Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Game Design Teaser Part .II

The last time you heard from me I did a brief rundown on what to expect in the upcoming TMNT set. At that time I let you know that there was one more new mechanic coming in the set that we weren’t yet ready to talk about. Well, today that changes as I introduce you to some secret rares in the set!

Elusive (This backup cannot be attacked by a rival’s first attack during a turn.)

Elusive is a new keyword ability designed for Backups. We love the interaction that attacking a Backup brings to the card type, and that interaction is more interesting when navigating it isn’t so simple. When I decided that the Secret Rares of this set would all be backups, I wanted to find a middle point of fortitude between a backup that takes 2+ cards to destroy, and a backup that is easily dispatched by a poke. That’s when I came up with Elusive, a keyword that asks a player to commit two attacks in the turn, but not be so effective that the backup trades with both of those attacks on its own.

Ray Filet can help you do a pretty good Kurama, Youko Unleashed impression.

Backups as secret rares? One of the things I loved growing up was going to the store and looking for the new TMNT toys. Each time I ran into a new character was an exciting moment that got my imagination going. I wanted to bring a little bit of that wonder into the set, and it seemed like backups would be a great way to do it.

One of the common experiences new players used to have with Universus is learning about the inclusion of character cards within the deck. First you find out they have a check and difficulty, they can be included in your deck, how awesome! Soon after, that excitement crashes down when you find out they don’t DO anything. You can pay the 6 difficulty for a character card, but intrinsically it doesn’t lead to anything. This was one of our motivations for removing that option from future character cards. We didn’t want to keep bringing up the question for players, only to give them a disappointing answer. When making these new secret rare backups I thought to myself, “What if we still had ‘buddy blocks,’ but they actually did what you wanted them to do?” The ultimate goal being that when you put one of these into your stage, you feel like you have another character partnering with your main character.

I’ll share one more secret rare before signing off.

That’s one foul gal!

Cynthia is one of the villains found in Mutant Mayhem, and while she didn’t quite do enough herself to warrant a standalone character design, a disruptive force that lurks inside the deck seemed to fit her well. The fact that the backup card type is much more answerable by the rival than a character card meant we could put an ability on her that we are generally too cautious to put on a character.

Thank you so much for reading. I look forward to seeing how you utilize the new backups in TMNT!

Be sure to sign up for your Prerelease events at local game stores near you starting on August 8, 2025! For more information on Prerelease Click Here and to keep your out out on all of the cards previews so far be sure to check out the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Preview Gallery