Leatherhead, Iron GatorLeatherhead, Iron Gator | Art by Andrey Kuzinskiy

So far, the mono-green cards from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have connected with me more than the rest of the set. My first deck tech from the set was Michelangelo, On the SceneMichelangelo, On the Scene way back in October 2025. Now, I'm returning with another! In this deck tech, I'll be taking a shot at Leatherhead, Iron GatorLeatherhead, Iron Gator.

I knew very little about Turtles lore coming into this set outside of the bits and pieces of the of 2003 and 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. My memory of Leatherhead is very different from how she's depicted on her cards in this set, and I have absolutely no idea what that's about. I adore this version of her, though, and I'm really happy to feature her in the command zone.

What Does Leatherhead, Iron Gator Do?

Leatherhead, Iron GatorLeatherhead, Iron Gator is a very simple seven-mana mono-green commander with trample and haste. Whenever she attacks, she gives two +1/+1 counters to her controller's entire board. That's it! Just two keywords and a single trigger.

Due to her simplicity, a deck with Leatherhead, Iron Gator at the helm is fairly open-ended. I'm choosing to go in the counters matter direction since Leatherhead is a pretty decent top end for that strategy. This deck will be packed with modular creatures, counter amplifiers, and the most powerful counter producers around!

Key Cards for Leatherhead, Iron Gator

Creatures and Counters

Phase one of this deck's game plan is getting creatures onto the battlefield and putting counters on them. Bristly Bill, Spine SowerBristly Bill, Spine Sower and Scythecat CubScythecat Cub are fantastic self-sufficient engines to get the ball rolling. They each come down for two mana and add counters to the board for the low, low price of playing lands. The counters from those two can very easily enable amplifiers, like Arwen, Weaver of HopeArwen, Weaver of Hope, which escalates in value the more counters she amasses.

OuroboroidOuroboroid is the pinnacle of mass counter generation. Honestly, if I could just put this Wurm in the command zone instead, I would. With any level of board presence immediate and a way to immediately put counters on it will often produce enough power on the board to just kill someone. Opponents will be scrambling to find their removal spells after only one or two combat steps.

The next important part of this deck's plan is permanents that amplify the number of counters that will be placed on creatures. Hardened ScalesHardened Scales and its cousins, Ozolith, the Shattered SpireOzolith, the Shattered Spire and the newly printed Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11, are famously good with modular creatures and effects that move counters around. The purpose of these amplifiers is to be low-opportunity-cost, low-mana-cost ways to super charge the deck's game plan. Most of them survive board wipes and really won't attract a lot of removal when deployed in multiples.

This deck has a small package of modular creatures, like Arcbound Worker and Arcbound Ravager, and a couple of sacrifice outlets that can enable really nasty turns in the mid-game when several of the deck's engines are firing. The dream scenario is one where The OzolithThe Ozolith places a bunch of counters on a modular creature with a counter-doubler, like Branching EvolutionBranching Evolution, in play, then sacrificing the modular creature and doubling the counters again as they hit another creature, all at instant speed during combat. The floor of the modular creatures is also quite high, given that being a creature on the board that soaks up counters is still very useful, particularly since Leatherhead, Iron GatorLeatherhead, Iron Gator rewards decks that can go a little wide.

I've included a handful of cards with earthbending as a way to generate a board of creatures with counters on them without really needing any creatures. Badgermole CubBadgermole Cub and Earthbender AscensionEarthbender Ascension just happen to be a phenomenal pieces of ramp in addition to a way to add some power to the board. Meanwhile, Ba Sing SeBa Sing Se is a repeatable source of earthbending that can use up extra mana in the late stages of grindy games.

How Does this Leatherhead, Iron Gator Deck Win the Game?

The first and easiest way to win a game with Leatherhead, Iron Gator is to do the same thing as any other green stompy deck: make creatures big, give them trample, and turn them sideways. Triumph of the HordesTriumph of the Hordes is simply one of the most efficient ways of doing just that, as granting creatures both trample and infect drastically reduces the amount of damage needed to kill the table in a single combat step.

Champion of LambholtChampion of Lambholt and a few permanents that give modified creatures trample, like Kodama of the West TreeKodama of the West Tree, are here to grant evasion to the most powerful creatures in the deck and trivialize the task of getting large amounts of damage through boards that are dense with blockers.

Hangarback WalkerHangarback Walker and Walking BallistaWalking Ballista are both lovely places to put a huge hoard of counters when it's time to end the game. Hangarback WalkerHangarback Walker can make a gigantic board of tokens after inheriting some counters from The OzolithThe Ozolith and Walking BallistaWalking Ballista provides a removal engine and even a burn win condition in really extreme cases.

Leatherhead, Iron Gator Commander Deck List

Conclusion

Leatherhead, Iron Gater is a pretty strange commander, and I think it'd be delusional to say that she's insanely powerful or anything of the sort. However, I think she's pretty fun in a Bracket 2 (Core) context, and I'll take pretty much any excuse to put a big reptile in the command zone. My first couple iterations leaned pretty hard into the idea of forcing as many reptiles in the deck as possible, but it was a venture that quickly became complicated since reptiles are split among so many creature types (Snakes, Turtles, Crocodiles, Birds, Dinosaurs, and Dragons). Nevertheless, I'm fairly happy with where I've landed here and I'd love to see what additions people in the comments would make!