At New York Comic Con last Friday, Wizards finally revealed the seventh Magic: The Gathering set of 2026. As pretty much everyone expected, it turned out to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Coming hot off the heels of Spider-Man’s disappointing release, another Universes Beyond set in a similar space, even set in the same city, seemed unlikely to go down well. Thanks to the powerful new cards and interesting product lineup, however, it’s actually getting a pretty good reception so far. The same can’t be said of the Pizza Lands that will be featured in the MTG TMNT set, mind you.
Since their reveal on Friday, these new full-art basics have sparked a lot of debate in the community. Many find the artwork disgusting and difficult to read at a glance in terms of land type. Others have broader concerns about the idea of ‘land’ in Magic being diluted with the rise of Universes Beyond. Such worries may seem minor, but as we stray further from Magic’s fundamentals, traditions take on more weight than ever before.
The MTG x TMNT Pizza Lands
If you somehow haven’t seen them yet, you’ll find the MTG x TMNT Pizza Lands above. This is the new full-art basic land cycle for the set. These have been a regular fixture in Magic for a while now. Unlike most takes on the concept, however, these lands have stirred up a ton of controversy already.
On Saturday, Mark Rosewater replied to a Blogatog question about the new lands with a question of his own: “I’m curious how others feel. What do you all think of them?” This post received a whopping 468 comments, which is huge for Blogatog. In the days since other posts on the subject have cropped up as well, garnering healthy comment crops of their own. Clearly, this is a topic on which Magic players have a lot to say.
A lot of the comments so far have been negative. Players have taken issue with the aesthetic of these lands in particular, calling them everything from “Nasty” to “Revolting.” While Pizza on lands is a choice that makes sense for the world of TMNT, the execution here isn’t to many players’ taste.
This wasn’t the universal reaction, mind you. Some players consider the Pizza Lands to be a huge flavor win, pun very much intended. Melodiesofliv even made a dedicated Blogatog post to praise the lands, noting that they “squealed” (positive) when they saw them. As disgustingly gooey as these lands look to many, they also have their fans. Mark Rosewater himself acknowledged this in another post, where he said the lands were “polarizing,” but “not inherently bad design.”
Food For Thought
A major recurring complaint about the MTG TMNT Pizza Lands is that they look a little too much like Food tokens. This may not have been true back in the days of Eldraine, when Food tended to use a darker palette and represent classical fairy tale food, but it certainly is now. We’ve seen plenty of modern American food represented on Food tokens, including burgers, cola, and hot dogs. Pizza fits right into this lineup, which has created some confusion among players.
“I thought those were Food Tokens. Smart way to play with color logos, but these are not lands.”
Wereme26, via Blogatog
We’ve talked before about alternate card styles impacting gameplay in Magic, and this is another prime example. You can easily opt out of using these lands yourself, of course. However, there’s nothing stopping your opponents from playing them. If they do, you could easily find yourself in a game where mistaking a land for Food causes you to make a critical mistake and underestimate an opponent’s position. Whatever your thoughts on Universes Beyond and Booster Fun, it’s hard to argue that this is a good thing for the game.
On the other hand, this is hardly the first time we’ve seen something like this in Magic. Secret Lair, with its range of bizarre, illegible card styles, has been part of the game for six years now. Even before that, we had Textless promos that were arguably even worse from a gameplay perspective. Heck, even Dryad Arbor caused its fair share of issues back in the day. While these new Pizza Lands may be slightly awkward from a gameplay perspective, they’re likely not going to create a major issue on their own.
Crossing The Line
Perhaps the biggest problem MTG players have with the TMNT Pizza Lands is just how far they stretch the definition of ‘land.’ For the longest time, land cards all portrayed a section of landscape. These varied based on the plane of each set, but this much was consistent. The Pizza Lands stray further from this idea than any lands before, which has many players concerned.
In a vacuum, this doesn’t seem like a massive deal. We’ve seen more conceptual full-art basics like these in mainline sets before, with the Tarkir: Dragonstorm Dragon’s Eye Lands and the Spider-Man Spiderweb Lands, and they didn’t nearly get this much of a reaction. We’ve also seen other examples that are arguably worse from a readability perspective, like the Venom Lands or the Phyrexian basics. Players have generally been fine with these lands, so there’s clearly something different this time around.
The problem here seems to be one of degrees. While none of those examples portray lands, they do at least represent reasonably serious elements that fit with Magic’s overall fantasy stylings. Even the Venom lands have a darker, more serious edge that doesn’t feel too out of place tonally. The Pizza Lands are about as far from that as you can get.
“Really sucks :/ doesn’t feel like wotc is taking their own game seriously.”
Scourge-of-god, via Blogatog
This is also an issue of quantity. As more and more land cycles that break with tradition are released, Magic is going to feel less and less like the game it used to be. While basic lands have always been an outlet for player expression, changing them this way could eventually undermine one of the longest-running traditions in Magic. At a time when such traditions are disappearing left and right in the wake of huge Universes Beyond success, it’s a bigger deal now than it ever has been.
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