Ballistic Ninjas

Casual Casual Creature Cheat Kamigawa Ninja Ninjutsu Theme/Gimmick UB (Dimir)

Kelthin

Creature (22)

• 1x Fallen Shinobi
• 1x Higure, the Still Wind
• 1x Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
• 1x Sakashima's Student
• 1x Satoru Umezawa
• 2x Prosperous Thief
• 2x Silver-Fur Master
• 2x Taeko, the Patient Avalanche
• 3x Metallic Mimic
• 4x Changeling Outcast
• 4x Mordor Trebuchet

Land (18)

• 2x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 4x Polluted Delta
• 4x Swamp
• 8x Island

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
• 1x Kaito, Dancing Shadow

Instant (4)

• 2x Brainstorm
• 2x Flare of Denial

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Cunning Evasion
• 1x Reconnaissance Mission
• 2x Arcane Adaptation
• 2x Kindred Discovery

Artifact (3)

• 1x The Soul Stone
• 2x The Ozolith

Sorcery (5)

• 2x Ponder
• 3x Of One Mind

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Maybeboard

Creature (3)

• 1x Danny Pink
• 1x Fire Navy Trebuchet
• 1x Roaming Throne

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Reflections of Littjara

Artifact (1)

• 1x Vat of Rebirth

Land (3)

• 1x Darkslick Shores
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Secluded Courtyard

Instant (2)

• 1x Admiral's Order
• 1x Familiar's Ruse

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Ballistic Ninjas

This is a Ninja deck using Mordor Trebuchet's Ballistic Boulder to cheat in Ninjas without the tempo drawback of Ninjutsu.

Once the Avatar: The Last Airbender set is released (11/21/2025), the Mordor Trebuchet should be swapped for Fire Navy Trebuchet, as its a straight upgrade. This curbs some of the creature type shenanigans happening, as well as allows the tokens to be used during your second main phase as they're not sacrificed until your end step. I suppose you could even use both to get more than 4 if you want to go that route.

• Changeling Outcast is the main way to activate Mordor Trebuchet, however Metallic Mimic and Arcane Adaptation can be used in a pinch.
• Metallic Mimics are used to buff Ninjas as they come into play with Ninjutsu. You can also use Metallic Mimic with 'Construct' to buff the Ballistic Boulders, making them more of a threat, although this is not necessary if you use Arcane Adaptation with 'Ninja'.
• The Ozolith is used to preserve +1/+1 tokens when using Ninjutsu, as well as turn Ballistic Boulders into +1/+1 counter engines when they are benefitting from Metallic Mimic.
• Cunning Evasion helps to overwhelm defenders without risking important creatures.
• Kaito, Dancing Shadow + Kindred Discovery + Reconnaissance Mission help maintain tempo with card draw, and Prosperous Thief helps use them with treasure tokens. Don't be afraid to use Sakashima's Student on Prosperous Thief early on, the treasure tokens have a lot of value in this deck, and there are many ways to bounce it back into your hand to change it again later.
• You can return a Ballistic Boulder token for Kaito, Dancing Shadow's first ability which avoids the tempo loss and also prevents them from dying, which synergizes with Taeko, the Patient Avalanche. This can also be done with Cunning Evasion for any Ballistic Boulders that are blocked and wont kill their targets.

Budget Alternative

• Drop The Ozolith, you lose the ability to preserve the +1/+1 counters from the tokens / ninjutsu. If that mechanic is important, an alternative is Resourceful Defense, but you'll have to rework the deck to use white as well unless you plan on only use treasure tokens. This will save ~$80-$100.
• Drop The Soul Stone, IMO the best alternative is Vat of Rebirth as tokens go into the graveyard before being removed from the game. This means it works with Ballistic Boulders and Treasure tokens. It honestly might just be better than The Soul Stone to begin with, I had a hard time deciding. Other potential alternatives are Whisper, Blood Liturgist, Writ of Return, Archpriest of Shadows at varying degrees of legality. Other alternatives that sacrifice a creature but must be activated as a sorcery, like Altar of Bhaal, wont work since the Ballistic Boulders are sacrificed at the end of combat (once Mordor Trebuchet is swapped for Fire Nation Trebuchet, then they will). This will save ~$50.
• Drop Polluted Delta and Clearwater Pathway  . Replace them with whatever cheaper dual land you want. I recommend Drowned Catacomb and/or Darkslick Shores, but Tainted Isle could work if you want to really budget. Secluded Courtyard is another good option because it can be used for Ninjutsu as well. This will save ~$25-$40.
• Drop Sakashima's Student for a different shapeshifter. Some recommendations are: Renegade Doppelganger, Cryptoplasm, Clone. This will save ~$25.
• Drop Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, it does many things and there are many cards that can replace the individual abilities. This will save ~$20.
• Drop Taeko, the Patient Avalanche. There's no one-to-one alternative that can get attackers through, scry, is a +1/+1 counter engine with ninjutsu, and is also a big damage threat. Some alternatives are Lorthos, The Tidemaker, Siani, Eye of the Storm, Nadier, Agent of the Duskenel, Nadier's Nightblade, Nikara, Lair Scavenger, Vela the Night-Clad. This will save ~$20.

So far this saves ~$200-$250, keeping the total within the ~$100-150 range.

Extreme Budget Alternative

Do the same steps as the budget alternative, then also do these:

• Arcane Adaptation can be replaced with Leyline of Transformation, or Conspiracy
• Kindred Discovery is hard to replace, but maybe Barrin, Tolarian Archmage or Sage of the Falls.
• Flare of Denial can be replaced with your favorite counterspell. IMO some good budget alternatives are Familiar's Ruse or Admiral's Order.
• Ponder can be replaced with more Of One Mind or Brainstorm or anything else you want.

This will save an extra ~$30, bringing the total to around ~$70-120

Date added	2 days
Last updated	1 day
Key combos	Kaito, Dancing Shadow + Kindred Discovery + Reconnaissance Mission
Legality	This deck is Casual legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 21 - 0 Rares 6 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.76
Tokeny	Ballistic Boulder, Drone 2/2 C, Emblem Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Treasure