pie chart

Stealthy Interchangeables *PRIMER*

Commander / EDH Casual Multiplayer Ninja Ninjutsu UB (Dimir) Unblockable

NV_1980

Edit Live Edit
Edit
Upvote 0
0
Deckcycle Feature Queue
Feature Queue
Playtest v1
Similar Deck Space Card Recommendations

Creature (28)

Sorcery (6)

Land (35)

Enchantment (6)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow

Artifact (15)

Instant (9)

Welcome to Stealthy Interchangeables !

Hi there! Welcome to the primer of my Dimir, ninja-tribe deck; commanded by Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow. Blades have been sharpened, tips have been poisoned, everything shiny has been oiled and blackened to keep it from sight and sound. Shadowy figures are moving amongst dark alleys and jumping over moon-lit rooftops. Their passing, produces less air friction than that of a butterfly flapping its wings. A quiet, determined purpose … moving in formation as if all has been synchronized, as if they are all part of a single being. They are out to get you, hapless planeswalker that considers yourself safe. Trust in ones abilities is a good thing, but too much trust fosters arrogance, which in turn fosters complacency, which in turn invites death to come knocking in the form of those whose lives are literally formed by discipline and vigilance! This deck is meant to be played casually. It’s not meant to be used in a competitive fashion, but of course I welcome anyone to try! Feel free to comment on anything you (dis)like throughout this primer; I hope you will enjoy it!

My lovely commander has a lot going for her! Yuriko is exceptional in that she’s one of the very few commanders that never needs to suffer from commander’s tax. In her case, because of her wonderful ‘Commander Ninjutsu’ ability making her appearance on the BF almost always a cheap affair. Her second ability though, is what will really kill opponents. As her compatriots consist of between sixteen and twenty-nine ninjas, getting additional card draw AND the ability to deal a heck of additional damage to ALL opposing commanders is just bloody fantastic! Especially since it’s very likely many of my ninjas will be able to circumvent opposing creature defenses.

I use the following ten parameters to determine the strength of the deck. For each, I allocate a score of 5 (very good), 4 (good), 3 (mediocre), 2 (bad) or 1 (very bad); when totalized this score represents the power rating of the deck (maximum score is 50 points).

  • Mana: indicates the availability of mana sources within the deck.
  • Ramp: indicates the speed at which mana sources within the deck can be made available.
  • Card Advantage: indicates availability of filter- and draw resources represented within the deck.
  • Overall speed: indicates the deck’s potential for pace, based on resource availability and mana curve.
  • Combo: indicates the measure of combo-orientation of the deck.
  • Army: indicates the deck’s creature-army strength.
  • Commander: indicates how much the deck is commander-oriented/dependent (less dependency is better).
  • Interaction: indicates how much this deck can mess with opponents’ board states and turn-phases.
  • Resilience: indicates whether the deck can prevent and take punches.
  • Spellpower: indicates the availability and strength of high-impact spells.

Mana: 3

Dimir colors offer very little in terms of mana-resource options (especially cheap-to-cast ones), so for the most part this deck relies on artifacts for its energy needs. Additional mana can be provided by five artifact rocks, a ninja that can generate treasure tokens, an instant (black) mana spell and three artifacts that greatly help at cheapening casts.

Ramp: 1

This deck contains two ramping options, one of which is creature based and one of which is a piece of equipment.

Card Advantage: 5

I love it when decks are filled to the brim with card-advantage options. Drawing more cards per turn (or taking away cards from others) always feels a bit Christmassy to me. Aside from my wondrous commander’s draw ability, this deck features no less than twelve direct draw options, most of which are either triggered by events that occur often in games or through the application of combat damage. Of special additional note, are five cards that allow to steal, three tutor options and two ways of scrying my deck’s contents.

Overall speed: 3

In order to cast from an early stage, it is really quite dependent on its rocks and cost-reduction enablers. However, when combined with the deck’s excellent CA-options and a low average CMC, it can hit the ground running and expand fast.

Combo: 1

Not at all a combo-oriented deck. There’s definitely a lot of synergy being applied though as without unblockable attackers, I would have a much harder time to ninjitsu my ninjas onto my opponents’ asses. The unblockability of my creatures also helps me to draw many more cards.

Army: 5

In most respects, the deck’s army can be divided into three overall categories; ninjas, hard-to-block attackers and support. The sixteen ninjas form the deck’s most valuable asset, being the strongest at applying various nasty effects onto my opponents if they manage to hit them. The deck’s ten hard-to-block attackers are almost as important though, as it is through their attacks that I’ll be able to get my ninjas onto the field in the most effective way. The remaining force fulfills various supportive functions.

Commander: 5

When all is said and done, Yuriko may be amongst the strongest tribal commanders I’ve seen to date. Yet I see her presence on the battlefield not so much as instrumental, but more as an ultimate bonus to be profiting from. The deck is perfectly capable of grabbing wins without her ever appearing on the battlefield.

Interaction: 5

To make winning easier, it helps to incorporate abilities/spells that directly mess with opposing board-states or casting. I’ve tried to make the deck very capable in this field, through the addition of twenty-two interaction possibilities, ranging from destruction of opposing permanents (seven cards), stealing opposing spells/permanents (five cards), bounce (three cards), counterspells (three cards) and a few other trinkets.

Resilience: 1

In terms of protection, recursion and recovery, this deck scores very little points in its current configuration. It’s focused on offense much more than it is on defense. One option has been included to grant lifelink to all ninjas.

Spellpower: 3

A number of powerful mass bounces and wipes have been added to this deck’s spell-casting arsenal. Of other significant note, are the enchantments that grant massive card draw advantage.

Total power score: 32

Though the deck in its current form is focused very much on being strong on the offensive, it does have some short-comings with regard to staying power. The deck is reasonably fast, has plenty of card advantage opportunities and is filled to the brim with interactive options to mess with opponents; especially with their board-state, library and graveyard.

This deck wins through the application of ninja combat damage to my opponents. That means: applying stealth, deceit and manipulation to suddenly strike at my opponents’ weak spots (opposed to overwhelming charges made by large mobs of raging maniacs). Preferably, ninja attacks should be swift and decisive affairs, with their opposition always being left without the possibility to retaliate. The most effective method to achieve this, is by utilizing the ninja’s ‘ninjutsu’ ability; replacing an unblocked attacker with a more dangerous foe that can apply damage AND a disruptive effect. That means obtaining creatures that are hard (or even impossible!) to block, attacking with them and surprising my foes with an even stronger creature.

At least three cards in the starting hand ought to be lands (or two lands and a cheap-to-cast rock like Arcane Signet, Jet Medallion, Sol Ring or Talisman of Dominance). This is a must; I’m not going to start a game without this hand (even if I have to mulligan down to three cards). The ideal hand would also contain some additional ramp and/or low-cost draw options.

When playing this deck, I try to be continuously active from the get-go, but not overly aggressive. I want to exploit weaknesses and maximize the survivability of my ninjas by performing attacks with care. Getting started requires some resources, so these are focused on first. Aside from the rocks mentioned in the previous section, cards that should make an early appearance include Dimir Signet, Mind Stone and Sapphire Medallion. Likewise, ramp options like Solemn Simulacrum and Sword of the Animist are needed early. Urza's Incubator can be an incredible (ninja-)casting boon and provide a major resource advantage, so it has top appearance-priority. There’s also draw to consider of course. Early advantage on this front can be obtained by using Phyrexian Arena, Ponder, Rhystic Study and Sensei's Divining Top. Cheap-to-cast/use tutors like (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor and Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire) are also incredibly useful to obtain that early edge.

The end of the initial phase, is marked by switching focus from resources to casting the first hard-to-block creatures. Amongst my favorites are included options such as Baleful Strix, Cover of Darkness, Invisible Stalker, Shadowmage Infiltrator, Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive and Thalakos Seer. These cards form the prelude of what is to come next …

By now (which should be somewhere between turns 4-6) I should have been able to summon my first attackers to do some neat damage. I might even have been able to ‘ninjutsu’-in some sneaky ninjas. Aside from Yuriko, some ideal volunteers for first appearance could be Ingenious Infiltrator, Mist-Syndicate Naga, Satoru Umezawa, Silver-Fur Master and Walker of Secret Ways. Some excellent support could come in the form of Training Grounds, as a cheapener of all my ninjutsu-abilities.

As mentioned earlier, I want to minimize casualties on my side. Thus I tend to only attack opponents that have no blocking defenders (or defenders that can be circumvented). If I can’t make my attackers unblockable (with Thassa, God of the Sea for instance), I will try to first get rid of defenses through means such as Deadly Rollick, Doom Blade, Feed the Swarm or Go for the Throat. Mass destruction or bounce is also possible, through means such as Crippling Fear, Curse of the Swine, Cyclonic Rift and Wash Out.

From turn 8 onwards, I expect some of the deck’s more powerful cards to make an appearance. Fallen Shinobi, Higure, the Still Wind, Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni, Sakashima's Student or Throat Slitter are all excellent powerhouses that help me to press my advantages. Arcane Adaptation helps me to increase the uniformity of the deck’s creatures (which is useful for a number of reasons) while Kindred Discovery offers me staggering amounts of additional draw in this tribe deck.

In terms of game-ending cards, the deck contains a few powerful options. The most obvious of these is Vorpal Sword, which turns an unblocked creature into an agent of death. Then there’s Elbrus, the Binding Blade   which creates a terrifying horror in case its bearer is not blocked. Some other powerful mechanisms to tip the balance in my favor include Necropolis Regent (becomes evil fast when it’s applied to unblockable creatures), Wrexial, the Risen Deep (your graveyard is no longer safe) and Silent-Blade Oni (can pretty much steal whatever I want from casters that don’t cast fast enough!) Last, but not least, Cloudstone Curio can enable me to take ninjas back into my hand whenever I cast a creature, so that I can benefit from their ETB effects again and again.

Reliable sources of mana, and some utility:

The cards I use to accelerate mana-availability:

The mechanisms that provide me with card advantage:

I don’t want you to have that:

Hard-to-blocks, boosters, copiers and game-enders.

  • Arcane Adaptation: making all my creatures ninjas helps Yuriko’s ability, as well as several others.
  • Cloudstone Curio: hard-to-blocks can be bounced back by ninjas, which in turn allows me to ninjutsu new ninjas onto the field.
  • Cover of Darkness: only artificials and shadow-friends will be able to stop my Ninjas.
  • Elbrus, the Binding Blade  : this demon-weapon generates one hell of an impressive creature that rocks everyone’s shit.
  • Mist-Syndicate Naga: it connects, it clones … two of them now connect, two new clones appear … you get the picture.
  • Necropolis Regent: boosts my unblocked attackers into the stratosphere.
  • Silver-Fur Master: cheapens ninjutsu and acts as a ninja-anthem.
  • Sword of Feast and Famine: when equipped to a hard-to-block (or unblockable), pretty much guarantees I can do some casting before combat, as well as after.
  • Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive: that creature might be weak … but you can’t stop it.
  • Thassa, God of the Sea: a scrying enabler who guides my creatures past your defences.
  • Thousand-Faced Shadow: ninjutsuing this in, grants me a free attacker!
  • Throatseeker: what’s more powerful, ninja’s or vampires? What about … NINJA-VAMPIRES?!?
  • Training Grounds: ninjutsu just became much cheaper; not to mention other activated abilities.
  • Walker of Secret Ways: it connects, and I get to know your plans! Also, it bounces my ninjas, should the need for that surface.

Some cards didn’t make the cut, though I will on occasion reconsider them.

  • Sakashima's Student: a ninja-clone that has great potential value, but not as much value (for CMC) of the cards currently in the deck.

I appreciate the time you took to read my primer. Hopefully it was entertaining and useful to you. If so, feel free to leave a +1 and/or feedback of any kind in the comments below. Thanks again!

Suggestions

Updates Add

Spoiler Timeline
Card Odds v1 Draw hand
Add to folder Copy
Download / Export / Embed Code

Comments View Archive

Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!

Hi! Please consider becoming a supporter of TappedOut for $3/mo. Thanks!

Important! Formatting tips — Comment Tutorial — markdown syntax

Please login to comment

96% Casual

Competitive

Revision 1 See all

(4 months ago)

-1 Chromatic Lantern main
+1 Mind Stone main
Date added 5 years
Last updated 3 weeks
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

17 - 0 Mythic Rares

44 - 0 Rares

18 - 0 Uncommons

11 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.86
Tokens Boar 2/2 G, Copy Clone, Ninja 1/1 U, Treasure
Votes
Ignored suggestions
Shared with
Views