Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may be a small set, but so far, it looks like it might be a deep one. Cards from the set are starting to make their way into Standard decks, but we're just beginning to scratch the surface on the potential power in some of the cards from TMNT. One of those cards, one that I think might become a Standard staple, is The Ooze.

What's so special about The Ooze?

When examining The Ooze, it's easy to first see it in light of its ability to manage the graveyard. And, considering the importance of the graveyard in the current Standard format, it's understandable. If you're playing against Izzet Lessons, managing the number of lessons in the graveyard keeps Accumulate Wisdom and Combustion Technique in check. Against the Mon-Green Landfall decks, nabbing lands (especially Fabled Passage or Escape Tunnel) from the graveyard turns one of the best cards in the deck, Icetill Explorer, into a vanilla 2/4 for four mana. It can force the Spellementals deck to pay full mana for cards like Eddymurk Crab, slowing them to a crawl.

The Ooze makes Superior Spider-Man much worse, it neutralizes some of the power of Stormchaser's Talent, and it can even impact emerging decks like the Jeskai build that runs Shiko, Paragon of the Way with Go Ninja Go.

But... so do Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum. The need for graveyard hate, even in the main deck, is well established at this point. And, Vacuum and Lantern both cost only one mana. The jump form a one--mana spell to a two-mana spell is huge, in terms of playbaility. So, The Ooze is going to have to do something significant to make it worth paying twice as much.

Mutagen tokens may offer enough incentive to make the jump from one mana to two mana worthwhile. They have impressed me quite a bit. Using The Ooze to many your opponent's graveyard while also creating a tangible benefit for yourself, one that can let you swing your on-board presence is a great way make your graveyard hate card into something that remains relevant in matchups where the graveyard hate aspect isn't going to impact the game.

And, then you get into the card's static ability. In effect, The Ooze acts as a version of The Ozolith (especially if you have a copy of Mutagen Man, Living Ooze on the battlefield), allowing you to "stockpile" those +1/+1 counters should your creature be removed, until you can drop them on a creature when it is most beneficial.

The Ooze doesn't care whether the counters come from its own manufacturing, or from another card, and it doesn't care how the creature leaves the battlefield, making bounce spells like Into the Flood Maw just as helpless to stop the accumulation of Mutagen tokens as any other removal spell. In many cases, it's not uncommon to see 8-10 Mutagen tokens stockpile throughout the game, until you reach a point when you can dump then on some creatures to end the game in a single attack.

So, let's take a look at the deck I've been playing.

Secret of The Ooze | TMT Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (24)
• 2 Agent Bishop, Man in Black
• 2 Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
• 2 Mikey & Leo, Chaos & Order
• 2 Ouroboroid
• 4 Badgermole Cub
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11
• 4 Mutagen Man, Living Ooze

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Elspeth, Storm Slayer

• Instants (2)
• 2 Get Lost

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Requisition Raid

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Seam Rip

• Artifacts (3)
• 3 The Ooze

• Lands (24)
• 4 Plains
• 6 Forest
• 2 Abandoned Air Temple
• 2 Ba Sing Se
• 2 Restless Prairie
• 4 Temple Garden
• 4 Hushwood Verge

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Card Choices

Selesnya seems to be the best color combination for stockpiling +1/+1 counters, and this deck does so in a variety of ways. Even the mana base offers resilience, with Abandoned Air Temple and Ba Sing Se furthering the counters theme. Let's look at some of the cards I chose to play.

Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11

One of the best cards in TMNT, and one of the best cards to brew around. If this card isn't killed on sight, the deck will get out of control very fast. Since it is such a lightning rod for removal, we're going with a full playset, something I'm usually against with cheap legends. This partners very well with our other TMNT standout, Mutagen Man, Living Ooze.

The Ooze

The card that inspired the deck. I've detailed above, but the ability of this card to slowly shift the landscape of a game if it isn't answered has been fun to watch. I won a game today where I managed to stockpile 23 Mutagen tokens, and, even though my opponent was killing every creature I played, eventually a lowly Llanowar Elves managed to stick to the board, and I made it a 20/20 to attack for the win.

Mikey & Leo, Chaos & Order

Card advantage is often lacking a deck like this, so it's great to have a card that can feed off the counters theme. I started out with four of these in the deck, but, unlike Michelangelo and Mutagen Man (who at least leave something behind if you're forced to play a second copy) they're not great to draw in multiples, so I've pulled back to two.

Agent Bishop, Man in Black

Luminarch Aspirant was good enough to see play, and I think this one might be as well. This accentuates the go-wide avenue of the deck, allowing multiple creatures to grow every turn, especially when paired with Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11.

Elspeth, Storm Slayer

This one slams the door when it hits the board, dumping a counter on each creature and giving the deck a way to get around board stalls. Pairing Elspeth with Ouroboroid or Michelangelo should end the game in a turn or two at most.

Requisition Raid

I've eyeballed this one for a good while, as its Spree cost being able to take out both a Monument to Endurance and Artist's Talent at the same time, can be game winning against the Lessons deck. The fact that it also just powers up the deck's theme allows you to play a card that's generally reserved for the sideboard in the main to surprise a lot of your opponents in Game 1.

Looking Ahead

This is my first pass at the deck, but it really feels like it is so close to being busted. There are just so many cards that enable the +1/+1 counters theme in Standard at the moment that it feels like we're waiting for someone to stumble upon the right configuration of cards to see the deck take off.

It may take a while to figure out that optimal build, but I also plan to keep an eye on Secrets of Strixhaven. Our first go round on Arcavios saw quite a few cards that interacted with +1/+1 counters. Who knows what our next stroll down Magic's hallowed halls of education will give us this time?

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