Leonardo, Sewer Samurai
Mythic · Legendary Creature — Mutant Ninja Turtle Samurai · At the table
Let an evasive creature through, return it while casting the Ninja, and replay its useful enter or leave effect later.
Mechanics
The set’s mechanics with worked examples, then every word on the cards.
Sneak
During your own declare-blockers step, after blocks, cast for the sneak cost and return an unblocked attacker you control to hand.
How it works
- A creature cast this way enters tapped and attacking the same player or permanent.
- Sneak permits that casting timing for sorceries too; the spell can still be countered.
On the card
Watch out
- Sneak is unavailable before blocks or after combat damage. Returning the attacker is a cost, so opponents cannot remove it in response.
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- Examples are rules-derived · checked
Mutagen
A Mutagen token is an artifact you can pay one mana to tap and sacrifice, adding a +1/+1 counter to a target creature at sorcery speed.
How it works
- Creating it can trigger artifact-enter rewards.
- Sacrificing it can satisfy disappear before you cast another creature.
On the card
Crustacean Commando
Common · Creature — Crab Mutant Soldier · At the table
Use a spare main-phase mana to grow a creature, while keeping in mind artifact-count rewards.
Watch out
- Mutagen is not a combat trick: its own ability cannot be activated during combat or an opponent’s turn.
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Disappear
These abilities check whether a permanent left the battlefield while you controlled it this turn.
How it works
- Sacrifice, death, bounce and exile can all qualify.
- An ability can see an earlier departure even if its own permanent arrived later.
On the card
Foot Mystic
Common · Creature — Human Ninja Warlock · At the table
Sacrifice a Food or Mutagen before casting Foot Mystic to receive its Ninja token.
Watch out
- For a trigger with an intervening “if,” the departure must already have happened when it would trigger.
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Alliance
Alliance abilities trigger when another creature enters under your control.
How it works
- Creature tokens and creatures returned by blink both qualify.
- Several creatures entering at once can produce separate triggers.
On the card
The Neutrinos
Uncommon · Legendary Creature — Elf Rebel · At the table
A creature that makes a second body provides two alliance events.
Watch out
- The creature with alliance does not normally trigger its own “another creature” ability.
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Food
7 in Cards →A Food token is an artifact with a two-mana, tap-and-sacrifice ability that gains three life.
How it works
- Printed Food artifacts can have additional abilities.
- Sacrificing Food can enable disappear or another leaves-the-battlefield reward.
On the card
Spicy Oatmeal Pizza
Uncommon · Artifact — Food · At the table
Spend the Food only when its life or departure is worth more than retaining an artifact.
Watch out
- Sacrificing a Food to another cost does not also gain the three life from its own ability.
Rules detail & sourcesWizards · Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mechanics · Wizards · Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles release notes
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Class enchantments
A Class starts at level 1. Its level abilities unlock additional text at sorcery speed.
How it works
- Pay for level 2 before level 3.
- Previous levels remain active, and each Class tracks its own level.
On the card
Ninja Teen
Rare · Enchantment — Class · At the table
Develop enough creatures before spending a whole turn on a level that needs them.
Watch out
- Levels are not counters. Leveling a Class does not cause it to enter again.
Rules detail & sourcesWizards · Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mechanics · Wizards · Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles release notes
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- Examples are rules-derived · checked
Glossary
Every word on the cards and in the deck plans, defined once. Find a term, read its wording, then see it on a card.
59 terms · A–ZComprehensive Rules effective Sep 25 · checked Oct 29
Symbols
+1/+1 and −1/−1 counters
CounterA +1/+1 counter adds one power and one toughness; a −1/−1 counter subtracts one of each. These counters stay until removed or the object changes zones.
Watch out: If a permanent has both kinds, matching pairs are removed as a state-based action. A temporary +1/+1 effect is not a counter.
Action News Crew
Agent Bishop, Man in Black
Arcbound RavagerA
Affinity
Keyword abilityReduce the generic part of this spell’s cost by one for each permanent of the specified kind you control.
Watch out: It does not reduce the colored mana symbols. Check exactly what the card has affinity for.
Don & Raph, Hard Science
Krang, Master MindAlliance
Card mechanicAlliance abilities trigger when another creature enters under your control.
East Wind Avatar
EPF Point Squad
Lita, Little Orphan AmphibianC
Channel
Ability wordAn ability-word label for abilities that discard the card from your hand as a cost. Follow its printed cost and effect; this is an activated ability, not casting the card.
Charge, quest, and time counters
CounterThese named counters track whatever the card’s abilities say. Their names alone do not give a universal bonus or penalty.
Watch out: For example, vanishing uses time counters as a countdown. Read the particular card before deciding what adding another counter will do.
Umezawa's Jitte
Weather MakerClass enchantments
Card mechanicA Class starts at level 1. Its level abilities unlock additional text at sorcery speed.
Cool but Rude
Does Machines
Party DudeCounter a spell or ability
Keyword actionTo counter a spell or ability is to remove it from the stack without its effects resolving. A countered spell normally goes to its owner’s graveyard.
Watch out: This use of “counter” is different from placing a marker such as a +1/+1 counter on a card.
Fugitive Droid
Negate
Ooze SpillCrew
Keyword abilityTap other untapped creatures you control with enough total power to turn this Vehicle into an artifact creature until the turn ends.
Watch out: The crew creatures do not become the Vehicle’s attackers. A newly played Vehicle still needs haste to attack that turn.
Turtle Blimp
Turtle VanCurve
StrategyEnough useful low-cost plays to act before your expensive threats.
Cycling
Keyword abilityFrom your hand, pay the cycling cost and discard this card to draw a card.
Watch out: Cycling is an activated ability, not casting the card. Typecycling searches for a specified kind of card instead.
Bebop, Warthog Warrior
Jennika, Bad Apple Big Sister
Rocksteady, Crash CourserD
Deathtouch
Keyword abilityAny positive amount of damage this source deals to a creature is enough to make that damage lethal.
Watch out: It works with a fight or other noncombat damage. Indestructible still prevents destruction.
Dark Leo & Shredder
Frog Butler
Madame Null, Power BrokerDestroy
Keyword actionMove a permanent from the battlefield to its owner’s graveyard because an effect or lethal damage destroys it.
Watch out: Indestructible stops destruction. Sacrificing, exiling, and reducing toughness to 0 are different ways for a creature to leave.
Anchovy & Banana Pizza
Armaggon, Future Shark
Foot EliteDisappear
Card mechanicThese abilities check whether a permanent left the battlefield while you controlled it this turn.
Insectoid Exterminator
Krang & ShredderDiscard
Keyword actionMove a card from your hand to your graveyard.
Watch out: Discarding is not casting. It does not pay the card’s mana cost or produce its normal spell effect.
April, Reporter of the Weird
Bebop & RocksteadyDouble
Keyword actionFollow what is being doubled. Doubling power or toughness adds a modifier based on its current value; doubling counters adds as many of that kind as are already present.
Double strike
Keyword abilityThis creature deals combat damage in the first-strike damage step and again in the normal damage step if it is still in combat.
Watch out: If its blocker dies in the first step, a blocked attacker does not hit the player in the second step unless an ability such as trample allows it.
Hard-Won Jitte
Raphael, the NightwatcherE
Enchant
Keyword abilityAn Aura’s enchant line tells you what it may be attached to.
Watch out: An Aura cast as a spell targets what it will enchant. If it later becomes illegally attached, it normally goes to the graveyard.
Dimensional Exile
Retro-Mutation
Uneasy AllianceEnrage
Ability wordAn ability-word label for abilities that trigger when this creature is dealt damage. Follow the effect printed after the label.
Raphael, Ninja Destroyer
Silverclad FerocidonsEquip
Keyword abilityPay the equip cost to attach this Equipment to a target creature you control. Normally, activate equip only in your main phase when the stack is empty.
Watch out: The Equipment usually stays on the battlefield when the creature leaves. Moving it to another creature normally costs another equip activation.
Bespoke Bō
Conqueror's FlailExile
Keyword actionMove the object to the exile zone. It is separate from the graveyard.
Watch out: A card in exile cannot normally be played. You need a rule or effect giving permission, such as a resolved Adventure.
Bot Bashing Time
Death in the FamilyF
Fight
Keyword actionThe two creatures each deal damage equal to their power to the other at the same time.
Watch out: This is not combat. First strike and double strike do not add damage steps; deathtouch and lifelink still affect damage.
Novel NunchakuFinality counters
CounterIf a permanent with a finality counter would go from the battlefield to a graveyard, exile it instead.
Watch out: It does not die when this replacement sends it to exile, so ordinary “dies” abilities do not trigger.
First strike
Keyword abilityThis creature deals combat damage in an earlier step, before creatures without first strike or double strike.
Watch out: A creature killed in that early damage step usually cannot deal its normal combat damage.
Baxter Stockman
Leonardo, Leader in Blue
Mouser Attack!Flash
Keyword abilityYou may cast this spell when you could cast an instant, including during another player’s turn when you have priority.
Watch out: Flash changes when you may cast it. It does not let you cast from a different zone or avoid its costs.
Guac & Marshmallow Pizza
Renet, Temporal ApprenticeFlying
Keyword abilityAn attacking creature with flying can be blocked only by creatures with flying or reach.
Watch out: A flying creature can block a creature without flying.
Brilliance Unleashed
Buzz Bots
Donatello, Way with MachinesFood
TokenA standard Food token is an artifact with an ability costing two mana, tapping it, and sacrificing it to gain 3 life.
Watch out: Food is also an artifact type. Turning a card into a Food follows that effect’s text; the type alone does not grant an ability.
Courier of Comestibles
Featherbrained FilcherFood
Card mechanicA Food token is an artifact with a two-mana, tap-and-sacrifice ability that gains three life.
Forestcycling
Keyword abilityPay the printed cycling cost and discard this card to search for a Forest card, reveal it, put it into your hand and shuffle. This does not put the land onto the battlefield.
G
Graft
Keyword abilityThis permanent enters with the stated number of +1/+1 counters. When another creature enters, you may move one of its +1/+1 counters onto that creature.
Cytoplast ManipulatorH
Haste
Keyword abilityThis creature may attack and use abilities with the tap or untap symbol even if you have not controlled it since your turn began.
Watch out: It still needs to be untapped to attack or pay a tap cost.
Broadcast Takeover
Casey Jones, Jury-Rig Justiciar
Chrome DomeHexproof
Keyword abilityA permanent with hexproof cannot be targeted by spells or abilities its controller’s opponents control.
Watch out: Its controller may target it. Effects that do not target can still affect it.
Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker
Mondo Gecko
Saved by the ShellHybrid mana
Mana symbolEach split mana symbol can be paid using either half. For example, {W/U} costs one white or one blue mana; {2/B} costs two mana of any type or one black mana.
Watch out: Choose separately for each symbol. A {W/U} card is both white and blue even if you use only one color to cast it.
Don & Leo, Problem SolversI
Indestructible
Keyword abilityThis permanent cannot be destroyed by lethal damage or an effect that says “destroy.”
Watch out: It can still be exiled or sacrificed. A creature with toughness 0 or less still goes to the graveyard.
Krang, Utrom Warlord
Old Hob, Alleycat BluesIslandcycling
Keyword abilityPay the printed cycling cost and discard this card to search for an Island card, reveal it, put it into your hand and shuffle. This does not put the land onto the battlefield.
Stockman, Mad Fly-entistK
Keyword counters
CounterA keyword counter grants its named ability, such as trample, to the object it is on.
Watch out: A trample counter is not a +1/+1 counter. The named ability and the creature’s size are separate.
Kicker
Keyword abilityAs you cast the spell, you may pay its extra kicker cost. The card tells you what changes if you do.
Watch out: You decide and pay while casting. You do not get to add kicker after the spell has resolved.
Stomped by the FootL
Landfall
Ability wordThis label groups abilities that reward a land entering under your control. The rest of each card tells you its effect.
Watch out: A land entering from a spell can trigger landfall too. The label itself adds no rules; read the actual ability.
Lifelink
Keyword abilityWhen this source deals damage, its controller gains that much life at the same time.
Watch out: This also works for noncombat damage. It uses the damage actually dealt, not simply the creature’s printed power.
Leonardo, Cutting Edge
ShadowspearM
Menace
Keyword abilityThis attacking creature cannot be blocked by just one creature; at least two blockers are needed.
Watch out: It can still go unblocked. Losing one blocker after blocks are declared does not undo the original block.
MetalheadMill
Keyword actionPut the stated number of cards from the top of the named player’s library into that player’s graveyard.
Watch out: Milling is not drawing. An empty library makes you lose when you must draw from it, not merely when its last card is milled.
Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm
Kitsune's TechniqueModular
Keyword abilityThis permanent enters with the stated number of +1/+1 counters. When it goes from the battlefield to a graveyard, you may put a +1/+1 counter on a target artifact creature for each +1/+1 counter it had.
Mutagen
Card mechanicA Mutagen token is an artifact you can pay one mana to tap and sacrifice, adding a +1/+1 counter to a target creature at sorcery speed.
Genghis Frog
Michelangelo, Mutant BFFP
Plainscycling
Keyword abilityPay the printed cycling cost and discard this card to search for a Plains card, reveal it, put it into your hand and shuffle. This does not put the land onto the battlefield.
R
Reach
Keyword abilityThis creature may block creatures with flying.
Watch out: Reach does not give it flying or make its own attacks harder to block.
Mona Lisa, Science Geek
Primordial PachydermRetrace
Keyword abilityCast this card from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying its normal costs. Retrace does not itself exile the spell afterward.
Waves of AggressionS
Sacrifice
Keyword actionMove a permanent you control from the battlefield to its owner’s graveyard.
Watch out: Sacrifice is not destruction: indestructible does not stop it. You cannot sacrifice a teammate’s permanent unless an effect specifically permits it.
Saga & lore counters
Card mechanicA Saga normally enters with a lore counter and gains another as your first main phase begins. Reaching chapter numbers triggers those chapter abilities.
Watch out: The new lore counter is not added during upkeep. When its final chapter ability is no longer on the stack, you normally sacrifice the Saga.
The Cloning of Shredder
The Last RoninScry
Keyword actionLook at the stated number of cards from the top of your library. Put any number on the bottom and the rest back on top, choosing their order.
Watch out: Scry does not draw a card. Cards you move to the bottom do not go to the graveyard.
April O'Neil, Kunoichi Trainee
Dream Beavers
Hamato Guardian StanceSignal
Strategy · DraftRepeated useful late cards may suggest an open color; one card is weak evidence.
Sneak
Card mechanicDuring your own declare-blockers step, after blocks, cast for the sneak cost and return an unblocked attacker you control to hand.
Donatello, Gadget Master
Donatello's TechniqueStun counters
CounterIf a permanent with a stun counter would untap, remove one stun counter instead and leave it tapped.
Watch out: The counter does not tap an untapped permanent by itself. Several stun counters can stop several separate untaps.
Utrom ScientistsSupport
StrategyThe actual cards and mana that let a payoff work.
Surveil
Keyword actionLook at the stated number of cards from the top of your library. Put any number into your graveyard and the rest back on top in your chosen order.
Watch out: Surveil does not draw a card. Unlike scry, unwanted cards go to the graveyard instead of the bottom.
Undercity SewersSwampcycling
Keyword abilityPay the printed cycling cost and discard this card to search for a Swamp card, reveal it, put it into your hand and shuffle. This does not put the land onto the battlefield.
T
Tap and untap
Keyword actionTap means turn a permanent sideways; untap means return it upright. A tap symbol in a cost means you must tap that permanent to pay.
Watch out: Being tapped by another effect does not activate an ability or produce mana. Creatures normally cannot pay their own tap-symbol costs until you have controlled them since your turn began.
Trample
Keyword abilityAn attacking creature can assign excess combat damage to what it is attacking after assigning lethal damage to every blocker.
Watch out: It does not automatically send all damage past a small blocker. Trample on a blocking creature does not send damage to the attacking player.
General Traag, Heart of Stone
Groundchuck & DirtbagTypecycling & landcycling
Keyword abilityFrom your hand, pay the listed cost and discard the card. Search your library for the named kind of card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
Watch out: Basic landcycling finds a basic land. Mountaincycling finds a Mountain card; Halflingcycling finds a Halfling card. This does not put the found card onto the battlefield.
V
Vigilance
Keyword abilityAttacking does not tap this creature.
Watch out: It must still be untapped to be declared as an attacker. Vigilance does not remove summoning sickness.
W
Ward
Keyword abilityWhen an opponent’s spell or ability targets this permanent, ward triggers. That spell or ability is countered unless the opponent pays the ward cost.
Watch out: Ward is not hexproof: the opponent can target it and choose whether to pay. An effect that does not target does not trigger ward.
Mikey & Don, Party Planners
Punk Frogs