser had at the time of its death.  Then if your army is large and Big Mother Mouser’s counter total was high, you’ll give your army a big buff so long as Leonardo, the Balance is on the battlefield.

Board wipes are a staple of any Commander deck. Sometimes the best way to move the needle on a Commander game is to reset the whole board.  With the video game theme in mind, Game Over is a full reset by destroying all creatures.  No one gets a pass but at 3BB to cast, it does seem like a high cost board wipe.  However the cost to cast is reduced by 2 if at least one player is under half their starting life total.

When DeTora started jotting down notes for the Turtle Power! deck, her very first note was “electric seaweed,” a callback to the NES video game’s underwater level.  Electric Seaweed did make it into the deck as a 0/4 defender that can tap to deal 1 damage to any target.  

There are a few of the iconic TMNT villains in Turtle Power! but probably none so iconic as Shredder.  Shredder isn’t just a villain; he’s the villain.  Rocksteady and Bebop are villains in their own right, but they take orders from Shredder. In the 90s movies, the comedy element was big, but Shredder still came off as menacing.  Shredder, Shadow Master honors that by being one of the deadliest cards in the entire deck.  As a 5/5, Shredder is already doing a lot of heavy lifting but when he attacks, he gets a copy that’s also attacking that same player for each other opponent in the game.  If that wasn’t powerful enough, if damage from Shredder, Shadow Master goes through, that player also loses half their life total rounded up.  Those triggers will stack if multiple copies are able to hit their target.  

Reprints

As mentioned, there are fewer reprints in this deck than in any precon Commander deck before it.  Still, it’s worth highlighting a few that are included in Turtle Power!. Bond Lands aka Battlebond Lands are typically very expensive as singles. Spire Garden in particular has a market value on TCGPlayer of as much as $21.34 at the time of this writing.  Spire Garden and Undergrowth Stadium are both included in Turtle Power! and are perfect for Commander because of their ability to come in untapped if their controller has multiple opponents.

Another reprint that is worth mentioning is Acidic Slime because of how it appears in the Turtle Power! deck. As is often the case with Secret Lair cards, this reprint is actually appearing with a different name — in this case, Marauding Mutagen.  A 2/2 with deathtouch, Acidic Slime’s worth really comes from the ETB trigger that allows its controller to destroy an artifact, enchantment, or land.  

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles preview season is over, but in one week, players can get their hands on this new set by competing in prerelease events at local game stores.  The full Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set releases on March 6th, including the Turtle Power! Commander deck.