Oni Assassins have a unique ability called Ambush... at least until the Conan set came out. Ambush states that when the card with Ambush is put facedown from the soul of a card on the field into the drop zone, you may call the card to the field by paying its call cost. This ambush ability can even activate during the opponent's turn, making Oni Assassins a pretty fast and active deck.

This ability may sound extremely specific but there's multiple ways, even outside of Oni Assassin cards, to get cards facedown on the field. The three most common being Art of Explosive Hades Fall, Secret Sword, Lethal Formation and Shinobi Scrolls. There is also Super Lethal Formation but the 1 gauge cost just to give all Ninjas 1000 power is completely pointless for Oni Assassins so people tend to stick with normal Secret Sword, Lethal Formation.

Now, before I go into talking about the cards themselves, I want to talk about some terms and meta concepts when it comes to thinking about Oni Assassin cards and their ambush (monster) or ambush-like (spells) abilities. This should hopefully get you in the right mindset while thinking how best to set up and use ambush and ambush-like abilities.

Also, quick side note, instead of saying "ambush" for monsters and "ambush-like" for spells, I'm just going to say ambush for all instances of card effects that trigger from going from being facedown souls to being sent to the drop zone.

Terms:

Example of a "Setter" card

Oni Assassin cards come in, at the very least, one of three varieties. Sometimes they may be 2 or all 3. I made up these terms so others may have their own terms. The cards can be a setter, an activator and/or a catalyst. Lets explain what these three mean:

Setter - A card that sets either itself or other cards facedown into the soul of another card. Thus, it "sets up" a card to use ambush. A simple example of a setter card is House of Assassins, Oni Convoy.

Activator - A card that has an ambush ability. Because it "activates". An example of an activator card is any card with Ambush. A simple example would be Red Fiend, Kid Kaneguma.

Catalyst - A card that causes facedown soul cards to be sent to the drop. They are a "catalyst" for a "activator" (i.e Ambush) to occur. A simple example would be Oni Castle of Contraptions' counter ability.

A couple other terms used:

Wiff - When an ambush ability activates but the ability doesn't resolve to completion. Usually either due to not enough resources (gauge/life/hand cards) to call the card or because the player just doesn't want to resolve the ambush effect due to other in-game reasons and situations.

Ambush Sequence - The order the Oni Assassin player decides to resolve their ambush effects. This term is mainly used to say whether the sequence of ambush effects was a good or bad sequence.

Pool - The collection of pending Ambush effects and on-call effects waiting to be activated and resolved.

OA Player - Short for Oni Assassin player because... I say it alot...

Next, let's have a meta discussion.

Meta:

1. When multiple facedown cards with ambush abilities go to the drop, they all trigger at once. In this instance, the OA player gets to choose what order the effects activate. Also, keep in mind that when the player chooses which ambush effect he wants to activate, the opponent can respond to each Ambush effect when the OA player calls out that they're activating a card's ambush effect.

So, for example, if Under the Table and Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki are under the same card and both of them get send to the drop while facedown at the same time, the opponent can respond with counter cards of their own when Under the Table activates from drop and then again when Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki activates from drop.

2. Whether the OA player decides to actually follow through with the ambush effect or not, the opponent may respond to the ambush effect activating. Thus, allowing the opponent to play counter spells without any fear of their card being nullified because the ambush activation takes up the OA player's slot in the chain. Remember, the farthest a chain can go in Buddyfight is 2 before they must be resolved.

3. All monsters are inherently catalyst cards because calling over or size ruling out cards with face down souls can activate more ambush effects.

4. If you already have a pool of ambush effects waiting to activate and more ambush cards are sent to the drop, they are added to the pool and can be decided to be activated sooner than the older ambush effects.

For example, if Fiend of Gaze, Ayo, Lady Oni, Uji Bridge Princess and Lesser Fiend, Amanojaku all go to the drop from the soul of a card at the same time, all 3 card's ambushes activate at the same time. You decide to play Ayo first, use his ability to put Under the Table underneath himself. Then, you call Amanojaku over Ayo, sending Under the Table to the ambush pool. Then, you may use Under the Table before resolving Uji Bridge Princess even though Uji Bridge Princess was in the pool first.

5. Similar to point 4, on call effects do NOT have to be used right after the monster was summoned to the field. The on call effects also go into the pool to be played when the OA player determines they want to.

For example, if Fiend of Gaze, Ayo and Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki are sent to the drop from a facedown soul at the same time, you may call Fiend of Gaze, Ayo first, his on call goes into the pool then, you may call Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki, sending Ayo back to the drop, then, resolve Ayo's on call ability to put a face down card into Kid Ibuki's soul (then finish off with Kid Ibuki's on call effect).

6. Unlike normal calling monsters where the counter timing is after their call cost has already been paid, when a monster is summoned via ambush, the only counter timing is when ambush activates. If the opponent lets that counter timing go by, the OA player can safely pay their call cost and call their monster. There is no such thing as a counter timing at ambush activation AND counter timing after paying the call cost for ambush.

Ok! Now that that's all squared away, lets get to the Archetype Archive!

Buddyfight X

The Dark Lord's Rebirth

We're skipping right by the first 3 seasons because Oni Assassins came out in The Dark Lord's Rebirth. The first set of the X season. In the anime, Sakate Onigashira plays the deck with his buddy, Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki.

Stats wise, most Oni Assassin monsters have high attack, an average critical of 1-2 and almost always 1000 defense. They aren't usually meant to last too long on the field. Their spells have the attribute Assassination instead of Oni Assassin. Along with normal effects that a spell would have, many can have ambush effects when played from a facedown soul. Usually, the power of the normal effect and the ambush effect are pretty on-par with each other and it's more just situational on which the player wants to use.

Just like in every set, we have the winners and losers of the set. So to keep this more cohesive, let's list the more bad/trash Oni Assassin cards of the set and then we'll talk about the good card's and their play style:

- White Fiend, Kid Toraguma
- Red Fiend, Kid Kaneguma
- Optics Operation, Shrouded Strawcoat
- Lesser Fiend, Yama Oni

- Pale Yellow Fiend, Kid Hoshiguma

- Sturdy Oni, A Lad from Kibi

- Dark Arms, Steel-slicing Strings

The reason why these cards are considered bad/trash is because of either 1 of 3 reasons:

1. Other cards do their effects better or are similar enough with better results

2. Their on-call ambush effects are weak/too niche

3. You are losing cards in hand to set facedown in their soul without recouping the loss in some other equal or meaningful way.

Generally speaking, Oni Assassins that get facedown souls from either deck or drop are better than cards that get facedown souls from hand. There are of course exceptions to every rule but it's important to determine if losing a card in hand to be put in a facedown soul is worth it or not.

The following cards, in my opinion, could be considered staple/good cards from the set:

- Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki

- Banquet for the Unrighteous

- Hiding Oni

- Fiend of a Hundred Flogs, Rashomon

- Fiend of Ailments, Affliction Oni

- Fiend of Gaze, Ayo

- Lesser Fiend, Amanojaku

- Dark Arms, Soaring Blade

- Red Lady Oni, Kureha

- Under the Table

- Underhanded Means, Sneak Attack

- Midnight Bodyguard

- House of Assassins, Oni Convoy

So, with these cards mentioned, let's start with the items because you'll notice your deck's design and gameplay are greatly influenced by which item you decide to run. In my opinion, Dark Arms, Soaring Blade is miles better than Dark Arms, Steel-slicing Strings. Being able to destroy the opponent's monsters at any point, even during their battle phase, by calling Oni Assassins with ambush then paying a gauge to destroy a monster hinders the opponent's battle phase. Compare that to Steel-slicing Strings where its effect is only useful during your battle phase. Oh, and the extra 1000 attack for all Oni Assassins is just icing on the cake.

With that out of the way, the best way to utilize the weapon is with an open center. So, you will implement primarily Fiend of a Hundred Flogs, Rashomon's move and soulguard to activate ambush abilities from Rashomon's soul both offensively and defensively. Red Lady Oni, Kureha is also a good secondary size 2 card with move but she doesn't have soulguard so all her facedown souls will trigger at once.

The size 1's help you either get more free facedown souls for free (Fiend of Gaze, Ayo) or help tutor your weapon (Fiend of Ailments, Affliction Oni). One tactic you can do with Affliction Oni is use your Dark Arms, Soaring Blade's monster destruction effect, ambush call Affliction Oni, equip a new Soaring Blade weapon and you'd have another weapon for both it's monster destroy effect or a potentially more offensive battle phase but rarely were these tactics used.

The size 0, Lesser Fiend, Amanojaku, was just a free to call size 0 that lets you draw a card and trigger Soaring Blade's monster effect. Solid card overall.

Spells wise, Hiding Oni is just free drawing/ambush activations with zero downsides. Also, keep in mind that Hiding Oni can take any soul (faceup OR facedown) from any CARD on the field. It can be from a monster, item or set spell (hint hint, Art of Explosive Hades Fall) or impact (hint hint, Secret Sword, Lethal Formation). This is also why this card can be used as a draw engine for a few other Katana World decks as well. The only "real" downside is starting the game with no setter cards to be able to use Hiding Oni but if the deck is designed well enough, that shouldn't be much of a problem.

Banquet for the Unrighteous is a flexible card. Either dig your deck for more monsters to get to a more ideal situation or use its setter effect to grab a card and put it facedown onto a monster on your field. Sure, in theory the setter effect is a minus 1 in card advantage but if you choose the right card from the drop, it can pay off pretty well.

Oni Assassins do require a good amount of gauge to keep the engine running so Under the Table can help keep you full. Midnight Bodyguard is their attack null effect with easy resource set up for the facedown card you send to the drop.

House of Assassins, Oni Convoy may be a minus 1 in hand because you need to set the card on the field for no up front benefit but the ability to cycle out ambush only monsters out of your hand onto the field for set up while also replenishing your hand of that card is real strong and keeps your hand in a better position than without it.

Underhanded Means, Sneak Attack is quite possibly my most favorite card out of the set. At ANY counter moment, being able to pull a soul out of an Oni Assassin to destroy ANY card on the field is super strong and can hinder the opponent's field from working correctly.

The last few Oni Assassins (Half-Fiend, Kid Yase, Dusk Fiend, Yagyo and Dark Skill, Eerie Wailings) I didn't mention fit more in the sideboard/tech-in category where they aren't bad but they aren't staples. Out of the three, I feel like most people looked over Yagyo the most. It was strong to call him, take souls out of a monster then use Soaring Blade to finally destroy the monster. Solid card synergy.

Dark Skill, Eerie Wailings isn't a bad card at all. It's just a card that people need to know when to use each of its abilities correctly and that will come with experience playing Oni Assassins. When played at the right time, it can be devastating but when played incorrectly, it can just be... "ok".

Also, again, don't forget that Art of Explosive Hades Fall, and Shinobi Scrolls were reprinted in this set which work well with the archetype even though they aren't Assassination cards.

Lvl Up! Heroes & Adventurers!

The next set that had some Oni Assassin support was the Lvl Up! Heroes & Adventurers! set. There were only 3 cards and honestly, the cards are very middle of the road. In hindsight, the set in general felt very lackluster in quality despite people being very excited for their favorite characters or deck to get a new card. It felt like Bushiroad was purposefully holding back the throttle on the card's power.

Dispatcher from Assassin Circle, Sakate is the first in the set we'll talk about. The card is actually misprinted. The real ability allows the OA player to pay a life and put a soul from the field in general to the drop zone. So you can remove the soul from any card on either player's side of the field. It was misprinted and says you can only allow the OA player to remove a soul from their side of the field.

I have mixed emotions about this card. The biggest problem with this card is the lack of counter for its ability. If it had counter, I could see it being way more useful. Oni Assassins move fast during both player's turn so limiting this card to just once per turn on the OA player's turn feels bad. Also, like I said above, all Oni Assassin monsters are activators so this card being essentially a "double activator" (itself and then its own ability) makes this card redundant.

Next up is Ghoul Deity Demon Lord, Ibuki. I think the biggest problem with this card was people didn't run many size 3 Oni Assassins in the deck. The size 3's tended to be the "big impact" against the opponent and most were fine spending 1 more gauge for Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki where you can do potentially more damage and have double attack on a card with more power. Also, at this point, cards were starting to come out that prevented themselves from being destroyed by card effects so the Kid Ibuki's were slowly starting to lose their impact on the meta. It wasn't totally gone yet but it was noticeable.

Lastly, we have Uniform Professional, Assassin Frill. It's a beautiful card but its beauty can only go so far. I think there's two problems with this card that kept it from being played more. First, it's setter effect only activates when she attacks which, in an Oni Assassin deck, is slow. Second, you only got to choose 1 of 2 cards. Its super easy to have neither card have ambush. Also, its move was relatively pointless in Oni Assassins because Kureha and Rashomon had move and were more preferred targets to put in the center. You could put the card from Assassin Frill's ability in Kureha or Rashomon but then, her move is still completely pointless.

Overturn! Thunder Empire!

The next set with Oni Assassin support was Overturn! Thunder Empire! This was when cards were starting to get Overturn and Overkill abilities and honestly, Oni Assassins got a pretty solid Overkill ability with "Shuten Demonic Deity", Kid Ibuki.

Its Overkill made it where when a monster would be destroyed, you would pay 1 gauge and choose a monster. For the turn, that monster could not be destroyed. Keep in mind that you did not have to choose the card that was just about to be destroyed (but most of the time, you would).

Shuten Kid Ibuki's second skill would board wipe the opponent's monsters and deal damage equal to the number of monsters destroyed. Usually, you wouldn't destroy many monsters but it did make him a solid threat on the field.

To finish it all off, his last ability was move which was mainly used to put him in the center to force the opponent to attack him and then allow you to activate his Overkill.

Ibuki's Right-hand Man, Kid Ibaraki was very hyped. Especially since he did show up in the show with the crazy call cost of throwing the top 5 cards of your deck into his soul. That's about where his hype ended though. Kid Ibaraki had several problems.

First, he was a dead card unless you had an Oni Assassin item equipped which, sometimes didn't happen until your second turn and if that's the case, he's just a dead card. If you wanted to rely on him as your boss card, you had to make sure you ran enough weapons/tutors to guarantee to get your item first turn but that would cause the deck to be clogged with too many weapons.

Second, as great as it is that he got 5 souls, he had no soul guard to help stagger the ambush effects so he had no persistent field presence like Rashomon could have.

Third, the souls could be completely random. They could all be amazing ambush cards or none of them could be. From my experience, usually you would get 2-3 ambush cards in soul but, were they ones you even wanted? So, you would spend 1 card and 2 gauge in hopes for a better outcome than you started by just complete luck. The cost to outcome ratio just wasn't there. Especially since Kid Ibaraki doesn't synergize with himself (he doesn't have ambush) and you are reliant on other non-ambush cards (weapons) to even get him on the field. I think this was smart design wise because Bushiroad didn't want players to just play cards with ambush abilities and the only non-ambush card be Kid Ibaraki and have Oni Assassins be a complete fiesta of all 5 cards popping off effects.

Hidden Dark Arms, Yobigatana was almost like Kid Ibaraki in item form. When it attacks and deals damage or destroys a monster, you check the top 4 cards of your deck and put up to one facedown into the soul of an Oni Assassin on the field. The biggest problem that kept it from being potentially useful was the fact that you had to deal damage/destroy a monster to activate its effect. Its super easy to work around.

I suppose the counter argument then is to let the opponent spend resources to deny an underwhelming stat weapon from hitting but even then, you've had to expend a gauge and a card for your weapon which isn't cheap and doing more set up mid-battle is just slow for Oni Assassins.

If my memory serves correctly, Blue Fiend, Kid Kuma was used a little bit when this set came out. Primarily for the critical reduction. Oni Assassins already have super low defense and moderately high attack so unless an opponent's monster is hitting 0 power, the power and defense reductions weren't anything to write home about.

Watchful Eyes gave the opposite resources to what Under the Table gives. If you played Watchful Eyes from hand, you gained 2 life and a gauge. If you activated its ambush effect, you gained 3 life. The problem is, Oni Assassins rely way more heavily on gauge than life so Watchful Eyes was barely used.

Ultimately, the only two "good" (using that word very liberally) cards out of Overturn! Thunder Empire! was "Shuten Demonic Deity" Kid Ibuki and Blue Fiend, Kid Kuma but this didn't really shake up the Oni Assassin gameplay that much.

X Duel Chest

In the X Duel Chest, there was only one new Oni Assassin card and that was Oniseer of Autodeity, Ibuki. This card didn't see much play because there are cards from earlier sets that do a better job of destroying monsters and cards. On top of that, by this point, it started to become very prevalent for cards to have anti-destruction effects so cards like this just didn't have the same impact on gameplay like they did in the past.

Driven to Disorder

Driven to Disorder finally came out with some new staples for Oni Assassins and mixed up the play style a little bit. Like we did with the first set, I'm going to divide how I talk about these cards.

First lets list the good/staple cards:

- Dark Arms, Demonic Poison Fumes Cube
- Oni Horde, Underworld Legion
- Lady Oni, Uji Bridge Princess
- Ibuki's Encouragement
- Oni-Devouring Oni, Kid Ibuki "Arabone"

Let's start with the new weapon because they tend to dictate how the decks going to play. Dark Arms, Demonic Poison Fumes Cube can be equipped for 1 life. You get a decent stat weapon (6000/1), you give all Oni Assassins 1000 power which is nice but nothing significant but, you also gain a gauge and life when a monster is called via ambush once per turn but it can be both you and your opponent's turn when it activates. The 1 life equip cost is significant because it lightens the load on how much gauge needs to be used in the deck while also increasing the gauge gained per turn.

Thanks to Oni Horde, Underworld Legion, people tended to forgo the previous open center/move gameplay for a closed center field design. Demonic Poison Fumes Cube wasn't strong enough to warrant needing to attack with it so people just used it more as a resource gain support item.

Oni Horde essentially gave us a size 0 Rashomon because it had soulguard. Even though the call cost is in theory "bad" because you lose a card in hand, you don't have to put a card from hand into its soul to summon it. You could just free summon it and add souls other ways. Its once per turn burn 1 effect was a nice bonus as well. With is being a size 0, any assortment of sized Onis could be on the left and right without needing Oni Horde to be size ruled out like you would with Rashomon.

Lady Oni, Uji Bridge Princess was also a nice new way to gain gauge. I'm not sure about others but when she came out, I took out Under the Table out of my deck. Her call cost also says to add "up to one" card from hand to soul face down. Sometimes I would put a soul and other times, I just called her to gain the gauge to set up for future ambushes. She also synergizes well with herself. You can put a copy of herself in her own soul to gain potentially 4 or more gauge total. She was all 3 kinds of varieties of Oni Assassin cards. She was a setter due to her call cost, an activator with her ambush gauge gain and still an innate catalyst because she was a monster. There's no real situation where she's a bad card.

Ibuki's Encouragement is great because of it's great flexibility. It's first ability can be used offensively to push more or defensively to stymie the opponent's plan. Either way, you don't lose resources because of the free draw after pulling the soul. It's ambush ability is just a nice, easy gauge and draw to keep resources up.

Oni-Devouring Oni, Kid Ibuki "Arabone" is the new size 3. Because of all the cards getting effects that prevent them from being destroyed by card effects, Arabone's Overkill allows you to nullify their abilities first to still be able to destroy them. Remember that Overkill can't be countered so this was a free destruction. Unfortunately, its only once per game but better than nothing I suppose.

Besides ambush, move and penetrate, Arabone's other on call ability, "Hiding Demonic Deity" allows a card from deck facedown into its soul when it's summoned. Allowing people to continue ambushing with basically any card they want from the deck. Again, it's another card that is a setter (Hiding Demonic Deity ability), activator (has ambush) and catalyst (it's a monster). Usually cards that are all 3 are pretty good.

Next, let's list the bad/more niche cards:

- Yatsuka Fiend, Tsuchigumo
- Grudge Fiend, Hannya
- Underhanded Means, Piercing Pins
- Oni Castle of Contraptions
- CHAOS Ox-Head Horse-Face

Yatsuka Fiend, Tsuchigumo is such a strange card. I don't know where to begin. I suppose at it's best situation. At best, you pay 1 gauge for a size 2 monster with 7000/2/1000 stats, double attack, and penetrate. This card's design seems to want the players to push for game since it's all aggressive abilities but these are just average stats for a size 2 at best that won't be pushing for anything. Let alone the game. Also, all the abilities are only useful on the OA player's turn which is not how archetype plays. Oni Assassins are meant to mess and hinder the opponent during both player's turns. This card does nothing if it's called on the opponent's turn other than be a waste of a gauge. Overall, this card is a hard pass.

Even though I put Grudge Fiend, Hannya in the "bad" section, I actually quite enjoy her because of her ability to potentially destroy 2 cards for basically free (even though the chosen cards you can destroy are limited). When she first came out, I did have 1 copy of her in my main deck for flexibility on what I wanted to destroy. Nowadays though, she's just overshadowed by better options but I respect her. She's just more in the niche category.

Underhanded Means, Piercing Pins is another one in the niche/situational category. It's -10,000/-10,000 attack/defense debuff can help really hinder many threatening monsters. Also, it's first ability is actually very vanilla so it could be splashed in many decks as a free -4,000/-1/-4,000. Again, certainly not a bad card but its usefulness varies based on what decks the OA player is playing against.

I'm torn on Oni Castle of Contraptions. I personally don't feel that the card is worth the minus 1 to set the card. The 2,000 power is "nice" but nothing impactful. The soul removal effect is just another catalyst effect which isn't something that's hard to come by. I suppose if you tend to put a soul or two into your weapon and need a catalyst effect to get it out, you can use this card but overall, to me, this card feels underwhelming. It's serving a purpose that many other cards provide very easily and better.

Last, we have... CHAOS Ox-Head Horse-Face. I want to give the benefit of the doubt and say "every card has its uses" but this one quite frankly is basically trash. It's a size 3 monster. So by its very nature, it's a very easy catalyst. Then, you give it a catalyst effect that costs a gauge when you have cards like Oni Castle of Contraptions a free catalyst effect. Sure, being able to remove a soul from any card on the field is nice but, lets be honest, how often do you go "man, I wish I could remove that specific soul from this card". Not too often right? Not saying it can't happen but its not every game. Let's say you do need to remove a soul on the opponent's field. Then just use Dispatcher from Assassin Circle, Sakate. His costs a life AND you can at least draw from removing the soul. Also, Sakate is a size 0 so it'll interfere less with your facedown souls on the field and size ruling monsters out. So yeah, CHAOS Ox-Head Horse-Face is the most underwhelming support of the set.

New World Chaos

New World Chaos brought some more good cards however, I don't think any of them are absolute staples. So, let's again, for the sake of neatness, let's split them up between good and bad/niche.

The good:

- Witching Hour Oni, Kid Ibuki "Gedomaru"
- Hairpin Blade, Hoozuki
- CHAOS Brand Dimensional Sword

Witching Hour Oni, Kid Ibuki "Gedomaru" (what a mouthful) is one of the SPs in the set. When it enters the field, it gives a card -6,000/-3/-6,000, has ambush and double attack. It's Overkill allows you to put up to three cards from your deck facedown into its soul. So, again, another card that is all 3 types. It's a setter (it's Overkill), activator (has ambush) and a catalyst (it's a monster). Pretty good card and helps slow down the aggression on the opponent's turn. Not bad. Also, the SP card art is 10/10 *chef's kiss*.

If I had to give one downside to it, I would say compared to other Oni Assassin Overkills, this Overkill feels a little underwhelming but having access to any 3 cards in the deck is solid nonetheless.

Hairpin Blade, Hoozuki was the weapon that I replaced the Poison Fumes Cube with. The equip cost is a little expensive, 1 gauge and 1 life, but being able to get a draw everyone and still keep a closed center is a real solid card. Also, a quick side note because I know this isn't the Skull Warrior Archetype Archive, this weapon is perfect for Skull Warrior decks as well because the weapon just says the card has to be called from drop. It doesn't specify calling by ambush.

I've never used CHAOS Brand Dimensional Sword but, I don't think it's a bad weapon. It is a fine alternative to Hoozuki since they both can attack through center. I think its more based on preference more than anything. Dimensional Sword does allow you to take a soul out of any card on the field and gain a gauge so you could whittle down the soul of cards on your opponent's field if you want. Oh, and it has soulguard for some extra resilience.

The bad/niche:

- Oni Consort Style, Trigger Tatami
- White Mask Tyrant, Kid Ibuki
- CHAOS Lament Oni

I think some people will look at Oni Consort Style, Trigger Tatami and wonder why I put it under this category since there isn't anything glaringly obvious why it's here. The effects aren't bad. The activation effect is to destroy all monsters on the opponent's field by removing a facedown soul from a card on the OA player's side of the field. The ambush effect destroys all set spells on the opponent's field.

The reason why I put it here is because by this point in the game, any archetype worth its salt was getting anti-destruction effects so this card isn't as powerful as it could be. It's honestly a toss up between being in low tier good or high tier bad. If anti-destruction effects weren't so prevalent, I would've put it up in the good category.

As with Oni Consort Style, Trigger Tatami, White Mask Tyrant, Kid Ibuki isn't "bad" but, it's a bit too niche and paying 2 gauge for an ability that just returns a card on field back to hand is a little too expensive. His size can also potentially disrupt the OA player's field unintentionally (or intentionally based on what you plan). Granted, having a self setting ability is nice but all in all, paying 2 gauge for a bounce of an opponent's card is pretty expensive and downright ridiculous if you're planning on bouncing one of your own cards. There are just better size 3 Kid Ibukis to run that have more of an impact on the game.

Ok, now unlike the other two, CHAOS Lament Oni is just straight bad. Remember how I just said anti-destruction was very prevalent at this point when talking about Trigger Tatami? Now, imagine a new size 0 card being released that only destroys size 2 and greater monsters (which are already some of the most protected cards in the game) and you have CHAOS Lament Oni.

Buddyfight X2

Buddy Legends

The second part of X starts us off pretty well with Rampaging Evil Demon, Akuro-oh. I know he has destruction effects which aren't that strong at this point of the game but, there were still some situations that general card destruction were still ok and, his 2 damage was not dependent on anything being destroyed so when the opponent got low on life, this was a looming threat to just steal the game from the opponent by spam calling 2 or 3 of this card. Overall, he was a decent, viable option to consider.

Buddy Lineage

By this point in the game, almost all decks had anti-destruction so Oni Assassins were feeling underwhelming and basically needed a new gimmick to win games. This call was answered with Mountain Deity Oni Blade, Kid Ibuki. Yes, he is expensive at 2 gauge and 1 life however, Oni Assassins are well known for gaining a lot of gauge (Under the Table and Uji Bridge Princess) and with Watchful Eyes, life gain was a viable option as well.

Mountain Deity Oni Blade, Kid Ibuki was a good setter. Allowing the OA player to look at the top 5 cards of their deck and put 2 of them in the soul facedown of any Oni Assassin on the field (monster or item). Then, if he entered by ambush, the opponent would have to discard a card. This was the start of trying to have Oni Assassins make your opponent discard cards to hinder their gameplay. The only real counter to this strategy was Recover Veil but even then, the opponent can't use it forever because of the 1 life cost.

Also, keep in mind that if you wanted the cards from Kid Ibuki's effect to go into cards you summon in the future, you can do that. You can summon Kid Ibuki, his on call effect goes into the pool of pending effects, you could call, lets say Fiend of Gaze, Ayo, over him, then, activate his on call effect and select the Ayo you just summoned. Maybe this example isn't the most optimal and you would probably actually call Ayo first, put Ayo's effect in the pool, call over him to call Kid Ibuki and then use Ayo's effect on Kid Ibuki but you get the idea. Just because you summon one monster doesn't mean you have to complete all their effects before summoning other cards.

Blazing Overclash

Ok so, I have mixed feelings about Oeyama's Monstrous Oni, Kid Ibuki. On paper, he's not bad at all. In practice, I think there's one flaw but let's explain his abilities first. He costs 2 gauge and you MUST put a card in his soul facedown. This isn't terrible but if he's the last card in your hand, he's a dead card. He size reduces all other size 2 and lower Oni Assassins on the field by 2 which is nice. When he attacks you put an Oni Assassin from the drop into his soul which, again, is nice and to finish it all up, he has ambush, double attack and soulguard. All solid effects. He's basically a set up/spit out cards engine.

So what's his problem? His problem is that all size 2 and lower cards are usually set up cards (i.e. Kureha/Ayo/Affliction Oni) so you're just spinning in circles and if they're not set up cards (i.e. Hannya), their destruction effects will have minimal impact on the game due to all the anti-destruction in the game. Oh, so you want to have a larger impact and call a size 3? Well, you're going to be losing the whole engine on the field. He's designed to be a lasting engine on the field but if you want to cause any serious impact on the game, he has to get off the field.

Next, we have an absolute banger of a card and an absolute staple! Underhanded Means, Shedding Cycle is similar to Hiding Oni but there's some distinctive differences. Unlike Hiding Oni, it's counter speed with no restrictions. Shedding Cycle's call cost says you must drop a facedown soul from an Oni Assassin on the field and in exchange, you gain two life and draw two cards. Because of this, it's not really splashable in other non-Oni Assassin decks.

This card really helps with the life cost of Mountain Deity Oni Blade, Kid Ibuki and I think this card makes it so you don't have to rely on Watchful Eyes for life gain anymore for card costs. I always run this card at four. You can play it during your turn and play it again on the opponent's turn. There's never a really bad moment to have this card in hand.

The last, and in my opinion, the best Oni Assassin weapon to come out was Dark Arms, Fiery Bloom -Violet Blades-. Its equip cost is a little hefty. Having to pay 1 gauge and 1 life but, gauge isn't hard to get and with Shedding Cycle, the 1 life cost shouldn't be anything crazy. It can attack through center, it cannot be destroyed or returned to hand and most importantly, the gauge cost of all Oni Assassin monsters is reduced by 1. This last effect helps massively. Kureha's free and most Kid Ibukis only cost 1 gauge now. The cost reduction adds up pretty quickly.

Buddyfight Ace

Miracle Fighters

The Miracle Fighters set only introduced one new Oni Assassin spell. Underhanded Means, Live Another Day is actually a solid card. Certainly not a staple but it's a viable card option. It's normal effect is, return two Oni Assassins from drop to the bottom of the deck and if you do, choose a monster on the opponent's field and return it to their hand. Its ambush effect is the better ability though. It's ambush ability allows any card on the opponent's field to be bounced back to hand for free.

Even though anti-destruction effects are pretty common at this point, anti-bounce effects are not so common. If used properly at the right time, it can bounce a card that provides anti-destruction to the rest of the field and leave the rest of the field vulnerable to destruction. It can be a little tricky to pull off but it's doable.

Ace Re: Collection Vol.1

In Ace Re: Collection Vol.1, Banquet for the Unrighteous got a reprint as a rare (instead of a triple rare) so that's nice. Nothing else to really take note. At this point in the game, I think it's still a solid, viable card for Oni Assassins.

Buddy Ragnarok

In the last set, we got Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki "Re:B". His abilities on paper are certainly not bad. He can be freely put into the soul of an Oni Assassin monster and if put, draw a card. So, easy free cycle. He can destroy a monster or item when he enters the field and if he entered by ambush, deal damage to the opponent equal to the destroyed card's critical and he has ambush, double attack and penetrate which are all good but again, at this point, all decks basically have anti-destruction so it's practically impossible to use him effectively without having to do a lot of maneuvering around the board. I'd rather just make the opponent discard cards with Mountain Deity Oni Blade, Kid Ibuki instead of fight with the board.

Promos

We'll finish off with the random promos. First up is Apex of Ambush. At counter speed, Apex can kill a size 1 or less monster on the opponent's field. Nothing special. Especially since size 1's aren't usually the problem on the field. The ambush effect is to destroy a size 2 or less which, I guess is better, but why run this when you can just run Underhanded Means, Sneak Attack or Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki to kill monsters? Nowadays, it's completely overshadowed by better cards. Even when it came out, there were other cards that had better, more devastating effects so this card never really saw any gameplay.

Next up is a dual Katana/Hero world monster called Demons Assassin, Ziogre. Ziogre's effect lets you show the opponent that you're putting Ziogre into the facedown soul of a monster on the field for free. This allows for easy Hiding Oni or Underhanded Means, Shedding Cycle targets (among a myriad of other card options).

His other effect is similar to his Darkhero brethren. After he attacks, if the OA player has an item equipped, he bounces back to hand. Making him a tough card to lose because he never stays on the field to be killed. This allows easy activation of facedown souls below Ziogre to trigger mid-battle when he bounces back. Overall, this card has pretty solid effect and is pretty flexible. Even at the end of the game, I think he can have his uses.

Last, but certainly not least, is Body of Dark Arms, Kid Ibuki. He's a Kid Ibuki that is actually decent in my opinion. He costs the usual 2 gauge for Kid Ibuki with Ambush, Double Attack and 9,000/2/3,000 stats. If he just enters the field, you can choose and item or monster on the opponent's field and for this turn AND next, it cannot [Stand]. Then, if he entered by ambush, rest the card and burn the opponent for 1 damage.

The normal on call effect is to keep the opponent from re-standing a card from standing during their draw phase and the ambush effect is meant for the middle of the opponent's battle phase. Pretty good card to help control the opponent's field without relying on destruction effects.

Honorable Mentioned Cards & Staples

So, there you have it. My opinion on every card and how good they are at that time's current meta. I do want to wrap up the review with two things. The first is cards that deserve an honorable mention that are not directly Oni Assassin cards but work well either in the deck or sideboard options. I may have already mentioned some but I just want to make a comprehensive list. The second thing is what I consider absolute staples of Oni Assassins at the end of the game. Regardless of how you want to play the decks, these staples should be in any deck worth their salt.

Honorable mention cards in no particular order:

- Art of Explosive Hades Fall
- Shinobi Scrolls
- Secret Sword, Lethal Formation
- Demon Way, Akeshigure

- Guardian Electrobeast, Goryou

- Miracle Fighters

- Celestial Arts, Returning Water

- Benefit

- Chess Break (mainly for dealing with Invitation to Death Ground)

- Demon Way, Sakurafubuki (limit of 1)

- Cherry Blossom Dance

- Future Card Buddyfight

End of game staples for any Oni Assassin deck style in no particular order:

- Hiding Oni
- Fiend of Ailments, Affliction Oni
- Fiend of Gaze, Ayo
- Red Lady Oni, Kureha
- House of Assassins, Oni Convoy
- Lady Oni, Uji Bridge Princess
- Ibuki's Encouragement
- Underhanded Means, Shedding Cycle

Now remember, I think these cards are staples for any Oni Assassin deck to just function. Which techs, items and main size 3 you want to run are totally up to you and your play style. The cards mentioned above are just solid regardless of any other card choices for the deck. That's why I never specified which item is technically the best. A few of them are good. It's just dependent on the playstyle you want.

That about sums up everything. Out of curiosity, I copy and pasted all the text and photos of this post in a word document and it came to 25 pages so... yeah. I essentially wrote a manual on Oni Assassins haha. It was fun doing it and I hope it helps you form ideas and opinions of your own. I hate to write out every possible combo with every card because I think half the fun is thinking of these deeper combos on your own. I'm just trying to give you the basics... 25 pages worth of basics... anyways, up next is Electrodeities which, hopefully will be a little more simple and straightforward. Until then, I'll see ya around!