Michelangelo, On the SceneMichelangelo, On the Scene | Art by Lie Setiawan

The first round of reveals for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set are in! There are a lot of legends to be excited about, but one immediately grabbed my attention: Michelangelo, On the SceneMichelangelo, On the Scene.

It's no secret that I love building and playing with lands strategies in Commander, and Michelangelo offers a very unique take on the archetype that I'm eager to explore in this deck tech. This one ended up taking a fairly bizarre direction as I got deeper into the process, and I'm really excited about it.

What Does Michelangelo, On the Scene Do?

Michelangelo, On the SceneMichelangelo, On the Scene is a six-mana 2/2 with trample. He enters with a +1/+1 counter for each land his owner controls, and he returns to his owner's hand when he dies. I don't have an expansive enough knowledge of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lore to comment on how flavorful this design is, but I love how many directions this card lends itself to when placed in the command zone.

I had a lot of possibilities buzzing around in my head after reading this card for the first time. Lands-based Voltron was the first direction that struck me, a marriage of my two favorite styles of play. Then, I started thinking of different ways I could include Michelangelo in various combos. Eventually, I settled on a hybrid of those two directions that leverages each line of text on Michelangelo, and the end result is a deck that almost makes me feel like I'm piloting Modern Amulet Titan.

Key Cards for Michelangelo, On the Scene

Step one for this Michelangelo, On the SceneMichelangelo, On the Scene deck is filling the graveyard with lands. Everything that comes next hinges on being able to recur a large quantity of lands with effects like Aftermath AnalystAftermath Analyst and Splendid ReclamationSplendid Reclamation. Flooding the board with lands serves two very important functions: netting a massive amount of Landfall triggers and ensuring that Michelangelo will enter with a ridiculous amount of +1/+1 counters.

Speaking of Landfall, Lotus CobraLotus Cobra and Nissa, Resurgent AnimistNissa, Resurgent Animist are the creatures we're most looking to pair with Aftermath AnalystAftermath Analyst and Splendid ReclamationSplendid Reclamation. The combination of Aftermath Analyst and Nissa, Resurgent Animist was a big player in Standard not long ago, and it's no surprise why. Making a mana of any color for all the lands Aftermath Analyst puts into play tapped basically mitigates that downside entirely. Then, when SpelunkingSpelunking or Amulet of VigorAmulet of Vigor is added to the mix, Aftermath Analyst ends up making mana equal to double the number of lands it put into play.

One potential downfall of a deck that's looking to mill itself a lot is that sometimes key pieces end up stuck in the graveyard with few ways to escape. Recursion engines, like SixSix and Crucible of WorldsCrucible of Worlds help mitigate that problem. They also synergize with each other very nicely, as lands discarded to retrace can just be played through Crucible.

Turn the EarthTurn the Earth is a really cool safety valve that I stole from similar decks in constructed formats. This instant shuffles three cards from graveyards into their owner's library and it has flashback. That's perfect, as it can be cast from the graveyard if it gets milled! I've found myself reaching for Turn the Earth very frequently in scenarios where I have a tutor that could grab the perfect card from my deck, if only said card wasn't in the graveyard. A personal highlight was shuffling Altar of the BroodAltar of the Brood back into my deck in response to the third chapter ability of Urza's SagaUrza's Saga.

Like any good lands deck, this build of Michelangelo, On the SceneMichelangelo, On the Scene has the combination of Dark DepthsDark Depths and Thespian's StageThespian's Stage up its sleeve. This deck can leverage a 20/20 Marit LageMarit Lage token in more ways than a typical lands deck. Not only is Marit Lage a fantastic attacker and blocker, but it can be sacrificed to Greater GoodGreater Good to draw 20 cards or to Altar of DementiaAltar of Dementia to mill 20 cards. Given how easy it is to make replacement Marit Lages, this combo definitely merits its inclusion.

How Does This Michelangelo, On the Scene Deck Win?

Michelangelo, On the SceneMichelangelo, On the Scene gives the deck its best win condition: milling the opponents out by repeatedly sacrificing him and bringing him back into play with DeathrenderDeathrender. This also works as a way to generate infinite mana alongside Phyrexian AltarPhyrexian Altar! This is the biggest reason to have Michelangelo lead this deck rather than other mono-green lands commanders, like Lumra, Bellow of the WoodsLumra, Bellow of the Woods.

This deck's secondary win condition is assembling a loop with Aftermath AnalystAftermath Analyst, Shifting WoodlandShifting Woodland, an Amulet of VigorAmulet of Vigor effect, a land sacrifice outlet, and a payoff like Altar of the BroodAltar of the Brood to mill the opponents out. This combo is a little difficult to assemble, but there is a lot of redundancy in the deck to offset that.

Altar of DementiaAltar of Dementia is a dangerous card alongside this deck's Landfall creatures. Tifa LockhartTifa Lockhart and Mossborn HydraMossborn Hydra often grow big enough to mill out an unsuspecting opponent out of nowhere after the use of either Aftermath AnalystAftermath Analyst or Splendid ReclamationSplendid Reclamation. Springheart NantukoSpringheart Nantuko and Scute SwarmScute Swarm also generate swarms of Insects that can do the same. By the time Scute Swarm has forced someone at the table to get out a calculator, this Insect has probably made enough copies of itself to comfortably mill the table with a few hundred Altar of Dementia activations.

Over the course of long, grindy games Michelangelo, On the SceneMichelangelo, On the Scene serves two win conditions. The first is, of course, commander damage. Michelangelo becomes a lethal threat in the late game, often entering with ridiculous numbers of +1/+1 counters that can be doubled with cards like Innkeeper's TalentInnkeeper's Talent and Scythecat CubScythecat Cub. The other win condition Michelangelo serves very nicely is milling through Altar of DementiaAltar of Dementia. With The OzolithThe Ozolith preserving his +1/+1 counters and his natural ability to go back to hand rather than the command zone each time he dies, Michelangelo can serve as a repeatable source of mill that gets scarier and scarier as the game goes on.

Michelangelo, On the Scene Commander Decklist

Conclusion

This is easily the jankiest deck I've ever put together. I'd definitely confine this deck to Bracket 2 (Core) or lower power Bracket 3 (Upgraded) tables. It takes a lot of time and wheel-spinning to achieve this deck's ultimate goals, which can be problematic as Commander as a format speeds up with each passing year. Nevertheless, I think this deck is really sweet. Players that enjoy the challenge of setting up complex combos and playing most of the game from behind will get a real kick out of this deck.

This deck suffers from an eternal mono-green problem: there isn't any good way to tutor for artifacts that isn't a million mana. This is consistent with green's role in the color pie, but it's very annoying for Michelangelo's purposes. That means there will be no searching for DeathrenderDeathrender, Altar of DementiaAltar of Dementia, or Phyrexian AltarPhyrexian Altar. Milling them and then copying them with Shifting WoodlandShifting Woodland or drawing a crazy amount of cards really are the only ways to access these critical pieces.