Regards to the bounce, vapor snag does more than just bounce their creatures, sometimes you use it to bounce a ninja back to your hand during combat to re-ninjustu, or vapor snag spellstutter to counter something. Mistblade sometimes is also the best card in the deck.
I guess that's why I like Peel from Reality so much -- I feel like it serves both purposes of Vapor Snag, and rarely do I not want both of them at the same time.
I do concur here, usually the double return works in my favor, and sometimes it can be a major swing in tempo over to Ninjas, however it does cost an additional 1 therefore we might struggle to cast effectively in the earlier stages of the game compared to 1 CC bounce spells.
Eh that opens us up to a lot more damage which sometimes when our deck wants to grind, damage from fetches/shocks is bad..The sideboard is fine im still tweaking it every time I play haha
I didn't include Vendilion Clique in the decklist cause i can't afford it right now. Vapor Snag is a great card, but I chose Into the Roil to deal with noncreature threats on the battlefield, and the card advantage is great. Far // Away can let you bounce a creature and/or deal with hexproof fatties by sacrificing them, even though is not that cheap.
Stellar logic. All decks that will ever be tier 1 or 2 have already been discovered. Might as well lock up the forum here and stop brewing everyone. Format solved.
So splashbros how did the deck do at Pittsburgh? I saw a few UB faeries out in the field but didn't see yours
Sadly did not get to go to GP Pitt, had a funeral to attend. But i did play at an FNM
Ad Naus: 2-0, Spellstutter to good keeping him off all his cantrips.
Jund: 2-0, Mistblade + Sword of fire and ice was pretty good
Tokens:0-2 Probably besides merfolk the only deck i dont want to see.
Burn: 2-0 Spellstutter game 1 was very strong, dispels g2 did work
List changed, added a skaab runiator that has been op.
Hey just curious how do you feel the Judge's Familiars play as opposed to the signal pests? Also do you think there is another fairy or utility creature we can better utilize in this spot? Have you considered a card like spellskite or Kira, Great Glass-Spinner? I have playtested both of these and they worked well. Kira perhaps a little too slow and vulnerable to board wipe. Spellskite absorbed removal which worked wonders some games against jund/junk due to abrupt decay and Maelstrom Pulse being the only cards we cannot really counter, as well as rending volley in any other red deck.
I have also taken a slightly different route and cut the familiars and Skaab Ruinator, 1 island, and the sword. In their place I added a complete set of disrupting shoals, being as it works really well in gaining serious tempo with this kind of deck early, as well as adding in 3 day's undoing. I was a really big fan of this card when it first game out, but have not found a shell to use it in. Part of the issue with this deck is losing valuable fairies as well as having too few cards in hand. Undoing puts our fairies back in our decks, as well as giving us a chance to restart with 7 cards. I could be wrong (as undoing really has been lackluster so far and most likely unplayable) but it could be worth a shot. I would love to hear your opinion on these ideas though.
Stellar logic. All decks that will ever be tier 1 or 2 have already been discovered. Might as well lock up the forum here and stop brewing everyone. Format solved.
An excellent tournament report of someone playing a homebrew ninja deck in a local tournament of 45-50 people. He made top 8, and typed up a really excellent tournament report:
An excellent tournament report of someone playing a homebrew ninja deck in a local tournament of 45-50 people. He made top 8, and typed up a really excellent tournament report:
This list is quite fun - i built it with a few tweaks and played it tabletop this weekend. Couple notes so far:
1. Confirmed this deck really wants untapped blue mana in multiples of 2. All of our counterspells cost UU, so out of 22 lands, i really dont think its wise to run less than 18 islands. I took out the ghost quarters and went with 2 Faerie Conclave and 2 Cavern of Souls. The caverns may be going a bit deep, should prolly just be ghost quarters...but i already own them...Conclaves are really sweet though, i prefer to mutavault because they can fly (deck wants evasion badly) and make blue mana. 4 is too much tapped mana but can def see an arg for 3 conclaves.
2. Ronin warclub is better than it looks. If you can find a window to resolve one, you never need to think about it again. And it pairs well with ninjutsu.
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Have a helicopter drop you off out front. Light your cigar with a small Indonesian boy holding a black lotus. Then bust out a craw wurm deck with no sleeves. Raw dog shuffle, loose terribly, flip the table, leave in a hovercraft.
I love the idea of a Bant ninja list! I'd probably start with your list and finagle in some Noble Hierarch, Ninja of the Deep Hours, and maybe some of that new Reflector Mage. Get some Man-O-War/Sea Stompy tempo action with permission spells going on. I'd be very interested in seeing on how your list develops
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If you always do what you always did, then you'll always get what you always got.
I think that Cryptic Command is probably worth it as a 1-of or 2-of. I don't think you need a full playset for it to add value.
I'm not a huge fan of Scion of Oona -- maybe against a very removal-heavy matchup (like playing against burn?), but in general I prefer the grindier control route rather than the "fast tempo" route. Really, that's just going to be your preference though. If you're going for strong tempo / aggro, you might consider something like Ronin Warclub to help pump up your dudes.
If you're having trouble getting your cards through (like Mistblade Shinobi), you might consider something like Slip Through Space or Distortion Strike or Aqueous Form. I don't think I would play Mistblade Shinobi without something like that to help me make sure it connected at least once.
I tend to run Peel from Reality instead of Mistblade Shinobi -- I prefer the instant-speed nature of it, but again, I go the "control / grind" route rather than "tempo / aggro" route.
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I don't really like cavern for this deck. Especially now that I am thinking of adding cryptic command and familiar ruse. Caverns don't help pay for those nor do they help pay for ninjitsu. The 4 mutavaults have already proven to be problematic sometimes. Oboro and Minamo probably deserve a spot in the list.
I agree about Mutavault being not great. I used to play it as a 4-of, but lately I've been subbing them out for Faerie Conclave. I don't like that it takes more mana to activate and that it comes in tapped, but I do like how it produces blue, and that it has flying. At the moment I think I'm running it as 2 copies of Faerie Conclave and 1 copy of Mutavault, but I might change that in the future.
Most of the stuff in my build of the deck takes 2 mana, so my "odd" mana tends to go unused, and playing my third land as coming-in-tapped generally doesn't hurt me at all.
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Overall I was fairly impressed by the deck, as some of the cards seem really bad but the deck is really good at keeping the opponent off balance for long enough to win. It is also really fun to play, and uses many of my favourite cards (which was why I sleeved it up in the first place). Overall I felt like Mutavault was pretty good, ghost quarter a bit less so. It was however relevant multiple times that it can't tap for blue, so might be a possibility to cut 1 of the colorless lands for another island/faerie conclave. The biggest issue I have with the deck is that too often you are stuck with random 1/1 beaters with no payoff or a bunch of ninjas with no fliers to enable them. I could see how adding some equipment might help with some of those issues.
I don't think Familiar's Ruse fits into that list. That being said, the first thing I thought when I looked at that list was that you probably have too few threats. It seems to me like you might end up in a position with no threats on board and a bunch of bounce spells on hand that don't do much because they only buy time, and buying time is only really valuable if you can use that time for something. 4 maindeck spreading seas also seems a bit questionable considering you don't really have any synergy with the seas except for the fact that they are annoying for the opponent to deal with from time to time. I'd consider trying to fit in a few more ways to pressure your opponent's life total as my experience with this deck was that once you are behind on board the game is often over, so you need to be fairly proactive in terms of landing a threat that can apply some pressure. Maybe cut some of the 2 mana counters/boomerangs for some spellstutter sprites, as those do some of the same things (though arguably a bit worse) but also pressures the opponent a bit at the same time. I'm also questioning running delvers and ninjas in the same deck, as you usually need to flip delver to get it to enable your ninjas, but if you have flipped your delver you usually don't really want to bounce it.
I goldfished a few hands with the deck and it seemed alright. The delver + ninja combo didn't seem to be an issue to be honest. If it flips on turn 2 I can usually just leave it and have remand/mana leak or spreading seas/snag/boomerang for the turn, if it doesn't flip I can ninja. Threat density is somewhat of an issue but didn't seem to come up too much. Worst case scenario seemed to be I have to snap eot turn 2 to ninja turn 3. I don't think I'll put equipment in the deck because there never seemed to be a point where I wanted to tap out for it, but I still might consider the sword in the future. Land count also seemed fine, may even be able to cut one. Regarding Familiar's Ruse, I'm not sure. It would seem great with snap but not so great with my other creatures (particularly delver).
I'll most likely play the deck for real later tonight (-1 sword and -1 clique because I don't have them for +1 snap and +1 boomerang). My store is pretty competitive and I expect some tron which is why I wanted to try the seas + boomerang package.
This is my budget version of Ninja Faeries. I have yet to acquire a Vendilion Clique and 2 Sword of Fire and Ice as they are way out of my budget right now. Haven't tested it yet in tournaments but it does well during test plays. Also I am using Cloud Sprites instead, because for some reason Zephyr Sprites are hard to find.
I feel like Aqueous Form just feels clunky and I hate that it can 2-for-1 us at times. Will Distortion Strike be better?
Also, what are your thoughts on the Side Board? Is it enough hate for the current meta? I am thinking of getting Surgical Extraction, 1 of each in main and side, but I do not know what cards to replace.
Don't forget about Faerie Miscreant, as it's a strictly better version of both Cloud Sprite and Zephyr Sprite, and the fact that it was printed so recently in Magic Origins means it's relatively easy to find most places.
I'm not sure that Aqueous Form is any more at risk for being 2-for-1'd than Distortion Strike. If they remove your targeted creature in response to you casting the spell, it's going to work out the same for you -- you just lost 2 cards. Rebound doesn't happen if the spell "fizzles" -- the two options really feel very close to the same.
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I do concur here, usually the double return works in my favor, and sometimes it can be a major swing in tempo over to Ninjas, however it does cost an additional 1 therefore we might struggle to cast effectively in the earlier stages of the game compared to 1 CC bounce spells.
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
Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Secluded Glen
4 Underground River
7 Island
2 Blinkmoth Nexus
Creatures
4 Faerie Miscreant
3 Zephyr Sprite
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Harbinger of the Tides
2 Pestermite
2 Mistbind Clique
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
1 Throat Slitter
1 Higure, the Still Wind
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
Artifacts
2 Ronin Warclub
Spells
2 Spell Pierce
2 Go for the Throat
2 Into the Roil
2 Familiar's Ruse
2 Far // Away
2 Artful Dodge
2 Hibernation
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Dispel
2 Pithing Needle
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2 Disrupting Shoal
2 Echoing Truth
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Throat Slitter
I didn't include Vendilion Clique in the decklist cause i can't afford it right now. Vapor Snag is a great card, but I chose Into the Roil to deal with noncreature threats on the battlefield, and the card advantage is great. Far // Away can let you bounce a creature and/or deal with hexproof fatties by sacrificing them, even though is not that cheap.
Hope my list is treating you well heres my legacy version. It is not budget
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Faerie Miscreant
3 Mistblade Shinobi
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Standstill
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
15 Island
3 Mutavault
4 Judge's Familiar
3 Stifle
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Misdirection
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 3 Hydroblast
SB: 1 Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 2 Submerge
SB: 2 Scion of Oona
SB: 3 Back to Basics
SB: 2 Sower of Temptation
Sadly did not get to go to GP Pitt, had a funeral to attend. But i did play at an FNM
Ad Naus: 2-0, Spellstutter to good keeping him off all his cantrips.
Jund: 2-0, Mistblade + Sword of fire and ice was pretty good
Tokens:0-2 Probably besides merfolk the only deck i dont want to see.
Burn: 2-0 Spellstutter game 1 was very strong, dispels g2 did work
List changed, added a skaab runiator that has been op.
I have also taken a slightly different route and cut the familiars and Skaab Ruinator, 1 island, and the sword. In their place I added a complete set of disrupting shoals, being as it works really well in gaining serious tempo with this kind of deck early, as well as adding in 3 day's undoing. I was a really big fan of this card when it first game out, but have not found a shell to use it in. Part of the issue with this deck is losing valuable fairies as well as having too few cards in hand. Undoing puts our fairies back in our decks, as well as giving us a chance to restart with 7 cards. I could be wrong (as undoing really has been lackluster so far and most likely unplayable) but it could be worth a shot. I would love to hear your opinion on these ideas though.
Viva la mono blue!
https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/3v1huz/modern_faerie_ninja_homebrew_tournament_report/
This is his list:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ninja-miscreants/
This list is quite fun - i built it with a few tweaks and played it tabletop this weekend. Couple notes so far:
1. Confirmed this deck really wants untapped blue mana in multiples of 2. All of our counterspells cost UU, so out of 22 lands, i really dont think its wise to run less than 18 islands. I took out the ghost quarters and went with 2 Faerie Conclave and 2 Cavern of Souls. The caverns may be going a bit deep, should prolly just be ghost quarters...but i already own them...Conclaves are really sweet though, i prefer to mutavault because they can fly (deck wants evasion badly) and make blue mana. 4 is too much tapped mana but can def see an arg for 3 conclaves.
2. Ronin warclub is better than it looks. If you can find a window to resolve one, you never need to think about it again. And it pairs well with ninjutsu.
Have a helicopter drop you off out front. Light your cigar with a small Indonesian boy holding a black lotus. Then bust out a craw wurm deck with no sleeves. Raw dog shuffle, loose terribly, flip the table, leave in a hovercraft.
4 Faerie Miscreant
4 Spellstutter sprite
3 Scion of Oona
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
3 Mistblade Shinobi
1 Snapcaster Mage
4 Vapor snag
3 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
2 Echoing truth
1 Dismember
3 Disrupting Shoal
2 Remand
17 Island
2 Disdainfull stroke
2 Engineered explosives
3 Mistbind Clique
1 Dismember
2 Grafdiggers Cage
1 Dispel
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
2 Hibernation
Click the deck option to make it look pretty
Edit:
Off the top of my head you could make this better by adding these lands :
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
I think that Cryptic Command is probably worth it as a 1-of or 2-of. I don't think you need a full playset for it to add value.
I'm not a huge fan of Scion of Oona -- maybe against a very removal-heavy matchup (like playing against burn?), but in general I prefer the grindier control route rather than the "fast tempo" route. Really, that's just going to be your preference though. If you're going for strong tempo / aggro, you might consider something like Ronin Warclub to help pump up your dudes.
If you're having trouble getting your cards through (like Mistblade Shinobi), you might consider something like Slip Through Space or Distortion Strike or Aqueous Form. I don't think I would play Mistblade Shinobi without something like that to help me make sure it connected at least once.
I tend to run Peel from Reality instead of Mistblade Shinobi -- I prefer the instant-speed nature of it, but again, I go the "control / grind" route rather than "tempo / aggro" route.
I agree about Mutavault being not great. I used to play it as a 4-of, but lately I've been subbing them out for Faerie Conclave. I don't like that it takes more mana to activate and that it comes in tapped, but I do like how it produces blue, and that it has flying. At the moment I think I'm running it as 2 copies of Faerie Conclave and 1 copy of Mutavault, but I might change that in the future.
Most of the stuff in my build of the deck takes 2 mana, so my "odd" mana tends to go unused, and playing my third land as coming-in-tapped generally doesn't hurt me at all.
4 Faerie Miscreant
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
2 Mistblade Shinobi
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Snapcaster Mage
4 Vapor Snag
1 Echoing Truth
1 Dismember
3 Remand
3 Disrupting Shoal
2 Familiar's Ruse
1 Cryptic Command
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
1 Faerie Conclave
3 Mutavault
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Spell Snare
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Spellskite
1 Sun Droplet
2 Dispel
1 Mistbind Clique
1 Skaab Ruinator
2 Vedalken Shackles
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Spreading Seas
1 Surgical Extraction
Overall I was fairly impressed by the deck, as some of the cards seem really bad but the deck is really good at keeping the opponent off balance for long enough to win. It is also really fun to play, and uses many of my favourite cards (which was why I sleeved it up in the first place). Overall I felt like Mutavault was pretty good, ghost quarter a bit less so. It was however relevant multiple times that it can't tap for blue, so might be a possibility to cut 1 of the colorless lands for another island/faerie conclave. The biggest issue I have with the deck is that too often you are stuck with random 1/1 beaters with no payoff or a bunch of ninjas with no fliers to enable them. I could see how adding some equipment might help with some of those issues.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Faerie Miscreant
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
1 Vendilion Clique
Spells
4 Serum Visions
4 Vapor Snag
4 Spreading Seas
3 Boomerang
3 Disrupting Shoal
2 Mana Leak
2 Remand
2 Cryptic Command
1 Sword of War and Peace
Land
1 Faerie Conclave
18 Island
1 Dispel
2 Echoing Truth
2 Hibernation
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Monastery Siege
2 Negate
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellstutter Sprite
Currently do not own Vendilion Clique or Sword of War and Peace, but I do have a 4th snap. Was also thinking of Kira, Great Glass-Spinner and Ronin Warclub in those spots. Also can't really decide between Judge's Familiar or Faerie Miscreant as my 2nd 1 drop. Don't want to run Mutavault because I don't have any and I want to be able to Boomerang on turn 2. I'm also considering Shadow of Doubt in place of Spreading Seas.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
I'll most likely play the deck for real later tonight (-1 sword and -1 clique because I don't have them for +1 snap and +1 boomerang). My store is pretty competitive and I expect some tron which is why I wanted to try the seas + boomerang package.
4 Cloud Sprite
4 Faerie Miscreant
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Mistbind Clique
1 Quickling
Ninjas
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
2 Mistblade Shinobi
Equipments
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Ronin Warclub
3 Spell Pierce
3 Familiar's Ruse
1 Deprive
1 Mana Leak
1 Cryptic Command
Bounce
4 Vapor Snag
Aura
2 Aqueous Form
Lands
2 Faerie Conclave
2 Ghost Quarter
17 Island
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Annul
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Dispel
1 Invasive Surgery
1 Scion of Oona
1 Dismember
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Pithing Needle
2 Echoing Truth
This is my budget version of Ninja Faeries. I have yet to acquire a Vendilion Clique and 2 Sword of Fire and Ice as they are way out of my budget right now. Haven't tested it yet in tournaments but it does well during test plays. Also I am using Cloud Sprites instead, because for some reason Zephyr Sprites are hard to find.
I am pretty set on the Main board. Though, I don't know if Sword of Feast and Famine and Sword of War and Peace are the right budget replacement for SoFaI.
I feel like Aqueous Form just feels clunky and I hate that it can 2-for-1 us at times. Will Distortion Strike be better?
Also, what are your thoughts on the Side Board? Is it enough hate for the current meta? I am thinking of getting Surgical Extraction, 1 of each in main and side, but I do not know what cards to replace.
Don't forget about Faerie Miscreant, as it's a strictly better version of both Cloud Sprite and Zephyr Sprite, and the fact that it was printed so recently in Magic Origins means it's relatively easy to find most places.
I'm not sure that Aqueous Form is any more at risk for being 2-for-1'd than Distortion Strike. If they remove your targeted creature in response to you casting the spell, it's going to work out the same for you -- you just lost 2 cards. Rebound doesn't happen if the spell "fizzles" -- the two options really feel very close to the same.
What card would you suggest replacing the Aqueous Forms? Or would you rather keep it for more Ninja advantage?
What card would you suggest replacing the Aqueous Forms? Or would you rather keep it for more Ninja advantage?