The Ultimate Guide to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Sealed

Raph & Leo, Sibling Rivals | Illustration by Fajareka Setiawan

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shares a lot of similarities with Spider-Man. Both are small sets, with a similar number of cards and some other shared qualities including:

• Five officially supported color pairs in Draft, rather than the usual 10.
• Native support for Pick-Two Draft, which you can fire with half as many players as regular Draft.
• A shared setting (New York City).
• Each set features one returning mechanic from Streets of New Capenna (connive in Spider-Man, alliance in TMNT).
• Tons of legendary creatures, including several legendary common creatures.
• And last but not least, both sets have attracted significant outrage online!

I don’t want to focus much on that last bullet though; regardless of how you personally feel about the Turtles in Magic, you’re reading this because you’re a winner. And winners take guidance from those who know best. Think of me as your personal Master Splinter… let’s proceed with your training!

Oh, if you’re looking for a video version of this, look no further than the guide on our new YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles includes a mix of new and old mechanics.

Mutagen are a new kind of disposable token, similar to Food, Clues, Treasures, and Blood tokens. A Mutagen token is a colorless noncreature artifact token with “, : Sacrifice this token. Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery.”

Many cards in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles create these tokens. They offer you a tiny mana sink, a way to build up your board presence, and even have some cool synergies with the set at large. Mutagen tokens appear only on green and blue cards, and they’re a primary Draft mechanic for that color pair.

Sneak is essentially a “fixed ninjutsu” of sorts. It has some similarities to the original ninjutsu, as both let you swap an unblocked attacker for another card mid-combat. There are several important differences though:

• Sneak isn’t limited to creatures; there are several noncreature sneak spells like Donatello’s Technique and The Last Ronin’s Technique.
• Cards with sneak are actively cast when you sneak them, which makes them vulnerable to counterspells but also lets them trigger cards that care about casting spells.
• Sneak requires stricter timing than ninjutsu because you can only sneak a card in during the declare blockers step. This unfortunately prevents some slick lines like first strike + ninjutsu, double ninjutsu, etc. from being done with sneak cards.

Sneak is a well represented mechanic in the set, appearing in every color with 27 cards total. It’s primarily found on white and black cards though, and it’s also that color pair’s focus in Draft. Cheap evasive creatures like Dream Beavers and April O’Neil, Kunoichi Trainee are ideal enablers for your sneak cards.

Disappear is a workhorse mechanic that is pretty much identical to revolt. You have “disappeared” this turn if a permanent left the battlefield under your control, which powers up cards like Foot Mystic and Michelangelo, Game Master. Here are some practical ways to pull this off:

Disappear appears on black and green cards (plus Krang & Shredder, which is technically part blue). It’s the core Draft mechanic for BG in TMT, and you can enable it with all of the Food tokens that BG will find itself creating.

Alliance is our first returning mechanic, which originally debuted in Streets of New Capenna. Alliance will trigger whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control. Raphael, Tough Turtle and Lita, Little Orphan Amphibian are two examples of the mechanic in action.

Alliance is another fairly straightforward mechanic, one that rewards creature density, going wide, and ways to flicker creatures. It’s the primary focus of RW in this Draft format, and it appears exclusively in those colors.

Class is another returning mechanic in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, first seen in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. “Class” is an enchantment subtype that you can level up for a set cost at sorcery speed. There are five classes in this set total, each of which is a mono-colored rare with 3 levels. All of them but Ninja Teen are based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themselves, with their names corresponding to lyrics from the beloved ‘80s theme.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles also packs a handful of cameo mechanics, which are existing mechanics that appear on one card. Here’s everything the set has to offer:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a smaller set with only five Draft archetypes. This makes it easier to get into for newer players and ideal for Pick-Two Drafts, but it also likely reduces its replayability long term.

Source: Wizards of the Coast

Signposts: Karai, Future of the Foot and Karai’s Technique

We’ve seen ninjutsu as a focus in Draft before (i.e. UB in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty), but Orzhov being the pair to do it is definitely unusual. The primary play pattern of sneak is to start with some cheap evasive creature like Featherbrained Filcher and use it to plop down your ninja beaters mid-combat. You can also accomplish sneak by going wide, as cards like Shredder, Unrelenting swing combat immediately when they hit the table. Enablers for sneak seem less plentiful than sneak cards themselves, so WB players should value the good ones like Dream Beavers highly.

Signposts: Baxter Stockman and Brilliance Unleashed

UR treads rather familiar territory by focusing on artifacts in this set. Many of the artifact payoffs in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animate noncreature artifacts into creatures, which plays well with Mutagen and Food tokens. I’d expect this color pair not to feel all that aggressive in practice, as both its signposts cost 5+ mana and many of its cards are grindy.

Signposts: Pizza Face, Gastromancer and Tainted Treats

BG uses the disappear mechanic better than any other color pair. It also has a distinct Food subtheme, which is supported by Courier of Comestibles and an uncommon cycle of “pizza payoffs” like Everything Pizza. Many of these will actually take you out of BG, so we may see BGx as a launching point for 5-color good stuff piles.

Either way, actual BG looks fairly straightforward. Play out some Food tokens, eat them for disappear payoffs like Pizza Face, Gastromancer, and use removal like Tainted Treats to answer your opponent’s best threats. Dinner is served!

Signposts: Go Ninja Go and The Neutrinos

RW is the most aggressive of the bunch, as you’d expect. It takes a typical posture for Boros, with a go-wide aggressive strategy that maximizes the alliance mechanic. Its signposts are admittedly pretty spicy though, especially for Boros (which isn’t known for flickering creatures that often). Flickering creatures will of course re-trigger alliance, letting you reuse all your payoff cards.

Signposts: Genghis Frog and Lessons from Life

GU is a midrange strategy focused on +1/+1 counters and Mutagen tokens. This is another common Draft strategy, though more often GW’s archetype than GU’s. Look for cards that specifically care about counters like Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11 and Mikey & Leo, Chaos & Order.

GU also makes a great base color pair for a 5-color good stuff strategy, as Lessons from Life looks incredible there.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles seems like a noticeably less complicated set than Lorwyn Eclipsed. The few mechanics it has are rather straightforward, and there isn’t a ton of other stuff going on either. Think of it kind of like a core set with Turtles, if you will!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has a small amount of overlap between everything going on. Let’s put the picture together:

• Mutagen tokens provide +1/+1 counters for GU counters, artifacts for UR artifacts, and trigger disappear for BG.
• Sneak can trigger both disappear and alliance, although it isn’t the most convenient at either one.
• There are some commons like Mechanized Ninja Cavalry that have synergy with two archetypes, since Cavalry triggers alliance twice and provides two artifacts for UR.

At common, each color’s identity overlaps cleanly with their corresponding pair’s mechanics

White has more evasive creatures than other colors (April O’Neil, Kunoichi Trainee, High-Flying Ace, East Wind Avatar), a sneak legend, and three removal spells.

Blue has more artifacts than other colors, two mediocre removal spells, and a very strong combat trick in Mind Transfer Protocol.

Black has the best common removal spells in Anchovy & Banana Pizza and Stomped by the Foot. Squirrelanoids and Insectoid Exterminator may also be able to sneak in Oroku Saki, Shredder Rising for you.

Red has the most alliance payoffs, two removal spells, and some artifact synergy. Mouser Attack! is a strictly better card than Sure Strike, although the secondary mode is quite bad on rate. Rock Soldiers will mostly target Mutagen tokens and cards with enters value like Spicy Oatmeal Pizza and Novel Nunchaku.

Green has common ramp/fixing (Frog Butler), and is slightly better at finding and playing turtles than other colors due to Cowabunga! Its creature quality looks a bit higher than other colors, though it’s limited to just Tenderize and Mutant Chain Reaction for removal.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has many cycles to cover. Getting the full picture here will tell you a lot about what makes the set tick!

Legendary Turtles

As you’d expect, the world’s most fearsome fighting team gets a lot of cards in their set! Each of the Turtles has a common, uncommon, rare, and mythic variant. The common ones each play with one or more of the big five archetypes.

Legendary Basic Landcyclers

There’s also a cycle of mono-colored basic landcyclers, each of which is a legendary creature. These are pretty solid curve-toppers on rate and make your deck more consistent, so I’m happy to run a copy or two in any deck. Note the sweet combo between Bebop, Warthog Warrior and Rocksteady, Crash Courser, as they make each other unblockable!

Hybrid Commons

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has a ton of hybrid cards, with 10 commons that have flexible mana costs. These work best in their native color pairs due to synergies, but several are solid playables for any deck that wants them.

Common Dual Lands

We’ve seen these before, albeit with in-universe names. Gaining 1 life is a passable bonus on already playable dual lands.

Legendary Turtles

The uncommon Turtles also play well with the set’s primary archetypes and are generally stronger than their common variants.

Uncommon Signposts

These were listed above, with each color pair receiving two of them. One is a legendary creature, while the other is a support spell for what the archetype is trying to accomplish.

Legendary Turtles

The rare Turtles are all pretty strong, although Leonardo, Cutting Edge doesn’t overlap much with other cards in the set.

Class Enchantments

I mentioned these in mechanics, but there are also five mono-colored class enchantments available.

Hybrid Legendaries

This is the strongest cycle in the set, with several excellent rares. Note that some of these appear in officially unsupported color pairs, but you can easily play them in the primary archetypes due to their hybrid costs.

Techniques

There are 11 “Technique” cards in this set, all of which are noncreature spells with the sneak mechanic. They all do very different things and appear at both uncommon and rare.

Legendary Turtles

The only mythic cycle is the last one for our four protagonists. These are some of their best versions overall, and they should each be exciting cards to open at Prerelease.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles isn’t the most fixing-heavy set, though it definitely looks possible to splash for a bomb or two if you want. Here are your primary options:

Basic landcyclers

Unlike some past basic landcyclers, these are mostly single-pipped, which means you can sometimes cast them even if you are splashing their color. They still aren’t ideal for splashing, but it does make a difference.

Frog Butler

Frog Butler is a great common dork that trades up with large creatures, ramps with any color, and can even trade with fliers later.

Cowabunga!

Cowabunga! isn’t hard fixing or anything, but it could help tie a mana base together for a greedy base green deck.

Omni-Cheese Pizza

This is convenient fixing and an easy way to trigger disappear. Omni-Cheese Pizza is also a Food for Courier of Comestibles if you have it.

Courier of Comestibles

Courier of Comestibles counts as fixing if you have Omni-Cheese Pizza and/or Everything Pizza.

New Generation’s Technique

It’s Explosive Vegetation that you can also sneak, I suppose. I’m not especially impressed with New Generation’s Technique because it looks too big for what I expect most decks to look like in this set.

Everything Pizza        

The baseline here with Everything Pizza is 2 life short of Aang’s Journey, but the 5-color pizza ultimatum dream is one worth aiming for.

Turtle Lair

This can theoretically fix for highly specific splashes, like Donatello, Mutant Mechanic in BG. Turtle Lair is more impressive as a Rogue’s Passage variant than a fixer though.

As you can see, there’s not that much fixing to go around. Expect most of your decks to be two colors or two colors + a splash if you aren’t playing Everything Pizza.

What you see is largely what you get with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You should really be building your pool (and drafting later) with the big five archetypes in mind. Everything Pizza is the closest this set comes to achieving a sub-archetype, as it’s a powerful 5-color payoff.

Here I’ll take a stab at guessing each color’s three best commons. These are the cards I’d love to open at Prerelease, and they should provide valuable glue for your pool. We’ll revisit this section later in the next guide.

#1. Uneasy Alliance

Path to Redemption is back, and there’s no airbending to mess with it this time. Uneasy Alliance’s Pacifism baseline with a free 1/1 later on in the game is an awesome rate.

#2. April O’Neil, Kunoichi Trainee

April O’Neil, Kunoichi Trainee is an efficient creature that smooths out your early draws and sneaks well. Its only drawback is being legendary, but the first copy or two looks great in any white deck.

#3. High-Flying Ace

Flying is a valuable keyword with sneak, and High-Flying Ace has some additional upside for stalled games, too. You’re mostly playing this for its base stats, but it’s efficient enough for that to be appealing.

#1. Return to the Sewers

The added Mutagen token for Griptide is a very welcome bonus. Return to the Sewers isn’t hard removal or anything, but it’s slightly better than 1-for-1 in terms of card parity and provides great tempo.

#2. Donatello, Turtle Techie

Donatello, Turtle Techie provides no-frills value if you can supply an artifact for it. That’s not exactly difficult in its color, so I’d happily play a pair of these.

#3. Mind Transfer Protocol

Suit Up was an overperformer in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, and the existence of sneak means players will be eager to block. I’m not one to recommend combat tricks highly, but Mind Transfer Protocol is quite the trick.

#1. Anchovy & Banana Pizza

Anchovy & Banana Pizza is Grim Bounty style removal, with an acceptable rate and later upside in the form of disappear synergy + lifegain.

#2. Stomped by the Foot

Stomped by the Foot is actually nerfed from Final Flourish, but it still looks good. Mutagen tokens, Food tokens, and 1/1 creatures are the easiest ways to scale this to -5/-5.

#3. Oroku Saki, Shredder Rising

Probably the best common sneak payoff available, Oroku Saki, Shredder Rising immediately replaces itself and then demands a block later. Try to play a disappear card like Foot Mystic after you trade it off!

#1. Manhole Missile

Manhole Missile answers most small to medium creatures, and it helps improve your hand quality. That’s a fantastic deal for 2 mana, so this is an easy call for red’s best common.

#2. Raphael, Tough Turtle

As we found out with Shocking Sharpshooter, Impact Tremors is substantially better when it comes with a body attached to it. Raphael, Tough Turtle is a little worse (no reach plus it’s legendary), but it still looks like red’s best 2-drop.

#3. Mouser Foundry

Mouser Foundry is slow, but it provides a body early, plus another body and a removal spell later. Guaranteed card advantage like this is rare at common.

#1. Frog Butler

Similar to Poison Dart Frog, but Frog Butler is superior since it has deathtouch naturally. This is the best common fixer/ramper available as well, and it can even enable sneak/disappear sometimes due to deathtouch.

#2. Ragamuffin Raptor

I love Ragamuffin Raptor with Anchovy & Banana Pizza, as getting back a removal spell with this is awesome. It’s a good curve-topper for just about any deck though.

#3. Tenderize

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has several deathtouch creatures, so be sure to take advantage of those with Tenderize. Powerful creatures like Primordial Pachyderm and Rocksteady, Crash Courser are also welcome with this.

Rather than picking three uncommons for each color, I’ll instead give you the premium uncommons that I expect to be excellent. Look for these as you open your packs, as they’ll help solidify what colors you should be playing!

#1. Dimensional Exile

Incredibly efficient removal that’s well worth splashing. You’ll always have enough basics for Dimensional Exile in Limited.

#2. Mighty Mutanimals

Mighty Mutanimals represents 5/4 worth of stats across two bodies, and the bonuses just keep coming after you untap with it.

#3. The Last Ronin’s Technique

The rate on The Last Ronin’s Technique is unbelievable if you can sneak it, as three 1/1s for is well above rate. They also enter tapped and attacking!

#4. Metalhead

Spikeshell Harrier is back, and somehow even better than before. Metalhead is strong enough to be worth splashing, even without red mana.

#5. Dream Beavers

Dream Beavers is among the best sneak enablers in the entire set because it’s evasive and cheap, and it’s nice to play over and over.

#6. Shredder’s Technique

Shredder’s Technique is absurdly efficient if you snuck it in, and solid removal even if you didn’t. Picking off enchantments is also a welcome bonus, which lets it answer Uneasy Alliance and the rare classes.

#7. Casey Jones, Jury-Rig Justiciar

Haste is a nice improvement on Staunch Crewmate, and there are plenty of worthwhile artifacts for Casey Jones, Jury-Rig Justiciar to grab in this set.

#8. Courier of Comestibles

There are several food cards worth grabbing with Courier of Comestibles, including two great commons in Anchovy & Banana Pizza and Omni-Cheese Pizza.

#9. Michelangelo, Mutant BFF

This Michelangelo packs a ton of value for its cost, with good base stats and plenty of free Mutagen tokens to go around. These can also help you get the most of Michelangelo, Mutant BFF’s “can’t be blocked by more than one” line.

#10. Novel Nunchaku

Novel Nunchaku is basically Hunt the Weak for 3 mana that leaves behind a useful piece of equipment. Efficient removal with card advantage is a winning combination!

#11. West Wind Avatar

West Wind Avatar is the most exciting non-rare ramp payoff in the set. It hits hard, gains some extra life, and recycles superfluous lands for new cards.

#12. Henchbots

You’ll have to wait for something to be tapped, but an artifact Fiend Hunter like Henchbots that can go in any deck still looks pretty good to me.

Bomb

Best possible rating, denotes an absurd Limited card that you’ll want to play/splash every time you can.

Great

These cards fall a little short of bomb status but are still strong and won’t require much from your deck to be great.

Good

“Good” rares are, well, good! They’ll usually have problems that prevent them from claiming a higher rating though, like being clunky or dependent on certain things going right.

Usually Not Good

These cards generally aren’t worth the effort required for them to be good. I like to dream though, so I try not to shoot down anything with at least some potential.

Bad

These rares are just terrible. You shouldn’t ever play them in Limited.

Leonardo, Sewer Samurai (Great)

Leonardo, Sewer Samurai is a weird mix of Lava Axe and Raise the Past. You can immediately smash for 6 by sneaking it in, and then start to replay small creatures like Squirrelanoids and Mechanized Ninja Cavalry. I’d play Leonardo in any white deck though, as its stat line is strong with minimal synergy.

Triceraton Commander (Bomb)

Finale of Glory has gone prehistoric this time around! Try to play this as late as you can; 4/6/8 are practical sweet spots. It’s straight up game winning if unanswered, and decent value either way.

Donatello, Mutant Mechanic (Great)

Untapping with Donatello, Mutant Mechanic spells immediate bad news for your opponent, provided you have an artifact or two laying around. Those should be plentiful in this set, and 5 toughness keeps Donatello safe from several removal spells.

Mondo Gecko (Great)

Mondo Gecko may have some trouble connecting, but it draws cards when you do and can protect itself from removal. This is a fantastic target for Mutagen tokens and equipment if you have those.

Turtles in Time (Usually Not Good)

I’m admittedly not quite sure how to evaluate this one! Timetwister effects tend to stink in Limited, but Turtles in Time also mixes in an Evacuation for your trouble. Your opponent will get to redeploy their creatures first though, as you’re the one who spent 7 mana to play this.

Super Shredder (Bomb)

Super Shredder can grow obscenely large for just 2 mana, so have some dice handy! Mutagen tokens, Food tokens, Escape Tunnel, removal spells, and combat trades will have you putting a ton counters on this one.

The Cloning of Shredder (Great)

Clunky, but the power level here is through the roof. The common basic landcyclers are all great companions for this one, since they can bin themselves (and The Cloning of Shredder gets around the legend rule).

Broadcast Takeover (Bad)

Sweet effect, but UR is the only archetype this should ever be useful against. Feel free to try sideboarding Broadcast Takeover versus an artifacts deck if you have the opportunity, but never maindeck it.

Raphael, Ninja Destroyer (Great)

Raphael, Ninja Destroyer is a decently sized beater that demands an audience, and it even rewards you with mana afterwards. There’s a lot that can go right here, and the baseline rate is 4/4 for 4 at worst.

Michelangelo, Improviser (Great)

Michelangelo, Improviser is another high-upside turtle, with the same 4/4 for 4 baseline as his brother. Cheating in anything puts you very ahead, let alone something broken like Krang, Utrom Warlord.

Dark Leo & Shredder (Great)

A highly efficient 2-drop that can snowball early and start burning your opponent out later. 1/3 deathtouch is a tough line to block early on, so try to get Dark Leo & Shredder started as soon as you can.

North Wind Avatar (Bomb)

Having good tutor targets may be tricky, as you wouldn’t want to deprive your main deck of bombs/removal for this. Still, it’s a huge dragon that draws a potentially awesome card, so sign me up! Note that being three colors or more probably improves North Wind Avatar a bit, since you’ll have a larger tutor pool.

The Last Ronin (Bomb)

This is a little different than The Rise of Sozin was, but the template of a 6-mana saga that wipes the board then follows up with action is hard to pass on. The last chapter even triggers disappear!

Krang, Utrom Warlord (Usually Not Good)

Nine mana seems like a million in this set, as there aren’t a ton of ways to ramp besides Frog Butler. Krang, Utrom Warlord will definitely win you the game if you can cast it, but that “if” should be too much for most pools.

Technodrome (Good)

Technodrome is a clear build-around card, as this won’t do much without proper support. If you can provide fodder like Mechanized Ninja Cavalry and Mouser Foundry though, it’ll draw a ton of cards and later bash for 6+ damage!

Agent Bishop, Man in Black (Bomb)

♪ Here comes the Man in Black, turn-3 game ender. Here comes the Man in Black, remove him or surrender. ♪

Leader’s Talent (Great)

It’s not quite Innkeeper’s Talent, yet even being comparable to that obscene rare is a good start. You’ll need to keep attacking to pile on the counters (and Level 2 is pretty underwhelming), but Leader’s Talent can still snowball out of control rapidly.

Leonardo, Cutting Edge (Great)

Sneak is very nice here, since you have Leonardo, Cutting Edge effectively enter as a 2/2. It’s also great with the common dual lands, which all “gain 1 life” to pump it!

Leonardo’s Technique (Usually Not Good)

Leonardo’s Technique requires a ton of setup, as you’ll need two 2- to 3-cost creatures worth returning. It’s best when you have strong rares like Agent Bishop, Man in Black and Raph & Leo, Sibling Rivals to return. You could also try to use a discard outlet like Null Group Biological Assets to set it up.

Prehistoric Pet (Great)

Pepperoni is a sneaky little fellow, and Prehistoric Pet even scales well later into the game if you have “enters” creatures like Mechanized Ninja Cavalry to recur. That’s a lot of value for just 1 mana, so sign me up.

Sally Pride, Lioness Leader (Bomb)

Sally Pride, Lioness Leader is just gross in Limited, as the baseline here is 4/6 worth of stats (usually more) and it basically wins the game if you attack with it once. White looks very strong in this set at rare.

Turncoat Kunoichi (Bomb)

Nekrataal is one heck of a sneak payoff, and Fiend Hunter is somehow the fail case for this busted card. Turncoat Kunoichi is another absurdly good rare that you’ll want to open this weekend!

Turtles Forever (Usually Not Good)

I like turtles, but getting the worst of four potential legendaries for 4 mana is rather uninspiring. Even if you have enough legendaries to play Turtles Forever (and you won’t always, even in this set), I generally wouldn’t bother.

April O’Neil, Hacktivist (Bomb)

April O’Neil, Hacktivist draws a ton of cards with virtually no effort, immediately replacing itself and then drawing 1-3 more cards each turn. It’s a great blocker as well, which helps buy time to use all the resources you’ll accrue.

Does Machines (Great)

You’ll need plenty of artifacts, but Level 2 and Level 3 of Does Machines are very strong payoffs. Level 1 can also directly bin artifacts for Level 2, so you won’t have to wait for them to go to the graveyard naturally.

Donatello, Gadget Master (Good)

Donatello, Gadget Master requires a fair bit of setup, as you’ll need a sneaker and something worth copying. It won’t always do much, but the potential upside is high enough that I’d still play it anyways.

Kitsune, Dragon’s Daughter (Bomb)

Kitsune, Dragon’s Daughter is a massive bomb that lets you exchange your worst creature for your opponent’s best one. I can’t recall ever seeing this effect on a creature like this, let alone a very large one.

Kitsune’s Technique (Bad)

Kitsune’s Technique, though, leaves much to be desired. There’s no other mill support in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so don’t bother playing this.

Krang, Master Mind (Bomb)

You’d be hard pressed to find a better artifact payoff than this. If Krang, Master Mind is the last card you play, it’s basically a draw four with a massive beater attached, and it costs only 4-5 mana in the right shell.

Renet, Temporal Apprentice (Great)

Renet, Temporal Apprentice is a strong tempo play, and it’s especially nice if you can catch your opponent making some tokens before they pass. This is a deadly card not to see coming, though it becomes worse once they know about it.

Armaggon, Future Shark (Bomb)

Good luck beating this nonsense if your opponent ever gets to 8 mana, as a9/6 with three Murders is just absurd. I’m playing every Frog Butler with Armaggon, Future Shark!

Madame Null, Power Broker (Bomb)

There’s an absurd amount of potential value here, provided you’re willing to pay the life. You aren’t forced to though, and Madame Null, Power Broker even has a decent stat line and deathtouch on its own.

Ninja Teen (Good)

This is a tricky card to evaluate, as all its modes require prior board presence to do much. I’d certainly try Ninja Teen in WB Sneak though, as it makes your gameplan easier to execute and more rewarding.

Rat King, Verminister (Great)

Strong value 2-drop, provided you can disappear consistently. That doesn’t seem too hard in this set, so crack some Mutagens and enjoy your little rat army. You may also occasionally be able to reanimate stuff using Rat King, Verminister’s secondary ability, though it’s more of a bonus.

Savanti Romero, Time’s Exile (Great)

There are no brakes on this train, but that’s what you get with demon wizards. Savanti Romero, Time’s Exile is a big beater with trample though, so your opponent will likely perish first before you do. Note that you can draw more cards faster by using Mutagen tokens on it!

Shark Shredder, Killer Clone (Bomb)

First strike is neat here, as you’ll get to slash your opponent with both Shark Shredder, Killer Clone and whatever it brings back. This is a terrifying card to have snuck in on you, and it’s at worst a 4/4 with first strike for .

South Wind Avatar (Great)

A strong stat line with free lifegain and pings make for a card I’m never cutting. South Wind Avatar isn’t as bomby as some of the other rares in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but too efficient not to play.

Splinter’s Technique (Usually Not Good)

Demonic Tutor is an incredible card, while Diabolic Tutor is barely even playable. You’ll need to be playing Splinter’s Technique as the former most games to justify it, which means having lots of sneak enablers and some other cards worth tutoring.

Casey Jones, Vigilante (Good)

Casey Jones, Vigilante is tough to get value out of, though I suppose it’s a 4/3 for at worst. Playing this later when you’re light on resources can break the symmetry a bit, but for the most part you’re rolling the dice.

Cool but Rude (Good)

Cool but Rude still works as a burn engine/loothouse with just its first two chapters. It’s also exceptional with Null Group Biological Assets, with basically attacks for 7 with this out.

Improvised Arsenal (Great)           

“Cranial Plating” at home looks sick with enough 1/1 robot tokens, which are plentiful in this set. Your opponent can’t ignore them with Improvised Arsenal out, and you’ll even be able to expand your arsenal as the game drags on.

Raphael’s Technique (Usually Not Good)

I’d only play Raphael’s Technique if I were substantially leaner than my opponent and capable of sneaking this after dumping my hand. Otherwise, your opponent will end up with a similar gain in resources to you, but they’ll have the opportunity to deploy them first.

Raphael, the Nightwatcher (Great)

Raphael, the Nightwatcher could potentially end the game on the spot when snuck in, and it’s at worst a 2/3 double striker for . It’s red intensive, but worth playing.

Ravenous Robots (Great)

It’s hard to imagine a better way to start the game for the artifacts deck. Ravenous Robots rapidly creates an army in a can, which enables all sorts of powerful synergies.

Slash, Reptile Rampager demands an immediate answer, or your opponent will rapidly find themselves burned to a crisp. It also has a huge stat line and it brings a friend on attack.

Groundchuck & Dirtbag (Great)

You won’t always have use for all this mana, but keep in mind the mana doubling here is upside on an 8/8 trampler! This is a strong fatty to ramp towards, and it may occasionally enable some filthy sequences.

Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker (Bomb)

Don’t bother removing the counter if you don’t have to, as a 5/4 hexproof for is a ridiculous Limited card. I’m glad there are deathtouchers to trade with Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker at least, but I still expect it to be miserable to play against.

Michelangelo’s Technique (Great)

Eight cards is enough that this should always be hitting at least something, like two 3-drops, a 4-drop and a 2-drop, or one 6-drop. Sneaking it makes it rather efficient, but I’d happily pay 5 for this, too.

Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11 (Great)

Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11 was secretly Winding Constrictor this whole time! It’s a 3/3 for at worst, and it’ll often be much better than that due to other Mutagen/counter cards.

Mutagen Man, Living Ooze (Bomb)

Mutagen Man, Living Ooze packs a ton of value with all that Ooze, and it’s decent early and downright game-winning later on. Try to play this as late as you can, and spread the Mutagens around immediately for best results (since they cost 0 to activate with Mutagen Man out).

Party Dude (Good)

Party Dude is a strange hate card for artifacts, as Level 2 really punishes UR and BG in this set. You can then take all those cards you’re drawing and bash with Level 3 later. I’m not 100% sure if it will end up playing out well, but I’d try it due to how many artifacts are in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Transdimensional Bovine (Great)

Transdimensional Bovine is amazing for a ramp deck, as going from 3 to 6 like this is incredible. It also blocks well and can even sneak in a pinch, due to being an 0/4 flier.

Turtle Power! (Usually Not Good)

This ranges from unplayable to great depending on your number of turtles. There are 29 of those in the set in total, all of which are legendary creatures. I’d probably play Turtle Power! if I had at least 6+ different turtles.

Don & Leo, Problem Solvers (Bomb)

Huge stats for its cost plus insane synergy with cards like Anchovy & Banana Pizza, Metalhead, Novel Nunchaku, and Utrom Scientists makes this duo a huge winner. Play Don & Leo, Problem Solvers in every single deck that you can, as it’s easily one of the best rares in the entire set.

Krang & Shredder (Bomb)

Another massive bomb, especially if you can set up a trade the turn you play it. It won’t take many free spells off Krang & Shredder for it to put you massively ahead of your opponent.

Tokka & Rahzar, Terrible Twos (Good)

Tokka & Rahzar, Terrible Twos can punish some of the cheaper sneak costs in the set, but it’s mostly just an efficient menace beater with a flexible mana cost.

Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers (Great)

Seven is a ton of mana, but you’re definitely getting what you pay for with this powerful rare. Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers immediately bashes for 7 damage while cheating in another attacker.

Mikey & Leo, Chaos & Order (Great)

All your Mutagen tokens are now cantrips, which is a great place to be on a 2/2 for 2 like this. The only catch is Mikey & Leo, Chaos & Order’s somewhat tricky mana cost, since GW isn’t a natively supported color pair in this set.

Splinter, Radical Rat (Great)

This has decent stats and doubles up on some powerful triggers from other legendaries. The only catch is that you may not be able to use its unblockable ability, as neither WU or UB are officially supported in this set.

Don & Raph, Hard Science (Good)

Making the most of this attack trigger seems tough, as you’ll need both artifacts and a spell worth reducing. Still, Don & Raph, Hard Science is a 2/4 menace creature for 3 at worst, and thus a solid playable.

Bebop & Rocksteady (Good)

Bebop & Rocksteady hit really hard, but fare poorly versus chump blockers like 1/1 robots. This is a high variance card that gets better if you can provide some fodder for it, like Food tokens.

Raph & Leo, Sibling Rivals (Great)

I can’t recall ever seeing a combat doubler this cheap. Raph & Leo, Sibling Rivals is excellent with pump spells and equipment, and they could rapidly end a game if things go right. Their base stats are also solid enough to be playable in any deck.

Mikey & Don, Party Planners (Bomb)

The potential card advantage here is massive, as this set is of course full of mutants, ninjas, and turtles. Ward also makes Mikey & Don, Party Planners a hassle to remove, and it’s easily playable in a variety of decks due to its flexible casting cost.

Chrome Dome (Great)

Chrome Dome is an efficient 2-drop for a deck dense on artifact creatures. The mana sink also gives it something to do later on, especially if you have cards worth copying like Mouser Foundry and Sewer-veillance Cam.

The Ooze (Bomb)

Despite looking like a graveyard hate card, The Ooze is actually just a straight bomb rare that dumps out of a ton of Mutagen value. Trading becomes disastrous for your opponent with this out!

Turtle Van (Good)

Turtle Van is a pretty efficient beater, and it has extra synergy with Mutagen tokens and turtles. Crew 1 is also pretty easy to use, so I’d play this in just about any deck.

Weather Maker (Great)

Manalith baseline isn’t the worst, and you should be able to get a Lightning Bolt or two later if the game drags on. Escape Tunnel will even occasionally double charge Weather Maker for you!

Northampton Farm (Good)

Northampton Farm is a decent value land of sorts, as it lets you protect your creature from removal and rebuy it later.

This last section is a little refresher course for Sealed itself, and a good reference sheet if you’re stuck.

1. Open your boosters and sort your cards by rarity and color. Note any bombs or exceptional cards, and don’t forget that your promo is playable too!
2. Set unplayable cards aside (basically just rares I’ve marked as “Bad”), then assess which of your colors are deepest. I’m mostly looking for the best commons/uncommons here, with particular importance given to the Top Commons I listed.
3. Start laying out builds and try to include your best cards. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is largely a 2-color set, and you’ll definitely want to use the official archetypes as a baseline.
4. Consider whether splashing makes sense for your Limited pool. The best cards to splash are strong single pip bombs and removal (i.e., North Wind Avatar, Dimensional Exile).
5. Keep working on your deck, aiming for a good balance of bombs, removal, card advantage, and mana curve. If you’re worried about the clock, you can mitigate time anxieties by having a baseline done early (i.e. “I know I’m playing blue for North Wind Avatar and Mondo Gecko, but am I GU Mutagen or UR Artifacts? I can splash my dragon either way.”).
6. Settle on a final product, then battle it out! Feel free to change your deck between rounds to fix errors and/or try new things. Prerelease prize payouts are rarely top heavy or anything, so try to focus on learning the set and having a good time.
7. Lastly, don’t forget that you can use Draftsim’s Sealed pool generator to practice the set before attending your prerelease!

Uneasy Alliance | Illustration by Rose Benjamin

And we’re done here! Check back in a few weeks for the sequel Ultimate Draft Guide, and go crush your prerelease. I’ll be rooting for you in the best way possible.

Which archetype do you hope to find in your Sealed pool? Let me know in the comments below or over on the Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, stay safe!

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