Shredder, Shadow MasterShredder, Shadow Master | Art by Miklós Ligeti

From the vibrant, and contrasting world of Lorwyn Eclipsed, we go now return to the streets of New York City of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT). From the mutant animals to the Foot Clan, to the bizarre pizza, its certainly an interesting set.

While this isn't a property I have any connection to, I am willing to give a fair shot. I may not like it, but even I will admit there are cards here that I think will make excellent additions to any Minotaur typal deck.

For those new to my reviews, I analyze cards from the perspective of Minotaur typal and how they can be used in the various sub strategies available, those currently being Aggressive Combat, Discard, and Magar Big Spells. Each has their own nuances, but all broadly rely on the same core Minotaur typal backbone.

So with that, lets explore these dark sewers and see what's in store with TMNT.

Shredder, Shadow MasterShredder, Shadow Master

Let's kick things off with the main bad guy himself, Shredder. Having a myriad-esque of ability in black is pretty rare and Shredder is on another level compared to the cards we do have. Myriad is an effect I've always enjoyed to dabble in, given how combat focused Minotaurs are. By attacking everyone he gives cover for our Minotaurs.

As the damage Shredder will inflict is so devastating, the opponents will have no choice but to prioritize blocking him. In doing so, he and his clones give our Minotaurs an opening.

Unfortunately Shredder is of course not a Minotaur, but if we have Maskwood NexusMaskwood Nexus or ConspiracyConspiracy in play, he will be. As a Minotaur, Shredder will become an unstoppable killing machine once Minotaur-centered buffs apply to him.

Fast ForwardFast Forward

You can never under estimate the power of a mass goad spell. At retail this is a pretty expensive spell for Minotaurs to effectively use. To my knowledge Disrupt DecorumDisrupt Decorum is the only card with a similar effect and it costs four mana.

This is where the other half of the card comes in. By attacking all our opponents, we can reduce the cost down to two mana!

Then by goading all our opponents' creatures two things happen. The first is that we are protected from any retaliatory combat for the next turn, as our opponents cannot attack us after being goaded (unless they drop a creature with haste). The second is that on our next turn our opponents will likely have few untapped creatures after all the goading.

With few creatures left to defend themselves, this gives us another turn of combat to inflict maximum damage.

If you time the use of this spell correctly, it should allow us to end the game, or at least take out a player or two. After which, any that are still standing should be in a very weak position to deal with us.

Shredder's TechniqueShredder's Technique

Something that's been a thorn in the side of Minotaurs for a long time are enchantments. Minotaurs are mostly Rakdos (), and there are very few tools in those colors for us to get rid of enchantments efficiently. Feed the SwarmFeed the Swarm or Chaos WarpChaos Warp are the old staples for their cheap cost and versatility.

But two cards in the 99 means they aren't always available when we need them.

Shredder's Technique has serious potential for any Minotaur deck. It's relatively cheap and can serve as removal for enchantments or creatures, depending on the situation. Destroying an enchantment will cost us two life, but with commander life totals I'm happy to pay that.

What really makes this interesting is the sneak alternate casting cost. With it we can make the Technique cost a single black mana, but one of our attacking Minotaurs will be bounced to hand. The problem I have is that the sneak cost puts us at a tempo disadvantage. Most Minotaurs we play cost at least three mana, so the sneak cost reduction isn't saving us mana and removes a creature from combat.

The only exception to consider is that by bouncing a Minotaur to our hand we can get another SethronSethron enter the battlefield (ETB) trigger, if that's even something we would need.

I don't think I will use the sneak ability much, but I appreciate having the option available.

Madame Null, Power BrokerMadame Null, Power Broker

Madame Null is very interesting due to her proposition: we trade our life and our creatures get a significant power up. Most Minotaurs usually have low stats, so this shakes everything up.

With Null in play, when I cast a humble Hurloon MinotaurHurloon Minotaur it enters as 4/5 for the added cost of two life. It's such a simple thing, but it ratchets up our combat potential incredibly fast.

Minotaurs are already built to snowball, and Madame Null speeds this up considerably as we're effectively doubling our creatures' stats as they enter.

Now, we will be bleeding our life points with her effect, but in my experience this shouldn't be too much of an issue. If we are appropriately aggressive, our opponents' life totals will be falling faster than ours. And if we hit hard enough, then they likely will be on the back foot putting their resources into defense. And should our life total get too low, we can simply choose to not use Madame Null, as her text is a "may" ability.

Over all I am seriously impressed by this Demon and I'm looking forward to seeing firsthand how effective she'll be.

Ninja TeenNinja Teen

This Class enchantment didn't immediately jump out at me. My rule of thumb for these kinds of cards is that their first first level should at least do something Minotaur decks want. Because of how much mana needs to be invested into these cards, the opportunity cost of not developing our board can put us behind.

This is all to say I wasn't impressed by Level 1 with a cost of three mana. Its clear this is meant to work with Ninja cards or sacrifice decks. Now there is a niche sacrifice theme in Minotaurs, but pinging for one life isn't that impressive to me.

However, Level 2 captured my attention. This ability gives our creatures +1 power and menace. In other words, this is effectively a menace lord for our Minotaurs, an effect filled by Sethron's three mana activated ability. With this context, paying a total five mana didn't seem as steep, especially when Ninja Teen is a lot harder to destroy than our creatures.

But Level 3 is what really sold me. With this we can sneak creatures out of our graveyard and into combat. Unlike with Shredder's TechniqueShredder's Technique, no tempo is lost as we are substituting one creature for another.

One of the challenges Minotaurs can have is resurrecting our creatures, especially our lord Minotaurslord Minotaurs. This third level makes combat a nightmare for our opponents if they can't exile our graveyard, as suddenly it becomes nearly impossible to keep our Minotaurs in check. As even if they remove one of our lords or a heavy hitter like MoraugMoraug, they'll just keep coming back every combat.

And if Sethron is our Commander, the ETB will create a new token that we can use for the sneak next combat.

Cool but RudeCool but Rude

Unlike with Ninja Teen, Cool but Rude is a Class that was very easy to pick out of the set for Minotaurs. This enchantment has everything the discard variant of Minotaur decks could want at every level.

At Level 1, it's easy to cast for two mana and has an immediate impact. Now every combat we can rummage for free, which gives a good outlet for cards with madness and triggers our discard synergies. And because it rummages for us, we stay card neutral and don't run the risk of exhausting our hand early.

Level 2 is where things get a bit spicy. For an extra two mana when ever we discard a card we ping our opponents for two damage. This on its own is insanely powerful, as now every discard becomes a source of damage that can build up fast. A card like Wheel of FortuneWheel of Fortune suddenly has the ability to just melt our opponents. Then consider if Glint-Horn BuccaneerGlint-Horn Buccaneer is in play, each discard now will deal three damage to all our opponents.

Even if our opponents were at 40 life, it would only take 14 cards discarded to kill them. So in the thick of game it could take as little as six or seven discards to kill everyone at the table - which the Minotaur discard deck is well positioned to accomplish.

At Level 3, we effectively are paying an extra mana to cast GambleGamble. I think this is perfect effect to cap off the Class as it allows us to search for Glint-Horn Buccaneer or perhaps even a wheel effect. This should allow us to guarantee our deck to pop off with the Level 2 ability and close out the game - provided that the card we searched for doesn't end up being the card we randomly discard. Which is exactly what I know will happen to me, as in my experience and bad luck, every time I've cast Gamble I end up discarding the card I searched for.

Conclusion

And with that we come to a close on the pizza-strewn city streets of TMNT. Not a favorite set of mine, but I'm always amazed to find gems within sets that don't personally appeal to me. However, with the next set being a return to Strixhaven, I'm very eager to see what new secrets there are to uncover, especially since it's being rumored Angrath's daughter is involved.

Until next time, be sure to check out the other set reviews found on EDHREC for a broader analysis on everything Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has to offer.