MTG Arena Zone Premium
Join our Premium community, remove all advertisements, get access to exclusive content!
MTG Arena Zone Premium
Join our Premium community, remove all advertisements, get access to exclusive content!
neo-67-moon-circuit-hacker

Standard Dimir Ninjas Deck Guide: Ninjutsu Your Way to Victory

Continuing his spree of new tribal decks, Skura looks towards Kamigawas hallmark tribe, Ninjas! Find out why he believes Ninjas deserves to be looked at again and what the best way to build them is!

With successful brewing around Orzhov Clerics, I embarked on a journey to make even more tribal theme decks work. Then I remembered the best limited format I’ve ever played, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. It featured Ninjas that were all the rage in 40-card formats, but didn’t see much play in Constructed. However, I think there is some potential.

The main draw to the deck is its tempo-oriented nature in the format that otherwise revolves around expensive cards. Each exchange you make will leave you mana positive, whether it’s Fading Hope on Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Spell Pierce on Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. The shell also has a snow-bally nature where it’s quite tough for the opponent to catch up, especially as their cards are again more expensive than yours on average. If you like tricksy decks and making your opponent think through whether they block or not, this is the deck for you.

Dimir Ninjas
by Skura
Buy on TCGplayer $340.6
Standard
best of 3
6 mythic
15 rare
11 uncommon
28 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (6)
2
Kaito Shizuki
$6.98
Creatures (17)
4
Virus Beetle
$1.40
Instants (11)
3
Fading Hope
$4.47
4
Spell Pierce
$3.16
2
Cut Down
$4.58
Enchantments (4)
Lands (22)
6
Island
$2.10
6
Swamp
$2.10
4
Darkslick Shores
$23.96
60 Cards
$188.78
15 Cards
$211.41

Deck Tech

This saga is the best one drop in the deck. You can look at it as a black Kumano Faces Kakkazan. The first two chapters offer a bit of damage which lower the opponent’s life total or, against aggro decks, give you a nice life cushion to work with. Once it flips, it’s a menacing 2/2 Rogue which gets buffed by Silver-Fur Master.

On top of the fact that it’s a 2/2 menace threat that has drained two life, it works exceptionally well with the ninjutsu mechanic. A usual play pattern will include you attacking with the flipped Nezumi Road Captain, returning it to hand with a ninjutsu card, and redeploying, hence getting the two-life point swing in again.

I always want to draw at least one copy, as you can re-use that same Okiba multiple times.

Most of the time, Thousand-Faced Shadow is going to be Flying Men. In most decks, that would be heavily subpar, but here having an evasive threat so early in the game complements the overall game plan. It allows you to immediately ninjutsu something in the second turn. If you use Moon-Circuit Hacker, you will have the requisite mana for ninjutsu and to replay Shadow in the second main phase.

In the later stages of the game, its ninjutsu ability might come up and when it does it absolutely changes the dynamic of the game. Nobody expects another Virus Beetle to suddenly appear in combat and discard that last card in hand or the second Silver-Fur Master, pumping the attack for lethal. Still, the requirement of four mana, attacking creature to ninjutsu out, and another attacking creature to copy is not trivial. I wouldn’t warp the way I play too much around making it works. It’s more of a trick that sometimes comes up.

It’s neither a Rogue or a Ninja so why is it in the deck? There are multiple reasons. First, it plays into the attrition game that Liliana of the Veil also provides of stripping the opponent of resources. In this format, the spells are quite expensive, so you won’t find yourself playing Beetle without a card to discard. You will put opponents into positions where they need to decide whether they want to discard their fifth land or Invoke Despair – without Despair they don’t need the land, but without the land they can’t cast it.

Beetle is an excellent ninjutsu target as well. The opponent has to discard the card first time round, but will be faced with a similar decision at least one more time. Looping Virus Beetles is a savage way to slowly but surely pull ahead on cards.

Opponents who know the trick might consider killing it so that it does not get picked up but then we feel really good about them wasting a removal spell on Beetle which has already discarded them a card.

Overall, it is a really solid creature. A reverse Spirited Companion if you will.

Like Shadow-Rite Priest in Clerics, Silver-Fur Master is a lord effect that gives a true aggressive angle to the deck. Making all those pesky creatures into real threats is a great way to turn the game around. The situation gets even better when multiple Masters are deployed.

In order to throw off combat math completely, you can ninjutsu it in, allowing you to punch in for lethal or make good trades in combat.

Its discount ability on ninjutsu affects Thousand-Faced Shadow and Biting-Palm Ninja It does not come in handy that frequently but you should always be on the lookout for it as it may affect the way you play out your turn. If you have four mana and you’re deciding on whether to ninjutsu in the Master, you can ninjutsu Master in, and now that you have the discount, ninjutsu in Biting-Palm Ninja as well for the total of 4 mana.

Ninja of Deep Hours son. Moon-Circuit Hacker has a cheaper ninjutsu cost, but draws a card only the first time. With each subsequent instance of dealing damage, it will offer a draw discard effect. It’s still useful, as this card selection filters out redundant removal or useless countermagic.

I would say it’s the best ninjutsu creature thanks to its low cost and how strong the effect is. Getting to draw a fresh card pulls you immediately up on cards. Combined with Virus Beetle that you may have just picked up, it really adds up.

One cool way to keep abusing the fact that it draws a card cleanly only if it entered this turn is to keep ninjutsuing it in and out with other creatures. It works particularly well if you have two Hackers. You attack with one draw a card. Next turn you flash the other one in and draw a card. Rinse repeat. You can also flash in a Hacker for a Hacker and use the just-returned one to ninjutsu it in for a different creature, ending up two cards up. The key takeaway here is that you can use ninjutsu multiple times in a single turn and shuffling creatures around might be actively beneficial.

I am still on the fence on how many I want. So far I’ve been on two and it has not felt like too many or too few. Being a 3/3 is not irrelevant, since it dodges Cut Down and can trade with Graveyard Trespasser or Corpse Appraiser. More often than not, I will use its ability and exile a card from the opponent’s hand to strip them further from resources. It may be correct not to do so if menace is going to play a key role, so keep that in mind. I can imagine such a scenario when the opponent does not have a lot of gas, is at a low-ish life total, and it’s more important to make their blocking awkward.

On top of that, it’s a very castable creature. Three mana 3/3 with menace is fine on most boards. Its deal-damage ability is not contingent on it being ninjutsu-ed in so you can just deal normal damage. Once you’ve removed the menace counter, you can ninjutsu it back out so that you can put it back in to play and get another discard effect in.

Let’s now discuss the planeswalker angle of the deck. While you could try to jam as many Ninjas as possible into the deck, I don’t think that would be a winning strategy. What I want to do is put a lot of pressure on the opponent to be reactive to what I am doing, otherwise, I will run away with the game. While the opponent is so wrapped up by having to have blockers and removal, a planeswalker comes in and switches up the whole situation.

Liliana of the Veil has been nothing but excellent for me. It shines against opponents who try to play a 3/3 creature to roadblock our ninjas and get hit by a Lily minus. Then we still get to attack and keep Liliana. She also makes the game about low resources with the plus ability. Our curve is low so we can easily operate on low lands and a couple of creatures that you keep re-using. It’s not the case for all the midrange decks that don’t have good answers to Planeswalkers and want to hardcast expensive spells in the late game.

The ultimate comes up sometimes but then the game is usually over. While a split lands vs the rest can work, it’s too lazy to ensure a win. You have to carefully think about how to split it but you’ve got the time – after all it’s probably going to be a game-ending decision.

Kaito Shizuki is literally Phyrexian Arena in this deck. I want to keep drawing card with it until the end of time. Infrequently, will you be making a Ninja token; most of the time when I do is when I need to block to protect Kaito. Drawing two cards a turn is a strong effect, especially in a deck that can play everything that is drawn quite easily.

What’s particularly unique about it is that it phases out on the turn you play it so you almost guarantee untapping with it.

I have pulled off the ultimate once and it was indeed a great feeling. Predictably, I won that game.

Spells

This deck is very interactive. It’s equipped with the cheapest removal and countermagic to always trade up on mana. This is going to be a theme throughout this section.

You see a Skura deck, you’re going to see Spell Pierce. I don’t know about you, but casting Spell Pierce on Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Wedding Announcement, The Wandering Emperor or, even better, Invoke Despair, does not get old. It’s a super efficient answer to opposing noncreature threats, of which there are plenty in Standard. On top of that, it’s a protection spell of sorts, as you can save your creature from Abrade or Depopulate.

A super efficient answer to early creatures like Monastery Swiftspear or Recruitment Officer. It comes in particularly handy when it comes to removing blockers.

The more I play with Fading Hope, the more I like it. The fact that it gets rid of any creature unconditionally is huge, regardless of its size or cost. Removing Sheoldred, the Apocalypse for a single mana is huge. Combined with the previously mentioned Spell Pierce, it really punishes decks that want to tap out sorcery speed for big spells.

Go for the Throat completes the interaction suite. It’s a piece of hard removal that kills the bigger threats like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Corpse Appraiser, or Raffine, Scheming Seer.


Best of One

Dimir Ninjas Best of One
by Skura
Buy on TCGplayer $171.75
Standard
best of 3
6 mythic
15 rare
11 uncommon
28 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (6)
2
Kaito Shizuki
$6.98
Creatures (17)
4
Virus Beetle
$1.40
Instants (11)
4
Spell Pierce
$3.16
3
Fading Hope
$4.47
2
Cut Down
$4.58
Enchantments (4)
Lands (22)
6
Island
$2.10
6
Swamp
$2.10
4
Darkslick Shores
$23.96
60 Cards
$188.78

The version of Best of One is aligned with the main deck of the Best of Three version.


Budget

While not impossible, dropping most rares and mythics will drop the quality of the deck significantly. Planeswalkers alone constitute six wildcards and they add a completely new angle to the deck. I wouldn’t recommend going full in on the budget. However, you can drop Thousand-Faced Shadow for Network Disruptor and change the mana base to common duals or basics.


Matchups and Sideboard Guide

Razorlash Transmogrant Art by Kekai Kotaki
Razorlash Transmogrant Art by Kekai Kotaki

Grixis Midrange

INOUT
+3 Razorlash Transmogrant-3 Fading Hope
+3 Disdainful Stroke-2 Cut Down
+2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse-3 Thousand-Faced Shadow

This is where we want to leverage our tempo-positive nature of our spells between Spell Pierce on Invoke Despair or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and efficient removal against Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Corpse Appraiser. Long-term they will outgrind us, so we want them to be scared for their life so that the game does not go long at all. Razorlash Transmogrant is both a way to play a game that naturally prolongs, but also put pressure on them.

Esper Legends

INOUT
+3 Razorlash Transmogrant-3 Fading Hope
+2 Cut Down-2 Thousand-Faced Shadow
+2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse-4 Spell Pierce
+2 Go for the Throat

It’s quite a tough matchup, as they have a ton of creatures which block very well and provide value. One of the key creatures is Raffine, Scheming Seer. Thankfully, it dies to Cut Down and we need to take advantage of this dynamic. In the perfect world, we’d be able to keep the board clean and Liliana of the Veil away Raffine as well.

Selesnya Toxic

INOUT
+2 Cut Down-4 Spell Pierce
+2 Go for the Throat-2 Virus Beetle
+2 Parasitic Grasp

Very creature-oriented matchup. They don’t block that well so we will be able to enact our ninjutsu shenanigans. However, we can be passing each other, as their clock is faster. Spell Pierce will hopefully catch Skrelv's Hive game one but I don’t really want it postboard. Liliana of the Veil circumvents Venerated Rotpriest’s trigger – something worth remembering.

Mono White Midrange

INOUT
+4 Disdainful Stroke-3 Fading Hope
+2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse-2 Cut Down
-1 Spell Pierce

Most of the plan stays the same. We want to put a bit of pressure on them, maybe resolve an early walker. Spell Pierce is going to pull a lot of weight to counter Wedding Announcement. Once they get those 1/1s flood the board, it’s going to be tough to break through on the ground. Disdainful Stroke and Spell Pierce are going to shine against Depopulate, The Wandering Emperor and Farewell.

Azorius Soldiers

INOUT
+2 Cut Down-4 Spell Pierce
+2 Go for the Throat-2 Virus Beetle
+2 Parasitic Grasp

In this matchup we need to swap countermagic for more removal. The games will be all about board position. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is a must-kill as its first strike dominates combat and makes our noncreatures more expensive. Postboard, almost half the deck is going to consist of noncreature spells.

The best draws will include killing their one and two drops with removal and then dropping a Liliana to have a removal on a stick.

Mono Red Aggro

INOUT
+2 Cut Down-4 Spell Pierce
+2 Go for the Throat-2 Kaito Shizuki
+2 Parasitic Grasp

Quite similar to Soldiers in that we want to remove opposing threats. However, a huge difference is going to manifest itself in them having hasty threats and burn spells. While you can realistically stabilise against Soldiers at 3 life, but that’s not the winning strategy against red aggro. On the flipside, it’s easier to enact our own plan, as they are pretty bad at blocking. Okiba Reckoner Raid and Parasitic Grasp will provide that bit of life gain to hopefully allow us to stay alive.

Dimir Ninjas Mirror

INOUT
+2 Cut Down-3 Fading Hope
+2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse-1 Spell Pierce

The mirror is going to be a weird staring contest whenever one player goes to attacks. Both players are aware of what might happen if there are no blocks. If you have removal, always use it before the blocks step, even if you’re not going to declare blocks! If you play removal post-blocks, they will be able to ninjutsu a different creature in and blank the removal.

Tips and Tricks

Biting-Palm Ninja Art by Aline Costa
  • While you’ll usually want to use Kaito Shizuki‘s plus one ability after combat so that you draw a card, sometimes you should do it before attacks to try to find a ninjutsu creature or removal for a blocker.
  • When you make a copy of an attacking creature with Thousand-Faced Shadow you can make the copy attack them or their planeswalker, regardless of what the original creature was attacking.
  • Biting-Palm Ninja‘s ability does not discard, but it exiles. It’s relevant against cards like Atraxa, Grand Unifier which you wouldn’t want to put in the opponent’s graveyard, yet you will happily exile it forever.
  • You can Spell Pierce when the opponent has two mana available just to tap them out.
  • You can cast try to convert Spell Pierce in the late game by casting two of them on the same spell.
  • You can Fading Hope your own creature to ninjutsu it back in.

Premium >

Enjoy our content? Wish to support our work? Join our Premium community, get access to exclusive content, remove all advertisements, and more!

  • No ads: Browse the entire website ad-free, both display and video.
  • Exclusive Content: Instant access to all exclusive articles only for Premium members, at your fingertips.
  • Support: All your contributions get directly reinvested into the website to increase your viewing experience!
  • Discord: Join our Discord server, claim your Premium role and gain access to exclusive channels where you can learn in real time!
  • Special offerFor a limited time, use coupon code L95WR9JOWV to get 50% off the Annual plan!
MTG Arena Zone Premium
Skura
Skura

Also known as Skura or IslandsInFront on Twitter and YouTube, Filip started his career upon the release of Gatecrash and has been passing the turn in all formats ever since. He coaches and creates written and video content, mainly centered around the control archetype. He is passionate about Magic game theory and countering spells. Outside of Magic, he is a fan of snooker/pool, chess and Project Management.

Articles: 132