Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Kamigawa Neon Dynasty. Today I’ll be talking about the return of Ninjas! Ninjas are all about coming out from your hand and attacking unblocked thanks to the returning mechanic Ninjitsu. Ninjitsu allows you to switch out an unblocked attacking creature with one from your hand that has a Ninjitsu activation cost. Often these Ninjitsu creatures will have a triggered ability associated with dealing damage to your opponent, while other times they will just have more power and toughness than the creature you initially attacked with. This means you want to have low casting cost creatures you can play on turn one or two, with evasion to allow you to attack unblocked and trigger a Ninjitsu activation.
First card up is a Ninja lord that looks a little like a famous sewer Rat. Here is Silver-Fur Master.
Silver-Fur Master
This Ninja master helps you with all things Ninjitsu. First off, you can Ninjitsu it on the battlefield to potentially give other attacking Rogues or Ninjas a boost. Secondly, future Ninjitsu costs of your other Ninjas are reduced by one allowing. I have seen some Ninjitsu costs at four or more, so this cost reduction can help in sneaking them onto the battlefield. Lastly Silver-Fur Master is a Rogue and Ninja lord that will provide the plenty of Ninjas in the set with a stat bonus.Silver-Fur Master isn’t legendary so having multiple on the battlefield will allow them to play off each other and improve the stats of all your Ninja friends.
The next card up is a strange Ninja. Here is Thousand-Faced Shadow.
Thousand-Faced Shadow
Thousdan-Faced Shadow is an amazingly well-designed creature that fits into the mold of every Ninjitsu deck. Early in the game, you want to have cheap creatures with evasion that can attack freely. Most times that you're attacking with a 1/1 flying creature on turn one you can get through unblocked. As for its four mana Ninjitsu ability, it’s great to have if you either draw it later in the game or if Thousand-Faced Shadow has been returned to your hand after you’ve Ninjitsu’ed a different creature. Being able to create a permanent copy of another attacking could be too much for your opponent to handle. A couple other one-mana flying creatures currently in Standard are Eyetwitch, Lantern Bearer, Merfolk Windrobber, and Silver Raven. If you would rather have menace for your evasion ability, in Standard you have Forsworn Paladin, Unwilling Ingredient, and the best of them all Valentin, Dean of the Vein. Out of all these options, I believe that Thousand-Faced Shadow is the best.
Finally, I want to talk about a Ninja that can also cause some hand disruption. Here is Biting-Palm Ninja.
Biting-Palm Ninja
I find Biting-Palm Ninja to be an interestingly designed Ninjitsu creature. It has a three mana Ninjitsu cost, the same as its actual mana cost. You do gain the element of surprise when you Ninjitsu it in. When you damage your opponent, you can take that menace ability off Biting-Palm Ninja so that you can Thoughtseize your opponent. It’s an interesting decision point as having a medium power creature with evasion can be great for dealing damage to your opponent but being able to remove a key card from their hand could be more worthwhile.
As you can see, Ninjas are back in style and ready to sneak up on your opponent. Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of Kamigawa Neon Dynasty. Join me again tomorrow as we crew up some Vehicles.
