Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Most Fun Commanders + Decklists!

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a big part of my childhood. I watched the first animated show, the live-action show, the Power Rangers crossover, the 90s movies, and more. But I stopped in 2003 and haven't kept up with the franchise since. I didn't even watch the new live-action movies directed by Michael Bay.

In today's article, we'll go over this controversial MTG set, see how some of its most interesting commanders can affect Commander, and explore some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lore.

Please note that this isn't a definitive ranking, from worst to best. It's just what we believe are some of the coolest cards in this set for EDH decks... and this set brought us some very straightforward legendary cards! Finally, as usual, we'll only go over cards from the main set, so you won't see cards from the Commander precons or any other subsets in this article.

Without further ado, let's go!

Splinter, Radical Rat is an Esper commander that centers completely around Ninjas, as it doubles any triggered abilities on the Ninjas you control. This includes triggered abilities like "when this card deals damage to a player," "when this card enters," and others that rely on a condition to trigger. Cards that double these triggers are already quite common. Wizards of the Coast often adds them to Commander decks they want to promote, considering they're quite strong yet simple. They simply allow you to get more value out of each ability for very little effort back.

Splinter is a cheap commander that comes into play early and improves the basic Ninja game plan straight away: evasion, Ninjutsu, and converting damage and ETBs into an advantage. In this case, it's an even bigger advantage. An obvious example is Ninja of the Deep Hours, which draws two cards when it deals damage in this strategy.

Splinter's other ability, which, for a small price, makes a Ninja unblockable, is also great. It solves one of the main issues Ninjutsu (and now Sneak) has, which is making sure at least one creature deals damage when lots of blockers start flooding the board.

Overall, Splinter makes Ninjas more stable, and adds white to the already consolidated blue base centered around evasion and the black base centered around interaction and recursion. It doesn't do anything a Ninja list wouldn't do by itself, but it makes this archetype more efficient and reliable whenever you attack.

Michelangelo, Improviser is a very interesting green commander that can see play in many different builds. This turtle has Sneak, which basically lets you put him in play when you declare blockers as long as you return an attacker that wasn't blocked to your hand, a sort of Ninjutsu effect. However, unlike Ninjutsu, you can use Sneak in the command zone. You don't even need a specific version, like Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow does.

The ability we're interested in is the one that triggers when he deals damage. It lets you put a creature or land from your hand in play directly, so it can accelerate mana and develop the board. It also scales a lot because he can deal damage turn after turn consistently, and it is quite interesting with cool ETB effects. If you build this commander with evasion for small and average creatures, it often looks like a regular big-stuff Monogreen list that finds a way to put Meteor Golem, Apex Altisaur, and similar into play.

Michelangelo, Improviser is a snowball engine. If he deals damage, even just once, you'll get mana and develop your board. Your game plan will progress naturally from then on.

Super Shredder is what Shredder becomes at the end of the second live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, "The Secret of the Ooze", after getting exposed to a mutagen. He was such a big character when he was designed that they called the WWE star Kevin Nash to play him. Nash was also the inspiration behind the incredible design above.

This little fella is also a 2-mana black commander that grows very easily. Menace allows him to attack early, but what we want from this card is his triggered ability: whenever another permanent leaves play, he gets a +1/+1 counter. This includes fetchlands, tokens, sacrificed creatures, artifacts and/or enchantments that leave play, and more. It includes everything that leaves play.

Super Shredder works really well with revolt and is also a snowball commander. He becomes a real threat even if you don't invest any mana, aura, or equipment in him. So, the most basic strategy with this commander would be to use him with Aristocrat effects, like many sac outlets, discardable tokens, and lots of removals. Like so, we'd be able to grow him enough with his ability to set up a lethal attack.

Kitsune, Dragon’s Daughter is a 6-mana blue commander that leans on "board politics". When it enters play or deals damage to a player, it does something similar to Perplexing Chimera. It lets you exchange control of two creatures controlled by different players. Kitsune itself doesn't count, so the idea is to steal threats and dismantle boards with it. You can use it to get control of the best creature in play and break synergies that rely on a specific set of cards.

As this effect triggers in combat as well, this commander works best when you make sure it deals damage, either with evasion, "can't be blocked" effects, or even by clearing the way through bounces.

I like to imagine it in an evil build with creatures like Steel Golem, which greatly disrupt those that control it. Rust Elemental and Bronze Bombshell are also viable targets for this type of strategy, that is, the type of strategy that punishes opponents for taking control of your units.

The Neutrinos are from a world where the technology and the aesthetics really resemble 1950s Earth. One of them even has a crush on Michelangelo. In the TCG world, they're an Elf/Rebel legendary creature that goes really well in Boros Blink decks because of their triggered ability, which triggers in combat. When they attack, you may exile one of your creatures. It then returns into play under your control, tapped and attacking, so you can use this commander to reuse ETBs and even make creatures you just put in play attack.

In these colors, there are many strong options for this commander with incredibly strong ETB effects. Cards like Skyclave Apparition and Solitude are pretty solid removals, while Wall of Omens and Spirited Companion keep your hand full even though Boros struggles with card draw. Solemn Simulacrum is a stable colorless option that fixes another problem this color combination struggles with: ramp. We've already mentioned Meteor Golem, but it is still a great example of how you can blink great ETB effects to control the board.

We can go all day here listing great ETBs, like Siege-Gang Commander, Pia and Kiran Nalaar, Captain of the Watch, and many others that are also great token options. If a particular creature shines when it enters play for the first time, The Neutrinos will make it even better again and again.

This commander is pretty great. You can use it to put pressure on your opponents relatively easily. Thanks to its alliance, whenever one of your other creatures enters play, Slash deals two damage to each opponent. Against several opponents, this will get out of control fast. Please note that it works when your creatures enter play, not when you cast them. So it works with tokens, reanimate effects, and even blink. That being said, its second ability, which creates a 2/2 token whenever Slash attacks, will constantly give you ways to attack and put pressure on your opponents.

As you can imagine, this deck is best as a go-wide strategy because then you can benefit from your commander's burn ability as fast as possible. If you play it like a regular red list, that is, by putting small creatures in play, dealing bits of damage here and there, and attacking consistently with the bodies on your board, you'll already deal a lot of damage to each opponent. Another cool thing is that this commander has 7 power, so if you triple its damage you can already set up a lethal attack through commander damage. You can also use double strike and multiple combats each turn to set this up.

Everything that creates multiple creatures at once will be great in this strategy. Raphael, Tough Turtle and Impact Tremors will make this deck more redundant and allow you to put more pressure on your opponents with your effects. There are many ways you can benefit from Slash's ability, and I'm happy we got another alternative for Purphoros, God of the Forge.

This is a pretty straightforward Izzet commander for artifact creatures. Baxter Stockman enters and puts a 1/1 Robot in play, which fits his original story - after all, he created the Mousers. His ETB effect doesn't look like much, but it is critical. With it, you can make sure you always have a target for his second ability, which triggers at the beginning of combat. Furthermore, artifacts always interact pretty well with each other, so the Mouser Robot token he gives you will interact with these cards or other tokens. Blue and red will give you consistency and reach with card draw and interaction.

Baxter's second ability allows you, at the beginning of combat in your turn, to pick one of your artifact creatures and buff it until the end of the turn by giving it +3/+0, first strike and vigilance. This ability lets you fight for the board pretty safely and also allows you to be as aggressive as you want to be.

Just like Magic Origins' Izzet colors, the idea behind this commander is to make cheap artifact creatures constantly so that you always have targets for your commander's ability. Like so, you'll set up a cohesive board but not rely completely on it, which is common for today's commanders, as they do everything in their decks.

Finally, here we have a character that I was anxious to see but, unfortunately for me, we got the comic book version, not the Power Rangers crossover live-action show. Venus, Torn Between Worlds is a five-mana commander that grows when she takes damage. If she takes damage and survives, she gains that amount of +1/+1 counters. This means that putting her in combat and dealing small bits of damage to her (a common strategy in Dinosaur decks) are great ways to grow her. So, for this strategy, you should get cards that make her take damage and help her survive, like Heroic Intervention, Bushwhack, and Withstand Death. They're all great ways to add counters to her.

Her second ability triggers when any of your creatures deals damage to a player, as long as that creature has a counter. You may then pay to draw a card, so it's everything an aggressive Simic list wants to do: set up beefy creatures, draw cards, and play lots of ramp. You can pay for each creature with a counter that dealt damage to get lots of cards, then use Psychosis Crawler and other engines to benefit from this ability.

Venus, Torn Between Worlds is a very beloved character for those who saw the TV live-action show, precisely because a female Ninja Turtle is very exotic. I think it's a pity we only have her comic book version, not the TV live-action show.

Fortunately for us, though the visuals didn't please a very vocal majority, the cards in this set have cool, cohesive effects. It would be cool to see a Universes Within version of some of these cards.

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!