by Johnny Cycles, March 3rd, 2026
Here are my top 10 Modern cards from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I’d say about half of this list are cards only lovers of jank will play, while the other half
are legitimately good cards.
Rather Watch?
10.
Okay, okay. I don’t think anyone will play this card in Modern except me, but I really, really, really want to play it in my Boros Blasphemous Act deck.
Wipe the board and get 13 red mana to do with what we will? Banefire is the janky dream, but I’m sure most decks could find a way to spend that mana.
Will it be good?
Eh, probably not.
But if we live the dream once, it’ll be worth it!
9.
I’ve played Rat Tribal in Modern, thanks to an opponent who sent me their decklist after beating me with Rats.
The deck has legs…pun intended.
This 2-mana Rat Avatar grows our army in more than one way, while also incentivizing us to play a bunch of cards like Rat Colony.
8.
Red decks have a lot of options for card draw in the 3-mana spot in Modern. I don’t see this usurping those in any deck but Mono Red Burn.
7.
5/5 flying Dragon for 5 mana is okay, though it could really use haste.
What makes this card so unique and intriguing is its ability to tutor up silver bullets from our sideboard.
In a format as fast as Modern, though, will it be too late to matter?
Stay tuned! I’m going to find out!
6.
Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11/Mikey & Leo, Chaos & Order
I’m including these together, as I plan on playing them in the same deck.
The first is a 2-mana Hardened Scales on a Turtle with the added upside of a mutagen token that we can crack to make it a 3/3.
Of course, that’s not what we care about.
We want another way to get extra counters on our creatures in my Mono Green Landfall deck.
The second is a inexpensive way to net a card off the counters we plan on putting on our creatures. Sure, it only triggers once per turn, but we don’t usually mind
putting counters on our things on our opponent’s turn.
Since both are creatures, we can run them alongside Collected Company as powerful enablers for an already explosive deck.
5.
I see this card going in the sideboard of Mono Red or a Rakdos good stuff deck as a way to punish all those free spells in the format.
As a 3/2 with menace, it could fill out the main deck of any strategy looking to beat face while also taxing opponents.
4.
Class Enchantments
If Bloomburrow taught us anything, it’s not to underestimate the power of these enchantments.
Cool but Rude has gotten the most hype so far, but I really like the potential of Party Dude as a sideboard card against Affinity.
Leader’s Talent, meanwhile, should power up most lifegain decks in all formats, but will see the most play in Commander.
3.
Ninja Tribal
Splinter’s Technique is probably the best of the bunch, but with so many Ninjas with sneak, Ninja Tribal just got a ton of new toys.
Splinter, Hamato Yoshi is a sweet new lord for the tribe. Meanwhile, Jennika’s Technique is a 1-mana Pyroclasm for Ninjas.
I’ve never played Ninja Tribal, but I can only imagine the deck will get a lot better with this set.
2.
At first, I thought there was a typo on this card. Disappear is a new mechanic that checks at your end step if a permanent left the battlefield during your turn. If so, something good happens.
Well, Super Shredder is disappear on steroids. No waiting until the end step. No one-time triggers.
And, amazingly, no restrictions regarding the permanent.
That’s right. Permanents your opponents control will trigger this Mutant Ninja Human, too.
. . .
I just want to take a second to soak that in.
Oh, and it has menace, because, why not?
Super Shredder plays well with Moonshadow, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, and all those Blink decks running around the format.
For 2 mana, though, will it be better than Orcish Bowmasters, which can also kill it?
1.
Yeah, this card could go under Ninja Tribal, but I have a feeling we’ll be seeing it in all those decks playing Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student. What’s better than getting a Clue a turn?
Drawing two extra cards on turn 2, then recasting the Tamiyo.
It also plays well with Dragon’s Rage Channeler in Izzet Tempo decks.
Attaching instants and sorceries to the sneak mechanic is pretty busted, in my opinion. I think I’m only scratching the surface with its potential with the above
two cards.
Well, what do you think? What have I missed? Let me know in the comments, and thanks for watching! I’ll catch y’all on the next one.
