Following all of the rares and mythics being spoiled early, we didn’t expect many surprises from the TMNT spoilers season. With only one precon and lower-rarity cards to be revealed, it really seemed like we were in for a whole lot of nothing. In reality, however, it turns out that Wizards had tons of neat cards up their sleeves to show off properly.
Alongside a one-mana common that creates a new 2.5-card infinite combo, Wizards of the Coast held back Donatello’s Technique until the very last moment. While the card won’t fit in every MTG deck, this uncommon could easily be the best card in the entire TMNT set.
MTG Donatello’s Technique
In some ways, Donatello’s Technique is just MTG’s newest flavor of Divination. Drawing two cards for three mana is hardly exciting, but for one mana, it’s absolutely incredible. This makes Donatello’s Technique an amazing addition to any deck that can get value out of its Sneak cost, which isn’t as hard as you might think.
In Standard, Esper Pixie variants and Dimir Midrange could easily slot Donatello’s Technique into their deck. Not only do small fliers like Nurturing Pixie and Spyglass Siren let you Sneak with ease, but returning them to your hand lets you abuse their enters abilities again. This is particularly helpful in the Dimir archetype, as the deck tends to struggle if it fails to find Enduring Curiosity or a Kaito, Bane of Nightmares by the mid-game.
While Donatello’s Technique easily has the most potential in Standard, the card could see some play in older formats, as well. The card notably pairs extremely well with Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, essentially having two different modes. Tamiyo both enables the Sneak cost of this card and flips if Donatello’s Technique is resolved with the one-mana Flier in play.
An Easy Commander Upgrade
Alongside Standard, Donatello’s Technique looks like an easy upgrade for many Commander decks. Ninjutsu decks like Yuriko, The Tiger’s Shadow easily want this, but Blink decks could also make use of the card. While the card draw isn’t as useful in the format resetting a value piece, like Baleful Strix or Brazen Borrower, is still a very attractive proposition. You can even use Donatello’s Technique to bounce Eternal Witness, who can then put the sorcery back in your hand.
For all these reasons, Donatello’s Technique has tons of potential. That said, the amount of play it will see is somewhat dependent on how good the decks it enables are in the format. Dimir Midrange, for example, is currently on the backswing, but this is a meaningful upgrade. This could potentially allow many MTG decks to have a sudden comeback.
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