Connection of mergers properties and the destruction of cluster cores in TNG-Cluster. The upper row shows the distributions of merger mass ratio (left) and tangential velocity (right), for mergers that are not associated with a core transformation (light blue), mergers that are closely paired with a cluster core transformation (dark blue), and mergers that are closely paired with a cluster core transformation that has K₀(t_final)−K₀(t_merger)≥150 keV cm² (which we dub as cases where the CC is destroyed, orange). The distributions are somewhat skewed toward higher mass ratios and lower AM for associated cases, suggesting that these scenarios preferentially lead to cluster core transformations. The shift is slightly stronger for transformation merger pairs with large dK₀. The lower plot shows the correlation of merger mass ratio and tangential velocity of all closely associated major and minor mergers (dt < 1 Gyr) and the possibility that a CC may be disrupted. The color indicates the change in entropy, where orange shows large changes in entropy ≥150 keV whereas small changes < 150 keV are in blue. We have chosen a threshold of 150 keV to be consistent with the fact that NCCs are defined by K₀ > 150 keV. The size of the dots gives the main halo mass at the time of the merger. The text label in each quadrant gives the number of large changes, divided by the total number, in that quadrant, as well as the resulting fractions. We find that large changes, i.e., destroyed CCs are most abundant among the major mergers with both, low and high AM, but most importantly CCs may be destroyed also otherwise.