The Early Access event for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has concluded and I thought this would be a good chance for me to give my earliest impressions on the TMNT cards that impressed me the most. Normally, I would spend 2-3 days watching the videos of streamers who took part in the event before coming to these conclusions, but I got to actually participate in the event this time.

Overall, the set looks much better than anticipated. There are some powerful cards in the set that will make their way into Standard decks, or create entirely new decks for the format. I think having the entire set of Rares/Mythics drop at once really slowed our excitement for TMNT, but I can tell you after running through the Early Access Event, that they play very well.

Highlights from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

What follows will be an almost stream-of-consciousness style review of the some of the cards I saw played, and the interactions I saw from the event.

Cranking the Weirdness to 11

The first deck I ran out was a Golgari deck focused on Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11 and Super Shredder. I combined this with the Earthbender Ascension/Icetill Explorer engine and wove in a little Obsessive Pursuit as a little treat. The deck performed very well, going 7-2, and it was a blast to play. I'll save the write-up on the deck for another article later, but I want to highlight three cards.

Super Shredder played as well as I thought he would, and gets out of hand very fast if left unchecked. Of course, this was the early access event, so I don't think people were playing as much removal as you would normally see, so he looked amazing. I'm a little worried about the numerous bounce spells being played at the moment as they serve as an easy way to reset him, but in the short-term, he looked like one of the best cards in the set.

Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11 over-performed. There are so many powerful cards that put +1/+1 counters on creatures at the moment, and Mikey may be the card that provides them the critical mass they need to jump to Tier 1.

Mutagen Man, Living Ooze, especially when combined with either Super Shredder or Michelangelo, can turn anything into a game ending threat. It's a great top-end of the deck, and the versatility it provides give the deck some much needed flexibility.

Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go

I ran into a few ninja decks early. They are brutal if they get out in front of you, but they struggle mightily to catch-up when behind. They will probably be a good Best-of-1 deck, but I don't know if it will be enough to jump to Best-of-3. Dark Leo & Shredder was the standout, as it makes combat, when the deck is being aggressive, impossible.

The Return of Cranial Plating?

Improvised Arsenal reminded me that Cranial Plating was a format defining card in the past. The Izzet artifact deck was everywhere, and combining this with evasive one-drop artifact creatures (Gingerbrute and Fugitive Droid where the ones most commonly used) allows you to kill out of nowhere. I expect to see this deck heavily played once the set drops.

Avatar (Not the Last Airbender)

This was popping up in the Omniscience decks as a way to find an immediate win condition and it performed very well. Even as a set-up card, it fetched a powerful answer out of the board or found a combo piece to get Omniscience down early. Strong card.

Surprise, You Got Milled

Kitsune's Technique takes the award for the most surprisingly powerful card of the day. When I saw the lists floating around with this and Riverchurn Monument, I'll admit to being skeptical. It just looked too cute. But then, it kicked me in the face multiple times throughout the day.

It's not difficult for Blue decks to go turn one evasive creature (Spyglass Siren has seen play in multiple Tier 1 decks), turn two mill half your library. At that point, Riverchurn Monument is like a ticking timebomb, able to kill you as early as turn four. This deck surprised me, and I'm afraid it may be a contender in the new format.

Sneaky Beavers

Dream Beavers worked surprisingly well in the Sneak decks. It's not game changing, and it won't spawn a new archetype, but it's an example of a small card that makes a deck better and could see play. The Scry especially smooths out your draws and provides a little more value than you'd normally expect in a 1-drop. Whether you go all-in on Sneak or you just continue with Dimir Kaito, Bane of Nightmares decks, this card may have a place in the format.

Welcome to Gatorland

Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker was another solid creature that performed well. You won't run out and build a deck around this, but it definitely has a place in sideboards if nothing else. It hits hard, was difficult to kill, and with the powerful artifacts and enchantments seeing play, it earned its keep.

He's Cool, but Rude

Cool but Rude performed better than anything else I saw in the Early Access, and it might be the most influential card form the set. I could see multiple versions of Izzet decks running this, not just the Lessons deck, and Rakdos Monument was running wild pairing it with Monument to Endurance and Moonshadow. This gets out of hand so fast when paired with creatures like Fear of Missing Out or Tersa Lightshatter. Big fan of this card.

Wrapping Up

That'll do it for now. These were some of the cards that stood out the most to me during the TMNT Early Access Event. I'm looking forward to seeing how the format shakes out and what surprises might still be lurking in Magic's latest set!

You can find more of my Magic musings on Twitter/X @travishall456 and on Bluesky.