The MTG TMNT set is just seven days away, and pre-release events are beginning, so now seems like the perfect time to take a look at the most powerful, most desirable rare cards of this release.
Of course, the true chases from this set will be the four turtle cards with Kevin Eastman's signature, along with the Japanese treatments only found in collector boosters. But as this is a website of the people, I'm only going to cover cards that you can pull from a play booster, as there's still plenty of strong stuff to talk about.
If you're itching to know what the most expensive MTG cards from this set are, you'll quickly notice that I've left off the price tags on the list below. That's because I think they'd be unhelpful at this point. There's no point listing high presale prices when we know they'll drop like a nameless Foot Clan warrior the moment March 6 rolls around. Instead this guide will focus purely on the strength of the cards, and why you should be hoping to open them.
Doubling Season
We're kicking things off with this set's source material cards, which according to Wizards, appear in non-foil in roughly 1 out of 28 play boosters. Doubling Season is a classic commander card. From my experience, it doesn't seem to be quite as popular nowadays, when you often can't take a turn off to play an expensive enchantment with a static effect, but the demand for this card never goes away despite reprint after reprint. This one's slapped with probably the most famous piece of classic TMNT art, and looks great, although I don't really see how it fits the card.
Trouble in Pairs
Thanks to the plagiarism scandal it created, this card feels more famous and well-established than it is. In fact, it's only ever had that one printing in a Murders at Karlov Manor precon. This card is a great card draw engine for white, most white decks could use it, and Turtles has its second ever version.
Super Shredder
The first regular card we're looking at is Super Shredder. For a two-drop, this guy is absolutely terrifying, like an even bigger Moonshadow. This card grows when any permanent leaves the battlefield on anyone's board, and the menace keyword makes it quite tricky to block.
I could see this card having potential in an aggressive Modern deck, where fetchlands, and evoke elementals are mainstays, and some of the best archetypes in the meta, like Affinity and Blink, line up badly against Shredder's symmetrical effect.
It's worth noting that the silhouette version of this card is openable in the play booster. This seems to be a pretty desirable treatment, way more-so than the 'sewer frame border' treatment, which seems to be a complete dud.
Krang, Utrom Warlord
We heard you like keywords! Obviously no one is paying full price for Krang, but if you can cheat him in or resurrect him from the graveyard this is an Avacyn upgrade that doesn't need you to be in white!
Undercity Sewers
It would be odd to have just one part of a land cycle like this in the set, if it weren't such a perfectly flavorful fit. The surveil lands are great lands, Undercity Sewers is actually the most sought after of the lot, and - assuming you like TMNT - the art here is a bonus.
Donnie's Bo
This is a reskin of Shadowspear, an artifact card sorely in need of reprinting. Seriously, this card has a super rare effect, being one of the only ways to strip a creature of hexproof and indestructible, and yet the only place it's appeared since Theros: Beyond Death is as a super rare LOTR commander card.
Dark Leo & Shredder
This Mutant Ninja Turtle Human is the perfect card for edgelords, and while it could serve as a nice, cheap commander, the sneak ability makes it seem more like a Standard plant. While the life loss is a nasty threat, the deathtouch shouldn't be overlooked, as it makes blocking very unpleasant. And unblocked creatures let more ninjas swoop from the shadows. If there's a ninjas deck in Standard once players have had some time with the new set, you can bet that these two are going to be a key part of it.
North Wind Avatar
This Turtles set has made me aware there's clearly a deep well of TMNT lore that I'm not aware of. At any rate, a big blue-red dragon card that pulls something out of your sideboard is super interesting. If you build your sideboard right, this can tutor up whatever it is you need. It's hard to judge how powerful that is. I think it may depend a great deal on whether your deck wants a big five-mana flying creature. At any rate, this is a really cool card.