One of my favorite cards from Magic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy crossover doesn’t really fit in all that well into the set. It has some generic uses, buffing a friendly creature with counters based on its power, but beyond that, it doesn’t really synergize with other cards, especially those from the Final Fantasy set, but that’s about to change. Various prerelease kits for Lorwyn Eclipsed accidentally included promo foils from the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover, prompting Wizards of the Coast to officially reveal all the rares and mythic rares from the main set on Jan. 21. And while Lorwyn fans aren’t thrilled about this mixup, it may be good news for anyone who’s been struggling to build a Commander deck around Jenova, Ancient Calamity. Because this set is big on mutants.
Based on the alien villain from Final Fantasy 7, Jenova, Ancient Calamity is a 1/5 alien legendary creature that costs four mana (two colorless, one black, and one green) to play. At the beginning of combat, she puts a number of +1/+1 counters equal to her power on one other creature. That creature becomes a mutant. Her second ability makes it so that every time one of your mutants dies, you draw cards equal to its power.
In FF7, Jenova is described as a “calamity that fell from the sky long ago.” She’s not a mutant herself but is instead an alien with a mutable genetic structure, absorbing the traits of beings she encounters while also inserting her own DNA into them, transforming them into mutants that eventually can turn into monsters. Jenova’s DNA is also used to genetically enhance characters such as Sephiroth (who refers to Jenova as his “Mother”), Cloud Strife, and Zack Fair. So it makes a lot of sense for her Magic card mechanic to insert her DNA in the form of a +1/+1 counter that also transforms the creature into a mutant.
Doling out these counters each turn is a boon in any game format or deck type, and Jenova already has some great combos with other +1/+1 counter-focused creatures like Ouroboroid; Bristly Bill, Spine Sower; or even Halana and Alena, Partners that all dole out additional buffs of their own. Jenova’s second ability, however, is harder to take advantage of: Whenever a mutant you control dies during your turn, you draw cards equal to its power. So you’d need Jenova to give a creature one of her counters for this to trigger, or put a bunch of mutants in your deck. According to Scryfall data, there are currently 99 cards with the mutant subtype and 41 that are black and/or green. Many of those come from Universes Beyond releases like the Fallout Commander decks or Secret Lair drops like Jurassic World. And beyond the subtype, their mechanics vary wildly, so very few of them function well with Jenova. So you can’t really build an effective mutant typal deck with Jenova as the Commander…yet.
Even though the TMNT crossover is on the smaller side of around 190 cards, many of the creature cards officially revealed from the set are mutants that easily set up Jenova, Ancient Calamity as a powerful card draw engine. Even the cards accidentally sold with Lorwyn Eclipsed prereleases confirm an obvious fact: This set has a ton of mutants. We know officially that there will be several different versions of each turtle, along with team-up cards featuring two characters — all with the mutant subtype. Plenty of other mutants from across the history of the TMNT franchise also appear. There’s even the enchantment called The Cloning of Shredder (one of those accidental Lorwyn Eclipsed promos that has since been officially revealed) that makes copies of a creature in your graveyard that becomes a mutant as well.
The TMNT set also introduces a new mechanic in the form of mutagen tokens that you can sacrifice to place a +1/+1 token on a target creature, which can easily boost Jenova’s power to increase the potency of her first ability.
All this to say that once the TMNT is officially released, Jenova might become a deadly Commander for black-green decks that lean heavily on radical characters like Splinter, Shredder, and Michaelangelo. She’ll also be a useful addition to any multicolored TMNT decks. A deck with Heroes in the Half Shell as the Commander, for instance, would make great use of Jenova. Every time a mutant, ninja, or turtle of yours deals damage to a player, you’d draw a card and put a +1/+1 counter on each of those creatures.
Another interesting combo would be to have Michelangelo, the Heart partner up with Splinter, the Mentor as co-Commanders. With both in play, you’d create a mutagen token every time a creature leaves the battlefield, along with a food token and +1/+1 counter on a single creature every time you attack. So you’d constantly be further boosting Jenova’s power and toughness while stocking up on food tokens to help you regain health.
Michaelangelo, on the Scene is also a pure green card with a 2/2 base that gets a +1/+1 counter for each land you control. When he dies, you return him to your hand. So you can basically attack blindly with this card, and every time he dies, you draw a bunch of cards if Jenova is on the board. And that’s just a few of the TMNT mutants.
Honestly, the only real problem you’d have is figuring out how to get no maximum hand size when limited to black-green. (Hint: Decanter of Endless Water is your best option here, but there are other cards that do this as well.) I’ve already been having a lot of fun with Jenova as a Commander or just a fun creature booster in my decks that dip into black-green, but I cannot wait to see “Mother” unleash her full power when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arrive in Magic on March 6 with prerelease events starting Feb. 27.
