MMM Ninja Turtles
- bonzaientertainmen
- 11 minutes ago
- 7 min read
Welcome back to Make Mine Magic, where I look at a Universes Beyond Legendary Creature and try to convince you to play an in universe card instead. Today, we look at a card from the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle set. One card but a mashup of characters and creature types. Krang & Shredder is a 6 mana 6/7 Utrom Human Ninja. It has 2 abilities: when it enters the battlefield or attacks you exile a nonland card from the top of each opponent’s library and you can one of the exiled spells at the end of your turn if one of your permanents left the battlefield.
I chose an in universe (ie real Magic card) commander that behaves similar to Krang & Shredder, but in a more efficient and more interesting way: Etrata, Deadly Fugitive. I’m grading these cards on their ability to steal cards, efficiency to cast those cards, and Commander playability. We should continue with an examination of the in universe commander.
Etrata, Deadly Fugitive is a 3 mana 1/4 with Deathtouch. Although her stat line is less impressive than Krang & Shredder, she makes up for it with Deathtouch. If the two cards ever go toe to toe, everyone loses. She has the ability to Cloak the top card of an opponent’s library whenever an assassin I control deals combat damage to that player. Cloak is just another Morph variant, which is fitting with the her other ability. For 4 mana I can flip one of the face down cards I control. If it’s a creature, it just stays on the battlefield, if not, I can cast that card from exile without having to pay for it. That can be very lucrative if the spell costs more than 4. Too often, you get stuck when the face down card is a non creature spell. Not so with this ability.
If we compare the castability of Etrata and Krang & Shredder we start to see where the value lies. K&S allow you to cast one of the cards they exiled for free, with a catch. You have to have a permanent leave the battlefield. If you meet that criteria, then you can cast an exiled spell for free at the end of the turn. Free is good, but all the strings are a drag. Disappear is like building around Revolt so it’s very doable to build your deck around it. Only one card though? I’m going to build up a backlog very quickly. 4 mana is obviously more than 0, but 2 or 3 cards per turn cycle is very doable even at 4 mana per card. The other dimension that is easy to overlook is where the card are. Exiled cards are safe from discard effects, but how often do you play against hand disruption? The cloaked cards have the opportunity to attack for me. I have no problem letting a Cloaked land die in combat or another spell I never plan to cast. An exiled card can’t do that for me. Enough 2/2s attacking could actually win me the game. Plus, if a creature is face down I can turn it over upon attack if it has greater than 2 power and really take a chunk out on opponent’s life total as a total surprise.
I think the flexibility to turn over multiple cards in a turn cycle and having an army of 2/2s is more valuable than possible getting one card for free per turn cycle. Plus, with Etrata, the face down card retains the ability to turn it over, so I can turn those cards over even if my commander isn’t on the field. The same is not true for K&S since it has to be on the field to get the value. This category goes to Etrata.
The next thing to look at is how we get access to those cards. K&S makes it easy to start. Immediately you notice the blinkability of this beefy commander option. It’s far safer than attacking. Although, with access to Black you could always recur it if it happens to die in combat. That’s certainly more economical than recasting it. 8 mana is a lot. Etrata doesn’t care about ETBs but does care about combat damage. The nice thing is she doesn’t have to be the one doing the damage, any Assassin will do. If I flood my board with Assassins I can get way more cards. The ceiling is very high. I don’t need to cast all of those cards, just the most effective ones. Each successful hit just grows my army thanks to Cloak. It’s easy to get Assassins in play, from something as on the nose as Ramses, Assassin Lord to something very versatile like Changeling Outcast. An Arcane Adaptation or Maskwood Nexus would extend the Assassin type to all of my creatures, including my Cloaked creatures, scaling up my army in a big way. I think it’s easier to cast one of those and let it sit on the battlefield to accrue my value than having to cast my commander and fill up my deck with blink spells. Etrata feeds herself this way, so she edges it out.
I think it’s useful to examine the commanders’ stats to judge them more appropriately. Etrata is only 3 mana. That means if she gets removed, I can recast her before I could play Krang & Shredder. And cast it a second time if it were to be removed again. I can be attacking as early as turn 3 with Etrata, Deadly Fugitive. That means access to even more cards in the early game to grow my board and my strategy. Krang & Shredder will not reliably hit the field before turn 5. I may get an equal number of cards from my opponents by the time I cast K&S as I would have from Etrata, but without the multiple turns to have cast one of the cards. Etrata wins this category solely on the basis of speed to get the theft effect shared by both cards.
Etrata wins, but I think this is the closest my 2 commanders have come to a draw since I started the Make Mine Magic series. As the winner I have a decklist for you built around Etrata. Let’s take a look below.
Aven Heartstabber | Telepathy | |
Tasha, The Witch Queen | Wizened Snitches | |
Predator's Hour | ||
Xanthar, Guild Kingpin | ||
Thief of Sanity | Guul Draz Assassin | Ruthless Ripper |
Gonti, Night Minister | They Came from the Pipes | Silumgar's Assassin |
Dauthi Voidwalker | Leyline of Transformation | Ravenloft Adventurer |
Agent of Treachery | ||
Siphon Insight | Twist Reality | |
Outrageous Robbery | Charcoal Diamond | |
Heartless Conscription | Sky Diamond | |
Orochi Soul-Reaver | Dimir Keyrune | |
Dimir Cluestone | ||
Mindstone | ||
Court of Lochtwain | Primordial Mist | Midnight Clock |
Mari, the Killing Quill | Codex Shredder | Saphire Medallion |
Baleful Mastery | Jet Medallion | |
Feed the Swarm | Kindred Dominance | Wayfarer's Bauble |
Withering Torment | Read the Bones | Commander's Sphere |
Go for the Throat | Sign in Blood | Heartless Conscription |
Hero's Downfall | ||
Blast Zone | Bojuka Bog | Scavenger Grounds |
Command Tower | Temple of Deceit | Fetid Pools |
Islan x15 | Swamp x15 | |
Etrata’s ability is proportional to the number of Assassins I have doing work. I started with one of the oldest of these cards, Royal Assassin. He doesn’t seem like much, but a repeatable removal effect is very powerful. Similarly, I added Big Game Hunter. It has a great effect when it enters the battlefield. The Madness is interesting but unlikely to be paid in most games. I also like Iridescent Vinelasher. I can play it on turn 1 easily, or I can wait until I can pay the Offspring cost. Double Landfall triggers are very powerful.
I added many theft cards to bolster what my commander does. Nightveil Specter is one of my favorite cards for this plan. It’s very castable and evasive. Cunning Rhetoric accomplishes the same goal, just differently. If someone is crazy enough to attack I get the top card of his library. I can save it for a rainy day. It’s great.
My theft plan doesn’t end there. Dream Harvest turbo charges Etrata’s ability. 5 mana value across all opponents and free casting makes this card worth 7 mana. That’s still better than playing K&S. Mind’s Dilation just puts the onus on my opponents. It’s not just me stealing their cards, but them giving me more of them. Silent-Blade Oni gives me access to any card I may have lost track of or that has been drawn by an opponent.
I’m staring down a lot of face down cards with all of my Assassins attacking so regularly. Why should I be the only one? Ixidron can come in and flip the battlefield on its head. I can turn some of those cards over with the “pay 4 cast a facedown spell.” You really can’t. I also have Ixidor, Reality Sculptor to help with the flipability of face down cards. Sure, he can only help me with creatures, but 3 mana is easier to stomach than 4 mana with 2 specific colors. Ghastly Conscription is the real deal for making a bunch of face down creatures. I’m happy to weaponize your graveyard against everyone. Training Grounds offers a stronger effect, reducing the cost to flip a card by 2.
When it comes to a theft strategy you really want to make sure you’re getting the best card from your opponent. I want to maximize that effect. I added spells that let me see the top of your library to help determine if it’s worth attacking a given opponent. Telepathy is the best version of this effect as it doesn’t force me to play with my library revealed. The same is not true for Wizened Snitches, Zur’s Weirding, and Lantern of Insight.
Knowing is half the battle, so they say. I’m only getting half of the value for being able to look at opponent’s Libraries. I can do better. I want to clear the card from the top of the library and get access to a better card. Codex Shredder not only lets me clear out another card, but it lets me recur a specific card. Ghoulcaller’s Bell is slightly different. It can clear everyone’s card. If I can’t have it, neither can you.
I’m keeping it short today. Thanks for checking in on the latest Make Mine Magic article. Let me know what you think of the series. Are there any other Legendary creatures I should put head to head?
Thanks for reading and all the support to date. I have affiliate links with Mana Pool and TCG Player to help fund these off the wall strategies. It's what makes all this possible,
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