TMNT Goes Hard on +1/+1 Counter Cards, Includes Much-Needed $25 Reprint

Last updated on February 17, 2026

Donatello's Technique | Illustration by Andreas Zafiratos

Tuesday's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles debut trailer was admittedly lackluster, which isn't surprising given how much of the set has already been leaked or officially spoiled. It was mostly a showcase of known products, card images, and frame treatments, though there were still a few unknown variables thrown in.

It's also been obvious up to this point that TMNT will have a huge focus on +1/+1 counters. With the introduction of Mutagen tokens and a bunch of other counter-based cards already spoiled, it's pretty clear this is one of the major themes of the set. It's an easy way to represent mutation, after all, and we even got a first peek at some new cards that play in this space.

The New Previews

Let's run down all the new cards we didn't already know about that deal with +1/+1 counters in some way.

Leatherhead, Iron Gator is expensive, but permanently pumps your whole when it attacks. It's basically a 7/7 hasty trampler with a permanent Overcome attached, which still might not be good enough. But hey, there's always room for more budget Craterhoof Behemoths.

Baxter, Fly in the Ointment (excuse me, what?) reads like Skatewing Spy, a flying enabler for counters decks that sometimes slips into budget builds. It gets bigger as you draw cards, but that starting statline is a bit feeble. Maybe Baxter should stay in the ointment.

Not to be confused with the Ciara hit, Level Up is an aggressive green aura that promises some card draw once you get the ball rolling. This seems like an extremely snowbally card. Imagine a 1/1 enchanted with this. It immediately becomes a 2/2, then a 3/3 on attacks, and a 5/5 the following turn. And that's just a 1/1 that didn't have counters on it already. It's reminiscent of Hydra's Growth, and we just got Seismic Tutelage a couple sets ago at twice the cost! I expect to see quite a bit of this one.

If this is what an Arcade Cabinet can do, just imagine what a Liquor Cabinet is capable of! If you can get max value out of Arcade Cabniet, it's well worth its cost. You could even imagine just running this for the activated ability and picking up the initial +1/+1 counters as a bonus. I bet -1/-1 counter decks also get some good use out of this.

Which would you rather have, a Big Score or a High Score? I suppose if you're a green +1/+1 counter deck you'd want this new Hardened Scales variant that also randomly draws you cards if you control the biggest creature. The counters need to come from somewhere else, but that should be the easy part.

Of course, anything that produces a Mutagen token is also a +1/+1 counter card by default, and we saw a few new Mutagen-makers like Mutant Chain Reaction and April O'Neil, Human Element.

And to close out, we got a look at a big-money All Will Be One reprint, exclusive to the TMNT Source Material bonus sheet. Notable, those cards can be opened in Play and Collector boosters, so this $20-30 powerhouse might actually dip some time soon.

Hopefully these +1/+1 counter cards spark joy, and if not, maybe there's something else in the set that will win over the TMNT non-believers. If you want to experience TMNT for yourself, you too can get lost in the ointment at prerelease events starting February 27th.