One of the best ways to play Magic: The Gathering is via concept, and if you're planning to design a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set through a pre-release at your local game store or private event, Wizards of the Coast has revealed the best archetypes to watch out for.
Now that we have an overview of the cards in this set, it's safe to say that most of these archetypes won't surprise us too much, but we're curious to see which ones come out on top.
Orzhov Ninjas
This shadow archetype utilizes nimble ninja-type creatures and a new sneak mechanic that, while prevalent across all mana pools, is probably the easiest to work into a full deck when building with white and black mana.
Front and center of this building is Karai, The Future of the Footwhich comes with a price that is more expensive than that of a hard cast, but for good reason. When it deals combat damage to another player, you can return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
This is it only the case where her smuggling costs are paid; otherwise you return the card to your hand. Given how powerful this ability is, it's no surprise that the sneak cost is one mana higher than its base cost, but if you can get it onto the battlefield with the sneak cost, guaranteed to deal combat damage this turnso it is a free creature returned to the battlefield.
Great Synergy cards
- Ronin's last technique
- Kunoichi disguise
- Ninja Teen
- Oroku Saki, Shredder Rising
- Foot mystic
- Super Shredder
- Foot ninjas
- Foot elite
- Splinter, the radical rat
- Karai technique
Magic: The Gathering – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Top 5 Pursuit Cards
If you're in MTG for the thrill of the chase or want to know which cards will be the hardest to find, we've got everything you need to know.
Izzet machines
Naturally, Izzet is always in the conversation for the best MTG decks anytime, but this particular iteration moves away from the Izzet lesson archetype that saw a brief spell of dominance, and now the machines are ready to run the gauntlet.
We pointed to this archetype as a possibility in both our Best TMNT Red Cards and Best TMNT Blue Cards guides because there were just so many rules that seemed to rely on generating artifact tokens, boosting creatures through equipment, and creatures with artifact affinity.
The main legendary for a deck like this is Baxter Stockman, who creates a a colorless 1/1 robot token upon entryand at the start of your battle, it gives target artifact creature you control +3/0, first strike, and vigilance until the end of your turn.
Great Synergy cards
- Don & Raph, Hard Science
- Donatello, the mutant mechanic
- Donatello, the gadget master
- Krang, Master of Mind
- Improvised Arsenal
- Hungry robots
- Casey Jones, Jury-Rig Justicar
- Brilliance Unleashed
- Mouse Mark III
- Mouser Foundry
The Golgari disappear
Next up is this black-and-green deck based around the vanishing mechanic, a reworked version of revolt that's themed around the sneakiness of the ninja-heavy set. This keyword is activated if a permanent you control has left the battlefield before the end of your turn. It can be a creature, artifact, or anything classified as a non-token permanent.
The result of triggering the vanish depends on the rules text on each card, but the main card for this archetype is Pizza Face, Gastromancer, which puts three +1/+1 counters on one target artifact creature you control. However, if the target is not a creature, it becomes a 0/0 mutant creature in addition to its other types before the tokens are evaluated.
Most cases of disappearance involve tokens, drawing cards or generating tokensso pairing these cards with the same mechanic from a selection of black and green cards is the best way to go.
Great Synergy cards
- Foot mystic
- Insect killer
- Lord Dregg, Insect Invader
- Rat King, Verminister
- Michelangelo, master of the game
- Avatar of the West Wind
- Putrid friends
The Boros Alliance
Very similar to how the Golgari archetype is based on one mechanic that takes maximum advantage this Boros deck will require you to lean on the alliancea keyword that triggers whenever another creature you control enters.
This archetype is led by The Neutrinos, flying legendary creatures that it gets +1/0 until end of turn each time a creature you control enters play. Then, when The Neutrinos attacks, you can banish target creature you control and have it return to the battlefield, tap, and attack.
Execution of this action guarantees an additional +1/0 activation for The Neutrinos but also reactivates any abilities the target creature has, if it has any, that trigger when it enters play or attacks.
Great Synergy cards
- Avatar of the East Wind
- Lita, the little orphan amphibian
- The mighty Mutanimals
- EPF Point Squad
- Mutant Town Musicians
- Raphael, Most Attitude
- Raphael, The Hard Turtle
- Slash, the Reptile Rampager
- Wingnut, Bat on the belfry
Simic mutagen
Finally we have a Simic deck that will try to generate and use as many mutagen tokens as possible, next new mechanic connecting to Magic: The Gathering in this set.
Mutagenic Tokens are a tradable token that allows you to do just that put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. Costing one mana plus a token sacrifice to activate, it sits well in the wheelhouse of green and blue mana stacks.
This mechanic is pretty well supported in the deck and is best paired with other cards that generate +1/+1 tokens. We expect this mechanic to be huge in Commander, given the number of commander-specific cards that support this across all mana colors. In Standard, though, it's best left for Simic decks.
Great Synergy cards
- Crustacean Commando
- Mud spills
- Ray Fillet, Man Ray
- Return to the Channels
- Michelangelo, Butant's BFF
- Michelangelo, Strangeness to 11
- Mutagen Man, Living Ooze
- Mutant chain reaction
- Escape from the zoo
Magic: The Gathering – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 5 Best Multicolor Cards
We round out our top picks for the MTG TMNT deck by looking at the multi-colored cards on offer.
