MTG’s upcoming TMNT Universes Beyond set will feature a few new mechanics, one of which will be very familiar. After all, what would a ninja set be, without some form of Ninjutsu? Don’t worry, that keyword is in the set, in the form of Sneak, and honestly, this version is so much better, so much more flexible. As far as this set goes, there are some pretty interesting possibilities not just for Standard, but for other formats like Commander as well.
I recently took part in a preview of the MTG TMNT set with Wizards of the Coast, and while I know the whole Universes Beyond concept isn’t for everyone, I grew up as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan in the 80s, so I’m over the moon for this set. Here’s what you need to know about the new mechanics and keywords coming in this expansion.
All new mechanics in MTG TMNT, and what they do
We’ve seen at least three new mechanics for the MTG TMNT Universes Beyond set, and those are Sneak, Disappear, and Mutagen Tokens. Now, there are of course, other keywords and mechanics returning, such as Alliance from Streets of New Capenna, which triggers anytime another creature enters the battlefield under your control. I think Alliance is going to be wildly powerful in this set, but let’s talk about the new stuff. First up, it’s Sneak.
Sneak is a mechanic that is quite similar to Ninjutsu, but there’s one very noteworthy difference: It can also appear on Instants and Sorceries! The way it works is that “You may cast this spell for X if you also return an unblocked attacker you control to hand during the declare blockers step”. If it’s a creature, it will also feature “They enter tapped and attacking.”
There were a few great instances of this in the preview, but Michelangelo, Improviser, might be one of the best. A 4/4, whenever he deals combat damage to a player, you may put a creature card and/or a land card from your hand onto the battlefield. It’s the same Mana Value either way, but sneak requires GG instead of requiring G. It’s an amazing way to get extra value onto the board, with a creature and a land for 4 mana.
The Last Ronin’s Technique is an Instant that you can bring this in for 1W, instead of 3W. It creates three 1/1 white Ninja Turtle Spirit creature tokens, and if you paid the Sneak cost, they enter tapped and attacking. I like this version of Ninjutsu more for MTG, and it certainly fits the flavor of the TMNT comics and shows.
Disappear is for those MTG TMNT players that like a little bit of graveyard recursion. It is featured on, at the very least, Krang & Shredder, a Blue/Black Legendary creature. A 6/7, it lets you force opponents to exile cards from their library, whenever it enters play, or attacks.
Then, if a permanent left play that was under your control this turn, you can cast, during your end step, one of those exiled cards without paying its mana cost. I only saw one card that featured Disappear for this MTG TMNT preview, but I have a feeling it will pop up more, as we get closer to launch. This ability might also seem familiar, and it should! It’s a renamed version of Revolt, which debuted in Aether Revolt.
If a permanent you control leaves play this turn, you get to do something special, and oftentimes, quite powerful. You can utilize this in decks that steal permanents, and then simply sacrifice them, to get the Disappear/Revolt trigger, but that’s not the only way it can be used.
Finally, we have a new token in the MTG TMNT set, and that’s Mutagen Tokens! After all, this is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-themed expansion, so we need some Ooze! You can tap 1, and sacrifice the Mutagen token, to put a +1/+1 counter on a target creature, but you can only do this as a Sorcery. That was likely a balance move, because I could see it getting out of hand quickly.
A good example of it is the Legendary artifact, The Ooze. Whenever a creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it leaves the battlefield, you create a Mutagen Token for each of those +1/+1 counters. You can also tap it and exile a card from any graveyard to make a Mutagen token. With enough mana, you can buff your creatures, and make some truly unpleasant battle situations. On top of that, it says “leaves the battlefield”, so it pairs nicely with Sneak.
It will be really interesting to see how all these cards work with the greater Standard meta, when the TMNT set launches on March 6, 2026.
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Edited by Jason Parker
