Wizards of the Coast’s latest push to external IPs for their flagship trading card game, Magic: The Gathering, continues. Off the back of their Avatar: The Last Airbender collaboration, we now have the spoiler season for the next crossover set: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You can look at the full card list here.
The main theme of the set is, of course, ninjas, it’s in the name after all. Several cards in this set work with Magic’s pre-existing Ninjutsu mechanic (it’s named “Sneak” in this set but don’t let that fool you it’s just Ninjutsu) which lets you swap out an unblocked attacking creature on the field with a creature in your hand. Ninjas has been an archetype that has been on the cusp of being playable in multiple formats like Legacy, so maybe some turtle power is just what the deck needs to finally break out and be a real contender somewhere. Previous UB sets have had at least one card really break out in Magic’s eternal formats, so really study the card list and try to parse who’s going to be the next Wan Shi Tong. I’m hoping for Casey Jones, Vigilante because he looks cool and that effect is really funny.
Of course like any Universes Beyond set there are some classic Magic cards reprinted to keep the set’s power level high like Lightning Bolt, Path to Exile, and the format defining Brainstorm. And on certain cards like Path to Exile they’ve been given art straight from some classic TMNT comics and promotional images.
And some signed black and white cards:
On top of those classic cards, some of the newer cards are given these neat retro video game style promos as a treat.
Speaking of video games, some of these Universes Beyond sets have run into snags with Magic’s online clients, namely Magic: The Gathering Arena and Magic Online. Luckily though, in the case of the TMNT UB set, the cards are confirmed to come to Arena, so yes, you can play Krang with Sephiroth if you want.