Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Is Available To Trade

The Ooze | Art by Gabriel Tanko

Friendly greetings and welcome! The Cardsphere Team is pleased to announce Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMT), TMNT Commander (TMC), and TMNT Source Material (PZA) are available to trade.

I'm John Sherwood, reporting again from American pop culture's most ubiquitous setting: New York City. This Universes Beyond return to The Big Apple originated on the pages of a comic book in 1984, and mutated into a multi-media franchise. Magic's take on Ninja Turtles is hand tossed with toppings from comics, TV, movies, and video games.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Booster Fun

Between the set's three set codes there are several borderless treatments, plus extended art cards. TMNT's booster fun also includes two showcase treatments. Dial up your wants for delivery via Cardsphere to make your decks a little more flashy with these special prints.

Headband Headliners

Ninja Turtle co-creator Kevin Eastman drew all-new images for special editions of Leonardo, Sewer Samurai, Donatello, Mutant Mechanic, Raphael, Ninja Destroyer, and Michelangelo, Improviser.

These alternate-art, borderless treatments feature gold stamps of Eastman's signature, and can only be opened in Collector Boosters.

Full Art Lands

Let's compare and contrast two cycles of full art basics. One of them is flying under the radar, as ninjas should. The other sparked unprecedented angst for such a simple game piece.

Those rooftop lands are exactly what I want from a cycle of basics: stylish and thematic. I'm not a TMNT fan, but I respect the way these lands present the TMNT universe in Magic style.

On the other hand, the pizza lands are notoriously unpopular with many Magic players. I'm not surprised by the negative reception; I find them disgusting. In the interest of fairness to the people who might like these lands, I searched out some positive perspectives.

As luck would have it, pizza land artist Gaboleps discussed his work in an interview with PAWSUM Pets. Gaboleps shares pictures he drew of Ninja Turtles as a child, and said producing art for this set was like fulfilling a childhood dream. I can't respect the images, but I respect the artist for living the dream of making something for Magic - and getting paid for it!

Love them or hate them, non-foil full art lands are available in both Play Boosters and Collector Boosters. Surge foils and traditional foils may appear in Collector Boosters.

Scenes

An assortment of 19 cards combine into three complete scenes. The first four are trying to be cute baby pictures of the Turtles. Another nine make a full comic spread of turtle friends and foes. The remaining six portray the reptilian quartet battling Shredder and his goons.

Traditional foil and non-foil scene cards appear in all booster products.

Silhouette

Some of these borderless silhouettes pair really nicely with the rooftop lands. I wouldn't blame anyone for running a bunch of rooftop Plains in a deck with Leonardo, Sewer Samurai.

Traditional foil and non-foil borderless silhouettes appear in all booster products.

Sewer Frame

Someone call a plumber! Something is leaking at the bottom of the frame. It also looks like these illustrations leaked out of the old animated series, but these are original images.

The sewer showcase may be in either booster type, in non-foil or traditional foil.

Source Material

Also appearing in all booster products, borderless source material cards are Magic reprints in Ninja Turtle cosplay. A selection of twenty existing Magic cards get images from over thirty years of TMNT media. Some of these cards really needed new printings, like Trouble in Pairs and Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm.

Non-foil source material cards are in all booster products, and Collector Boosters may contain traditional foil source material versions. These prints have the PZA set code, and only two of them are legal in Standard at time of release: Doubling Season and Undercity Sewers.

Pixel

You can sleeve up the the glory days of video game animation. These 16-bit alternate art cards offer a vintage take on new cards from the Turtle Power! preconstructed Commander deck.

Pixel borderless cards are exclusively in Collector Boosters, any only in surge foil.

Extended Art

Another treatment found only in Collector Boosters, extended art cards exhibit more of the image from the regular Magic frame. As is my custom, I look for extended art cards that reveal extra detail. Check out Rat King, Verminister.

The regular frame mostly covers the musical rodent on the left. It's playing some kind of woodwind instrument, and you can only see it on the extended art version.

Japan Showcase

Perpetually popular Japan showcase treatments invite manga and anime artists to share their talents with the Magic community. Normally this is the part where I would predict that these cards will move on the secondary market, but I'm not venturing on that limb this time.

I have no idea how much overlap exists between Ninja Turtle and anime fandoms.

Do the same people who love chibi characters also love Dark Leo & Shredder? I have no idea. If Japan showcases are your topping of choice, then I hope you can find them on Cardsphere. These things are scarce in Collector Boosters, and the fracture foil versions are even harder to find.

Pizza Bundle Promos

Finally, the last TMNT borderless treatment is a set of promos for the Pizza Bundle sealed product. Five of these six promos have cheesy references to the flavor text on older versions of these cards.

There's a chance Splinter is invoking Giancarlo Esposito, who voice acted for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Maybe I'm digging too deep? I'm definitely not digging that deep dish.

Flushed Out

I've nearly reached my limit of TMNT exposure, but I have one last thing to say before I sign off:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

It's stuck in your head now. Sing it with me in the comments below, or just tell us how you feel about the set. You can also join the conversation and look for trading partners on the Cardsphere Discord. Until next time: happy trading!