What comes to mind when you think of the color Blue... in the context of Magic: The Gathering that is. To me, Blue is all about clever tricks and stuff that deals with drawing cards.

The TMNT Magic: The Gathering set leans into that identity... and more. The Blue cards here focus on artifact manipulation, tempo swings, card advantage, and the occasional reset... which is very on-brand when Universes Beyond gives you characters like Renet or Donatello.

For Commander players, that means new toys that challenge timing constraints - you know, things that every Blue player enjoys!

Let's take a look at some of the most interesting Blue Commander cards from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set.

Card-Draw Trigger Doubling Counter Engine - Krang, the All-Powerful

Krang has never been known for subtlety (what with him being a big brain on a stomach and all) and this version of him reward doing something Blue decks already love doing: drawing cards.

Krang grows whenever a player draws their second card each turn, putting a +1/+1 counter on him. In Commander, that's much easier to trigger than it looks. Between cantrips, draw engines, and opponents using their own card advantage spells, those counters can accumulate quickly.

But Krang's other ability is what gets my noggin spinning. If drawing a card causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.

That opens the door to some powerful interactions with Blue's many card-draw payoff cards. We're talking damage dealing, token creation... Honestly, there's a lot more than even I thought was available!

Krang may claim to be all-powerful, but in Commander he's really just rewarding you for doing what Blue decks already want to do.

Cards that Synergize with Krang, the All-Powerful

• Homunculus Horde - Personally, I think this paired with Krang can replicate what Scute Swarm does for Landfall in Green.
• Psychosis Crawler or Scrawling Crawler - Extra triggers mean extra life loss for opponents.
• Lyla, Holographic Assistant - Why just grow Krang when you can grow any other creature too?

Donatello, Mutant Mechanic - Artifact Counter Engineer

Donatello has always been the technical genius of the turtles, and this card absolutely captures that tinkering spirit this dude is all about artifacts.

Donatello lets you put +1/+1 counters on artifacts, and if the artifact isn't a creature, it becomes a 0/0 Robot creature that becomes a decently statted 3/3 thanks to the counters. In other words, Donatello can literally bring machines to life.

That's already fun in artifact-heavy Commander decks, but the second ability adds even more value.

Whenever an artifact you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield with counters on it, those counters get redistributed to another artifact or creature you control. Kind of like what The Ozolith does: makes sure your investment is secure. With Donatello, Mutant Mechanic... counters never truly go to waste.

Cards that Synergize with Donatello, Mutant Mechanic

• Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade - Paired up with this other masked hero and you get to grow your artifacts larger... and draw cards from removing counters.
• Insight Engine - This is The One Ring lite. Donatello gives your card draw from the Insight Engine have an insanely high ceiling.
• Walking Ballista - This old construct is the go-to when you want to machine gun things down.

Chaotic Board Reset - Turtles in Time

We've all been there in our Commander games: board states that get too wild. Like when someone makes a hundred tokens and is poised to attack en masse. Or when the combo player has assembled their pieces and is just chomping at the bit for the turn to be passed onto them. Too many things happening at once. Yep, sometimes a Commander game gets completely out of control.

Turtles in Time solves that problem in a very Blue way, by bouncing everything back to everyone's hands... including graveyards. Basically, Turtles in Time rewinds time by resetting everything.

Not only does this spell return all creatures to their owners' hands it also then forces players to shuffle their graveyards into their libraries before drawing seven cards. Now, that's a massive reset button.

Graveyard decks lose their carefully stocked resources, creature-heavy boards disappear, and everyone gets a brand-new hand.

And because you're the one casting the spell, you're usually the player best prepared to rebuild first. Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is simply rewinding the timeline.

Cards that Synergize with Turtles in Time

• Narset, Parter of Veils - This is the evil route: everyone only gets ONE card while you get a full grip.
• Consecrated Sphinx - If Narset isn't your cup of tea, then this sphinx keeps you ahead by exponentially giving you more cards than everyone else on the table.
• Omniscience - This is the card you want to cast right after Turtles in Time. I don't know what you must do (maybe float mana from Treasures?) but get this out pronto.

Draw Engine Based on Multiple Types - April O'Neil, Hacktivist

April O'Neil is the investigative heart of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles world, and this card represents her curiosity in a very cool and unusual way.

At the beginning of your end step, April lets you draw a card for each card type among spells you cast this turn. In Commander, with all of the multiple typed cards - this is a fairly easy ask. A turn that includes a creature, artifact, and instant already nets you three cards.

Decks that mix different permanent types-artifacts, enchantments, creatures, and planeswalkers-can turn April into a powerful card advantage engine.

The more varied your spells, the more information April uncovers and the more options you can stock in your hand to wipe out your opponents. April really embodies the saying that good journalism is about gathering information.

Cards that Synergize with April O'Neil, Hacktivist

• Firdoch Core - A mana rock from Lorwyn Eclipsed that is three card types in 1 mana rock.
• The Aetherspark - A planeswalker and an artifact that is extremely powerful in Commander.
• Enduring Curiosity - An enchantment creature that gets you more cards.

Instant-Speed Time Disruption - Renet, Temporal Apprentice

Renet in the TNMT universe is tied to time travel and she does something similar in card-form. With flash, Renet can appear at exactly the right moment.

When she enters the battlefield, she returns each other nonland permanent that entered the battlefield this turn to its owner's hand. That's an incredibly flexible effect.

It can disrupt combo turns, undo reanimation plays, punish explosive token strategies, or simply reset a board after someone overextends. Y'know big things that can set back an opponent who overcommits.

Because Renet leaves your own battlefield mostly intact, the effect is often much more devastating for your opponents.

Cards that Synergize with Renet, Temporal Apprentice

• Panharmonicon - Double Renet's enter-the-battlefield trigger for when two opponents do something to affect the board on the same turn.
• Deadeye Navigator - Blink Renet repeatedly to control the board for additional uses.
• Displacer Kitten - Turn noncreature spells into additional bounce effects to turn your tempo plays into a reliable and recurring strategy.

Cowabunga, But Make It Blue

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Magic: The Gathering set gives Blue Commander players a toolbox full of clever tricks. These cards feel like they're giving you control over multiple points in the game and at different turns as well. And these aren't just limited to reactive playstyles as Blue is often typecast into. The best of TNMT's Blue cards gives us card draw engines, artifact shenanigans, board bouncing, and an overall dose of cool.

Like any good (Teenage Mutant) Ninja, it's the importance of striking at exactly the right moment that is crucial... and with these Blue cards? You'll have the tools to strike hard when you want during your next Commander game.