Wizards of the Coast has really stepped up their game with the recent Commander precons. The last three sets have offered precons to players that create competitive trends at Commander’s strongest tables. Both Dance of the Elements and World Shaper become extremely powerful with a few upgrades, allowing a new player to take a precon and compete at most tables.
Up to this point, despite the myriad of new cards, the MTG x TMNT Commander cards have not shown a similar potential. It looks like that will quickly change, however, thanks to a Dual Commander top-four showing by a TMNT Partner pair.
Making Every Creature Deck Competitive
If you’re interested in running a typalless Commander deck focused on creatures, Michelangelo, the Heart, and Leonardo, the Balance are some of the best Commanders possible for the deck. The cards synergize beautifully with one another, granting buffs to all your creatures as early as turn four. Factor Leonardo’s color identity in, and you can run the best creatures from all across Magic: The Gathering.
This, essentially, allows Leonardo and Michelangelo to become the Commanders for an aggressive 37-creature deck that runs multiple cheap cards that can win the game on their own. Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Ocelot Pride, and Orcish Bowmasters, for example, are all capable of taking over a game without additional synergies. That said, thanks to Leonardo, all of these token generators will now double as an Anthem, creating extremely aggressive swings. This even runs double duty with Emperor of Bones, allowing it to reanimate multiple creatures for a big swing.
While many of the creatures here don’t create tokens of their own, every single card in this deck offers a ton of value. Fury, Pyrogoyf, and Broadside Bombadiers, for example, double as both creature removal and threats that Leonardo and Michelangelo can pump. Aaragorn, King of Gondor is the ultimate example of this, functioning as both card advantage and a win condition at the same time.
Going Long and Locking the Board Down
Sadly, not every matchup is going to be winnable by curving out some of the best creatures in MTG. In some cases, you’ll need specific answers to get by, which Leonardo and Michelangelo can offer. Between Drannith Magistrate and Deadpool, Trading Card, there’s a lot of slots dedicated to shutting off opposing Commanders, in particular. You can otherwise shut down tutoring with Opposition Agent, and countermagic with Spider-Punk, Voice of Victory, and Hexing Squelcher.
Thanks to a series of tutor and card draw effects, accessing these cards shouldn’t be too difficult, either. Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, and Formidable Speaker can find any of your hate pieces on a whim. Solitude and Fury also offer searchable, free removal options for dealing with opposing threats.
If your aggressive creature plan is thwarted, and your lock pieces don’t quite match up to your opponents, you’ll be forced to lean on a few cards that create aggressive long-term value. Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes is a great example of this, creating tons of pressure each turn until they’re removed. Skullclamp can do a similar thing, turning dead creatures into value.
A New Powerhouse Emerges?
In many ways, Leonardo, the Balance, and Michelangelo, the Heart look like a new, long-term resident in the Dual Commander metagame. The color identity combined with these Commanders’ synergy means that this will likely end up being a strict upgrade to the aggressive mono-white strategies that are at the top of the metagame. The deck can easily compete with Cloud, Midgar Mercenary and Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd‘s early game, and can quickly pull ahead with high-value creatures like Pyrogoyf and Fury.
The story is likely similar for existing midrange strategies, like Aaragorn, King of Gondor. Not only does the turtle duo offer a similar level of explosive value, but their color identity lets Leonardo and Michelangelo run stronger cards than more color-restricted midrange decks.
Where the TMNT duo is likely to struggle is against control and fast combo decks. Thanks to this deck being so creature-centric, recovering from board wipes will be a massive struggle. Similarly, combo decks that can outpace this creature plan consistently will win more often than not unless the five-color deck manages to land a silver bullet to steal the game.
That said, considering that control and combo are less popular archetypes in Duel Commander, Leonardo, the Balance and Michelangelo, the Heart look like a very good choice moving forward. It’ll be interesting to see if this top finish gives birth to a new aggressive archetype or if it ends up just being a flash in the pan.
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