[PCH2] Sakashima's Student

[mikekilljoy]

Any possibility of this being another answer to anything? Maybe fish swining in the air (or with mutliple creatures) against BSC?

[brianpk80]

I like it.  It's rather vicious that a copied Blightsteel Colossus would enter the battlefield "tapped and attacking."  Tinker at your own risk...   

[Guli]

Shhhhh Brian

This is not playable, don't worry I will not use it 

[AmbivalentDuck]

Noble Hierarch just became considerably better.  I would argue that this is even better than Phantasmal Image on account of "haste."

[boggyb]

Yeah. Stinks that he doesn't keep exalted triggers, though.

[brianpk80]

Noble Hierarch just became considerably better.  I would argue that this is even better than Phantasmal Image on account of "haste."

I would prefer Birds of Paradise to Noble in the defensive situation, as it could not be blocked by a Blightsteel.  This is a very swingy card, being that most answers to Tinker preempt or neutralize it, but this outright turns the Tinker move into a game-loss for an opponent.  Exactly what aggro-control needs.  "Oh you're playing creatures?  Mystical Tutor for Tinker."   Time to put an end to that cavalier bs.  And it cannot be countered.  Nice. Definitely better than Magus of the Unseen and probably better than Gilded Drake.  

[policehq]

Wait, why would your opponent not be blocking with their Blightsteel Colossus? Unless he's tapped, in which case you're dead.

[GrandpaBelcher]

Wait, why would your opponent not be blocking with their Blightsteel Colossus? Unless he's tapped, in which case you're dead.

I think they're assuming they have more dudesweats than their opponent (who probably just has the BSC). Ninjutsu anything unblocked into a win. Also, apparently, Birds of Paradise is played in Vintage now.

[Guli]

You just attack with everything and let them block your best bear. Then whatever is not blocked is used to bring in the clone copying BSC and voila, game over.

If you want something unblockable, Scryb Ranger is your girl.

[serracollector]

Delvers, Trygon's, Rangers, New Strix Bird, Aven's, Selkie (if they got an island, assuming tinker....), also, you don't have to always think tinker bot.  Copying a Duplicant, slash panther, goyf, or a legend just to kill it, are all very nice 2 mana uncounterable plays.  Very nice card.

[gkraigher]

a white blue deck with this guy, thalia, kataki, leonic relic warder, porcelain legionaire, aven mindscensor.  that should frighten most archetypes.

he is still a clone for 4 mana too, not irrelevant.

If only this guy stayed ninja and didn't take on other creature types then i would be WOWed.  he is good nonetheless.  ninja of the deep hours sees play, and this guy seems more useful to me.  i've never played with ninja of the deep hours though

I'm guessing they threw in the human part of him for cavern of souls. 

[brianpk80]

Ninjutsu is always better with creatures that have evasion.  Tinker is at its most problematic when an opponent lucks into it in the very early game before aggro-control has time to develop even a minimal relevant board.  If one adds this Sakashima's Student to a deck, one is making a "new" deck and should consider how that interplays with the other cards in that deck.  I haven't used Birds of Paradise in years but would consider running them over Noble in a deck based on Ninjutsu for pretty obvious reasons. 

[AmbivalentDuck]

Tinker has been mentioned repeatedly, but don't forget that having this in hand shuts down Show and Tell into a legendary critter like Emrakul or Griselbrand.

[bactgudz]

Tinker has been mentioned repeatedly, but don't forget that having this in hand shuts down Show and Tell into a legendary critter like Emrakul or Griselbrand.

You'd have to cast it the turn after they show and tell...they come into play at the same time, so you can't copy what your opponent plopped down (cloning like he's templated is a replacement effect for him entering the battlefield, when this applies your opponents critter isnt there yet).  Which makes it pretty poor against s&t griselbrand.

[Saya]

yeah it can be a haste BSC/Emurakul...but it is very determined.Sakashima student is better by far than Clone,but worse than Phyrexian Metamorph or Phantasmal Image.not vintage level

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

yeah it can be a haste BSC/Emurakul...but it is very determined.Sakashima student is better by far than Clone,but worse than Phyrexian Metamorph or Phantasmal Image.not vintage level

this is super debatable. you your opponent tinkers out bsc, and you happen to be playing a flipped delver, or clique.... or you know happen to just have 2 dudes out you have an uncounterable win with this guy. that seems better and these are not uncommon scenarios in vintage.
Compared to metamorph which is more expensive and can be steel sabotaged, and is more expensive, there is no strictly better or worse.
Compared to Phantasmal image which, is counterable, and you can have your copped guy get lightning bolted, fired/ice'd, potentially Nature's claimed, as well as a whole host of randomly targeting effects, the better choice is not quite clear. depends.

[vaughnbros]

yeah it can be a haste BSC/Emurakul...but it is very determined.Sakashima student is better by far than Clone,but worse than Phyrexian Metamorph or Phantasmal Image.not vintage level

this is super debatable. you your opponent tinkers out bsc, and you happen to be playing a flipped delver, or clique.... or you know happen to just have 2 dudes out you have an uncounterable win with this guy. that seems better and these are not uncommon scenarios in vintage.
Compared to metamorph which is more expensive and can be steel sabotaged, and is more expensive, there is no strictly better or worse.
Compared to Phantasmal image which, is counterable, and you can have your copped guy get lightning bolted, fired/ice'd, potentially Nature's claimed, as well as a whole host of randomly targeting effects, the better choice is not quite clear. depends.

Against emrakul this card seems almost always just worse the only scenario where it could be better is where you want it to uncounterable although your opponent essentially gets to hit an attacking creature of his/her choice for 15 damage in this situation.  Against BSC I would say in a creature heavy deck this is usually better than image and metamorph.

My major problem with this card is it seems like more than likely you need 2 or more creatures out in order to have any chance of ninjitsuing it.  This limits its playability tremendously.  It should also be noted that a ninjitsu cost of 2 is pretty hefty when compared to the actual cost of 2 and 3 for phantasmal image and metamorph respectively since you will then have to recast the creature you just ninjitsued.

Just like any ninja to effectively play this you need to combine it with creatures that have comes into play effects, however this card also requires a high creature count.  The best combination for this might be another card from this set, Shardless Agent or baleful strix.

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

I'm not sure what you're getting at with Emrakul here, because your grammar is so poor. This dude is removal.
Having two or more creatures in play is pretty common these days, ever play bant fish? Or something with delvers, cliques, or trygons. because you only need one of those. You're obviously not just shoving this into some big blue list with a couple of snaspcasters.
But like I said, the play-ability on this guy is super debatable.