Prerelease weekend for Magic: The Gathering x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is over and, according to a number of Wizards Play Network (WPN) stores, things didn't go well.
The Universes Beyond set, which is one of four confirmed non-Magic I.P. sets to release this year and the third such set to release since last September, brings the "Heroes in a Half Shell" to the fantasy-based collectible card game.
While TMNT has a respectable following, it seems that those fans didn't exactly show up for the Magic set's prerelease, an event that is typically bustling with excitement.
"Our worst-attended Friday prerelease EVER (including our 16-player ones during the pandemic)," points out Michael Epstein of WPN store Omar's World of Comics in Lexington, Mass. "It's very, very bad, and even our most devoted players are skipping this set."
And it's not just Omar's that's having trouble bringing in players for TMNT.
"We had a total of eight [players] where we normally have between 30-40," claims Joseph Arriola of Northstar Games in Waco, Tex.
Some of this might be because of the setting of New York City, which was the same setting for the much-maligned Spider-Man set from late last year.
"Overheard from one of my 14 total players over three events: "New York is the MTG plane I hate the most," says Steve Huffstuttler of Palouse Games in Montrose, Calif.
Not all stores had poor turnouts, however, such was the case at Heroes Realm in Evanston, Wyo. That store's owner, Brandon Wilson, says that they had a decent turnout for his store's events, though he points out that "the set doesn’t belong in the realm of Magic" while also stating that it "does feel like a stand alone set."
Chris Bollard, owner of WPN member local game store Game Master's Emporium in Chatham, Ont., says their prerelease also went well, though he's concerned about the lack of interest in the TMNT set overall.
"NO ONE is buying booster boxes," he says on Facebook.
The next set to come out for Magic will be Secrets of Strixhaven, one of the game's two remaining in-universe sets for 2026. It's scheduled to come out on April 24 only to be followed by yet another Universes Beyond set, Magic: The Gathering x Marvel Super Heroes on June 26.
