This is a project I've been tinkering with for a while, but due to a lack of interest from my team (including myself) it got pushed aside for other projects. I figure there's no reason to horde old decklists, so here's my baby: NINJA SWORD. (And yes, the all caps is important. Ninjas are intimidating, damn it)
Short Bus NINJA SWORD
4 Withered Wretch
4 Gorilla Shaman
3 Old Man of the Sea
3 Ninja of the Deep Hours
2 Gilded Drake
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Brainstorm
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Consultation
4 AEther Vial
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Strip Mine
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Island
4 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
SB:
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Keldon Vandals
2 Annul
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Wasteland
2 Diabolic Edict
Creature BaseThe original purpose of this deck, aside from using Ninjas and Swords, was to be an aggro control deck similar to fish but with relevant disruptive creatures. Spiketail Hatchling just plain sucks.
Withered Wretch, on the other hand, is a brick fucking house. This guy beats the crap out of all sorts of stuff, but usually negating Yawgmoth's Will is his deal. He also prevents random losses to welding in fat or slavers, and prevents a slaver hard lock. Screwing over Dragon and Cerebral Assassin is neat too, but those come up pretty rarely. If he was a 2/2 dork that said Yawgmoth's Will cannot be played though, he'd still be good enough for me.
Gorilla Shaman is another one of those creatures with a very cheap and helpful ability. Shaman I especially like because he's very good at ensuring turn two ninjas.
Old Man of the Sea is something I'm not sure belongs in the deck at all. I wanted something capable of stealing annoying little creatures to improve my FCG and the odd Grow matchups, but when he carries a sword he can also steal Platts and other junk that normally really bothers the deck. Being able to steal welders is also helpful, because Sword of Fire and Ice only resolves on its own like once every ten times I try, and a stolen welder makes getting it in to play a good deal easier.
I had to keep the Ninja count under 4, because seeing two ninjas usually sucks unless I have a drain heavy hand or something. I've actually been really happy with how effective the ninja is when he comes down early though, in a deck with eight counters it's not too unlikely I'll find a new one with some regularity, and when he carries a sword he's a massive threat.
The maindeck Gilded Drakes have been nothing short of gold. These make my Oath matchup about a hundred times better all on their own, but they also really piss off people playing with Tinker or sometimes Animate Dead. Obviously some of the surprise value of having them maindeck is gone now that I'm posting the list, but I still think they belong there.
SpellsForce of Will is pretty friggen obvious.
Mana Drain on the other hand seems a little out of place because of the deck's fish-based history, but I always wanted a couple extra counters, and between the abilities on my eight prime beaters, the mana cost on the Ninja and his Sword, and random dumb shit like Aether Vial, there's always some place useful for the mana to go. I've been very happy with these in the deck.
Originally I had a wet dream for the concept of Standstill + Aether Vial, but without Aether Vial Standstill was trash. Brainstorm was still not exactly what I was hoping for, but I've been unable to find a spell I like better here. I do have a million fetches though, so I'm almost always able to get rid of crappy cards when I have to.
My first list also had 4 Sword of Fire and Ice, but that's definitely too many. The biggest problem with seeing SOFAI is that I was often too scared to cast it, because it's a big fat sorcery speed spell that says "DRAIN ME!" on it. It is still ridiculously strong though, and it gives the deck that little extra punch in welder removal and drawing. It's just not something I want as a 4 of.
Demonic Consultation was originally a Demonic Tutor, but I realized every time I cast Demonic Tutor, I wanted to get something I had plenty of copies of in my deck. The deck has a lot of big numbers next to the card names, and there's nothing restricted I'm worried about removing, so I cut the Tutor for this one, and never looked back.
Aether Vial has been a brick friggen house in the deck. Cheating casting costs is one thing, but, well... Let me quote myself from the TSB boards earlier in development of the deck.
And in regards to Aether Vial, I tried dinking the count to 3 for that update, and found myself missing the 4th a lot. Their role in the deck was underappreciated by me, and I won't make that mistake again. It does so much ninja shit that ruins peoples setups. Some of the better examples..
-I can make men hit play while leaving Drain open.
-I can put men in to play without extending in to Drain.
-I can dodge cost effecting spells like Sphere of Res and Trinisphere
-I can dodge Chalice, Pillar, Lab, etc
-I can ninja out blockers for a Goblin Welder
-I can ninja out Withered Wretch in response to an overextended Yawgmoth's Will (this comes up against Slaver a lot)
-I can ninja out Gorilla Shaman in response to a weld
-I can recover without wasting time when I transform a creature in to a ninja of the deep anus
-I can fuck with Oath by dropping Drake during the combat step
-I can almost ignore prohibitive mana costs
-The threat of a first turn Aether Vial is enough to scare off even the most steadfast of homobuttlove aliens
ManaI decided to run the off color moxen originally because I wanted to spit out earlier swords and hardcast ninjas. When I began cutting some of the generic costs, I became worried I'd have to cut an off color mox or two. The testing I've done shows that this is not the case however, and the off color moxes and their friend Sol Ring actually still help out a lot, mainly for paying for Wretch/Shaman's abilities.
I only run the one Strip Mine because everybody is still running nothing but basic lands, and it's bothering me. You could easily manipulate the manabase a little bit to fit more Wastelands in the maindeck, but I don't intend to do so until Control Slaver players are so content with Stax gone that they have two or fewer basics.
The rest of the manabase is pretty self explanatory. I don't like the Island much, but I recognize that it's probably a necessary evil. If you were looking to fit in a wasteland, well... that might be your slot.
The SideboardI don't usually like posting sideboards since they should be different for every metagame, but shit, so should maindecks, so whatever.
Pillar was included because the combo matchup was mediocre. Vial lets me dodge my own pillar when dropping men in to play, and casting Ninjas doesn't even hurt. Plus, I do intend to be dealing damage in the early turns with my beaters, so Pillar supplements my primary strategy anyway.
Keldon Vandals was included because it's a freaking house against Null Rod decks and workshops. I remembered Lord of the Goats using this guy with great success in the TnT mirror, and I've been continuing that success with him in NINJA SWORD.
Annul was included to shore up a minor hole against Oath, as well as give a little help against workshops if I'm on the play. It may not even be necessary anymore (I've been seeing a decline of oath and stax since the restriction) but I would still be running it just in case.
Tormod's Crypt is a ridiculous house, and comes in any time Withered Wretch might be too slow, like against Dragon and Cerebral Assassin. These two slots are negotiable, but if you see any dragon/ca I wouldn't cut them.
Two wastelands were sideboarded because I'm horrified by Bazaar of Baghdad, and mildly irritated by manlands. These are also negotiable, but I have been liking them.
The Edicts were purely as a solution to random stupid aggro and Pristine Angel. I confess I haven't tested them much, but they're good on paper.
Matchup dataOath: Decided almost entirely by what utility dorks you can find in game one. If you stumble across the Drakes or they can't get oath up until it's too late, you usually win. Otherwise it's bad news. I would keep the drakes in for game two despite the fact they probably bring in Pristine or Iridescent or both, because most Oath players leave in Akroma and just board out the Spirit of the Night or Hydra. You should be bringing in Edicts and Annuls at the cost of Old Man of the Sea and a card of your choice. I would probably bring out a Gorilla Shaman, since Withered Wretch's ability is more useful here.
Slaver: I tested the bajeezus out of this matchup with a couple people, but most of my testing was against Outlaw, who just completely rolled over and died in pretty much every game. I designed the deck to smash slaver when piloted any less than optimally, and it does the job very well.
Gifts Belcher: This matchup was only marginally worse than Slaver, due to the fact that Belcher often never goes to the graveyard for me to Wretch away, and in addition the deck has a little bit more brokenness to it.
Fish: Usually a non issue, but Null Rod can be extremely annoying. If I can get Sword or Old Man online, the game is over. Game two Keldon Vandals will at the very least trade 2 for 1, but often is a freaking huge dork to add another clock to the fish player.
Tog: Sword is extremely annoying for them, as is Withered Wretch. I haven't tested this matchup extensively, but my limited testing shows that this is in NINJA SWORD's favor.
Cerebral Assassin: This is a really boring matchup, mostly because it lacks any skill on your part. If your CA opponent knows what they're doing, they can sometimes set up a play that beats your hate, but your average schmuck will just roll over and die if you see the right bombs. Your sideboard Tormod's Crypts are very helpful here.
Dragon: Same as Cerebral Assassin, but treat them with a little more caution since they can win in response.
3cc: Usually a non issue. Wretch shuts off their draw engine, and they usually need Yawgmoth's Will to win. Decree can be obnoxious at times, but a man carrying a sword is big enough to ignore the little tokens, and most of the dorks in this deck can live through combat with tokens. This matchup is actually better if they still run Tinker, because it gives you something fat to Gilded Drake. I would board out Gilded Drake for games two and three if they don't run Tinker, in favor of Pillar. The reason I select Pillar is because Tormod's Crypt doesn't do Wretch's job quite right against Skeletal Scrying, but Pillar makes casting a Scrying much more dangerous.
Combo: Your matchup is as good as any deck's running 4 Drain 4 Force. In game two though, you're the only person running Pillar.
Other card considerationsIn testing, I've tried a couple things in the deck I didn't like as much as the currrent setup, but could still be solid in the right metagame.
Tinker is definitely something you could be fitting in here. In addition to grabbing a Sword, this is one deck where getting a Colossus is a-okay. If it gets even one swing, your game is considerably easier, whereas all the control decks running tinker-colossus in the fall last year were only marginally helped if they only got one swing.
I also tried Mistblade Shinobi as an amusing and ninja-themed way to piss off Oath, since you can use the spirit tokens to make ninjas with. It was inferior to Gilded Drake most of the time, but still amusing and possibly worth fooling around with.
Other equipment was tried in the deck in addition to the sword, but the creature count just wasn't high enough to support more than 3 equips plus the aether vials.
An additional draw engine would be good. Ninjas and Swords are great, but Brainstorm as I mentioned still feels weak. Finding a suitable replacement would serve the deck pretty well. Even Night's Whisper might be playable, but this is definitely the least tested part of the deck.
Other cheap dorks might be better in the Old Man slot, but I'm pretty sure Grim Lavamancer is the wrong man for the job. This is something I've fiddled with quite a bit, but never found anything I was particularly happy with.
Closing notesIn testing, this deck did what I set out to do, but I just wasn't as impressed with it as a couple other projects we've been working on. I didn't want to see it drop off the face of the earth though, so I figured I'd hand it to TMD to get some discussion going and perhaps help someone else figure out the right way to make the concept work.
