Sphere of Influence: March 13, 2026

Weather Maker | Illustrated by Florent Lebrun

Welcome to Sphere of Influence, a pre-FNM look at some potential movers and shakers that are worth picking up before their prices increase.

Cowabunga, everyone: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) has burst up from the sewers and onto the scene, dishing pizzas and pain to Commander players. While the set itself has been knocked by the enfranchised, there's no denying that the new cards are not only well-designed but powerful in their own right, adding new flavors to the format. Here are some worthy pick-ups from the new set:

South Wind Avatar - $0.50

Four mana is a fair amount to pay for an Aristocrats payoff card, but South Wind Avatar is well worth the investment. It provides at least one life per creature that dies, but often much more depending on the toughness of the creature. It also pings all opponents each time you gain life, whether it's from a creature dying or other means, and its 3/4 deathtouching body means it can make many favorable blocks, if needed. At first, this card seems to do too many things and thus waters down its effectiveness, but when the floor is a slightly more expensive Bastion of Remembrance, there's nowhere to go but up.

Shark Shredder, Killer Clone - $0.50

The timing on this card can feel confusing, even for opponents. Use this to your advantage. Shark Shredder can be cast for its sneak cost, meaning we return an unblocked attacking creature you control to our hand during the combat step as part of the cost, so it often comes as a surprise. It has first strike, and when it deals damage to our opponents, we may take a card from that opponent's graveyard and put it onto the battlefield under our control, tapped and attacking that opponent, just in time for combat damage to happen during the normal damage step. This ability is highly abusable, allowing for creatures that couldn't normally attack to swing in for damage at the same cost as Phyrexian Delver. Plus, as long as we're dealing combat damage every turn, Shark Shredder's ability is reusable.

Weather Maker - $0.50

Mana rocks for three mana have to make a significant impact on the board to be included; personally, I only use Midnight Clock, Heraldic Banner, and Patchwork Banner, and even then, only occasionally. There are simply too many efficient two-mana varieties to ignore. Weather Maker, however, is one to seriously consider. It costs and taps for a mana of any color just like the others, but when we play a land, it gets a counter that can be removed in twos to gain two colorless mana or in threes to deal direct damage to any target. Decks outside of red gaining access to colorless damage is significant, as is the ability to become an Ancient Tomb every other turn, or the same turn with fetchlands. Give this one a shot.

Hidden Hideout - $1

Path of Ancestry, which enters tapped, provides colored mana based on our commander's color identity, and allows us to scry 1 whenever we cast a creature that shares a type with our commander, is already a staple of the format, particularly at lower power levels. Hidden Hideout arrives as everything Path of Ancestry is, with one change: rather than providing scry, it allows us to gift lifelink until end of turn to a creature we control with a counter on it. Outside of a dedicated typal deck, this ability is superior to Path's scry, particularly because it doesn't specify which type of counter needs to be on the creature. Most of the time, it will simply operate as a slow City of Brass, but sometimes it'll save us the game.

Turtle Power

Which cards from TMNT are you putting into your decks? Any overperformers you've discovered?