Some of my fondest memories with my little brother involve the two of us crowding around a 10-inch TV, controllers in hand, and playing through Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game yet again, then later Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project, and later still Turtles in Time. Even after 30 years, I specifically remember the secret code for extra lives involving the select button because I always had to follow it up by choosing the two-player version of the game.

That story probably sounds familiar to you; if you're of a certain age, you probably have similar experiences. When we first began work on Magic: The Gathering® | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, time and time again people would reminisce about playing the TMNT games at home with their siblings or friends or cousins. It ended up being a touchstone we hadn't considered for the property, and one that didn't quite fit into the "aspirational coolness" tone we were aiming for in the main set.

But for the Commander deck …

Adopting the TMNT video games as the major creative theme for the Commander deck gave us a fun outlet for all the silly, nonsensical elements and tropes of the universe—those elements we all love because they make us cringe a little. We all knew we wanted Bebop and Rocksteady dressed as pirates, and we knew the Turtles needed at least one goofy moment of victory over them, but neither of those fit with the pair's main set role as tough badasses.

0015_MTGTMT_CmrNew: Bebop, Skull & Crossbones 0025_MTGTMT_CmrNew: Shellshock 0029_MTGTMT_CmrNew: High Score 0033_MTGTMT_CmrNew: Rocksteady, Mutant Marauder 0034_MTGTMT_CmrNew: Super Combo

A Game Within the Game?

Sometimes, the right creative decision can open up some weird edge cases. The choice to theme the Commander deck around video games led to a much deeper question: how meta is too meta for Magic? We had an entire meeting about whether this deck should represent playing through a TMNT video game or if we should keep it grounded in the "real" world and make it about the Turtles playing video games. As a rule, we don't like the creative elements—the art, titles, and flavor text—of Magic cards to break that fourth wall. Cards that speak to being a game, even a different kind of game, rubbed us the wrong way.

0007_MTGTMT_CmrNew: Continue? 0011_MTGTMT_CmrNew: Here Comes a New Hero! 0018_MTGTMT_CmrNew: Game Over

The creative solution came in one of my favorite minor TMNT villains: Tempestra!

The TMNT didn't have a lot of lady villains in the 1980s, so Tempestra's single episode (okay, technically she appeared in two episodes, but "Night of the Rogues" isn't exactly a Tempestra-led storyline) in the 1987 series left an impression on me. She was a video game character brought to life by a bolt of lightning (lightning did that in the '80s, you have to understand). The episode itself forced Leonardo to confront his obsessive need to be the best in a metaphor that in no way targeted me personally. She could also bring other video game elements to life. I always knew we were going to include her, but she felt increasingly out of place as the main set's tone solidified.

Ah, but a video game-themed Commander decks wants—needs—a video game villain!

0027_MTGTMT_CmrNew: Tempestra, Dame of Games

Commander decks don't generally have their own narratives, but on the creative side we ran with the idea that this deck represented the Turtles and their allies visiting the arcade, unleashing Tempestra, and stopping her and her army of digital clones.

0029_MTGTMT_CmrNew: High Score 0036_MTGTMT_CmrNew: Arcade Cabinet 0038_MTGTMT_CmrNew: Coin of Mastery 0082_MTGTMT_CmdrRep: Vibrant Cityscape

With Tempestra as a narrative background, it was easier to incorporate video games elements with a fun but self-serious tone that reflected TMNT, giving us a home for some of the Turtles' weirdest characters, like pizza-based aliens, Foot ninjas in personal heli-packs, and perhaps most importantly of all: Irma.

The Most Important TMNT Character

Obviously, no one would argue that Irma is the most important TMNT character ever portrayed, and I am in no way projecting when I make that statement.

Irma was created for the 1987 series and has popped up from time to time in Turtles media ever since. She fulfills one of my favorite underrepresented character archetypes: the weird girl. In the '80s and '90s, most female characters—especially in adventure shows—were fairly generic, designed to be inoffensive, appealing, and act more as a team mom than to have a role of their own. But Irma got to be a dork, and her ongoing character trait was getting mutated or transformed again and again and again; she's been a rat, a bug, a cyborg, a superhero, a giant … and that was the aspect of her we wanted to reflect on her legendary card.

0012_MTGTMT_CmrNew: Irma, Part-Time Mutant

All this is to say that being a worldbuilding lead often means creating and also solving some of the set's biggest challenges, and when you can do both in ways that let you exploit your weird childhood loves, even better!

Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles releases on March 6, 2026, and you can preorder cards now from your local game store, TCGplayer, Amazon, and elsewhere Magic is sold.