As with most modern MTG sets, TMNT is an absolute slam-dunk for Commander. There are a ton of cards here that slot perfectly into the 99 of established archetypes, as well as exciting new legendary creatures to build around. If you’re planning to try out one of the new Commanders in MTG TMNT, these are the ones which will serve you the best.
Honorable Mention | Leonardo, The Balance
In an unusual twist, most of the legendary creatures in the TMNT Eternal set actually aren’t particularly well-suited to being Commanders. While they’ll be great in the 99, their color identities largely hold them back from greatness. Leonardo, the Balance is the big exception here, however, offering a new five-color Commander with some flexible Partner options.
Even by itself, Leonardo is pretty solid, being a way to turbocharge big token boards. The flexibility here is fantastic, since it triggers on all tokens, including junk artifacts like Clues and Food. With cards like Coin of Mastery and Transmutation Font in the mix, you can easily stack up a board-wide +4/+4 buff every turn cycle.
The card’s standalone abilities aside, Leonardo, the Balance also lets you bring in a second Commander via Character Select. Of the available options, Michelangelo, the Heart and Splinter, the Mentor are probably the best picks, providing easy token generation for Leo’s ability. In fact, the Leonardo/Splinter combination has put up some strong results in Duel Commander and cEDH already, cementing it as one to watch.
5 | Krang, Utrom Warlord
Krang, Utrom Warlord bucks the usual colorless Commander trend by actually justifying its limiting nature with its high power level. For starters, having access to a Darksteel Forge in the command zone is huge for artifact decks. This lets you build up a big artifact token board without fear of losing it all to a Vandalblast or Meltdown. Some board wipes, like Farewell and Toxic Deluge, will still catch you out, but you’ll be much more resilient than most.
In addition to being a prime defensive tool, Krang is also a serious offensive threat. Nine Hasty power with two forms of evasion is big, meaning you can easily engineer commander damage wins here. Between big colorless Auras like Eldrazi Conscription and Modular creatures like Arcbound Ravager, Krang can take opponents down out of nowhere.
It’s not hard for a colorless deck to ramp up to Krang’s high mana cost, either, thanks to its deep suite of rocks. Cards like Thran Dynamo and Gilded Lotus can power Krang out reasonably early. If you’re pursuing the tokens route, you can use Ashnod’s Altar and Krark-Clan Ironworks to do so even faster.
4 | Don & Leo, Problem Solvers
Blink decks are consistently popular in Commander, especially in Azorius colors, and Don & Leo, Problem Solvers is a fantastic new option for them. For five mana, you’re essentially getting a Conjurer’s Closet in the command zone here, but even better, since you can also blink an artifact each turn. Given that Closet is a bona fide Blink staple, this is great right out of the gate.
Even just playing fair, this is a solid ability to re-use enters abilities on the likes of Mulldrifter or Peregrine Drake for extra value. Since it doesn’t specify that the blinked artifact needs to be a noncreature, you can get sneaky and blink staples like Solemn Simulacrum with it, too.
Extra value is great and all, but Don & Leo actually enables some infinite combo lines as well. Blinking a spell recursion creature like Archaeomancer lets you re-cast extra turn spells like Time Warp over and over, for example. Conjurer’s Closet and Teleportation Circle enable such lines, too, but having access to the same effect in the command zone makes them much more consistent.
3 | Krang & Shredder
Krang & Shredder is the latest in the line of Commanders like Etali, Primal Conqueror and Kefka, Court Mage, which offer a ton of value on the turn they come down. In this case, you’re getting a free spell from the top of an opponent’s deck every turn, provided you can trigger Disappear.
In a Dimir deck, this isn’t a particularly hard condition to meet. Sacrificing creatures or tokens to spells like Deadly Dispute will get you there easily, and you can even use Fetchlands in a pinch. Alternatively, you can go down the blink route, re-using Krang & Shredder with something like Essence Flux to exile more options and also trigger Disappear at the same time.
While these lines are powerful, Krang & Shredder is, admittedly, less explosive than something like Etali. It makes up for this, however, by offering value over time. Getting to expand your pool of possible spells with each swing is huge, and this lets you grind out games if you can keep your Commander around. That Krang & Shredder is in Dimir, the primary colors of Mill, is a nice edge, too, giving those decks a more proactive option in the Commander slot.
2 | Splinter, Radical Rat
It wouldn’t be much of an MTG TMNT set without some viable Ninja Commanders, and Splinter, Radical Rat is one of the best we’ve ever seen. Splinter offers a solid body at a baseline, along with a potent, Ninja-specific Panharmonicon effect. This alone is pretty wild, letting you gain massive value from cards like Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni and Higure, the Still Wind.
To help make sure those abilities trigger in the first place, Splinter can also grant your Ninjas full unblockability at a very reasonable rate. Other popular Ninja Commanders, like Taeko, Patient Avalanche and Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima, offer similar utility, but Splinter outclasses them by letting you sneak in multiple Ninjas per turn.
While both of these abilities are great, perhaps the most exciting thing about Splinter is its color identity. Most Ninja Commanders keep you confined to Dimir colors, but Splinter lets you branch out into Esper. This unlocks a bunch of the white Ninja support from TMNT itself, as well as more generic white pieces like Swords to Plowshares and Smothering Tithe. This added flexibility gives Splinter an edge over the current Commander Ninja top dog, Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow, meaning it could easily usurp the title in time.
1 | Mikey & Leo, Chaos & Order
Flavor concerns aside, Mikey & Leo, Chaos & Order is a pretty clear standout among the new Commanders in TMNT. +1/+1 counter strategies are already some of the best, most supported decks in the format, and this new legend gives them a cheap card advantage engine in the command zone.
For two mana, the number of cards Mikey & Leo can draw you is absolutely ridiculous. With creatures like Managorger Hydra and Patrolling Peacemaker, it’s trivial to add counters every single turn. This will net you four cards per turn cycle, which is great by anyone’s standards. Even in a relatively low-power counters deck, this much card advantage should let you keep up with your opponents, no matter how formidable they are.
You can take Mikey & Leo further, too, by using blink effects like Ephemerate to reset it and mine even more draw from the duo. While you’ll want to stick to counters for the most part, this adds some extra depth that makes the card more than just a one-trick Turtle. It may not reinvent the wheel or enable wild combo lines, but I believe Mikey & Leo is the best of the new Commanders from MTG TMNT regardless.
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