While leaks unfortunately brought TMNT spoiler season forward by about a month, official previews don’t begin for a few hours. We’ve seen all of the rares and mythics from the main set already, but there’s still plenty to be excited about, including the bulk of the set’s all-new Commander precon deck.
As a little taster for what’s to come, Wizards has revealed an MTG card from the deck via an early YouTube ad. Not only is this a spicy legendary creature with explosive combo potential, but it also highlights one of the coolest Showcase styles Magic has seen in a good while.
MTG Shredder, Shadow Master
In several ways, Shredder, Shadow Master is a pretty unique new MTG legend. For starters, he comes packing a slight variation on Myriad that gets around the legend rule. Every time Shredder swings, he swings at the whole table, which is pretty dangerous considering he cuts players’ life totals in half when he connects.
Similar to Unstoppable Slasher, this opens up some insta-kill combos with cards like Bloodletter of Aclazotz and Wound Reflection. Since Shredder can theoretically hit every opponent at once, these combos could actually end the game on the spot. These are available in Mono-Black, too, so you can run Shredder as a Commander for maximum consistency. If you’re running Shredder in the 99, token multipliers like Doubling Season and Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation can get a ton of value out of that ability as well, even if they won’t end the game in every case.
Despite this huge potential, Shredder honestly feels like a bit of a tough sell. Getting three 5/5s with no innate evasion through is tricky, so the combo win is unlikely. That aside, there’s also the issue of it being a five-mana 5/5 with no immediate impact. Unless you’re running reliable Haste granters, like Anger, this is probably too clunky for current Commander.
On top of the card’s mechanical ability, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the incredible pixel art styling too. Given the long history of TMNT video games, it makes sense that Wizards would lean into this style, but it’s unclear how widespread it is. With slight video game flavor already present in the Commander precon, with Partner – Character Select, we can only hope there’s more cards like this.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew!