It's not every day we learn about how Magic: The Gathering card designs changed over time, but Wizards of the Coast lead game designer Gavin Verhey just dropped a bombshell about how we almost got another Eminence Commander in this year's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set.
The card in question would have been Heroes In A Half Shell, the legendary WUBRG creature designed as one of the five options to lead the deck as a face commander. Given the limited use of Eminence as a mechanic, it's interesting to know how we almost got what would be the sixth official commander with the keyword.
The story of standouts so far
In a video posted on TikTok on June 2, 2026, Gavin Verhey addresses a comment asking what he thinks of Eminence and how he would change it. Verhey notes that he is an expert on the mechanic, having led the Commander 2017 set, which includes four of the five Eminence cards:
- Edgar Markov
- The Ur Dragon
- Inalla, archmage ritualist
- Arahbo, Roar of the World
Verhey points out that players are often critical of Edgar Markov's power but not of Arahbo, suggesting that Eminence may not be the overarching issue but rather the creature type it is associated with, as vampires are generally considered stronger than cats.
However, it is then suggested that this power difference is due to Markov generating vampires when he casts other vampires, while Arahbo requires another cat creature to already be on the battlefield to be effective.
Verhey says outright that Eminence is something “we [WotC] want to do sparingly,” then highlights the only other example of Eminence, shown on Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir, which functions similarly to Arahbo but doesn't receive the same criticism.
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Ninja Turtles With Eminence?
Verhey then gives an example of Eminence being a mechanic that needs to be used at the right time, in the right place, before revealing that “the backup commander in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Commander deck, Heroes In A Half Shell, was originally an Eminence Commander.”
He goes on to state that “it was like that for a while”, but the existing support for Ninjas across Magic made them rethink the decision. It is then said that Heroes In A Half Shell being a WUBRG commander was also part of the decision due to how the Ur-Dragon was designed, and Verhey claimed that it is “one of the things I regret most about it [The Ur-Dragon]it's five colors.” This is because he believes the Ur-Dragon's current power stems from the fact that it uses all five colors of mana. This has had a knock-on effect on all future Dragon-type commanders, as designers feel the need to push them closer to the Ur-Dragon.
What could have been
Gavin Verhey's TikTok video is a fascinating watch for anyone who loves to hear more about Magic card design, and he's one of the best ever to do it, but it's eye-opening to think how close we came to such a powerful mechanic being thrown onto a Universes Beyond Commander.
That's not to say that any mechanic should be ruled out of use in a Universes Beyond set, but one as protected as Eminence, which has only been printed on five cards since its introduction nearly ten years ago, would have caused quite a debate if it had materialized on the Heroes In A Half Shell card.
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