Magic: the Gathering Review – Turtle Power
As an 80’s kid, there were definitely a few years I spent obsessing over the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – dressing up in costumes from TMNT Easter Showbags, watching the cartoon series religiously and even the live action films at a slightly too young age. It’s been exciting to see a resurgence of the property in the past few years thanks to new films like Mutant Mayhem and throw-back videogames like Shredder’s Revenge. After a strong showing with the Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond entry late last year, the Magic: The Gathering team at WotC have found in TMNT another worthy IP match-up, producing a set that, while fairly self-contained and relatively small at 190 main cards, has a few tricks up its shell.
For a start, the TMNT Bundle has hands-down the best storage box of any set I’ve reviewed to date and whoever decided on the Turtle Van needs a raise. The wraparound art by Jamal Campbell showcases the entire classic Turtle team (sans Splinter) and makes great use of the shape of the box. An ooze green spin-down d20 complete with Turtle icon is nestled in with the standard set of 9 Play Boosters, a huge array of Land cards in both standard and foil forms alongside a promo card, in our case Legendary Crearure Shark Shredder, Killer Clone – a Ninja Shark-topus. Before we turn-up the Vanilla Ice and order in a New York slice, we have to talk about the incredible array of art and specifically art styles in this set that pay homage to the many different eras and mediums TMNT has appeared in over the past four decades. The Pixel Editions, OG animation style, Eastman & Laird comic art, alleyway graffiti and more modern interpretations – there’s something for every TMNT fan, although tracking down some of these art variants won’t be easy.
As a storage solution and an easy way to rip some packs, a Bundle is usually a safe bet, but for TMNT fans, the Turtle Van packaging sends it into overdrive and becomes a strong recommendation, especially when Gameology has it going for under $85 right now. While whole booster boxes will always be more cost-effective, dipping your turtle-toes in with a Bundle should be enough to gauge how deep into the sewers you want to dive with this set. If you aren’t swayed yet, get a gander at these incredible Lands – I’m still bummed I couldn’t manage to snag the whole set of Pizza themed Land cards, but those silhouetted Turtles against the NYC skyline are some of my favourite Land variants to date.
Nothing makes me want to shout ‘Cowabunga’ like a Commander Pre-con, being pressed for time making me appreciate being able to grab a deck-box and get things underway. The Turtle Power Commander Deck is an incredible expression of Magic’s underlying Colour system, providing five potential Commander cards in Mikey, Raph, Donnie, Leo and Splinter, each associated with a different colour. I was a bit apprehensive as a relative MtG newcomer given this is my first five-colour deck, but credit where credit is due, Wizards might just be the best in the biz at putting together decks that can both function enjoyably out of the box and also obviously do great things with a bit of work, a great gamified marketing strategy to get people purchasing.
The Partner mechanic appears in a stroke of thematic genius; as usual, Leonardo assumes his role in the lead and can Partner with a second Commander to complement his focus on +1/+1 counter creation when Tokens enter. Basically, Leo is gassing everyone up in combat when tokens (usually Mutagen or Food) appear – Raphael, Donatello and Splinter are dropping Mutagen tokens left and right, while Michaelangelo is slinging pizza around the battlefield. The rest of the Turtle Power deck further supports Counter creation and just a few rounds in it’s possible to have a very buffed line-up going on the offence. However, because the deck spreads itself a bit thin to function with six possible Commanders, it can also end in a whimper. BUT, and this is the real kicker for TMNT fans, Turtle Power does an excellent job of turning a match into a narrative, as Artifacts, Lands and Creatures come together like a demented ‘lost episode’ dug out of the Viacom archives. If this pre-con has any major weakness, it’s how intensely unwieldy it can get in the late game stages, especially without a decent set of tracking dice for counters and tokens. Is this a solid deck for novices like myself or flat-out beginners? Maybe – I’m a firm believer that thematic investment in any game is a great way to get over a complexity hump, and given this is the only Commander Deck pre-con for this wave, it’s the most beginner friendly way to dive into the format via TMNT. It certainly isn’t the strongest pre-con in recent times, but it’s the first UB pre-con since Final Fantasy given both Spider-Man and Avatar: TLA skipped the format and Marvel isn’t out until later this year.
Will TMNT unseat Avatar: TLA as the Universes Beyond set I’ve enjoyed the most? It’s a tall order, and each wave had its own strengths – the Beginner Box for ATLA is still a mainstay for me as I noodle around with MtG in general, but the lack of a pre-con Commander deck and badass Turtle Van storage solution is a significant detractor. What both sets have in common though is that they make a great playground for fans of their respective IP, Avatar feeling a little more self-contained while TMNT branches out a little more. Can Wizards keep up this incredible streak of UB releases? I guess we’ll find out in June when Marvel: Super Heroes drops.
