Ninjutsu in Magic the Gathering

I love Magic the Gathering. I've said that before. What I've also said before, is that I love running theme decks, and I love cards that do interesting things. At the end of the day, Magic the Gathering is a game -- I play it to have fun. And tinkering Blightsteels, or abusing Time Vaults get easy wins, but they're not fun at all -- and using Time Vault should make anyone who uses it feel dirty. But hey, you know what's fun, and awesome? Ninjas.

Ninjutsu may not be the strongest mechanic in the game of Magic (I assure you, it's not,) but it's reasonably solid. And running a ninjutsu deck just happens to be fun as hell. Unfortunately, all of the Ninjas in the game came from the Kamigawa block, and Kamigawa hasn't been visited in years. Because of this, there's only a handful of Ninjas available. That's the downside. The upside is that because of their small number, I can stuff all of them into one article!

I thought the best way to approach this would be to classify them into three classes: arbitrarily, I've picked Lightweight, Middleweight, and Heavyweight. These correspond roughly to early, middle, and late game but that's not always the case. It's picked based off of their mana cost, and the cost of their ninjutsu ability. Which, before we look at any of the cards, should probably be addressed, since it's the heart of these cards.

I swear I didn't mean for that to sound so much like a Yu-gi-oh reference.

Every Ninja card, be them blue humans or black rats, has an ability called Ninjutsu. For each creature, the cost is different. For example, Walker of the Secret Ways has a cost of one blue mana, while Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni has a cost of 3BB (that is, three mana of any color, and two black mana.) This ability can be played for its ninjutsu cost once one of your creatures attacks, and is unblocked. What it does, is cause your unblocked creature to return to your hand, and for your ninja card to enter the battlefield tapped, and attacking. And why you would want to do this, is that all ninjas have a unique effect which triggers when they deal damage to an opponent. Each ninja's ability is different. For example, Walker of the Secret Ways allows you to see your opponent's hand.

Here's an example of how it might play out.

Your opponent has a 1/1 Llanowar Elves in play. You have a 2/2 Gatekeeper of Malakir in play. When you choose to attack with Gatekeeper of Malakir, your opponent (to protect his or her elf) chooses not to block. At that point, this decision not to block is final, and your Gatekeeper's attack goes through. At this moment, you can tap two mana to bring in Walker of the Secret ways. By this point, your opponent can no longer choose to block -- your ninja is already in play. So instead of Gatekeeper dealing two damage, Walker of the Secret Ways deals only one, but you get to see your opponent's hand. As the combat phase ends, Gatekeeper is in your hand again, and Walker of the Secret Ways is tapped in its place.

That's how it works. And knowing how it works, let's look at what cards have this unique ability.

Walker of the Secret Ways

Card Information:

Mana Cost: 2U
Types: Creature — Human Ninja
P/T: 1/2
Card Text:
Ninjutsu 1U
Whenever Walker of the Secret Ways deals combat damage to a player, look at that player's hand.
1U: Return a target Ninja you control to its owner's hand. Play this ability only during your turn.

When and How to use:

Her low Ninjutsu cost allows her to be played early in the game, and when you do, you'll get to see your opponent's hand. Get a good look, and use what you see to plan ahead. Knowing what your opponent has, when they don't know what you have, gives you a tremendous advantage. So there's that. There's also the fact that she has a toughness of two -- more useful than you might think, in the early game. There are a number of pesky 1/1 creatures your opponent might play, and this gives you the opportunity to block them safely. So there's that too. But it's her ability that makes her awesome, and a staple of nearly every ninja deck I can think of wanting to play with. Her ability to bounce any ninja back to your hand will come in handy early, middle, and late game. Her being in play allows you to cycle an unblockable creature and a Ninja repeatedly. In particular, you'll want to cycle Ink-Eyes and Throat Slitter (who are discussed further below.)

Mistblade Shinobi

Card Information:

Mana Cost: 2U
Types: Creature — Human Ninja
P/T: 1/1
Card Text:
Ninjutsu U
Whenever Mistblade Shinobi deals combat damage to a player, you may return target creature that player controls to its owner's hand.

When and How to use:

Because of his low Ninjutsu cost, Mistblade can be dropped very early in the game. And though moving your opponent's creature to the hand isn't as good as killing it, it will successfully prevent it from attacking; which for a cost of one blue mana, is pretty good control. Early in the game when this can be used to hold on to your removal cards for when you really need them.

Ninja of the Deep Hours

Card Information:

Mana Cost: 1U
Types: Creature — Human Ninja
P/T: 2/2
Card Text:
Ninjutsu 1U
Whenever Ninja of the Deep Hours deals combat damage to a player, you may draw a card.

When and How to use:

He's one of the less exciting Ninja cards, that's for sure, and his converted mana cost is too high for my liking, but paying two mana to draw a card isn't unreasonable. I included one in my ninja deck because I like variety, but if I were to be perfectly honest, both Walker of the Secret Ways, and Mistblade Shinobi are better choices. Consider your play style in deciding whether to toss one in or not.

Skullsnatcher

Card Information:

Mana Cost: 1B
Types: Creature - Rat Ninja
P/T: 2/1
Card Text:
Ninjutsu B
Whenever Skullsnatcher deals combat damage to a player, remove up to two target cards in that player's graveyard from the game.

When and How to use:

I'm not a big fan of Skullsnatcher. Unless you are facing a very particular type of deck -- such as a self-mill deck, or a deck that relies on graveyard manipulation -- there are usually better choices for inclusion in both the main deck and your sideboard. This being said, Skullsnatcher ha a very low Ninjutsu cost, as well as a low converted mana cost. So if you do play him early on, he works very well with Shurikens. Discussion of synergy is covered in the bottom part of this article!

Throat Slitter

Card Information:

Mana Cost: 4B
Types: Creature — Rat Ninja
P/T: 2/2
Card Text:
Ninjutsu 2B
Whenever Throat Slitter deals combat damage to a player, destroy target nonblack creature that player controls.

When and How to Use:

Throat Slitter has a relatively high converted mana cost, but his Ninjutsu cost is extremely reasonable. If you're facing a mono-black deck, you'll probably want to put your face into the table, but you'll find more cases in which Throat Slitter is useful than cases in which he is not. Ideally, you'll be using a 1/1 unblockable creature when you switch in for Throat Slitter, so you get a small damage boost. But the built-in Doom Blade is what makes this guy good. His creature removal aspects will buy you the time to build up your mana base for the heavy hitters.

Okiba-Gang Shinobi

Card Information:

Mana Cost: 3BB
Types: Creature — Rat Ninja
P/T: 3/2
Card Text:
Ninjutsu 3B
Whenever Okiba-Gang Shinobi deals combat damage to a player, that player discards two cards.

When and How to Use:

Along with Throat Slitter, Okiba-Gang Shinobi should be used for its control element in the middle-game, likely while you wait to draw one of the heavyweight ninjas. However, its Ninjutsu cost is relatively high for its effect. Okiba-Gang is a great sideboard game, but I don't think it belongs in the main deck. In most cases, killing one of your opponent's creatures will be more beneficial than making them discard two cards of their choice. I'd probably keep as many Okiba-Gangs on my sideboard as I had Throat Slitters in the main deck, switching them out if I were facing either a mono-black deck.

Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni

Card Information:

Mana Cost: 4BB
Types: Legendary Creature — Rat Ninja
P/T: 5/4
Card Text:
Ninjutsu 3BB
Whenever Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni deals combat damage to a player, you may put target creature card from that player's graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.
1B: Regenerate Ink-Eyes.

When and How to Use:

Ink-Eyes is the strongest and most versatile of the Ninja cards. In fact, Ink-Eyes is an excellent card in a whole lot of black decks that aren't running ninjutsu at all. With Ink-Eyes, you can turn a 1/1 unblockable like Invisible Stalker or Tormented Soul into five damage, while pilfering your opponent's graveyard for a creature. Sometimes you'll get something really useful, but even if you don't the creature you steal can be used as a block later. Regeneration will even allow Ink-Eyes to defend itself, provided you leave enough mana open to use it. Ink-Eyes will probably be what you're closing games with in a ninjutsu deck though. Because of this, she combos well with Higure (below), or Walker of the Secret Ways. Cards like Distortion Strike, which allow you to go unblocked will also be very useful, as are cards like Go for the Throat, which will clear the way for you to attack. Generally though, it's a better idea to leave enough mana open to regenerate rather than try to end the game too quickly, and end up with a dead Ink-Eyes.

Higure, the Still Wind

Mana Cost: 3UU
Types: Legendary Creature - Human Ninja
P/T: 3/4
Card Text:
Ninjutsu 2UU
Whenever Higure deals combat damage to a player, you may search your library for a Ninja card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your library.
2: Target Ninja is unblockable this turn.

When and How to Use:

Higure is the blue counterpart to Ink-Eyes: its top Ninja. And while he's bordering on useless in anything other than a strict Ninjutsu deck, in a deck full of Ninjas, he's great. You'll probably want to use his first ninjutsu activation to pull Ink-Eyes from your deck, and proceed into the end-game, where Higure can either cause he and Ink-Eyes to both go unblockable, or if thats not possible, bounce himself for Ink-Eyes. Assuming both Higure and Ink-Eyes are in play, and to avoid the Legends rule from destroying either of them, you should select a different ninja depending on what the situation calls for. Throat Slitter is typically a very good choice against a non-black deck.

As far as Ninja creatures go, that's it. There are only eight of them. So when it comes to deck building, your options are somewhat limited. On the flip side, it's easy to maintain focused. You know exactly what you have to work with. In this way, you'll also want to know of the final two cards that explicitly interact with Ninjas, though.

Nezumi Shadow-Watcher
The first of these, is a creature. He's a 1/1 one drop, and a Rat Warrior. The only thing special about him is an ability to sacrifice himself in order to destroy a target Ninja. Obviously, you won't want to do this to your own guys; and Ninjas have kind of been forgotten by this point, so you probably won't have anyone else pull this card on you, nor will you want to prepare to use it on anyone else. It's too specific to even warrant a spot in a sideboard.

Shuriken
This card, by comparison, is rather interesting. It's an equipment that costs one mana to play, and two mana to equip. When you use it, it becomes tapped, deals two damage to target creature, and that creature's owner gains control of the Shuriken -- unless it was attached to a Ninja. What does this mean? Well, it means you probably won't see anyone else play this card, and it means you probably won't want to attach it to anything of yours that isn't a Ninja. Aside from that? It can come in handy. It will allow you to clear out any 1/1 or 2/2 blocker that might stand in the way of a Ninja's attack going through. And with more than one of them, you can even drop a bigger guy, providing you have enough excess mana. If not in your main deck, slipping one or two into your sideboard is a reasonable idea.

I don't feel the need to put pictures for all of these cards, as this article would become rather messy looking. But all cards will contain links to their Gatherers page, so that you can do some reading on them. The basic reasoning here is that Go for the Throat and Doom Blade are your removal spells (Doom Blade is probably best kept in the side board for the cases in which you are facing an Artifact deck), Counterspell and Mana Leak are your control spells, and Distortion Strike is used to easily pull off some Ninjutsu.

Invisible Stalker is one of the best unblockable creatures due to the fact that he's hexproof, and difficult to remove. And if you ask me, he fits in quite well with the ninja theme, anyway. Gatekeeper of Malakir is harder to justify on a thematic level, but can be very good. Playing him with the kicker cost allows you to destroy an opponent's creature, and if you can switch him with a ninja, he can use this ability more than once.

Darkness is included because of the fact that all of the Ninjas that you'll be playing up until the point that Higure or Ink-Eyes get out there are kind of on the weak side, P/T-wise. They're not built for blocking. Darkness is a very cost-efficient way to prevent taking damage or sacrificing any of your creatures for a turn, and can often make a difference.

Go for the Throat
Doom Blade
Counterspell
Mana Leak
Distortion StrikeInvisible Stalker
Gatekeeper of Malakir
Darkness

This is as far as I can take you, in our discussion of Ninjutsu. Now go out, make a cool deck, and have some fun!