Magic The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Part 6 (21/01/2026) - Green Rares & Mythic Rares
Last for the mono colors and home to my favorite of the ninja turtles! Let's get to it! :D Starting off with Groundchuck & Dirtbag!
Groundchuck and Dirtbag from the 1987 cartoon! Though this appearance is based on their appearance in the IDW comic, which was relatively recently (4 years ago their first). Green feels maybe a bit odd, but I think they'd be in a similar position to Bebop & Rocksteady where they'd together be Red/Green, but either way, Green is fine.
6 mana for an 8/8 is well above rate, which is very nice. Their abilities are:
Trample, since Groundchuck is a giant bull and will absolutely run people over. Also works well with their great statline.
Whenever you tap a land for mana, add {G}, since Dirtbag is a mole and so he digs and is attuned to the land. Good, though a little at odds with Trample, since this is something you want to keep around and attacking is dangerous.
For 60 card formats, no way unless this is a reanimation target. 6 mana is way too much in those formats and it isn't like this does anything on turn 1 if you have to tap out to cast it. For commander? Potential interesting build around for "I just want to cast huge spells" decks, but mono Green isn't necessarily the most interesting for that. In the 99 of such a deck, I think this works better, since it is also a huge spell to cast.
Next up, Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker!
"Her?" This is Mutant Mayhem Leatherhead? Huh. Though the design looks a bit more like their own thing, which isn't uncommon for the set, but still. Cool to see her! Apologies if I ever go "him," I'm used to the IDW comic version at the moment.
4 mana for a 5/4 is ever so slightly above rate, so that's pretty cool. Her abilities are:
Trample, so she can make use of her 5 power to punch through the board. Neat.
Leatherhead enters with a hexproof counter on her. So she is also untargetable by your opponent's spells and abilities. Cool, she is generally hard to convince about stuff. No tricks being player on this croc! Well, not usually.
When Leatherhead deals combat damage to a player, you may remove a counter from her. When you do, destroy target artifact or enchantment that player controls. Ah, Leatherhead destroying part of civilization since she believes everything should return to nature. Classic reference. Also, not too hard to trigger because of her Trample.
For 60 card formats... a gigantic maybe. Like, maybe some fringe deck slots this into the sideboard to deal with a specific artifact or enchantment that bricks their deck. Otherwise, probably not. For commander, it's removal on a creature that can potentially be used to spread hexproof counters around. Definitely better in the 99 though. As the commander, she doesn't really steer you in one direction and therefore becomes kind of just a mono-Green good stuff pile, which isn't awful admittedly.
It's time for the best turtle: Michelangelo, Improviser!
Aaaaaaaah, my boy! Michelangelo is absolutely a Green creature. He's a carefree, but fun loving guy. He's not orderly (White), he's not logical (Blue), god knows he's not pragmatic or ambitious (Black) and he's certainly not very emotional (Red). He definitely has parts of the other colors, mainly White with his altruism and Red with him being the second most emotional of the bunch, but he's mainly the carefree one. The one that keeps the group together. The one that has a very simple morality. The one that would rather just chill out and eat pizza instead of train and worry. Sorry, this got long, but I just needed to get it off my chest. Love this guy. Also, credit to Narendra Bintara Adi for this amazing art!
4 mana for a 4/4 is perfectly on rate. He can also be snuck in for 4 mana, but slightly less flexible in terms of needing {G}{G}. His ability is that whenever Michelangelo deals combat damage to a player, you may put a creature card and/or a land card from your hand onto the battlefield. Now that's pretty powerful. Being able to both play a second land for the turn and put a gigantic creature into play for free when he hits someone can be a gigantic swing of momentum if you are ever able to pull this off. Does mean that you will most likely always want to cast him for his sneak cost, since he has no built in evasion otherwise.
For 60 card formats, again maybe. You could probably make a kind of troll "big creature spells" 60 card deck that relies on Michelangelo to cheat them in, but it's probably gonna be incredibly fragile and get blown up by removal very quickly. For commander? Oh, baby, party time is getting started! Either in the 99 or as the commander of a "just cast huge creature" spells deck, he will work excellently. Still, you do want some low to the ground, cheap things to sneak him in to begin with, but he will absolutely smack someone silly at some point and then drop some disgusting things onto the battlefield. This is a deck I absolutely do plan on building.
We're not done with Mikey yet, next up: Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11!
Credit to Jason Kiantoro for the art, because what the hell is that pizza?! It has a blue crust! I'm actually unsure if this is a reference to something specific or this is just a weird pizza for a weird turtle. Also, Mikey rocking his kusarigama from (mainly) the 2012 show, hell yeah!
2 mana for a 1/1 is below rate, but not horrifically so. His abilities are:
When Mikey enters, create a Mutagen token, which is an artifact that for {1}, tapping it and sacrificing it puts a +1/+1 counter on a creature at sorcery speed. Decent, can potentially be used to make near enough immediately after casting him.
If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counter are put on it instead. So that Mutagen token actually puts two +1/+1 counters on something, provided Mikey is still alive to see the counter get applied. That's pretty strong and can get out of hand quickly.
For 60 card formats... god I hope so, because it would be funny. It's a Hardened Scales effect on a creature, so it isn't impossible that it becomes somewhat good, but creatures are more removable than enchantments are. Definitely a maybe. For commander, this is a somewhat desired effect for +1/+1 counter decks. It isn't necessarily special in that sense, but it enters with a way to give something a +1/+1 counter and it makes all applications of +1/+1 counters be 1 higher. This can definitely make for either a solid addition to a +1/+1 counter deck or be a fine enough commander for such a deck. It is a very fair +1/+1 counter commander compared to some absolute monsters that already exist, though. Still, I might build him too, since he will go hard very quickly.
Last Mikey card to talk about in this card, it's Michelangelo's Technique!
5 mana for a sorcery to look at the top eight cards of your library. Put up to two target creatures with total mana value 6 or less among them onto the battlefield and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. You can also sneak it in for 4 mana to get a small discount.
Very good amount of card seeing. Being able to potentially drop in a 6 mana creature (or two creatures with a combined mana value of 6) is also juicy, since that can definitely turn the tide. Absolutely exclusively a commander card though. You will literally never use this in a 60 card format, it is too expensive even if discounted and it would need to hit two creatures that do something when they get dropped in. For commander though, solid!
Welp, time for something else, let's take a look at Mutagen Man, Living Ooze!
Mutagen Man is a good one to include, though also kind of horrific looking. I don't know if he should be Green, he feels more Blue to me, but I do suppose it depends on the iteration of the character. In the 2012 show where he was more an animal, that makes sense for Green.
2 mana for a 2/3 is a bit above rate, so nice! Does have X in the cost though, so can be pumped with more mana. His abilities are:
Trample, so evasive. Not great with only 2 power, but he has ways to buff this.
Activated abilities of artifact tokens you control cost {1} less to activate. So he makes it so that Mutagen tokens are free to pop, which is quite nice.
When Mutagen Man enters, create X Mutagen tokens. So that's where the X cost comes into. Keep in mind that he actually always stays mana neutral, since the Mutagen tokens are free to pop as long as he is on the battlefield.
For 60 card formats... if a bunch of 1 mana activated ability artifact tokens become big, this might see play. Otherwise, I can't see it. Maybe if you just need a bunch of artifacts for some reason, then maybe dumping X = 1 or 2 might be worth it. For commander, definitely a 99 card. Mono Green isn't the greatest for artifact tokens, so you'd rather have him in the 99 of a deck.
Next is... Party Dude?
THEY DID COMMIT TO THE FREAKING BIT. WHY THE HELL IS IT LEADER'S TALENT? YES, I KNOW THE "<X>'S TALENTS" ARE HOW THE BLOOMBURROW ONES ARE CALLED, BUT IF YOU ARE GONNA REFERENCE THE 1987 THEME SONG, COMMIT. IT SHOULD'VE BEEN "LEADS!"
Anyway, let's move on. Another Class and for the abilities:
For 1 mana, you give everyone a Food token. Neat and kind of group hug-y, though I suppose this is about making a party.
For 2 mana, you level this Class to level 2 and get that whenever an artifact an opponent controls is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, draw a card. Well, should at least refund itself then whenever your opponent uses the Food token. Potentially goes card positive in multiplayer games or if your opponents is sacrificing a bunch of artifacts... or if you blow them up.
For 5 mana, you level this Class to level 3 and get that whenever one or more of your opponents are attacked, up to one target attacking creature gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of cards in your hand. Pretty good, but does mean you have to keep a good amount of cards in your hand to really get the most of it. Also, keep in mind, you attacking an opponent does triggers this and an opponent attacking another of your opponents triggers this!
For 60 card formats... no. The thing it does on entry is not necessarily a bad thing for your opponents, might even keep them out of lethal range. It does tax their mana a bit, though, so maybe for a very niche strategy. This is mainly a commander card, where this becomes an interesting political card of giving artifact, benefiting from your opponent's artifacts dying and making your opponent's creatures bigger when they attack another of your opponents. Play it in Group Hug or any deck that wants to get political with Green in it.
Let's go to the next card: Transdimensional Bovine!
Good to see you Cudley! Green makes sense, he is a cow and he is pretty chill!
3 mana for a 0/4 is below rate, but you're not using this for combat aside from blocking. Its abilities are:
Flying, so it can block fellow flying creatures. One of the few flying creatures in Green, so that's kind of need.
Tap this to add two many of any one color. So he's a souped up mana dork. I suppose not everything can be a flavor win, but it's still useful.
3 mana for a mana dork is a lot for 60 card formats, but it might see some play. Main thing is that this doesn't become mana positive until it has been alive for 2 turns, so that kind of sucks. In commander... yeah, mana dorks are good. You will run this in any deck that wants mana dorks, which is almost every deck. It flying and actually having pretty good toughness is also a boon.
Last but not least, Turtle Power!
3 mana for an enchantment with Flash (so you can cast it on instant speed) that gives turtles you control +2/+2. Simple, clean and... only relevant if turtles become relevant. You won't use this in 60 card formats unless the turtles in TMNT actually make a good turtle kindred deck. In commander... sure, you could use this in turtle typal, which is becoming more of a thing because of TMNT, but you have other options for anthem effects.
And that's the bunch for Green! Tomorrow we'll go to the multicolored cards! :D Thanks you for reading! o/
