A viable Ninjutsu deck in 2017 ?

Modern*

readme.txt

Creature (24)

• 3x Higure, the Still Wind
• 1x Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
• 3x Mistblade Shinobi
• 4x Ninja of the Deep Hours
• 3x Okiba-Gang Shinobi
• 4x Ornithopter
• 4x Signal Pest
• 2x Slither Blade

Land (24)

• 4x Drowned Catacomb
• 10x Island
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 2x Sunken Hollow
• 6x Swamp

Instant (8)

• 3x Fatal Push
• 3x Mana Leak
• 2x Ultimate Price

Sorcery (4)

• 4x Distortion Strike

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Sideboard

Instant (6)

• 3x Familiar's Ruse
• 2x Go for the Throat
• 1x Mana Leak

Creature (7)

• 3x Skullsnatcher
• 2x Slither Blade
• 2x Tormented Soul

Land (2)

• 2x Swamp

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Maybeboard

Instant (2)

• 2x Nameless Inversion

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Slip Through Space

Creature (3)

• 3x Master of Cruelties

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This is a simple, modest Ninjutsu deck, I'm trying to get this forgotten mechanic to be viable, let's see if I can make it !

I fell in love with the Ninjutsu mechanic as soon as I saw it. To use a deck like this today is more of a dream than a competitive option, but I'm sure that this deck is not as bad as some would think. Anyway, let's start :

How to play :

Creatures in this deck can be separated in two categories :

Ninja-Enablers :

Ninja-Enablers are cheap, unblockable (or at least difficult to block) creatures, that are used to attack just to be swapped for ninjas, to triggers special abilities and deal more damage.

• Ornithopter Best Ninja-Enabler. With cost and flying, there is nothing more to say about this card.
• Signal Pest Great Ninja-Enabler, thanks to its cost, and its useful battlecry.
• Slither Blade Unblockable, but its cost is a disadvantage compared to the of Signal Pest .
• Tormented Soul , almost like Slither Blade, except it cannot block and is a 1/1.

Ninjas :

Ninjas are the strength of the deck. Use the Ninja-Enablers to attack, then use the Ninjutsu mechanic to swap your unblocked Enablers for ninjas. Ninjas abilites are triggered if you manage to deal damage directly to your opponent.

• Mistblade Shinobi At Ninjustu cost, this Ninja is useful to buy some time by bouncing creatures.
• Skullsnatcher For only Ninjutsu cost, this card allows us to exile two cards from the opponent's graveyard, extremely useful.
• Ninja of the Deep Hours Great Ninja overall, its cheap Ninjutsu cost allows him to be used early.
• Okiba-Gang Shinobi Reasonable damage, but most importantly gets the opponent to discard two cards.
• Higure, the Still Wind The most important card of the deck. Allow to fetch any Ninja and can make them unblockable for just .
• Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni Deals great damage, useful regeneration, allows us to use opponent's dead creatures.

Instants/ Sorceries :

Only logical spells to fullfill our needs here.

• Distortion Strike Extremely useful since it can make a creature unblockable for two turns in a row for just .
• Fatal Push / Ultimate Price / Go for the Throat Useful to destroy big menaces and to make some room for the Ninjas.
• Familiar's Ruse Two cards for the price of one. Cheap counterspell that gets our Ninjas back in our hand.
• Mana Leak One of the best counterspell out here.

Lands :

Nothing too special here except for :

• Minamo, School at Water's Edge, useful to untap our legendaries.
• Shizo, Death's Storehouse, great swamp that grants fear, can be useful.

Great starting hand

• 2 to 4 lands (2 to play Ninja of the Deep Hours on turn 2 ; 4 to play Higure, the Still Wind on Turn 4),
• Ornithopter, or another Ninja-Enabler,
• Ninja of the Deep Hours,
• Higure, the Still Wind ,
• Fatal Push / Distortion Strike, or any utility spell.

The perfect game

This is how the perfect hand will get you to victory :

The First Turn :

• Play a land,
• Play a Ninja-Enabler.

(Ornithopter preferred)

The Second Turn :

• Play a land,
• Attack with Enabler, swap for Ninja of the Deep Hours.

(You deal some damage and you get to draw a card)

The Third Turn :

• Play a land,
• Use an utility spell like Fatal Push / Ultimate Price if your opponent already played a tough creature.

OR

• Use an utility spell like Distortion Strike on your Ninja of the Deep Hours.

OR

• Play another Ninja : Ninja of the Deep Hours / Mistblade Shinobi.

(This is the moment where the deck stalls a bit. This turn can be very different depending on your cards)

The Fourth Turn :

• Play a land,
• Attack with Enabler, swap for Higure, the Still Wind .

(You deal some damage and you get to search for any ninja in your library : Fetch Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni)

The Fifth Turn :

• Play a land,
• Attack with Enabler, swap for Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni.

(You can also attack with Higure, the Still Wind if you feel safe doing so)

The Sixth Turn :

• Play a land,
• Attack with Higure, the Still Wind and Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni, using Higure's ability to make them unblockable.

(Higure's 3 damage + Ink-Eyes 5 damage should end the game)

Top Ranked	Achieved #65 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Rares 9 - 5 Uncommons 23 - 8 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.33
Folders	Budget Infinite or Competitive, Cool decks people made, Decks, Mixed, Decks I'm making for real