Here's the good, the bad, and what needs to be kept an eye on for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Magic: The Gathering is at something of a crossroads right now for Universes Beyond (UB). At the Las Vegas and Atlanta MagicCons this year, The Hobbit, Marvel Superheroes, and Star Trek were revealed to be in line for big sets in 2026. Well, minus a surprise announcement for October 2025 and the New York Comic Con that everyone has known to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for months thanks to leaks and an obvious Nickelodeon slot open.
Sandwiched in between the traditional Magic expansions of Lorwyn Eclipsed and Secrets of Strixhaven, TMNT is coming out in March 2026. And with many more players coming out against UB sets in 2025, how TMNT fares could be a bellwether of how other UBs do later in the year.
Here's what we see as the good, the bad, and the things we need to keep an eye on.
The Good:
- Theming
The theming of the TMNT expansion is on point. It all feels very much being dipped into the world of the show and highlights everything fans love about the series. Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael are all commanders (as well as Splinter), with the special partner-character ability allowing players to have two at once. Mechanics overall also look like they are having a TMNT bend, similar to what Final Fantasy and Spiderman did. The Turtle Team-Up bundle, for example, will be focused on co-op play in this regard:
And then there is all the pizza. They're going all in on this, with a pizza box shaped pizza bundle being one of the main highlights:
There is also the land, which is also all pizza, but with toppings clueing in on the color, even forming the symbol in the middle:
They did their homework and tied in all they could here, and the end result looks pretty great. The four turtles, plus Splinter, are also color-coded with great detail. While some of the bandanas are dead giveaways, they also tie it all up with traditional Magic. For example, Splinter is black as he is a ninja and a rat, which has always been associated with black. It makes sense.
2. Artwork
Not a big surprise here, but the art for TMNT keep up with the quality expected from Magic. No AI (as far as we can tell), lots of different artists and styles, and an overall world-building feel included in on it all. The cards also have a lot to work with, with different ones being influences by the comics, TV shows, movies, and video games.
And, like Spider-Man did, there are many comic book artists coming in to do art for the cards, either original or previously printed. This includes art by Kevin Eastman, one of the most prolific TMNT artists of all time, who actually co-created them.
Again, saying that a Magic expansion has incredible art is like saying a Grand Theft Auto game has a great soundtrack. You already know it will before it even comes out. But it needs to be noted.
The Bad:
- The cost
While Magic has always ben at a bit of a premium, the MSRP costs of the TMNT expansion left many balking at the NYCC, especially long-time Magic fans who really don't care about TMNT. Here's the revealed MSRP prices:
- Play Booster: $6.99
- Collector Booster: $37.99
- Commander Deck: $69.99
- Bundle: $69.99
- Pizza Bundle: $99.99
- Draft Night: $119.99
- Turtle Team-Up: $49.99
That is pretty significant. While fans of the comic and shows may be more inclined to pay the price, mainstream Magic fans may ignore it. WotC just found this out the hard way with Spider-Man being the worst selling pre-release on record.
With Final Fantasy, the fan base was wider and the expansion was a property that had creatures, characters and a world that looked like it could fit in as a plane in normal Magic. Lord of the Rings was a juggernaut for the same reasons - huge fan base, popular IP, looked like something Magic designers could have come up with.
For the latter, it was the best selling set of all time, bringing in $200 million in 6 months. People were willing to pay high prices to be a part of all that.
For TMNT, with a more niche fanbase, it is going to be trickier. They have multiple generations of TMNT fans to work with for sure, but then again, so did Spider-Man.
2. New York Fatigue
While UB fatigue is very well known by this point, the expansion may suffer thanks to another type of fatigue that Magic has gone out of it's way to avoid in the modern era - plane fatigue. The Rabiah scale exists for a reason, and that's so you don't visit a plane too often to keep players guessing and to make each expansion more unique. Between Spider-Man, TMNT, and presumably the next Marvel one in June, that will be three major sets in less than a year with New York City as a backdrop.
Nothing against New York City either. It's just that is a lot of the same city in less than a year. Many players may feel like it is too much as well. One of the (many) reasons that the block system was done away with was that there wasn't too much of a theme or plane. Magic seemed to have forgotten about it.
3. The Timing
Following the announcement, the largest thread on Reddit quickly became the one pointing out that, with an early March release date for TMNT, Lorwyn Eclipsed will only have about 5 weeks in the spotlight. Considering that the original Lorwyn was one of the biggest failures in Magic history, a short timeframe of it being the newest set could hurt it. However, as seen from previous expansion like Final Fantasy and Bloomburrow, many players, and even TCG stores, could opt to just keep rolling with the more popular set. Many players are still favoring Edge of Eternities over Spider-Man, so this is not out of the question. It's likely going to be poor release timing.
Let's Keep an Eye On...
UB has just hit some major turbulence with the failure of the Spider-Man expansion. Avatar will likely boost things up like Lord of the Rings and Final Fantasy did thanks to the fanbases and having more of a Magic feel to them, but TMNT will come in at an odd time.
Playability is another concern. A co-op flexible Commander under the TMNT expansion is a bit of a gamble, as is that price point. TMNT also doesn't have as many iconic characters to work with as with other UB properties, meaning that cards may have less of an impact. They need to make non-TMNT fans care about a villain that is a brain, a rhino that is a henchman, and pizza being a main focus. That's quite the reach.
WotC is likely doing an autopsy on Spider-Man right now and will make some course corrections for future UB. Everyone had been expecting TMNT for some months now, with it being the worst kept secret in Magic. But the similarities to Spider-Man are undeniable. How strong 80s/90s nostalgia is (judging by all the 90s slang in the copy of the First Look release), as well as how popular it is in the modern incarnation, will be if this set is a hit or miss. It may be the most perfectly crafted set ever, but many players aren't that into TMNT.
Magic wants another Final Fantasy right now, not another Spider-Man. UB brings in a lot of money when it works right. And if UB fatigue is real, UB in 2026 seems to be off to a rough start.
