Student of Mysteries3G
Creature — Snake Ninja [C]
Ninjutsu G(G, Return an unblocked attacker you control to hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand tapped and attacking.)
Whenever Student of Mysteries deals combat damage to a player, you may draw a card.
[1/1]
Gate Breacher1GG
Creature — Snake Ninja [U]
Ninjutsu 1G(1G, Return an unblocked attacker you control to hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand tapped and attacking.)
Whenever Gate Breacher deals combat damage to a player, you may destroy target artifact or enchantment that player controls.
[2/2]
Ningyo Retainer2U
Creature — Merfolk Samurai [C]
Bushido 1 (When this blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
[1/2]
Sea-Spray Duelist3UU
Creature — Merfolk Samurai [U]
Defender
Bushido 2 (When this blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.)
At the beginning of each combat, you may have target Samurai creature lose all abilities except bushido until end of combat.
[2/3]
Betrayal at Eiganjo3W
Instant [U]
Destroy target attacking or blocking creature. If that creature is a Ninja or Samurai, you gain life equal to its power.
EDIT: Added the word "Samurai" to the text box of Sea-Spray Duelist.
EDIT: Changed the name of Gate Raiser to Gate Breacher.
Dahammer4
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature." t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
Student of Mysteries: So, why would i ever pay 4 for this when the ninja cost is 1? 3 and 2 would be a nicer balance.
Ningyo Retainer: The stat line is subpar even with Bushido active. Bushido 2 or something else...
The rest are fine, with Sea-spray Duelist being genuinely interesting.
Some of the Ninjas in this block have insultingly high mana costs as my balancing effect for having pretty solid ninjutsu costs. The hard cost is your punishment if you can't pull off the ninjutsu trick. I'd like to think that Student of Mysteries can fill a role in Limited of allowing you to refuel in the mid-to-late game, at the expense of tempo rather than mana. I didn't design it to be super duper good. Ninja of the Deep Hours (which isn't in the block) is probably better.
Ningyo Retainer, on the other hand, I designed to be 99% awful. Blue is (finally) getting bushido in this set, but I want to respect the color pie differences in that ability, and highlight that the ability is really at its worst in blue. There will be some saving graces in the form of the block's minor tribal subtheme. Thus, somebody might happen into a pro-Samurai draft and decide to bottom-feed on these guys in their pack 3 picks. In any case, something has to be the worst card in the set. If I can design that worst card with clear intentions, I'm hopefully on the right track.
I'm glad that Sea-Spray Duelist is interesting. I don't think it's strong, but it might surprise. The design was spawned by discussions in this thread about my deprecation of defender after this block. So I want this block to be a going-away party for defender, and hopefully have some exciting stuff so it leaves on a high note.
I don't love how Sea-Spray Duelist has weird interactions with Maro, especially since there's a Maro-alike in RKU. Even the rules manager has said "this is how it works, but I can't really explain why."
I don't love how Sea-Spray Duelist has weird interactions with Maro, especially since there's a Maro-alike in RKU. Even the rules manager has said "this is how it works, but I can't really explain why."
Yeah, I was actually just thinking about that. Good catch.
Here's a (very flavorful, less powerful) fix:
Sea-Spray Duelist3UU
Creature — Merfolk Samurai [U]
Defender
Bushido 2 (When this blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.)
At the beginning of each combat, you may have target Samurai creature lose all abilities except bushido until end of combat.
[2/3]
Off the top of my head, I can't think of any Samurai (in-print or in my block) where that would create a problem. Of course, somebody can always try to intentionally create a problem, but it's not my job to prevent every possible non-intuitive interaction from happening.
with you screaming in the darkness.
Creature — Snake Ninja [C]
Ninjutsu G (G, Return an unblocked attacker you control to hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand tapped and attacking.)
Whenever Student of Mysteries deals combat damage to a player, you may draw a card.
[1/1]
Gate Breacher 1GG
Creature — Snake Ninja [U]
Ninjutsu 1G (1G, Return an unblocked attacker you control to hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand tapped and attacking.)
Whenever Gate Breacher deals combat damage to a player, you may destroy target artifact or enchantment that player controls.
[2/2]
Ningyo Retainer 2U
Creature — Merfolk Samurai [C]
Bushido 1 (When this blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
[1/2]
Sea-Spray Duelist 3UU
Creature — Merfolk Samurai [U]
Defender
Bushido 2 (When this blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.)
At the beginning of each combat, you may have target Samurai creature lose all abilities except bushido until end of combat.
[2/3]
Betrayal at Eiganjo 3W
Instant [U]
Destroy target attacking or blocking creature. If that creature is a Ninja or Samurai, you gain life equal to its power.
EDIT: Added the word "Samurai" to the text box of Sea-Spray Duelist.
EDIT: Changed the name of Gate Raiser to Gate Breacher.
Ningyo Retainer: The stat line is subpar even with Bushido active. Bushido 2 or something else...
The rest are fine, with Sea-spray Duelist being genuinely interesting.
Sigpic by Rivenor
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature."
t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
Courtesy of Crepes
[OMC] Omerium's Collapse
Ningyo Retainer, on the other hand, I designed to be 99% awful. Blue is (finally) getting bushido in this set, but I want to respect the color pie differences in that ability, and highlight that the ability is really at its worst in blue. There will be some saving graces in the form of the block's minor tribal subtheme. Thus, somebody might happen into a pro-Samurai draft and decide to bottom-feed on these guys in their pack 3 picks. In any case, something has to be the worst card in the set. If I can design that worst card with clear intentions, I'm hopefully on the right track.
I'm glad that Sea-Spray Duelist is interesting. I don't think it's strong, but it might surprise. The design was spawned by discussions in this thread about my deprecation of defender after this block. So I want this block to be a going-away party for defender, and hopefully have some exciting stuff so it leaves on a high note.
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Here's a (very flavorful, less powerful) fix:
Sea-Spray Duelist 3UU
Creature — Merfolk Samurai [U]
Defender
Bushido 2 (When this blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.)
At the beginning of each combat, you may have target Samurai creature lose all abilities except bushido until end of combat.
[2/3]
Off the top of my head, I can't think of any Samurai (in-print or in my block) where that would create a problem. Of course, somebody can always try to intentionally create a problem, but it's not my job to prevent every possible non-intuitive interaction from happening.
How would you respond to that version?