Magic: The Gathering - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Is A Fun Time Capsule Full Of SurprisesLorwyn Eclipsed started Magic: The Gathering's 2026 with a bang, bringing the wonder of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor back to MTG with critical and player acclaim. The cards made an immediate impact on the professional circuit, with champion Christoffer Larsen using Deceit and Requiting Hex to power his Dimir deck to victory. Now, the attention shifts to 2026's first Universes Beyond expansion, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which introduces the heroes in a half-shell and their various opponents through the years to Wizards of the Coast's long-running card game on March 6. Today, Wizards held its usual Debut Stream for TMNT, showing off more cards, variants, and product details about the upcoming expansion. While some may grit their teeth at seeing Leonardo and pals on Magic cards--especially after the underwhelming performance of Marvel's Spider-Man last year--today's reveal showed that there are plenty to like about the upcoming set, from cool new card designs to the celebration of TMNT's entire history. The prerelease goof We can't get into the cards of this debut stream without addressing the teenage mutant ninja elephant in the room: All of the Rares and Mythic Rares from the TMNT set have already been revealed, after TMNT cards were mistakenly placed into Lorwyn Eclipsed prerelease kits that were handed out at events last month. As Lorwyn's prerelease weekend progressed, more and more TMNT cards appeared in social media posts and Reddit threads, spoiling cards that were intended to be revealed during this stream. Wizards of the Coast quickly got out ahead of it, electing to post each of the set's Rare and Mythic Rare cards on its official website , and have announced plans to make good on the error during TMNT's prerelease events later this month. To hear it straight from WOTC's mouth, those TMNT cards were not supposed to be in those Lorwyn kits. "It was definitely not planned," MTG communications director Blake Rasmussen said during a sitdown with GameSpot at New York Toy Fair. "We huddled together, figured out what's out there, and when a leak is our mistake, our general vibe is to just let people have fun with it; we don't need to try and hide anything at that point." Wizards certainly had fun with it, calling on new fan-favorite puppets Squen and Cragg from the Lorwyn Eclipsed Jim Henson collaboration video to shoot a small teaser directly poking fun at the whole situation. Squen and Cragg both find TMNT cards in their Lorwyn Eclipsed prerelease packs, before the camera cuts to an overworked critter packing the kits on a wild assembly line. (Fun fact: The teaser ends with Cragg saying "cowabunga" in a way that may sound very familiar to longtime TMNT fans. This is because Cragg's voice, Kevin Clash, also provided the voice of Splinter in the early '90s live-action TMNT films. Cowabunga indeed.) A few MTG players, myself included, thought that the unfortunate leak of these cards would take some of the impact out of this debut stream. Luckily, that doesn't seem to be the case, as there are plenty of good things to find within the commons, uncommons, variants, and other products to get excited about, starting with the Headliner cards. Autograph Headliner cards The creator of TMNT himself, Kevin Eastman, has drawn up four pieces of unique artwork, one for each turtle, that serve as the art for the four "Headliner" cards of the TMNT set. The cards are variants of the Mythic Rare versions of each turtle in the main set, but along with the special artwork, these cards also include Eastman's signature in a raised gold foiling. We had seen the Leonardo card in this quartet previously, but the debut stream introduced the cards for the other three turtles, and together they make one striking quartet of cool cards. The main set isn't the only TMNT product coming when the expansion launches next month, and next we have a look at the single preconstructed Commander deck, Turtle Power. Turtle Power! The Commander precon this time around pays tribute to the extensive video game library that TMNT has built over the years. A few of the card designs unique to this desk evoke not just TMNT video games, but video games as a whole. Level Up and Game Over are more overt video game references, while Arcade Cabinet and High Score directly invoke the neon-tinged arcade days of the early 1990s. They're also powerful cards, particularly Game Over, which could allow you to destroy every creature on the board for just three mana in the right circumstances. Even some of the familiar faces outside of the Turtles themselves reference appearances from the past. The artwork for Leatherhead, Iron Gator depicts the reptilian villain as she appeared in Turtles In Time's "Bury My Shell At Wounded Knee" stage, while Baxter, Fly In The Ointment is depicted firing the giant energy hand from the same game. Two cards in particular will send shivers down longtime TMNT fans' spines, however. The first is Electric Seaweed, a direct reference to one of the most notorious and difficult stages in NES history, the water level from the first TMNT game. Meanwhile, Shredder, Shadow Master creates clones of himself to attack all enemies at once, just as he did in the final confrontation of TMNT: The Arcade Game. Oh, and speaking of Shredder: Borderless Pixel Art variants 15 cards unique to the preconstructed deck will also receive special pixel art variants in special surge foiling exclusive to Collector Boosters. Today's reveal didn't show all 15 cards, but it did show two of them: Shredder and Ninja Pizza, a green enchantment that may become one of the most powerful cards from the entire TMNT set. The art for these cards was provided by a Peruvian artist named Kirokaze, and they are a beautiful piece of nostalgia that will likely become some of the most sought after cards in the entire set. However, while it is true that only cards from the Commander precon will be getting this treatment, the main set won't be left behind in terms of cool variants. Sewer Frame This special framing uses artwork invoking the spirit of the TMNT cartoons, especially the show from the early 1990s. The official livestream showed Krang & Shredder here, as well as Tokka & Rahzar. Source Material Bonus Sheet Returning from the Final Fantasy, Spider-Man, and Avatar sets is the Source Material Bonus Sheet, a collection of reprints from Magic's history featuring artwork from authentic TMNT source material. We saw one example, Doubling Season, at New York Comic Con, but today's stream brought a few more to light: All Will Be One, Brainstorm, Underworld Breach, and Waves of Aggression are all part of the bonus sheet this time. So far, we've seen Commander variants and reprints, but what about the alternate versions of main set cards? Fortunately, there are many of those to highlight, including this returning variant. Japan Showcase The Japan Showcase series is returning in TMNT! Japan Showcase is a running series of card variants drawn by Japanese artists, with only 10 cards per expansion receiving the special showcase treatment. In each case, the cards selected in the Japan showcase come in both regular foil and a special fractured foil treatment. Two of the Japan Showcase cards were unveiled during the stream--Casey Jones, Vigilante and Krang, Utrom Warlord--and both have a striking visual presence. We're now wondering if any of the turtles will see this treatment by the time all of the cards have been unveiled. The special treatments don't stop there, however, as there's one more borderless variant leaping in from the shadows. Borderless Silhouette variant These Silhouette variants depict some of TMNT's famous heroes in villains in a silhouetted style as they appear throughout the city. They'll be more common than the other borderless cards we've seen so far too, as they will appear in foil and non-foil in both Play and Collector Booster packs. Michaelangelo, Improviser; Raphael, Ninja Destroyer; Donatello, Mutant Mechanic; and Krang, Utrom Warlord were the four examples shown during the stream, and more are set to be revealed leading up to the set's launch. These aren't the only cards using silhouettes though, so next let's look at a card type we haven't discussed yet: Basic lands! Full-art Rooftop Lands You may recall the "Pizza Lands" revealed back in October, the ones included in the TMNT Pizza Bundle. The Pizza Lands are exclusive to that bundle, but the main set will also have a cycle of full-art basic lands. These Rooftop Lands feature the four turtles traveling through the city, with the New York City skyline prominently displayed in the background. All five basic lands--Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest--are included in the cycle, and these will appear in both Play Boosters and Collector Boosters. Cowabunga! Along with the individual cards we haven't seen yet, there are still many things to learn about Magic's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles expansion. The co-op experience, Turtle Team-Up, was discussed, but more information is coming later this week according to the official MTG website. The previously mentioned Pizza Bundle comes with two unique reprints out of a possible six, and while two were shown off previously, none of the other four have been revealed. With all of the neat new card designs and fun variants we've seen, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles expansion for Magic: The Gathering is shaping up to be a winner, but we won't know for sure until the set launches March 6 in big box retailers and local game stores. Prerelease events--where you can score some extra promos--are set to begin the week prior, on February 27.
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