Spoiler Highlight: Krang, Master Mind in Legacy

Holy turtle! This week, WotC started revealing cards from their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set, which is scheduled for release in March 2026. This franchise was a staple in many childhoods (it certainly was in mine!), so the community is evidently quite excited about it.

One spoiler stood out to me in particular because it has potential for Legacy:

Krang could fit Legacy really well because of a few details. Firstly, we can easily cast him for less mana (as he is quite expensive), but he can also draw a lot of cards and is relatively big. This means he can put pressure on the opponent and survive two of the most common removals in the format, Fatal Push and Lightning Bolt.

He is also blue, so, as we're all tired of saying, he can eventually fuel Force of Will. This is actually even more valuable in decks that need to dedicate a decent amount of space for colorless artifacts.

Before we explore him further, let's take a look at the context surrounding him.

The structure of what we call Artifact Blue or 8-Cast basically includes threats, card advantage, interaction, and synergies.

In terms of threats, it plays cards like Kappa Cannoneer, Pinnacle Emissary, Simulacrum Synthesizer, and Urza's Saga. They'll turn your low-cost artifacts into big problems for your opponents.

In terms of card advantage, it plays Thoughtcast, Thought Monitor, and Emry, Lurker of the Loch, which reward your investment with cards.

As for interactions, the main tools are Force of Will and Force of Negation, that is, counters with alternative costs, but this list also plays cards like Aether Spellbomb.

Finally, for synergy, this list plays several 0-cost artifacts that discount how much Affinity costs, pay for Improvise, and trigger abilities: Mox Opal, Lotus Petal, Mishra's Bauble, and Urza's Bauble. Finding balance between these four groups of cards is essential. If you lean too heavily on any one of them, the list won't work properly.

And that is precisely why Krang, Master Mind could be such a great fit: he is both a threat and a way to create card advantage. He isn't as evasive as Kappa Cannoneer or can create big boards like Pinnacle Emissary, but he has a built-in Cranial Plating. This means each of his attacks is a heavy blow that can quickly end the game, and he definitely can't be ignored for too long as a result.

On the other side, he isn't as reliable as Thoughtcast or Thought Monitor, which always give you 2 cards. In some cases, though, he might even draw you more, particularly after you play several 0-cost cards in a row. For this same reason, Krang could be a great topdeck in games of attrition.

He does cost two blue mana, which could be an issue, but this is acceptable when you consider he is playing two roles at once and, thus, is very versatile. He is also a legendary creature that you'd rather not play early on or even can, like Emry, Lurker of the Loch, so we probably won't play 4 copies of him.

Sometimes, you'll be glad Krang only draws when you have less than four cards in hand, namely when you want a body like his in play but don't want to draw cards because of Orcish Bowmasters. This will only happen on rare occasions, but having that option will always be nice.

There is really only one way to go with Krang: blue artifact decks. But there are many blue artifact decks around. Let's take a look at how we can use our dear, disembodied friend.

The first list we'll suggest is the good, old 8-Cast (would Krang make it a 10-Cast?). This list has everything we usually see in this archetype, but Krang makes not playing as many Emry, Lurker of the Loch and Kappa Cannoneer as we can a bit less problematic, as he fills both of their roles.

The other list we'll suggest is the aggressive version of the deck above. This version wants a decent board straight away with Patchwork Automaton. A list that plays all its cards on the board more aggressively like this will usually benefit more from Krang's ability, as he will most likely draw 3 or 4 cards this way.

We still have some time before these turtles come along, but it's nice to already see a card that has the potential to see play in our format. Blue artifact lists have gotten some interesting cards in the last sets, particularly Pinnacle Emissary, but Memory Guardian, Tezzeret, Cruel Captain, and Doc Ock's Tentacles have also shown up. Krang, Master Mind is next in line.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!