Despite the rampant community criticism regarding the set’s aesthetics, on a mechanical level it’s clear that TMNT is fairly solid. There are a number of cards here with multi-format potential, and plenty of more specific playables to boot. As a result, the overall negativity towards the set hasn’t really affected prices, with several cards packing big price tags as we head into this weekend’s Prerelease. For those looking to attend one of their local events, the following are the most expensive MTG TMNT cards you should be on the lookout for as you crack your Sealed packs.
As a quick note, since the official release for this set hasn’t yet passed, we’re working with the cheapest card listings at time of writing. These are notoriously volatile and often change after Prerelease as players get a better idea of each card’s power level. For this reason, these early prices should be taken with a pinch of salt.
5 | Donatello, Mutant Mechanic: $8.76
Donatello, Mutant Mechanic is a great new hit for artifact decks in Commander. The card repurposes any utility artifact, be it an Ichor Wellspring or a humble Food, into a 3/3 threat. It also essentially gives all of your artifacts Modular, letting you carry over their counters after death. There are even infinite combo lines available with the card, alongside charge counter pieces like Magistrate’s Scepter.
This is all great stuff in Commander, but unfortunately, that may be the limit of Donatello, Mutant Mechanic’s reach. There aren’t any decks in current Standard that really want it, and its prospects in older formats are even more distant. For that reason, its continued financial health is largely dependent on how well it performs in Commander. It could easily be good enough there to warrant its current $8.88 price, but if it flops, then this could be a bulk mythic a few weeks from now.
4 | North Wind Avatar: $12.53
North Wind Avatar being one of the most expensive cards in MTG TMNT is a seriously unexpected turn of events. While it’s a cool card for Standard, it does literally nothing in Commander. Since there are no sideboards in the format, its ability can’t fetch you anything, making it a generic five-mana 5/5 Flier. While Wizards has certainly discussed the possibility of adding sideboards to Commander in the future, for now, it remains an unofficial topic in the company.
This leaves Standard potential as the only real factor carrying North Wind Avatar’s $14.07 price tag. Granted, the card does seem like an excellent addition to Jeskai Control decks in the format. Getting to grab whatever answer you need from your sideboard is huge for Control, and the body makes for a solid finisher, too. You can even abuse it alongside Airbending cards like Aang, Swift Savior to grab multiple answers, or just grind out value.
Outside of Standard, however, the North Wind Avatar’s prospects are limited. Wish effects like this certainly see play in older formats, but typically at much lower rates. Modern Ruby Storm isn’t going to start splashing blue for this over classic Wish, for example. This pins the card’s hopes pretty much entirely on Standard, making it one of the most volatile cards on this list.
3 | Dark Leo & Shredder: $13.88
It’s not particularly surprising to see Dark Leo & Shredder among the most expensive MTG TMNT cards. This is a cheap, efficient creature with a ton of text to it, to the point where it could even have a shot in older formats. Its Ninja generation ability feels quite similar to Ocelot Pride’s, but with a ceiling of wiping out half your opponent’s life rather than making more tokens. Getting five Ninjas in play feels like a long shot even in dedicated decks, but your opponent still has to respect the possibility of it popping off.
There aren’t any obvious homes for this card in current Standard, but I could see Mardu Energy lists in Modern giving it a try. Being another token generator that dodges Orcish Bowmasters and blocks Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer feels like a nice spot to be in. Getting to bounce creatures via Sneak for more Guide of Souls triggers, while giving First Striking Ocelot Prides Deathtouch, seems like a nice suite of synergies.
Surprisingly, I don’t actually see Dark Leo & Shredder making much impact in Commander. It’s a shoo-in for Orzhov Ninja decks like Splinter, Radical Rat, to be sure, but those are few and far between. As a Ninja Commander in its own right, it’s underwhelming, too, mainly since you lose access to all the great blue Ninja support. For that reason, I don’t expect it to do much work in the format, but other applications could well prop up its current $14.06 price tag.
2 | Krang, Utrom Warlord: $24.20
Krang, Utrom Warlord is a textbook example of a big, beefy Commander creature. While it’s incredibly expensive to cast, it’s a massive threat in itself, and it makes all of your other artifacts very difficult to remove. It compares very favorably to Darksteel Forge, a card that still sees play in over 91,000 Commander decks by EDHREC numbers. Krang is just as easy to cheat out as that classic, and it offers actual on-board benefits beyond protection.
The Darksteel Forge comparison is also very encouraging with regards to Krang’s price. Forge still sells for around $31 right now, and Krang is pretty much a strictly better version. In fact, considering it’s a Universes Beyond mythic and may be tricky to reprint in future, Krang may actually be underpriced right now at $24.20. It’s hard to call any card pre-selling at over $20 a bargain, but this may be the rare case where that’s actually true.
Outside of Commander, Krang probably won’t see any play, but that really doesn’t matter. Commander is the game’s most popular format, and both artifact decks and big, dumb creature decks are very popular within it. It’s hard to envision a world where this isn’t an in-demand Commander card, unless power creep really goes off the rails in the next few years.
1 | Super Shredder: $27.33
No prizes for guessing what the number one spot here was going to be. Since its early reveal, Super Shredder has been a clear power frontrunner for TMNT, thanks to its raw power and flexibility. It’s cheap to cast, for a start, and grows whenever any permanent leaves play. This gives it value in a huge range of archetypes, from Aristocrats, to Blink, and even more surprising decks like Landfall.
In current Standard, in addition to updating some established archetypes, Super Shredder could even usher in a return for the long-neglected Orzhov Sacrifice. Going back further, decks like Modern Death’s Shadow could possibly find homes for it, too. Lorwyn Eclipsed’s Moonshadow has proven the market for cheap, scalable threats in decks like this, after all.
Of course, where Super Shredder will really earn its $27.35 price tag is in Commander. Because of the text on Super Shredder, the card will become an instant lethal threat whenever an opponent gets knocked out. While I don’t expect it to be a great Commander in itself, the list of decks where it’ll excel in the 99 is nearly endless. It seems like a slam-dunk in Token lists like Caesar, Legion’s Emperor, and Aristocrats decks like Slimefoot and Squee. Heck, it’s even a potential combo enabler in Fling decks like Ziatora, the Incinerator, if you can build it up big enough. Super Shredder has the most multi-format potential of all the new mythics in TMNT, and I expect it to hold onto its “most expensive” title for a while as a result.
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