The 10 most nostalgic cards in Magic’s TMNT set

Magic: The Gathering‘s Universes Beyond set themed to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles isn’t even out yet, but it’s already whipping up a lot of excitement among fans. The set is filled with (mostly) beautiful art depicting various iterations of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Some cards nod to the comics, while others draw inspiration from various cartoons, movies, or even just action figures.

If you are a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan who plays Magic: The Gathering, your time has finally arrived. Then there are people like me. I’m a die-hard TMNT fan that’s been obsessed since I was too young to read the original comic book.I don’t, however, know anything about Magic: The Gathering. I’ve never played a single hand. And yet, I’m stoked about this Universes Beyond set, whatever that means. I’m excited because I love these cards and the various elements of the franchise they represent. I love them so much that I picked out the 10 best cards in the entire set based entirely on the cool factor of what the card shows from Turtles canon. Are any of these any good to actually play? My editor refuses to tell me. And I’m only mildly disappointed that none of the cards make reference to the Coming Out of Their Shells album and tour, which is a big miss on the part of Wizards of the Coast.

10

Path to Exile

This image is pulled from the 11th issue of the original comic, with co-creator Kevin Eastman’s take on April O’Neil emblazoned across it. This image is an often-cited example of April’s early character design, before she became a brunette in a yellow jumpsuit in the animated series.

Found in: Play Booster, Collector Booster, Draft Night, Bundle, Pizza Bundle, Turtle Team-Up

9

Shellshock

Image: Paramount/Wizards of the Coast

Like a number of cards in this set, Shellshock is a direct reference to Ninja Turtle video games. In the original arcade game, we see the Turtles get electrocuted by a robot named Roadkill Rodney, with the result looking exactly like it does in the card: hilarious. This visual joke continued in other Ninja Turtles games and was even immortalized in an action figure back in 2020.

Found in: Collector Booster, Draft Night, Pizza Bundle, Commander Deck

8

Tempestra, Dame of Games

Image: Paramount/Wizards of the Coast

We just need to take a minute to appreciate that Wizards of the Coast created a Magic: The Gathering card based on a mostly forgotten one-off villain from an episode of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series from 1990. And it’s one of the more ridiculous episodes to boot. In it, Leonardo gets obsessed with a computer game featuring an evil sorceress named Tempestra. She is brought to life somehow during an electrical storm and begins causing the kind of ruckus you’d expect from an evil sorceress. It’s not a great episode or even a good one. But the fact that Wizards of the Coast went this deep into the roster of TMNT baddies is respectable.

Found in: Collector Booster, Draft Night, Pizza Bundle, Commander Deck

7

Fast Forward

Image: Paramount/Wizards of the Coast

There’s more than one card in this game paying tribute to the excellent 1991 video game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. This one’s special, though, because the inscription at the bottom shouts out my favorite level in the game, Neon Night-Riders. In it, perspective shifts to third-person to ride a hoverboard before pitting the player against Krang in his giant android body as a boss battle.

Found in: Play Booster, Collector Booster, Draft Night, Bundle, Pizza Bundle, Turtle Team-Up

6

The Neutrinos

Image: Paramount/Wizards of the Coast

If you grew up watching the first TMNT animated series, you definitely were a fan of the Neutrinos. This trio of greaser-inspired aliens was first introduced in the episode “Hot Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X,” and they were the absolute coolest. They spoke in high-pitched squeaks, drove a flying hot rod, and always brought chaos with them (and Kala definitely had a crush on Michelangelo). This might be their only representation in the set, but this card perfectly encapsulates the Neutrinos.

Found in: Play Booster, Collector Booster, Draft Night, Bundle, Pizza Bundle, Turtle Team-Up

5

Leonardo, Sewer Samurai Art Card

Image: Paramount/Wizards of the Coast

As an elder Ninja Turtles fan, it does my heart good to see a card based on a one-off action figure, rather than any cartoon or movie. After all, anyone who grew up loving TMNT in the 1980s or ’90s was no doubt overexposed to a long list of action figures that existed solely as toys, like that rapping Michelangelo toy. This art card showcases a beautiful drawing of Leonardo as seen in his Sewer Samurai action figure, which was originally released in 1990. That version of Leo never made it into a show or movie but has now been immortalized in Magic: The Gathering. And if you don’t want to spend a bunch of money hunting this rare art card, there are also default and traditional foil versions that can be found among the Play Booster packs.

Found in: Collector Booster, Draft Night, Pizza Bundle

4

Tainted Treats

Image: Paramount/Wizards of the Coast

While Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze was a goofy step down from how badass the original Ninja Turtles movie was, it gave us Tokka and Rahzar. This card represents the beginning of the end of Shredder’s “stupid infants,” as Prof. Jordan Perry dubbed them. The professor worked with Donatello to develop an ooze retardant that was frozen, put in doughnuts, and fed to the monstrous mutants. Then, it was emblazoned onto a piece of cardstock and put in this set.

Found in: Play Booster, Collector Booster, Draft Night, Bundle, Pizza Bundle, Turtle Team-Up

3

The Last Ronin’s Technique

Image: Paramount/Wizards of the Coast

There are a few cards dedicated to the beloved 2020 comic book series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, but this one best captures the anguish of that story to me. For those who haven’t read it, what are you waiting for? The story picks up after the death of all but one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who continues fighting to save what’s left of New York City, unleashing all of the rage and devastation of someone who watched his brothers murdered. It’s the story of a person looking for peace and a semblance of family after a long, war-weary existence. While not a cheery story by any means, it’s the sort of followup to the original comic book series fans had been waiting decades for.

Found in: Play Booster, Collector Booster, Draft Night, Bundle, Pizza Bundle, Turtle Team-Up

2

Turtles Forever

Image: Paramount/Wizards of the Coast

This card is like a warm hug for longtime Turtle fans. While it’s clearly inspired by the 2009 animated film that saw four different iterations of the Ninja Turtles team up to save the world, this card does one better by including the live-action Donatello from the movies. I’m not sure why he’s so much shorter than everyone, but I can’t stop staring at this card. I have to note, though, this would have been the perfect place to give Donatello a keytar as a nod to Coming Out of Their Shells. But Wizards of the Coast didn’t consult me on this set, for some reason.

Found in: Play Booster, Collector Booster, Draft Night, Bundle, Pizza Bundle, Turtle Team-Up

1

Teleportation Circle

Image: Paramount/Wizards of the Coast

It was hard to pick this card as the best of the set, if I’m being honest. It’s such a bittersweet image, but a foundational one for my TMNT fandom. This image is pulled from the cover of the 1989 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game on NES. When I received the game that Christmas, I — like many others —assumed I had just been given a home version of the arcade game. How wrong we all were.

The NES game is an unforgiving platformer that doesn’t really capture the joy or weirdness of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series. But it was the only Ninja Turtles game we had at home until the arcade game was ported a year later. So, just like Splinter taught the turtles, I studied and practiced in order to utterly defeat it.

I never did. I still haven’t beaten that game. The swimming level with the electric seaweed was the absolute worst. But I had so much fun trying.

Found in: Play Booster, Collector Booster, Draft Night, Bundle, Pizza Bundle, Turtle Team-Up

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