TMNT Magic: The Gathering Cards Evoke Classic Video Game Vibes

I was very skeptical about Magic: The Gathering’s rapid return to New York for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pizza party. MTG fatigue had set in for a few reasons: we’re not even six months removed from last year’s New York-centric Spider-Man set, a Marvel Super Heroes expansion is on the way, and the pace of new launches feels relentless — TMNT releasing on March 6 only added to the exhaustion.

Still, the expansion softens that stance by drawing its identity from multiple eras of the franchise. Some cards callback to the animated series, others use comics art, and several lean into aesthetics and moments from 2023’s Mutant Mayhem, making the set feel like a multi-decade tribute rather than a single nostalgia grab.

The video game legacy is the clearest throughline: borderless pixel-art cards with 8‑bit symbols and text boxes, and mechanics that echo arcade and console play—Level Up, High Score, and Arcade Cabinet all lean into +1/+1 counter strategies.

United States, New York

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