I thought of adding some Jace's Phantasm, but eventually decided against it, since I really wanted a few more faeries in order to make Spellstutter Sprite more useful/powerful.
Compared to the deck version 3, I replaced Distortion Strike with Artful Dodge, and roped in 2x Throat Slitter to give us some creature removals on a Ninja. I have been struggling to remove creatures lately, I reckon Throat Slitter is going to be relevant against Goyf, Vexing Devil etc.
Do feel free to critique or make your own judgment calls on the card choices, as this list is what I feel works best in my own meta.
I'm not sure how to come out with a budgeted Simic Ninja list, we could start brewing though! Here goes a list I thought of having with some budget cards together with your Voidslime and Hinterland Harbor:
Rancor is added to give the deck a way to stall and quicky deal damages with flyers etc.
This is mostly a creature aggro deck that try to mess opponent tempo but has a good card advantage engine. That said, I'm worried about the threats hexproof creatures such as Dungrove Elder or Geist of Saint Thaft can deal to the deck. Perhaps Spell Pierce could well make way for Mana Leak or Rune Snag though.
Ninja FTW!
Time for a long post. I was able to play a small tournament with a few friends the other day. Due to our lack of time we weren't able to finish but i was able to play against 3 different decks and only lost 2 games in a best out of 3. Forgive me for not remember more card names as the games didn't last long and I didn't pay too close attention honestly. But, I'll do my best to explain how each match played out.
Round 1:
My first game was against a worm deck. It was loaded with removal like Go for the Throat, among others and, of course, worms. Not a single card my opponent played in this deck found light. I had a counter on hand for everything he played and as soon as Mistbind Clique hit it was over. I won both games with ease.
These games too a long time to play out as he was keeping my mana tapped. Having 5-7 mana on the board just wasnt enough and i was only able to get 1-2 creatures on the board at a time with the mana i had. Once i had 4 mana so that i could play Mistbind at his upkeep it was over. He couldn't tap out my mana on his main phase or my upkeep which ment i was free to swing and bounce as i please.
I won the first game, lost the second (because i gave up and didnt want to play a 30-45 minute game until i had enough mana to win), won the second game and moved onto the next round... If i didnt have Mistbind i would have never won against this deck.
Round 3:
I played my friend's UG lockdown deck. He used Isochron Scepter with bounce and counter with Rude Awakening as one of his wincons. I actually lost the first game. He was able to kill off my Sprites and counter the other. I was left with just ninja in my hand and no way to counter his first scepter play.
The second game i was able to counter his scepters. he drew only one because he only plays 2 in the deck. Because i was playing Legacy I decided to not handicap myself so i put Cloud of Faeries in my deck. I was able to get 3-4 fae on the board for my spellstutter so he never really made a play on the field except the Birds of paradise (which i let him play) which i sent right back to his hand with an in play shinobi. He chose to let it bounce rather than lose the birds.
The third game was close, but i was able to last long enough to have enough mana, ninja, and ruse on hand to bounce mistbind 3 times. My ninja all hit each turn so it was a (not really easy) but fun win. It took a little more thinking than the other games.
We weren't able to finish the tournament. There were still 4 other guys i haven't played yet but im undefeated so far and thats pretty awesome. Hopefully next Wednesday we will conclude the tourny.
I'd like to point out that i was playing a (not counting the cloud of faeries) all modern deck vs legacy decks and winning. Still, i felt handicapped and felt as though i really got lucky. I wasn't playing Gitaxian Probe or Remand so other than NotDH i had no card draw. The lockdown from Mistbind won EVERY game. Higure never saw the battlefield although i did have 2 of him in my hand for a large portion of 1 game.
Shinobi was clutch, Having him to bounce my spellstutter and clique was so crucial in a lot of the games i played. Even if he didnt bounce a creature. Just his low cost Ninjutsu effect was enough to win me the game.
I really feel like Anakin Skywalker in StarWars episode 3 where hes trying to resist the dark side of the force but he wants to save Padme. Clearly the dark side of the force being Legacy and my Ninja decks being my very own Natalee Portman. Which would make Nabbs, Obi-wan, who tries to save me from playing Legacy. Alas, due to my environment I'm forced to make the switch so that i can be competitive against my friends and have access to the same cards as them.
I WILL keep posting modern deck ideas naturally! Also, my MTGO ninja decks will be played mainly modern. If i get enough requests and my JustinTV streams gain any sort of popularity on this thread i will play some legacy.
I actually love the budget UG ninja list you have nabbs. I've made a few adjustments to my UG deck as well and you will be in for a shock with what Ive been able to acquire! But, its late so i'll be making another post later tomorrow. Until then.
The singleton Jace's Phantsm was there because of priority:
1) I want about 10-12 enablers,
2) quad Ornithopters are unquestionable in ninjas imo,
3) quad Signal Pests help me mana-wise because I run a BU list,
4) the 2 Tormented souls seem precious because they're totally unblockable(but I think I'll be stretched concerning black mana if I run more, plus I may want to play more Islands in the beginning for those Spell Pierces).
5) What's left is 0-2 slots for additional enablers, and Jace's Phantasm is worse than Tormented Souls early game, and better late game, when it's pumped)
But I could be totally wrong, you guys are far more experienced I guess:)
I think it's fair enough why you choose others over Jace's Phantasm, you have exactly explained very clearly and coherently on your selections of the enablers and I pretty much agree with most of what was written. You have a very good grasp on the principals of selecting a ninja enabler. Kudos to you!;)
Thought scour seems good with Jace's Phantasm, Kennen! The Phantasm also cooperates with Jace, Memory Adept as Architects indicates.
Tamiyo rocks, but it is expensive, so for now I won't give my lettuce buying it. I'd rather find an alternative Seems powerful card for ninjas nonetheless.
Thought scour, Jace, Memory Adept and Jace's Phantasm works and have plenty of synergy with each other, but I'm not keen to put up a sideshow for Ninjas. I tend to be more focused on the ways of the Ninja rather than using cards which does not have much interaction such as Jace, Memory Adept. Personally, I rather go for Tamiyo since she has more interactions here.
About the counterspells, maybe Rune Snag is better than Spell Pierce, since it "builds up", and maybe it's even better coupled with Daze. I haven't played Familiar's Ruse, but it seems slow and iffy to me..what if you don't have a creature online, or you just don't want to return it back? I need to test it of course, in order to tell you a serious opinion..
I used to prefer Daze...and I also wanted to emulate Legacy's Force of Will with those Disrupting Shoals. The idea was to help tempo and create nasty surprises, without leaving mana open. Maybe it be better if I played 4 Daze, 4 Rune Snag (and 2 Shoals / 2 Distortion Strike).
Disrupting Shoal is a very difficult card to play with at the moment, this card has been at the back of my mind for some time already, but I'm simply not comfortable to count on it as a "free hard counter". That is even with Modern Ninjas who tend to have cards with CMC that is evenly spread out from 1-5 (from Signal Pest, Mana Leak, Mistblade Shinobi, NoDH to Higure). I never had much faith I could hardcast it as another option.
Devastation Tide: the idea here was that enablers+Ninjas should be able to recover faster, after this "semi-Wrath-of-god". Thus, if opponent had the upper hand, the last resort for tempo gain would be this.
I'm still not a fan of Miracle cards, especially in Ninjas which doesn't play library manipulation. That said, I'm not going to write this card off, so it's more of a keep in view at the moment.
Nabbydian, speaking about more lands...I'd really like to test cheaper buils with 20 lands max. Perhaps if I played mono-blue, and replaced Ink-Eyes with an extra Higure, and used more "free-counterspells".
20 lands deck is hard for Ninjas, since we need to ensure consistent land drops for at least the first 3-4 turns. There isn't much free counterspells in Modern, and we don't play Aether Vial or much library manipulation cards either to filter/dig for lands.
Vapor Snag vs. Unsummon: My point was that when you want to bounce you own creature, the 1 damage may hurt. Especially vs. decks like Burn or fast aggro with removal, which I see is pain, judging from what you say. But my experience is limited, and only about Legacy deckbuilding, so I will listen to what you say:)
Peel from Reality: if that "and" was "and/or" I'd like it better. Again, it is obligatory to do the two things (return both creatures) which I dislike, at least at first sight..
Kennen, your new list + SB is full of counterspells. I like that, imagining counterspells could also stall combo and control in Modern, so Ninjas should have their chance meanwhile. I wonder if sth stupid like Trading Post or Druidic Satchel could work against aggro. Or something more stupid, like Ensnaring Bridge.
So, again, thank you for your patience. Brothers and sisters, I salute thee...^_^ *PUf-FFFF*!
Glad to have another die-hard Ninja, NINJAS FTW!!!!!
Time for a long post. I was able to play a small tournament with a few friends the other day. Due to our lack of time we weren't able to finish but i was able to play against 3 different decks and only lost 2 games in a best out of 3. Forgive me for not remember more card names as the games didn't last long and I didn't pay too close attention honestly. But, I'll do my best to explain how each match played out.
Long post deserves long reply.:D
0dysseus's post was also equally long (if not longer), so I have to break up my replies over 2 days and into another separate post.:rolleyes:
It's good that you are able to get some playtesting under your belt, although upon reading on I realise it was more of a semi-competitive legacy tournament, rather than involving a Modern meta. But sometimes if that's what you have, you just gotta make do with it.
My first game was against a worm deck. It was loaded with removal like Go for the Throat, among others and, of course, worms. Not a single card my opponent played in this deck found light. I had a counter on hand for everything he played and as soon as Mistbind Clique hit it was over. I won both games with ease.
Seems like you out-tempo him easily. Spell Pierce and Rune Snag/Mana Leak with the occasional Familiar's Ruse, finished off with a Mistbind Clique makes an easy win - I supposed that's how it plays out? I remembered your list has more counters than my typical Ninja lists.
These games too a long time to play out as he was keeping my mana tapped. Having 5-7 mana on the board just wasnt enough and i was only able to get 1-2 creatures on the board at a time with the mana i had. Once i had 4 mana so that i could play Mistbind at his upkeep it was over. He couldn't tap out my mana on his main phase or my upkeep which ment i was free to swing and bounce as i please.
I won the first game, lost the second (because i gave up and didnt want to play a 30-45 minute game until i had enough mana to win), won the second game and moved onto the next round... If i didnt have Mistbind i would have never won against this deck.
This is a bit more difficult to play against, since Manabond comes down too quickly and it is difficult to play counters against dredge cards like Life of the Loam. I agree Mistbind Clique were the key here, since the regular ninjas will take too long to grind out a win while they would have set up their win con by then. Mistbind has gotten you 2 matches so far.
I played my friend's UG lockdown deck. He used Isochron Scepter with bounce and counter with Rude Awakening as one of his wincons. I actually lost the first game. He was able to kill off my Sprites and counter the other. I was left with just ninja in my hand and no way to counter his first scepter play.
The second game i was able to counter his scepters. he drew only one because he only plays 2 in the deck. Because i was playing Legacy I decided to not handicap myself so i put Cloud of Faeries in my deck. I was able to get 3-4 fae on the board for my spellstutter so he never really made a play on the field except the Birds of paradise (which i let him play) which i sent right back to his hand with an in play shinobi. He chose to let it bounce rather than lose the birds.
The third game was close, but i was able to last long enough to have enough mana, ninja, and ruse on hand to bounce mistbind 3 times. My ninja all hit each turn so it was a (not really easy) but fun win. It took a little more thinking than the other games.
Isochron Scepter is one sick card. I used to combine him with counterspells, Orim's chant or Swords to Plowshares (machine gun on a stick) - it allowed me to beat many legacy tier one decks but didn't earn me many fans :embarrass:. But in a tournament, you play to win so no dispute over choice of cards here.
Cloud of Faeries and Spellstutter Sprite has a sick interaction, too bad the former is not legal in Modern, that said, if available it would have made Faeries way too strong.
You got your Ninja engine going here, and with Ninjutsu being uncounterable, was always going to send him packing eventually.
We weren't able to finish the tournament. There were still 4 other guys i haven't played yet but im undefeated so far and thats pretty awesome. Hopefully next Wednesday we will conclude the tourny.
I'd like to point out that i was playing a (not counting the cloud of faeries) all modern deck vs legacy decks and winning. Still, i felt handicapped and felt as though i really got lucky. I wasn't playing Gitaxian Probe or Remand so other than NotDH i had no card draw. The lockdown from Mistbind won EVERY game. Higure never saw the battlefield although i did have 2 of him in my hand for a large portion of 1 game.
Shinobi was clutch, Having him to bounce my spellstutter and clique was so crucial in a lot of the games i played. Even if he didnt bounce a creature. Just his low cost Ninjutsu effect was enough to win me the game.
I haven't even told you how many times I lose to a Force of Will. I played against Legacy Stasis, Mono-U control, U/ Stoneblade, Esper Stoneblade and it was usually Force of Will which tilt the momentum or battle in their favor. Brainstorm was also massive in those games I played. That said, I also won my fair share of games. Just that those 2 cards were very significant in deciding the outcome of many games.
I really feel like Anakin Skywalker in StarWars episode 3 where hes trying to resist the dark side of the force but he wants to save Padme. Clearly the dark side of the force being Legacy and my Ninja decks being my very own Natalee Portman. Which would make Nabbs, Obi-wan, who tries to save me from playing Legacy. Alas, due to my environment I'm forced to make the switch so that i can be competitive against my friends and have access to the same cards as them.
I'm a big Star Wars fan, so I can relate to what you are saying here.;)
And like I narrated above, the legacy is like the Galactic empire or the Dark side with unlimited resources and overpowered stuffs via Brainstorm and Force of will and many more.
Let's hope your environment will eventually convert into the Rebel side....
I WILL keep posting modern deck ideas naturally! Also, my MTGO ninja decks will be played mainly modern. If i get enough requests and my JustinTV streams gain any sort of popularity on this thread i will play some legacy.
I actually love the budget UG ninja list you have nabbs. I've made a few adjustments to my UG deck as well and you will be in for a shock with what Ive been able to acquire! But, its late so i'll be making another post later tomorrow. Until then.
NINJA FTW!
The budget UG ninja list were not easy, I have no idea how it will work! I'm not really into fully budgeted lists to be honest, since I myself have a decent collection of legacy/modern cards therefore I seldom go through that route. I'm only budget when it comes to Standard format.
@ Nabbydian of the Deep Hours:)
Don't worry about replying, I try to be a busy bee myself and I understand^^
Jeez, I mindfarted for good! Daze isn't even legal here...
Your advice against Disrupting Shoal seems sound. Maybe if we played two, leaving the hardcast option open mid-late game. I'll tell you when I test it. It seems not many people play Modern here unfortunately.
Thank you for your compliment btw:D I'm glad I understand something.
More thoughts that jump to my mind about Ninja decks:
Why do I want to play it? Is it the "Sub-Zero Wins" coolness? Is it because it is budget and fun? Or is it its strength?
If a deck is really good at something...what is that very starting point here? What is Ninja deck’s greater strength? We should focus and spend thought right there. As Nabbydian said:
[...]I'm not keen to put up a sideshow for Ninjas. I tend to be more focused on the ways of the Ninja rather than using cards which does not have much interaction such as Jace, Memory Adept. Personally, I rather go for Tamiyo since she has more interactions here. [...]
[ OK, the first reason that drew me here was the fun factor and the coolness, sort of combining two of my hobbies: MtG and modern Ninjitsu^^ Why do I say these things? It's good to know why we play this, and what do we realistically expect from it. I begun to play it for the sentimental reasons stated above, but if it can become Tier1, let's see how. If not, so be it, but let's have fun nevertheless.
That way we can satisfy ourselves to the max while playing this deck, simultaneously building it as best as we can, knowing its true strengths and weaknesses. This is where your experienced advice is precious because you play Modern and I don't yet ]
Leaving psychological reasons aside, the strategic reasons I gave Modern Ninja Deck more thought were the elements of cheap ninjutsu cost and the tempo/advantage gained by the triggered "damage to opponent" abilities.
Strength: sheer speed and shinobi’s tempo bounce, or NotDH’s card advantage.
Weakness: in order for these to work at the desired speed, they need to "combo" with those fast evasive enablers. And some decks that may work otherwise simply ignore this plan of ours.
Can this thing win tournaments, aside from being a cool and totally fun deck to play? I, for sure, want to give it more than a chance.
So, the first priority for me is to enable the evasion/survivability of ninjas, if my anchoring point is that "their abilities are worth it". I even think of running 16 enablers right now. I should mention here, that Mistblade Shinobi can be a one-U-mana-out that can save any ninjutsued ninja. You ninjutsu in Higure, opp. plays Path to Exile on him, you ninjutsu in Mistblade. (What? You already knew this trick? Oh, my...)
My second priority for now is to negate any strategy that can win us by 1) outracing or 2) totally ignoring our strategy. Faster aggro, no creature control decks, Trinisphere -like prison tricks, combo & Burn, etc...
I think that’s why we need Counterspell -like cards. Counterspells in general were maybe the most versatile answer vs. anything in MtG.
That's why I'm starting to have a better opinion about those Faerie builds you guys mention. Ensnaring Bridge was mentioned because we theoretically we can use it one-sidedly vs fast aggro...We can keep 1-2 cards at hand, our low-power enablers pass through Bridge, and when they do, *boom*->ninjutsu.
Hell, we sure need more Ninjas printed. Our toolbox seems a bit of narrow at the moment.
And I really don’t get this… Kids, adolescents and adults like Ninjas. Tons of ninja movies, tons of ninja toys, plastic katanas, shurikens and masks for Halloween, video games…that Kawasaki “Ninja” street bike…blaah blaahh...how the #*!@ did WizardsOTC manage to print only 10 ninjas in a pool of thousands of cards since 1993? Damn it!!
When the hypothetical “Return to Kamigawa” version is out, we’ll see…
Please brothers and sisters, reveal to me mtgsavation’s “Spoiler” technique, so my posts will look better.
@ Kennen: Keep going champ!;)
- Goooood!! Strike Modern down!! Give in to your anger..
- *Gufff-Khhh*
- Qui-Gon's voice echoes: Manakin! Manakin! Nooooo!!!
Jeez, I mindfarted for good! Daze isn't even legal here...
Your advice against Disrupting Shoal seems sound. Maybe if we played two, leaving the hardcast option open mid-late game. I'll tell you when I test it. It seems not many people play Modern here unfortunately.
Thank you for your compliment btw:D I'm glad I understand something.
Do let me know how your experiment with Disrupting Shoal works out. Don't worry! You are getting better in the ways and art of the Ninjas!!!
I read the link you provided, that's some useful information backed up by statistics, however I have played thousands of games, and the randomness I encounter in my draws tells me I need more than 20 lands.
More thoughts that jump to my mind about Ninja decks:
Why do I want to play it? Is it the "Sub-Zero Wins" coolness? Is it because it is budget and fun? Or is it its strength?
If a deck is really good at something...what is that very starting point here? What is Ninja deck’s greater strength? We should focus and spend thought right there. As Nabbydian said:
[ OK, the first reason that drew me here was the fun factor and the coolness, sort of combining two of my hobbies: MtG and modern Ninjitsu^^ Why do I say these things? It's good to know why we play this, and what do we realistically expect from it. I begun to play it for the sentimental reasons stated above, but if it can become Tier1, let's see how. If not, so be it, but let's have fun nevertheless.
That way we can satisfy ourselves to the max while playing this deck, simultaneously building it as best as we can, knowing its true strengths and weaknesses. This is where your experienced advice is precious because you play Modern and I don't yet ]
I think we can't really deny that most of the people here playing ninjas either have some genuine love or sentimental feelings towards NINJA!
Liked the way you put it across here. To me, that is the real spirit of Mtg. Having fun, brewing and enjoying the cards and the different ways the deck plays out. What more can we ask for?
Leaving psychological reasons aside, the strategic reasons I gave Modern Ninja Deck more thought were the elements of cheap ninjutsu cost and the tempo/advantage gained by the triggered "damage to opponent" abilities.
Strength: sheer speed and shinobi’s tempo bounce, or NotDH’s card advantage.
Weakness: in order for these to work at the desired speed, they need to "combo" with those fast evasive enablers. And some decks that may work otherwise simply ignore this plan of ours.
Can this thing win tournaments, aside from being a cool and totally fun deck to play? I, for sure, want to give it more than a chance.
We are using speed and the surprise element to hit the opponent, and from there gain massive card and tempo advantage. Then again, we will also lose the surprise element after the first game since the opponent would have wisen up after the first game.
To be honest, I really think this deck may have a chance to win a odd tournament or so, but more as a rogue deck rather than as a deck consistently beating the top decks.
So, the first priority for me is to enable the evasion/survivability of ninjas, if my anchoring point is that "their abilities are worth it". I even think of running 16 enablers right now. I should mention here, that Mistblade Shinobi can be a one-U-mana-out that can save any ninjutsued ninja. You ninjutsu in Higure, opp. plays Path to Exile on him, you ninjutsu in Mistblade. (What? You already knew this trick? Oh, my...)
My second priority for now is to negate any strategy that can win us by 1) outracing or 2) totally ignoring our strategy. Faster aggro, no creature control decks, Trinisphere -like prison tricks, combo & Burn, etc...
I think that’s why we need Counterspell -like cards. Counterspells in general were maybe the most versatile answer vs. anything in MtG.
That's why I'm starting to have a better opinion about those Faerie builds you guys mention. Ensnaring Bridge was mentioned because we theoretically we can use it one-sidedly vs fast aggro...We can keep 1-2 cards at hand, our low-power enablers pass through Bridge, and when they do, *boom*->ninjutsu.
That's why I always wanted to have either discard or counterspells in my Ninja decklists. Moreover, Blue and Black are both Ninjas colors, so everything falls into plan perfectly.
Hell, we sure need more Ninjas printed. Our toolbox seems a bit of narrow at the moment.
And I really don’t get this… Kids, adolescents and adults like Ninjas. Tons of ninja movies, tons of ninja toys, plastic katanas, shurikens and masks for Halloween, video games…that Kawasaki “Ninja” street bike…blaah blaahh...how the #*!@ did WizardsOTC manage to print only 10 ninjas in a pool of thousands of cards since 1993? Damn it!!
When the hypothetical “Return to Kamigawa” version is out, we’ll see…
That's pretty shocking. So many years of magic, so many expansions and cards and there were only 8 Ninjas? Then came along Planechase 2 with 2 new ninjas and they are not Modern legal? What the!!! Zzzzz
Luckily, the existing ninjas are not too shabby. But for sure we need more Ninjas!!!
Hi Raszti, the reason why I run 2 shocklands but 4 fetchlands is because of the following reasons:
The deck only requires UUB at any point to function effectively, and that is achievable via 2 Watery Grave in play.
4 fetchlands and 2 Watery Grave is effectively playing 6 Watery Grave, since anytime I get a fetch is as good as getting a Watery Grave, since the latter can be found via the fetch - this works in the same principal as Enlightened Tutor enchantment toolbox or a Stoneforge Mystic equipment Toolbox, when playing 4 tutors and a single target effectively means having 5 copies of the same card in the deck.
I find 4 fetches and 2 shocks the right mix, since both cost life loss(potentially in the case of shocks) and running too many may cost us dearly later in the game.
Hope that explains clearly the reasons, do let me know if I missed out on anything.
Thanks. That explained it perfectly for me. It's just that i'm rather new to mtg that's why i wanted to learn more about it.
No problem, I'm glad you found my explanation useful, something to add on which I missed out:
I'm usually conservative when it comes to running more non-basics, and in the case of not running more shocklands (Watery Grave), another reason is because of those destroy non-basic lands effects or spells. Running more shocks than necessary put us at risk to these spells/effects. Plus to a lesser extent, spells like Price of Progress which deal damages.
Then again, these effects are not widely seen in my Modern Meta, that's why I also run useful/utility non-basics in Creeping Tar Pit, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Mutavault etc, to a certain level it goes down to meta and personal preferences.
I'm not sure for other builds, but for me personally I'm not interested in Darkslick Shores, as I have fetches and shocks to get the appropriate mana. I believe if we go 3 colors, Darkslick Shores might be required, but at the moment, the fetches/shocks combination is sufficient.
If the store owner says that I can't trade in the premises, I'll just go outside. If he says that I can't trade within 10m of his premises, I'll go to 11 meters. If he says that he doesn't want to see me trading, I will put a basket over his head and continue trading.
Yes, he's a local legend. He's only known to take his clothes off before he goes into the Ladies' Lockerroom. Nobody knows what he does in there because he's invisible, but it's almost certainly tons of masturbating.
How about Devastation Tide? It could bounce our ninjas so we could re-use them again. It also bounces their creatures giving us tempo advantage.
Devastation Tide is a card that can be looked into, however without sufficient library manipulation cards in most of the Ninja decklists, I feel we'll struggle to use it in most scenarios.
On our turn miracle - we cannot attack since the enablers will have summoning sickness.
On their turn miracle - we can't since we don't have draw effects on their turn.
Hardcast at sorcery speed - 5 mana is a tall order and our opponent has the tempo advantage next turn.
As such, it looks too random and situational to be a reliable card we can turn to.
How about Devastation Tide? It could bounce our ninjas so we could re-use them again. It also bounces their creatures giving us tempo advantage.
That's exactly what somebody said in the previous page...and it's also been discussed in this one! Bro, if you don't have the time to read the whole thread, I'd suggest you to read the primer at least, and then, a few of the thread's last pages, to get an idea about the deck's evolution, before posting:)
Devastation Tide is a card that can be looked into, however without sufficient library manipulation cards in most of the Ninja decklists, I feel we'll struggle to use it in most scenarios.
On our turn miracle - we cannot attack since the enablers will have summoning sickness.
On their turn miracle - we can't since we don't have draw effects on their turn.
Hardcast at sorcery speed - 5 mana is a tall order and our opponent has the tempo advantage next turn.
As such, it looks too random and situational to be a reliable card we can turn to.
You gave brief yet precise explanations here. Thank you mate. I'll playtest during vacations a bit vs. random decks and let you know about Shoal and Tide and Bridge.
As for Tide, my humble opinion about your three "bullets" are:
1* -> We cannot attack, but playing a 2-mana Tide lets you cast Ornithopters for sure; plus more enablers as long as you have the mana. 1-3 enablers re-cast at once, and ready to attack next turn aren't bad at all!
2* -> Agreed.
3* -> Hard cast, I half-agree with you here. Opponent doesn't necessarily have tempo advantage, if you have ornithopter (&/or more unblockability) and the proper staff. Orni this turn + Mistblade/Slitter/Ink-Eyes next turn, could turn the Tide to your favor.
I'm really wondering if you know any good (or at least playable) draw cards, like Brainstorm or Sensei's Divining Top), that are legal in Modern...so we would combine them with Devastation Tide.
Thanx for the "how to use Spoilers" info chief
EDIT: Concerning D-Tide, I just did an advanced Gatherer research, typing " put on top of your library " , at the "Rules Text" box. 271 Results appeared. Almost all totally irrelevant, and the rest pretty bad I guess. I'm writing the most relevant here, and if someone wants to double check me (in case I missed sth), or has a better idea of search filtering (or any other idea about this), please tell us.
Possibly another B or U or colorless card with a relevant sweeper effect could exist and elude me.
My problem is when Ninja of the Deep Hours or Mask of Riddles or Sword of Blah and Blaah draws you extra cards and Tide is among them. Maybe we could use a put-on-top or Scry effect right before any extra draw to fix an incoming Tide's miracle trigger for the next turn. Instant speed would be appreciated more in this case.
I'll be back here eventually, sooner or later Ninja-boyz!
Yea I know, 99,9% they're bad; and building Ninjas around Tide is probably even worse. [Of course, extra draw pieces could always help by finding more enablers/ninjas]. Anyway, I just posted them for reference. Sayonara!
You gave brief yet precise explanations here. Thank you mate. I'll playtest during vacations a bit vs. random decks and let you know about Shoal and Tide and Bridge.
As for Tide, my humble opinion about your three "bullets" are:
1* -> We cannot attack, but playing a 2-mana Tide lets you cast Ornithopters for sure; plus more enablers as long as you have the mana. 1-3 enablers re-cast at once, and ready to attack next turn aren't bad at all!
2* -> Agreed.
3* -> Hard cast, I half-agree with you here. Opponent doesn't necessarily have tempo advantage, if you have ornithopter (&/or more unblockability) and the proper staff. Orni this turn + Mistblade/Slitter/Ink-Eyes next turn, could turn the Tide to your favor.
I'm really wondering if you know any good (or at least playable) draw cards, like Brainstorm or Sensei's Divining Top), that are legal in Modern...so we would combine them with Devastation Tide.
Thanx for the "how to use Spoilers" info chief
Ninjas FTW!!!
1* -> That's right! Thanks for helping me to elaborate further. That's also why enablers should preferably not cost more than 1 CMC, ruling the likes of Invisible Stalker and Dimir Infiltrator out even though they have very relevant abilities as an Ninja Enabler.
3* -> That is the ideal scenario, which I didn't pointed out, I usually don't like to talk about ideal situations, but then again it is still relevant and useful information, and besides that the chances of that happening is actually pretty high to be honest.
I haven't come across good draw/scry cards, they are either not legal or banned. lolz How about Mystic Speculation? I don't think it is good enough so anyone cares to proof me wrong?
EDIT: Concerning D-Tide, I just did an advanced Gatherer research, typing " put on top of your library " , at the "Rules Text" box. 271 Results appeared. Almost all totally irrelevant, and the rest pretty bad I guess. I'm writing the most relevant here, and if someone wants to double check me (in case I missed sth), or has a better idea of search filtering (or any other idea about this), please tell us.
Possibly another B or U or colorless card with a relevant sweeper effect could exist and elude me.
My problem is when Ninja of the Deep Hours or Mask of Riddles or Sword of Blah and Blaah draws you extra cards and Tide is among them. Maybe we could use a put-on-top or Scry effect right before any extra draw to fix an incoming Tide's miracle trigger for the next turn. Instant speed would be appreciated more in this case.
I'll be back here eventually, sooner or later Ninja-boyz!
Yea I know, 99,9% they're bad; and building Ninjas around Tide is probably even worse. [Of course, extra draw pieces could always help by finding more enablers/ninjas]. Anyway, I just posted them for reference. Sayonara!
Yeah, most of the cards are not good enough, some of them were not even played much during their standard runs - that speaks volumes about those cards.
Just noticed you also found Mystic Speculation, I think it is really difficult trying to build areas of the deck around the Miracle cards, if you don't do so it becomes too random, if you do so it weakens the focus of the deck. Therefore at the moment I'm keeping it in view.
I have stopped playing Magic a 6 years ago when I got married. I kept all of my cards in a box and chanced upon it when I was cleaning my room last week. I suddenly had this urge to rebuild my ninja deck (one of my unfinished designs). I was searching for a site/s that may help me in redesigning it. Ergo, I ended up reading this thread.
Forgive me as this is the first time that I have ever replied in a blog. Most of the time I'd often find myself reading and learning from everyone's posts.
What are your thoughts on a ninja deck that is creature intensive?
Looking at what everyone has shared, my plan is:
- Utilise the "flash" skill or "comes into play" skill to cut down my spells to 8
- add more enablers or ninjas (as I intend to create a UB one)
- cause disruption
- card draw power
@ Nabydian, thanks for starting out on this... This probably is one of best forums I've read. (thumbs up!!!)
Moving forward, I'll remember to start with, "Ninjas FTW!"
Key spells in your colors are tempo, info, and combat trick cards, and the sole reason is to be sneaky! Well, also because they interact so well with your creatures or gameplan i.e
Mimic Vat and Telepathy are awesome for multiplayer games (never underestimate the power of a Mimic Vat! :tongue:)
Your creatures are near full playsets, but the spells and accessories to supplement them are however you feel comfortable with; they're just so good at helping you get the most out of your creatures and mechanics.
The main problem with Ninjas is closing out the final points of damage on your opponent; some people include equips like Quietus Spike, Ronin Warclub, Whispersilk Cloak, even Manriki-Gusari if you play against a lot of equipments! I personally play 2x Sword of Feast and Famine, although expensive in $, is utterly ridiculous when you can draw cards, search for cards, and have Unblockable/Flying to guarantee you can tap for double mana every turn.... fun times.
Another great tactic is to use Trinket Mage with a singleton package, also mixed and designed however you feel comfortable with- cards like
There are plenty of decklists in the thread, but the main thing is to build something you're comfortable with playing, then tweak it to fit how aggressive or passive you wish to play. Ninjas by default gain slight advantages every turn, until you can play Higure or another big finisher. Generally though, you'll be squeezing out victories with only a fraction of your life remaining, and those are the best games to experience
I have stopped playing Magic a 6 years ago when I got married. I kept all of my cards in a box and chanced upon it when I was cleaning my room last week. I suddenly had this urge to rebuild my ninja deck (one of my unfinished designs). I was searching for a site/s that may help me in redesigning it. Ergo, I ended up reading this thread.
Forgive me as this is the first time that I have ever replied in a blog. Most of the time I'd often find myself reading and learning from everyone's posts.
What are your thoughts on a ninja deck that is creature intensive?
Looking at what everyone has shared, my plan is:
- Utilise the "flash" skill or "comes into play" skill to cut down my spells to 8
- add more enablers or ninjas (as I intend to create a UB one)
- cause disruption
- card draw power
@ Nabydian, thanks for starting out on this... This probably is one of best forums I've read. (thumbs up!!!)
Moving forward, I'll remember to start with, "Ninjas FTW!"
Ninjas FTW!!!
Welcome to MTGS!!!
Glad that you found us (and the Modern Ninja Thread :wink:), I don't think it will be very difficult for you to make a Ninja deck again, seeing that you have kept your cards intact and we haven't really see massive change over cards playable in Ninjas, in fact, no new Ninjas for Modern at all even after your long hiatus (since Planechase cards are not legal).
aka_Dredge has written an amazing summary of card selections for a UB Ninjas decklist, to add on there is another useful faerie called Spellstutter Sprite, other good enablers Jace's Phantasm, Signal Pest etc, choices of enablers also depends on your land base. If you cannot afford a consistent U/ mana source, you may need to choose the enabler which you have a higher chance of casting with your probable opening mana.
I noticed you are based in Philipines, well we are not far apart!!!:D
Key spells in your colors are tempo, info, and combat trick cards, and the sole reason is to be sneaky! Well, also because they interact so well with your creatures or gameplan i.e
Mimic Vat and Telepathy are awesome for multiplayer games (never underestimate the power of a Mimic Vat! :tongue:)
Your creatures are near full playsets, but the spells and accessories to supplement them are however you feel comfortable with; they're just so good at helping you get the most out of your creatures and mechanics.
The main problem with Ninjas is closing out the final points of damage on your opponent; some people include equips like Quietus Spike, Ronin Warclub, Whispersilk Cloak, even Manriki-Gusari if you play against a lot of equipments! I personally play 2x Sword of Feast and Famine, although expensive in $, is utterly ridiculous when you can draw cards, search for cards, and have Unblockable/Flying to guarantee you can tap for double mana every turn.... fun times.
Another great tactic is to use Trinket Mage with a singleton package, also mixed and designed however you feel comfortable with- cards like
There are plenty of decklists in the thread, but the main thing is to build something you're comfortable with playing, then tweak it to fit how aggressive or passive you wish to play. Ninjas by default gain slight advantages every turn, until you can play Higure or another big finisher. Generally though, you'll be squeezing out victories with only a fraction of your life remaining, and those are the best games to experience
Best of Luck!
That's one impressive and concise summary on UB Ninjas, if you don't mind I would like to link it to the opening primer, as additional useful reading materials.
Thanks for the awesome primer, Nabbydian, and facilitating discussion on this archetype!
Got a quick budget question for you... How indispensable to the deck's strategy are the mutavaults? I don't normally balk at too many cards' prices, but mutavault's is a little infuriating. Do you have any recommended replacements, such as more man lands, cavern of souls, etc?
Thanks for the awesome primer, Nabbydian, and facilitating discussion on this archetype!
Got a quick budget question for you... How indispensable to the deck's strategy are the mutavaults? I don't normally balk at too many cards' prices, but mutavault's is a little infuriating. Do you have any recommended replacements, such as more man lands, cavern of souls, etc?
Thanks again!
-Dolono
Thanks for kind words!!! NINJAS FTW!!!:D
Mutavault is definitely not a necessary. It is only good in certain situations, especially it's synergy with Spellshutter Sprite (which not all lists run anyway). And I have to agree Mutavault is insanely expensive. I was lucky to obtain a set before the price spike ;). Creeping Tar Pit is a good enough replacement. It even provides the right mana for the deck on top of it's unblockability.
I'm not keen on Cavern of Souls though, we need colored mana for black discard and blue counters/bounce spells, and Ninjutsu also need colored mana. Additionally, no one counters Ninja enablers anyway. lolz
On a cursory glance, I'd say you need some more mill/discard support to get the best value out of the phantasms. There's really nothing in your list to put cards in the opponent's graveyard. With all of the storm and combo decks out there in modern, the game could be over by the time the phantasm gets its upgrade.
Any help will be welcomed. Oh, also... NINJAS FTW!!!
Ninjas FTW!!!
It's okie! It's never too late to Ninjutsu!!!;)
I think you should take out Gitaxian Probe and put in Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek, it's much better ripping the card out of his hand rather than looking at the opponent's hand and not having much to do about it.
Although costing a single B, Tragic Slip is too situational as a removal spell. Why not have Go for the Throat in it's place? You can add 1-2 Throat Slitter, that's a ninja removal on a stick. Don't forget he can be tutorable via Higure, the Still Wind, and when the both of them is in play, you could effectively have a Doom Blade once per turn ;).
The land base can definitely be improved via the addition of fetchlands and shocklands - or even with a single Creeping Tar Pit or so. Sometimes the randomness (1x Creeping Tar Pit) can reap some surprising rewards.
On a cursory glance, I'd say you need some more mill/discard support to get the best value out of the phantasms. There's really nothing in your list to put cards in the opponent's graveyard. With all of the storm and combo decks out there in modern, the game could be over by the time the phantasm gets its upgrade.
Since his decklist is mostly removal rather than discards and counterspells, it is not going to have a particularly good matchups against Storm and Combo decks. It is therefore more inclined towards matchups against Aggro-Control, Aggro or Control decks. I don't think much is needed to be done about the Phantasms. They can easily serve a dual function as cheap enablers in the early game or a heavy beater in the late game - either way they are going to be useful.
The Mono Blue Card was intended for control and to utilise the"Spellstutter Sprite, Mistbind Clique, Mistblade Shinobi (preferably because of its ninjitsu cost)/NoDH/Higure" Combo.
I've also put in some key cards that'll help me draw more cards and return spells to help me with the combo above.
The Mono Blue Card was intended for control and to utilise the"Spellstutter Sprite, Mistbind Clique, Mistblade Shinobi (preferably because of its ninjitsu cost)/NoDH/Higure" Combo.
I've also put in some key cards that'll help me draw more cards and return spells to help me with the combo above.
NINJAS FTW!!!!!
I have put your decklist into the proper deck tags.
I'm not very familiar with using Mistbind Clique in a Ninja lock build, if Kennen is reading this he could probably come in and help. From a glance I only see Spellstutter Sprite as the deck only counterspells, so I'm not sure if that is enough to protect yourself and your combo. Maybe Spell Pierce could be useful here. I also saw Unsummon and Repeal, maybe Peel from Reality can come in somewhere, again I'm not sure whose creatures you are usually bouncing here with this Ninja variant lolz :embarrass:.
This simply aims to disrupt opponents. discard till you get the big one for the win with Ink Eyes.
Let me know what I can do to improve this further.
Again, thanks everyone!
Unfortunately it may be back to the drawing board for you, both Bitterblossom and Umezawa's Jitte are not legal in Modern, with that I don't think Smallpox and the Black faeries strategy is as effective in such a list etc...
Then again, a mono-black Ninjas list is not impossible, we had discussed before on a Rat Ninja list, it could be altered to include some Faeries and Ink-Eyes, you can see below list as a reference:
New to magic. I tried one of the Fairy versions of the deck and my hands where always really bad so I attempted to make my own deck. I seeked to attempt to correct the problems I was facing. Coulouris mana always seemed to gimp me, fiend plays spirit token deck so fairys never get in there :'(
New to magic. I tried one of the Fairy versions of the deck and my hands where always really bad so I attempted to make my own deck. I seeked to attempt to correct the problems I was facing. Coulouris mana always seemed to gimp me, fiend plays spirit token deck so fairys never get in there :'(
Baleful Strix is an awesome card; the only downside to him is that, being from Planechase 2012, he isn't actually Modern-format legal! This isn't an issue if you're playing with friends, but thought I'd point it out anyways
If tokens are giving you grief, and your friend probably plays single-target removal spells, then you want to find 3-4 Echoing Truth; It can save your stuff, bounce their stuff, or pop all tokens of the same name; a fantastic catch-all that can reach nearly anything except lands.
It's such a great card, I use 4.
The other issue I think, is that you can play around with your 1cmc cards, to squeeze some more value out of the deck- say, by cutting a 1cmc enabler (1 of 9 enablers), cutting a discard spell (1 of 6), and one of your Distortion Strikes, giving you 3x Echoing Truth slots to help you gain some tempo, or even to add some more meat to the deck, maybe some form or draw spell or a 2for1 that will help you gain more incremental advantage : ) Just an idea, as that is what I would do.
Best of luck!
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Ninja FTW!
Time for a long post. I was able to play a small tournament with a few friends the other day. Due to our lack of time we weren't able to finish but i was able to play against 3 different decks and only lost 2 games in a best out of 3. Forgive me for not remember more card names as the games didn't last long and I didn't pay too close attention honestly. But, I'll do my best to explain how each match played out.
Round 1:
My first game was against a worm deck. It was loaded with removal like Go for the Throat, among others and, of course, worms. Not a single card my opponent played in this deck found light. I had a counter on hand for everything he played and as soon as Mistbind Clique hit it was over. I won both games with ease.
Round 2:
This round was a little more difficult. I played against a (mostly) all land lock down deck. The cards i remember are Manabond, Life from the Loam, Maze of Ith, Intuition, and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale.
These games too a long time to play out as he was keeping my mana tapped. Having 5-7 mana on the board just wasnt enough and i was only able to get 1-2 creatures on the board at a time with the mana i had. Once i had 4 mana so that i could play Mistbind at his upkeep it was over. He couldn't tap out my mana on his main phase or my upkeep which ment i was free to swing and bounce as i please.
I won the first game, lost the second (because i gave up and didnt want to play a 30-45 minute game until i had enough mana to win), won the second game and moved onto the next round... If i didnt have Mistbind i would have never won against this deck.
Round 3:
I played my friend's UG lockdown deck. He used Isochron Scepter with bounce and counter with Rude Awakening as one of his wincons. I actually lost the first game. He was able to kill off my Sprites and counter the other. I was left with just ninja in my hand and no way to counter his first scepter play.
The second game i was able to counter his scepters. he drew only one because he only plays 2 in the deck. Because i was playing Legacy I decided to not handicap myself so i put Cloud of Faeries in my deck. I was able to get 3-4 fae on the board for my spellstutter so he never really made a play on the field except the Birds of paradise (which i let him play) which i sent right back to his hand with an in play shinobi. He chose to let it bounce rather than lose the birds.
The third game was close, but i was able to last long enough to have enough mana, ninja, and ruse on hand to bounce mistbind 3 times. My ninja all hit each turn so it was a (not really easy) but fun win. It took a little more thinking than the other games.
We weren't able to finish the tournament. There were still 4 other guys i haven't played yet but im undefeated so far and thats pretty awesome. Hopefully next Wednesday we will conclude the tourny.
I'd like to point out that i was playing a (not counting the cloud of faeries) all modern deck vs legacy decks and winning. Still, i felt handicapped and felt as though i really got lucky. I wasn't playing Gitaxian Probe or Remand so other than NotDH i had no card draw. The lockdown from Mistbind won EVERY game. Higure never saw the battlefield although i did have 2 of him in my hand for a large portion of 1 game.
Shinobi was clutch, Having him to bounce my spellstutter and clique was so crucial in a lot of the games i played. Even if he didnt bounce a creature. Just his low cost Ninjutsu effect was enough to win me the game.
I really feel like Anakin Skywalker in StarWars episode 3 where hes trying to resist the dark side of the force but he wants to save Padme. Clearly the dark side of the force being Legacy and my Ninja decks being my very own Natalee Portman. Which would make Nabbs, Obi-wan, who tries to save me from playing Legacy. Alas, due to my environment I'm forced to make the switch so that i can be competitive against my friends and have access to the same cards as them.
I WILL keep posting modern deck ideas naturally! Also, my MTGO ninja decks will be played mainly modern. If i get enough requests and my JustinTV streams gain any sort of popularity on this thread i will play some legacy.
I actually love the budget UG ninja list you have nabbs. I've made a few adjustments to my UG deck as well and you will be in for a shock with what Ive been able to acquire! But, its late so i'll be making another post later tomorrow. Until then.
NINJA FTW!
Sorry for the late reply!:embarrass:
To be honest, although I prefer human ninjas, I don't mind having ninja turtles as a new creature type. We just need more Ninjas!
I think it's fair enough why you choose others over Jace's Phantasm, you have exactly explained very clearly and coherently on your selections of the enablers and I pretty much agree with most of what was written. You have a very good grasp on the principals of selecting a ninja enabler. Kudos to you!;)
Thought scour, Jace, Memory Adept and Jace's Phantasm works and have plenty of synergy with each other, but I'm not keen to put up a sideshow for Ninjas. I tend to be more focused on the ways of the Ninja rather than using cards which does not have much interaction such as Jace, Memory Adept. Personally, I rather go for Tamiyo since she has more interactions here.
Disrupting Shoal is a very difficult card to play with at the moment, this card has been at the back of my mind for some time already, but I'm simply not comfortable to count on it as a "free hard counter". That is even with Modern Ninjas who tend to have cards with CMC that is evenly spread out from 1-5 (from Signal Pest, Mana Leak, Mistblade Shinobi, NoDH to Higure). I never had much faith I could hardcast it as another option.
Not a problem, as you said, Jace's Phantasm can be easily sided out.:)
I'm still not a fan of Miracle cards, especially in Ninjas which doesn't play library manipulation. That said, I'm not going to write this card off, so it's more of a keep in view at the moment.
20 lands deck is hard for Ninjas, since we need to ensure consistent land drops for at least the first 3-4 turns. There isn't much free counterspells in Modern, and we don't play Aether Vial or much library manipulation cards either to filter/dig for lands.
Glad to have another die-hard Ninja, NINJAS FTW!!!!!
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
Long post deserves long reply.:D
0dysseus's post was also equally long (if not longer), so I have to break up my replies over 2 days and into another separate post.:rolleyes:
It's good that you are able to get some playtesting under your belt, although upon reading on I realise it was more of a semi-competitive legacy tournament, rather than involving a Modern meta. But sometimes if that's what you have, you just gotta make do with it.
Seems like you out-tempo him easily. Spell Pierce and Rune Snag/Mana Leak with the occasional Familiar's Ruse, finished off with a Mistbind Clique makes an easy win - I supposed that's how it plays out? I remembered your list has more counters than my typical Ninja lists.
This is a bit more difficult to play against, since Manabond comes down too quickly and it is difficult to play counters against dredge cards like Life of the Loam. I agree Mistbind Clique were the key here, since the regular ninjas will take too long to grind out a win while they would have set up their win con by then. Mistbind has gotten you 2 matches so far.
Isochron Scepter is one sick card. I used to combine him with counterspells, Orim's chant or Swords to Plowshares (machine gun on a stick) - it allowed me to beat many legacy tier one decks but didn't earn me many fans :embarrass:. But in a tournament, you play to win so no dispute over choice of cards here.
Cloud of Faeries and Spellstutter Sprite has a sick interaction, too bad the former is not legal in Modern, that said, if available it would have made Faeries way too strong.
You got your Ninja engine going here, and with Ninjutsu being uncounterable, was always going to send him packing eventually.
I haven't even told you how many times I lose to a Force of Will. I played against Legacy Stasis, Mono-U control, U/ Stoneblade, Esper Stoneblade and it was usually Force of Will which tilt the momentum or battle in their favor. Brainstorm was also massive in those games I played. That said, I also won my fair share of games. Just that those 2 cards were very significant in deciding the outcome of many games.
I'm a big Star Wars fan, so I can relate to what you are saying here.;)
And like I narrated above, the legacy is like the Galactic empire or the Dark side with unlimited resources and overpowered stuffs via Brainstorm and Force of will and many more.
Let's hope your environment will eventually convert into the Rebel side....
The budget UG ninja list were not easy, I have no idea how it will work! I'm not really into fully budgeted lists to be honest, since I myself have a decent collection of legacy/modern cards therefore I seldom go through that route. I'm only budget when it comes to Standard format.
Hear from you soon, NINJAS FTW!!!!!
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
Don't worry about replying, I try to be a busy bee myself and I understand^^
Jeez, I mindfarted for good! Daze isn't even legal here...
Your advice against Disrupting Shoal seems sound. Maybe if we played two, leaving the hardcast option open mid-late game. I'll tell you when I test it. It seems not many people play Modern here unfortunately.
Thank you for your compliment btw:D I'm glad I understand something.
Concerning lands, if you want exactly 3 lands by turn 3 (and if the table in the link below is correct) then 20 is the number:)
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=327344
More thoughts that jump to my mind about Ninja decks:
Why do I want to play it? Is it the "Sub-Zero Wins" coolness? Is it because it is budget and fun? Or is it its strength?
If a deck is really good at something...what is that very starting point here? What is Ninja deck’s greater strength? We should focus and spend thought right there. As Nabbydian said:
[ OK, the first reason that drew me here was the fun factor and the coolness, sort of combining two of my hobbies: MtG and modern Ninjitsu^^ Why do I say these things? It's good to know why we play this, and what do we realistically expect from it. I begun to play it for the sentimental reasons stated above, but if it can become Tier1, let's see how. If not, so be it, but let's have fun nevertheless.
That way we can satisfy ourselves to the max while playing this deck, simultaneously building it as best as we can, knowing its true strengths and weaknesses. This is where your experienced advice is precious because you play Modern and I don't yet
Leaving psychological reasons aside, the strategic reasons I gave Modern Ninja Deck more thought were the elements of cheap ninjutsu cost and the tempo/advantage gained by the triggered "damage to opponent" abilities.
Strength: sheer speed and shinobi’s tempo bounce, or NotDH’s card advantage.
Weakness: in order for these to work at the desired speed, they need to "combo" with those fast evasive enablers. And some decks that may work otherwise simply ignore this plan of ours.
Can this thing win tournaments, aside from being a cool and totally fun deck to play? I, for sure, want to give it more than a chance.
So, the first priority for me is to enable the evasion/survivability of ninjas, if my anchoring point is that "their abilities are worth it". I even think of running 16 enablers right now. I should mention here, that Mistblade Shinobi can be a one-U-mana-out that can save any ninjutsued ninja. You ninjutsu in Higure, opp. plays Path to Exile on him, you ninjutsu in Mistblade. (What? You already knew this trick? Oh, my...)
My second priority for now is to negate any strategy that can win us by 1) outracing or 2) totally ignoring our strategy. Faster aggro, no creature control decks, Trinisphere -like prison tricks, combo & Burn, etc...
I think that’s why we need Counterspell -like cards. Counterspells in general were maybe the most versatile answer vs. anything in MtG.
That's why I'm starting to have a better opinion about those Faerie builds you guys mention.
Ensnaring Bridge was mentioned because we theoretically we can use it one-sidedly vs fast aggro...We can keep 1-2 cards at hand, our low-power enablers pass through Bridge, and when they do, *boom*->ninjutsu.
Hell, we sure need more Ninjas printed. Our toolbox seems a bit of narrow at the moment.
And I really don’t get this… Kids, adolescents and adults like Ninjas. Tons of ninja movies, tons of ninja toys, plastic katanas, shurikens and masks for Halloween, video games…that Kawasaki “Ninja” street bike…blaah blaahh...how the #*!@ did WizardsOTC manage to print only 10 ninjas in a pool of thousands of cards since 1993? Damn it!!
When the hypothetical “Return to Kamigawa” version is out, we’ll see…
Please brothers and sisters, reveal to me mtgsavation’s “Spoiler” technique, so my posts will look better.
@ Kennen: Keep going champ!;)
- Goooood!! Strike Modern down!! Give in to your anger..
- *Gufff-Khhh*
- Qui-Gon's voice echoes: Manakin! Manakin! Nooooo!!!
Ninja rogue(squadron) decks -for tech win!!
Nabbydian of the Deep Hours....cool story bro...I'm an NoDH too lolz
Do let me know how your experiment with Disrupting Shoal works out. Don't worry! You are getting better in the ways and art of the Ninjas!!!
I read the link you provided, that's some useful information backed up by statistics, however I have played thousands of games, and the randomness I encounter in my draws tells me I need more than 20 lands.
I think we can't really deny that most of the people here playing ninjas either have some genuine love or sentimental feelings towards NINJA!
Liked the way you put it across here. To me, that is the real spirit of Mtg. Having fun, brewing and enjoying the cards and the different ways the deck plays out. What more can we ask for?
We are using speed and the surprise element to hit the opponent, and from there gain massive card and tempo advantage. Then again, we will also lose the surprise element after the first game since the opponent would have wisen up after the first game.
To be honest, I really think this deck may have a chance to win a odd tournament or so, but more as a rogue deck rather than as a deck consistently beating the top decks.
That's why I always wanted to have either discard or counterspells in my Ninja decklists. Moreover, Blue and Black are both Ninjas colors, so everything falls into plan perfectly.
That's pretty shocking. So many years of magic, so many expansions and cards and there were only 8 Ninjas? Then came along Planechase 2 with 2 new ninjas and they are not Modern legal? What the!!! Zzzzz
Luckily, the existing ninjas are not too shabby. But for sure we need more Ninjas!!!
There is a icon on the top right corner of the toolbar (looks like a sheet of paper), just highlight the text and click that button and your are done!
Otherwise, replace the { with [ and include the text in within. {SPOILER}{/SPOILER}
NINJAS FTW!!!!!!
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
Hi Raszti, the reason why I run 2 shocklands but 4 fetchlands is because of the following reasons:
Hope that explains clearly the reasons, do let me know if I missed out on anything.
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
No problem, I'm glad you found my explanation useful, something to add on which I missed out:
I'm usually conservative when it comes to running more non-basics, and in the case of not running more shocklands (Watery Grave), another reason is because of those destroy non-basic lands effects or spells. Running more shocks than necessary put us at risk to these spells/effects. Plus to a lesser extent, spells like Price of Progress which deal damages.
Then again, these effects are not widely seen in my Modern Meta, that's why I also run useful/utility non-basics in Creeping Tar Pit, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Mutavault etc, to a certain level it goes down to meta and personal preferences.
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
I'm not sure for other builds, but for me personally I'm not interested in Darkslick Shores, as I have fetches and shocks to get the appropriate mana. I believe if we go 3 colors, Darkslick Shores might be required, but at the moment, the fetches/shocks combination is sufficient.
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
Devastation Tide is a card that can be looked into, however without sufficient library manipulation cards in most of the Ninja decklists, I feel we'll struggle to use it in most scenarios.
- On our turn miracle - we cannot attack since the enablers will have summoning sickness.
- On their turn miracle - we can't since we don't have draw effects on their turn.
- Hardcast at sorcery speed - 5 mana is a tall order and our opponent has the tempo advantage next turn.
As such, it looks too random and situational to be a reliable card we can turn to.Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
That's exactly what somebody said in the previous page...and it's also been discussed in this one! Bro, if you don't have the time to read the whole thread, I'd suggest you to read the primer at least, and then, a few of the thread's last pages, to get an idea about the deck's evolution, before posting:)
You gave brief yet precise explanations here. Thank you mate. I'll playtest during vacations a bit vs. random decks and let you know about Shoal and Tide and Bridge.
As for Tide, my humble opinion about your three "bullets" are:
1* -> We cannot attack, but playing a 2-mana Tide lets you cast Ornithopters for sure; plus more enablers as long as you have the mana. 1-3 enablers re-cast at once, and ready to attack next turn aren't bad at all!
2* -> Agreed.
3* -> Hard cast, I half-agree with you here. Opponent doesn't necessarily have tempo advantage, if you have ornithopter (&/or more unblockability) and the proper staff. Orni this turn + Mistblade/Slitter/Ink-Eyes next turn, could turn the Tide to your favor.
I'm really wondering if you know any good (or at least playable) draw cards, like Brainstorm or Sensei's Divining Top), that are legal in Modern...so we would combine them with Devastation Tide.
Thanx for the "how to use Spoilers" info chief
EDIT: Concerning D-Tide, I just did an advanced Gatherer research, typing " put on top of your library " , at the "Rules Text" box. 271 Results appeared. Almost all totally irrelevant, and the rest pretty bad I guess. I'm writing the most relevant here, and if someone wants to double check me (in case I missed sth), or has a better idea of search filtering (or any other idea about this), please tell us.
Possibly another B or U or colorless card with a relevant sweeper effect could exist and elude me.
My problem is when Ninja of the Deep Hours or Mask of Riddles or Sword of Blah and Blaah draws you extra cards and Tide is among them. Maybe we could use a put-on-top or Scry effect right before any extra draw to fix an incoming Tide's miracle trigger for the next turn. Instant speed would be appreciated more in this case.
I'll be back here eventually, sooner or later Ninja-boyz!
The least awful cards I found were: Crystal Ball , Second sight , Survivor of the Unseen(horrible!) , Telling time(End of opponent's Turn). Foresee(expensive) , Lose Hope , Mystic Speculation , Serum Visions(risky, because you draw 1 first) , Viscera Seer(yuk!) , Fill with Fright(expensive) , and also Peer through depths(End of opponent's Turn).
Yea I know, 99,9% they're bad; and building Ninjas around Tide is probably even worse. [Of course, extra draw pieces could always help by finding more enablers/ninjas]. Anyway, I just posted them for reference. Sayonara!
Ninjas FTW!!!
1* -> That's right! Thanks for helping me to elaborate further. That's also why enablers should preferably not cost more than 1 CMC, ruling the likes of Invisible Stalker and Dimir Infiltrator out even though they have very relevant abilities as an Ninja Enabler.
3* -> That is the ideal scenario, which I didn't pointed out, I usually don't like to talk about ideal situations, but then again it is still relevant and useful information, and besides that the chances of that happening is actually pretty high to be honest.
I haven't come across good draw/scry cards, they are either not legal or banned. lolz
Yeah, most of the cards are not good enough, some of them were not even played much during their standard runs - that speaks volumes about those cards.
Just noticed you also found Mystic Speculation, I think it is really difficult trying to build areas of the deck around the Miracle cards, if you don't do so it becomes too random, if you do so it weakens the focus of the deck. Therefore at the moment I'm keeping it in view.
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
I have stopped playing Magic a 6 years ago when I got married. I kept all of my cards in a box and chanced upon it when I was cleaning my room last week. I suddenly had this urge to rebuild my ninja deck (one of my unfinished designs). I was searching for a site/s that may help me in redesigning it. Ergo, I ended up reading this thread.
Forgive me as this is the first time that I have ever replied in a blog. Most of the time I'd often find myself reading and learning from everyone's posts.
What are your thoughts on a ninja deck that is creature intensive?
Looking at what everyone has shared, my plan is:
- Utilise the "flash" skill or "comes into play" skill to cut down my spells to 8
- add more enablers or ninjas (as I intend to create a UB one)
- cause disruption
- card draw power
@ Nabydian, thanks for starting out on this... This probably is one of best forums I've read. (thumbs up!!!)
Moving forward, I'll remember to start with, "Ninjas FTW!"
Not entirely sure how creature intensive you intend to be! You definitely want;
4x Ornithopter (evasive 0cost Ninjutsu enabler, amazing inclusion)
2-4 other cheap enablers like Zephyr Sprite, Tormented Soul etc.
2-4 Mistblade Shinobi (depending on what you play against; I run 4)
4x Ninja of Deep Hours
2-3 Higure of the Still Wind (finisher)
That's half of your non-land portion already!
Other cards, considering you're interested in Black, include Throat Slitter, and Okiba-Gang Shinobi. I personally tested Ink Eyes, Servant of Oni and was kind of dissapointed (but hilarious for multiplayer games :D). Was a lot happier with Grave Titan.
Key spells in your colors are tempo, info, and combat trick cards, and the sole reason is to be sneaky! Well, also because they interact so well with your creatures or gameplan i.e
Inquisition of Kozilek/ Duress/ Thoughtseize/ Gitaxian Probe
Echoing Truth/ Familiar's Ruse/ Artful Dodge/ Distortion Strike
Mimic Vat and Telepathy are awesome for multiplayer games (never underestimate the power of a Mimic Vat! :tongue:)
Your creatures are near full playsets, but the spells and accessories to supplement them are however you feel comfortable with; they're just so good at helping you get the most out of your creatures and mechanics.
The main problem with Ninjas is closing out the final points of damage on your opponent; some people include equips like Quietus Spike, Ronin Warclub, Whispersilk Cloak, even Manriki-Gusari if you play against a lot of equipments! I personally play 2x Sword of Feast and Famine, although expensive in $, is utterly ridiculous when you can draw cards, search for cards, and have Unblockable/Flying to guarantee you can tap for double mana every turn.... fun times.
Another great tactic is to use Trinket Mage with a singleton package, also mixed and designed however you feel comfortable with- cards like
Basilisk Collar, Shuriken, Pithing Needle, Chalice of the Void, Darksteel Citadel, Relic of Progenitus/ Tormod's Crypt, Everflowing Chalice, Engineered Explosives etc. I personally use 4 Trinket Mages with the first 5 artifacts listed, and can sideboard the Graveyard hate or the other artifacts just in case they become relevant (or I'm feeling greedy). More importantly, Trinket Mage can search out your Ornithopters.
.....
There are plenty of decklists in the thread, but the main thing is to build something you're comfortable with playing, then tweak it to fit how aggressive or passive you wish to play. Ninjas by default gain slight advantages every turn, until you can play Higure or another big finisher. Generally though, you'll be squeezing out victories with only a fraction of your life remaining, and those are the best games to experience
Best of Luck!
Ninjas FTW!!!
Welcome to MTGS!!!
Glad that you found us (and the Modern Ninja Thread :wink:), I don't think it will be very difficult for you to make a Ninja deck again, seeing that you have kept your cards intact and we haven't really see massive change over cards playable in Ninjas, in fact, no new Ninjas for Modern at all even after your long hiatus
aka_Dredge has written an amazing summary of card selections for a UB Ninjas decklist, to add on there is another useful faerie called Spellstutter Sprite, other good enablers Jace's Phantasm, Signal Pest etc, choices of enablers also depends on your land base. If you cannot afford a consistent U/ mana source, you may need to choose the enabler which you have a higher chance of casting with your probable opening mana.
I noticed you are based in Philipines, well we are not far apart!!!:D
That's one impressive and concise summary on UB Ninjas, if you don't mind I would like to link it to the opening primer, as additional useful reading materials.
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
Got a quick budget question for you... How indispensable to the deck's strategy are the mutavaults? I don't normally balk at too many cards' prices, but mutavault's is a little infuriating. Do you have any recommended replacements, such as more man lands, cavern of souls, etc?
Thanks again!
-Dolono
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
Thanks for kind words!!! NINJAS FTW!!!:D
Mutavault is definitely not a necessary. It is only good in certain situations, especially it's synergy with Spellshutter Sprite (which not all lists run anyway). And I have to agree Mutavault is insanely expensive. I was lucky to obtain a set before the price spike ;). Creeping Tar Pit is a good enough replacement. It even provides the right mana for the deck on top of it's unblockability.
I'm not keen on Cavern of Souls though, we need colored mana for black discard and blue counters/bounce spells, and Ninjutsu also need colored mana. Additionally, no one counters Ninja enablers anyway. lolz
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
Ninjas FTW!!!
It's okie! It's never too late to Ninjutsu!!!;)
I think you should take out Gitaxian Probe and put in Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek, it's much better ripping the card out of his hand rather than looking at the opponent's hand and not having much to do about it.
Although costing a single B, Tragic Slip is too situational as a removal spell. Why not have Go for the Throat in it's place? You can add 1-2 Throat Slitter, that's a ninja removal on a stick. Don't forget he can be tutorable via Higure, the Still Wind, and when the both of them is in play, you could effectively have a Doom Blade once per turn ;).
The land base can definitely be improved via the addition of fetchlands and shocklands - or even with a single Creeping Tar Pit or so. Sometimes the randomness (1x Creeping Tar Pit) can reap some surprising rewards.
Since his decklist is mostly removal rather than discards and counterspells, it is not going to have a particularly good matchups against Storm and Combo decks. It is therefore more inclined towards matchups against Aggro-Control, Aggro or Control decks. I don't think much is needed to be done about the Phantasms. They can easily serve a dual function as cheap enablers in the early game or a heavy beater in the late game - either way they are going to be useful.
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
Thanks Nabbydian and aka_Dredge for your inputs.
I couldnt really create the UB deck that I wanted so I decided to split them into two:
Human Ninja / Faerie Deck
Enablers
Ornithopter 4x
Zephyr Sprite 4x
Key Cards
Spellstutter Sprite 4x
Mistbind Clique 4x
Ninjas
Higure the Still Wind 2x
Ninja of the Deep Hours 4x
Mistblade Shinobi 4x
Spells
Remand 4x
Repeal 4x
Unsummon 4x
Land
Mutavault 4x
Island 17x
Minamo, School at Water's Edge 1x
The Mono Blue Card was intended for control and to utilise the"Spellstutter Sprite, Mistbind Clique, Mistblade Shinobi (preferably because of its ninjitsu cost)/NoDH/Higure" Combo.
I've also put in some key cards that'll help me draw more cards and return spells to help me with the combo above.
Disruption Deck aka Rat Ninja / Rogue
Spells
Duress 2x
Thoughtseize 4x
Sign in Blood 4x
Smallpox 2x
Enchantment
Bitter Blossom 2x
Artifacts
Umezawa's Jitte 2x
Creature
Oona's Prowler 3x
Oona's Blackguard 4x
Nightshade Stinger 4 x
Earwig Squad 3x
Throat Slitter 2x
Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni 2x
Okiba Gang Shinobi 2x
Land
Shizo, Death's Storehouse 1x
Tomb of Orami 1x
Swamp 20x
This simply aims to disrupt opponents. discard till you get the big one for the win with Ink Eyes.
Let me know what I can do to improve this further.
Again, thanks everyone!
NINJAS FTW!!!!!
I have put your decklist into the proper deck tags.
I'm not very familiar with using Mistbind Clique in a Ninja lock build, if Kennen is reading this he could probably come in and help. From a glance I only see Spellstutter Sprite as the deck only counterspells, so I'm not sure if that is enough to protect yourself and your combo. Maybe Spell Pierce could be useful here. I also saw Unsummon and Repeal, maybe Peel from Reality can come in somewhere, again I'm not sure whose creatures you are usually bouncing here with this Ninja variant lolz :embarrass:.
Unfortunately it may be back to the drawing board for you, both Bitterblossom and Umezawa's Jitte are not legal in Modern, with that I don't think Smallpox and the Black faeries strategy is as effective in such a list etc...
Then again, a mono-black Ninjas list is not impossible, we had discussed before on a Rat Ninja list, it could be altered to include some Faeries and Ink-Eyes, you can see below list as a reference:
4 Typhoid Rats
4 Skullsnatcher
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Chittering Rats
3 Throat Slitter
2 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
2 Patron of the Nezumi
4 Night's Whisper
Artifacts [7]:
4 Aether Vial
3 Infiltration Lens
Planeswalkers [4]
4 Liliana of the Veil
17 Swamp
4 Swarmyard
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
For now I could replace Night's Whisper with Sign in Blood - you never know when you could use Sign in Blood on the opponent lolz!
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
This is my decklist so far but it's gonna change quite a bit if I can get first strikers
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
3 Mistblade Shinobi
4 Nightshade Stinger
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
2 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Throat Slitter
2 Zephyr Sprite
3 Duress
3 Familiar's Ruse
4 Murder
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
5 Island
3 Secluded Glen
4 Swamp
2 Tolaria West
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
I'm also pretty bad at making a decent landbase but I have the 2 Darkslick Shores, 3 of the Drowned Catacomb, and the Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
2 Higure, the Still Wind
3 Mistblade Shinobi
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Ornithopter
3 Baleful Strix
1 Dimir Infiltrator
4 Tormented Soul
4 Distortion Strike
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
Instant:4
4 Familiar's Ruse
Artifacts:2
2 Sword of Fire and Ice
Land:22
5 Island
5 Swamp
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Watery Grave
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
I have really been enjoying how well Familiar's Ruse goes with Baleful Strix/Ornithopter and Sword of Fire and Ice on Tormented Soul is silly. Tormented Soul has really been a hero for me as of late. I wanted to use Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth but that would allow my pal to be able to pay one of his flashback costs.
Baleful Strix is an awesome card; the only downside to him is that, being from Planechase 2012, he isn't actually Modern-format legal! This isn't an issue if you're playing with friends, but thought I'd point it out anyways
If tokens are giving you grief, and your friend probably plays single-target removal spells, then you want to find 3-4 Echoing Truth; It can save your stuff, bounce their stuff, or pop all tokens of the same name; a fantastic catch-all that can reach nearly anything except lands.
It's such a great card, I use 4.
The other issue I think, is that you can play around with your 1cmc cards, to squeeze some more value out of the deck- say, by cutting a 1cmc enabler (1 of 9 enablers), cutting a discard spell (1 of 6), and one of your Distortion Strikes, giving you 3x Echoing Truth slots to help you gain some tempo, or even to add some more meat to the deck, maybe some form or draw spell or a 2for1 that will help you gain more incremental advantage : ) Just an idea, as that is what I would do.
Best of luck!