Splinter, Radical RatSplinter, Radical Rat | Art by Manuel Castañon

Hey everyone! As of this writing, we're on the cusp of a return visit to the School of Mages with Secrets of Strixhaven releasing on April 24. In preparation for that, I've prepared a little Pop QuizPop Quiz for my dear students — er, readers. Ready?

Do you know who works at schools?

Teachers!

Do you know what students give teachers, according to the ancient texts?

Apples!

Which is the biggest apple of them all?

New York!

Which set takes place in New York! That's right, it's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT), although I would have accepted Marvel's Spider-Man.

Pencils down! How did you all do? Now, let's check your work and see who finished in the top 10!

10. Ninja TeenNinja Teen - 9,690 decks decks

It's truly fitting that a Class kicks off our list. Ninja TeenNinja Teen does what it says on the tin, really. It's a cool enabler for Ninja typal decks utilizing both TMNT's sneak and the classic ninjutsu ability.

Thanks to this set, Yuriko, the Tiger's ShadowYuriko, the Tiger's Shadow and her other cohorts are joined by new commander options like Splinter, Radical RatSplinter, Radical Rat and Dark Leo & ShredderDark Leo & Shredder, who both open up interesting builds without .

It even gives that deck more resiliency by letting you sneak creatures into play from the graveyard. And, at just three additional mana to fully level up, it doesn't tax your resources significantly.

9. Mona Lisa, Science GeekMona Lisa, Science Geek - 10,472 decks, 37 as commander

While three mana may be a steep cost for a creature that produces mana and not much else (yes, fine, reach is a thing), there are infinite ways to abuse Mona Lisa's ability by increasing her power. Staying within the TNMT set, Leonardo, the BalanceLeonardo, the Balance and various partners like Donatello, the BrainsDonatello, the Brains and April O'Neil, Live on the SceneApril O'Neil, Live on the Scene make it pretty easy to pump her up through MutagenMutagen tokens and other extra bits of cardboard.

Beyond the confines of NYC, you can get the job done with the likes of Ms. BumbleflowerMs. Bumbleflower, Jenova, Ancient CalamityJenova, Ancient Calamity, and Jodah, the UnifierJodah, the Unifier, who all pump your team. Or, you could get zany with it and check out Jeff Girten's mono-green "Burn" deck with her as commander.

8. Mutagen Man, Living OozeMutagen Man, Living Ooze - 10,309 decks, 294 as commander

Making Clue, Food, Blood, Mutagen, and Lander tokens cheaper (and in some cases, free) to activate is a pretty interesting ability. The additional upside of being able to sink a bunch of mana into Mutagen Man's third line of rules text makes him downright appealing in decks like Frodo, Adventurous HobbitFrodo, Adventurous Hobbit/Sam, Loyal AttendantSam, Loyal Attendant and TMNT's generally token-friendly pairings of Michelangelo, the HeartMichelangelo, the Heart, Donatello, the BrainsDonatello, the Brains, and Leonardo, the BalanceLeonardo, the Balance.

7. Lessons from LifeLessons from Life - 10,785 decks

I love Simic () decks in all formats, so you're not going to have to twist my arm to learn this particular lesson. This comes from an illustrious line of card advantage spells that also give you a permanent mana advantage, like Urban EvolutionUrban Evolution, Eureka MomentEureka Moment, and Growth SpiralGrowth Spiral, the latter of which is in almost 400,000 decks.

These cards are pretty popular in Lands Matter builds from Towns with The Wandering MinstrelThe Wandering Minstrel to whatever the heck Omnath, Locus of CreationOmnath, Locus of Creation feels like doing. Extra mana and extra cards are like peanut butter and jelly; getting one makes you crave the other!

6. Splinter's TechniqueSplinter's Technique - 11,923 decks

I may have started out wondering why Wizards of the Coast R&D needed to come up with another version of ninjutsu, but I quickly learned that getting to cast noncreature spells like you would put creatures into play from hand is a very welcome twist on the old formula. And, in Splinter's TechniqueSplinter's Technique, we get both a showcase of this new mechanic and one of my favorite genres of cards: expensive spells that becomes a broken Eternal format staple when you jump through enough hoops.

We're getting a lot of that in Secrets of Strixhaven with the prepared mechanic letting us cast Ancestral RecallAncestral Recall with Emeritus of IdeationEmeritus of Ideation, for example. Here, you get a Demonic TutorDemonic Tutor if you can dodge blockers and return that attacker to your hand.

This is only in under 10% of Yuriko decks as of this writing, but the Ninja synergy coupled with its powerful effect should propel this to a higher play rate with time.

5. Krang, Utrom WarlordKrang, Utrom Warlord - 12,118 decks, 770 as commander

Where does a nine-mana artifact shine in Commander? Well, usually where you can cheat it into play! Dr. EggmanDr. Eggman does the trick, though only if the opponent chooses poorly, but Grixis () are well-suited to discarding expensive cards and reanimating them anyway. The ValeyardThe Valeyard can help with that. Aloy, Savior of MeridianAloy, Savior of Meridian can also get this into play for free if you attack with a gigantic monster.

It's a Universes Beyond party!

4. Turtle LairTurtle Lair - 13,859 decks

I love nonbasic lands that give certain creature types a synergistic boost. Lair can actually fix your mana in Ninja decks, especially when you might be playing three colors with Goro-Goro and SatoruGoro-Goro and Satoru, Felix Five-BootsFelix Five-Boots, or Jin Sakai, Ghost of TsushimaJin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima.

Later in the game, it's perhaps even more powerful, working like another copy of Rogue's PassageRogue's Passage or Access TunnelAccess Tunnel.

3. Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11 - 13,713 decks, 165 as commander

How many copies of Hardened ScalesHardened Scales is too many? Well, looking at EDHREC data, Scales, Corpsejack MenaceCorpsejack Menace, Kami of Whispered HopesKami of Whispered Hopes, and Branching EvolutionBranching Evolution all see play in between 35-50% of cards tagged as +1/+1 counters decks on the website.

Of course, not all of these decks will care about adding extra counters to creatures, so I wasn't expecting these numbers to be much higher.

Michelangelo is a bit of redundancy, but I see him getting played among the next tier of counters cards like Doubling SeasonDoubling Season and Winding ConstrictorWinding Constrictor, which see play in around between 20-30% of these decks. Being a two-drop that also puts a token into play certainly count in its favor, so I'm interested to see what will happen as more TMNT cards land in the hands of Commander players.

2. Super ShredderSuper Shredder - 12,227 decks, 1,945 as commander

Yes, this works with sneak and ninjutsu, but I'm more interested in making this huge in a sacrifice deck led by Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIERSephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Vincent ValentineVincent Valentine, or Korvold, Fae-Cursed KingKorvold, Fae-Cursed King.

Even if it doesn't really advance the sacrifice game plan, Shredder is a cheap, evasive attacker that brawls pretty well and threatens a ton of damage out of nowhere. Cas Hinds and Mike Carrozza are interested in Jenova, and I am too after realizing how much synergy she has with Mutagen tokens and a whole host of TMNT cards.

He also works infinitely well with various sac combos like GravecrawlerGravecrawler and Phyrexian AltarPhyrexian Altar!

1. The OozeThe Ooze - 15,438 decks

The most played card from TMNT's main set is giving me The OzolithThe Ozolith vibes, both mechanically and because their names sound similar. This can easily go crazy in a counters deck filled with some of the enablers mentioned above. It truly looks like Jenova is the big winner from this set, but if you're looking for other ways to take advantage of this card, the trove of Mutagen tokens it creates, and its incidental graveyard hate, check out Alejandro Fuentes's The Ooze feature.

Time To Punch InTime To Punch In

That was a tight competition among all our top 10 cards. Only around 6,000 decks separated first through tenth!

See you next week for another top 10 list.