Magic: The Gathering / Viacom
Magic: The Gathering’s new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set introduces the ‘Turtle Team-Up’ box as a new type of cooperative experience. After playing it ourselves, we’re confident it’s great for new players, while also providing immense value for seasoned TCG veterans as well.
Like clockwork, a new MTG set is upon us. After Aang had a turn, now, everyone’s favorite heroes in a half shell are kickflipping their way into TCG shops around the world on March 6, 2026.
Of course, you’ve got the usual smattering of booster packs, Commander Decks, and even a pizza box bundle – no, really – but standing out from the lot is the Turtle Team-Up product. This is Magic’s latest spin at a cooperative experience, one that pits up to four players (turtles) against a mix of iconic and fearsome bosses.
Wizards of the Coast was kind enough to invite us to an early playtest, where we got to play through the co-op offering. While it might be a breeze for the truly skilled, and some boss mechanics can get tedious, it proved its qualities as an excellent introduction to the TCG, while offering a great deal for fans of regular formats, too.
What is the Turtle Team-Up box in MTG?
Typically, in MTG, you’re playing against others. Your cards against theirs in a fight to the death. Here, in true Turtle fashion, you’ve got brothers at your side. You’re teaming up with 1-3 others to tackle a series of increasingly difficult bosses.
Magic: The Gathering / ViacomThe Turtle Team-Up box is great bang for your buck no matter your MTG experience.
Those bosses are controlled by cards included in the box, so their every action is accounted for. There’s a great deal of variability, though, as you’re never quite certain what boss might appear next, and what effect they might have on the board.
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The average game is meant to run from around 45-60 minutes, though at least in our experience, the first playthrough took a little longer as we came to grips with the rules.
At its core, it’s meant to be a fun side offering to the usual types of MTG content with each new set, while also serving as a great entry point for complete beginners. It’s a (mostly) stress-free way to learn how the mega-popular TCG works, how you play your cards, and how you must pivot on the fly to adapt to your opponent.
How to play MTG’s Turtle Team-Up mode
To start, simply pick your hero. Will you be the always-cool Michelangelo, the hardened Raphael, the brains of the operation, Donatello, or the leader, Leonardo? All four turtle bros have custom 60-card decks tailored for this co-op experience. They’re designed to synergize with one another while giving you plenty of flexibility and balance across early, mid, and late-game phases.
With your heroes decided, it’s the enemy’s turn. Shuffle the Boss cards and the Event cards, placing them near the center of your playspace so everyone can see them. Then, draw the first boss card and turn it face up.
Magic: The Gathering / ViacomEach default deck is loaded with Legendary hero cards to help hold your own against any boss, even Shredder.
Now, exactly how tough each boss is happens to be determined by your team size. You can technically go at it alone, but we definitely wouldn’t recommend that. Instead, the experience is designed for 2-4 players, and there are variables to make it easier or harder.
Set your team health and boss health as follows:
- 2 players = Team health: 20 | Boss health: 20
- 3 players = Team health: 30 | Boss health: 20
- 4 players = Team health: 40 | Boss health: 30
Next, draw your seven cards, as you would in a regular Magic game, and then it’s off to the races. You’re playing using normal MTG rules, drawing a card each turn, tapping Lands to drop powerful creatures or spells on the board, before moving on to your opponent’s actions.
Players go first, then it’s the boss’s turn. One player has to control their actions, as you’d expect. So first, the boss untaps, then plays 2 Event cards (unless otherwise specified), before ending the round with a Combat phase, attacking the Turtles with any Foot Soldiers on the field.
The first phase is against a single boss, once you’ve wiped them out, two bosses jump in, and then the final, third phase, is against three bosses simultaneously… It can get a bit chaotic.
Magic: The Gathering / ViacomThings start simple enough with just one boss, but by the time three are out at once, it can all snowball out of hand quite quickly.
Thankfully, even with multiple bosses in play all at once, things never get too overwhelming. Most bosses have relatively straightforward effects, like playing an extra Event card or buffing their minions – it’s all quite simple to follow.
It can lead to some hilarious combinations too, like seeing Bebop and Rocksteady alongside Baxter or Krang, and of course the mighty Shredder is in there too. Just great stuff if you’re a Ninja Turtles fan.
There’s plenty in terms of replayability too, as you can always shuffle the decks around to try new characters, or modify the field with unique rules. One suggestion in the rulebook is to give all boss summons haste, which sounds like just the right kind of chaotic fun.
Of course, after a few games, you can also mix new cards into the default decks as well, and the great news is, you don’t have to spend any extra money to do so. The Turtle Team-Up box comes with four MTG x TMNT Play Boosters, enough for one each if you have a full team.
If you’re lucky enough, you can get some powerful upgrades that slot right into your frenetic Raph deck, or maybe you get just the right Token to benefit Mikey (Guac and Marshmello pizza went down a treat in my first playthrough).
Ultimately, it’s an excellent value proposition. You’re getting enough for a fun few nights of dedicated co-op play, and plenty more to carry over into your regular deck archetypes if you’re eager to jump into Commander or Constructed games.
Contents
A box priced at $49.99 USD | $70 AUD | £44.99 | contains the following items:
- 4 60-card Magic decks
- 1 Enemy Deck with 11 bosses
- 17 Event Cards
- 4 Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Play Boosters
- Each Play Booster contains 14 Magic: The Gathering cards
