Monday, February 26, 2024

Deck Profile: Ninjas

So, this deck list is a week later than I expected. It was supposed to come out first but due to changes to the deck, I released my Skull Warrior deck profile first. At first, I kind of went half-in on this deck. Not because I didn't care about the deck profile or I was trying to "just get a deck profile done" as soon as possible but because I was stuck in "my ways" with certain cards always being in the deck. Once I decided to do some "daring" deck tests, I found a lot of fun and good changes for the deck that may at first seem rather strange but they worked well for the goal I was trying to achieve.

For example, I originally had Electron Ninja, Shiden in the deck because I was just used to him being a staple all the time for the deck and I never questioned it. I was aware of Art of Truancy but thought that that was more for Garga Ninjas because the Tsukikage Brothers can't get the benefit of both of Truancy's abilities and Shiden is for the Tsukikage Brothers anyways. However, I couldn't come up with a good enough reason that Truancy might still be a viable alternative to Shiden. 

Even if the "Anti-DDT destruction effect" would be useless. It's not like Shiden protects the Tsukikage Brothers. After all, no one relies on Shiden's stats anymore to do anything meaningful. Shiden himself is almost a useless card. So, the allure of having a Ninja Arts that does Shiden's job and can discard itself with its own effect (meaning duplicate cards in hand wasn't a bad thing) was a point I couldn't just ignore without some testing and have a justifiable reason to say "No, Truancy is just plain bad in Tsukikage Brothers Ninjas". 

Well, I tested and...Art of Truancy felt good, it felt almost too good. Scary good. So good in fact that I realized Shiden wasn't needed. At least not for this kind of deck. Don't get me wrong he's still perfectly good and I mean heck, run both Shiden and Truancy. The Buddy Police are not going to stop you. 

So, after Shiden, I thought to myself "Ok, am I missing anything else?". Come to find out, I was also missing Art of Getting Fish. I was mainly using Apex of Flashstep, Tsukikage to get back Clear Serenity or Art of Warm Pleasant Happiness and it dawned on me. Using Tsukikage is -1 gauge for +3 gauge back with Clear Serenity or Happiness. Thats a net gain of 2 gauge. You know what other card is a net +2 gauge and is a Ninja Arts? Art of Getting Fish. So I swapped out Apex of Flashstep, Tsukikage for 4 Art of Getting Fish and man, the deck felt even better!

Now, you might be wondering if the there's any point of contention that not being able to use Art of Getting Fish or Art of Truancy for their second effects caused any issues and honestly, I haven't noticed it once. Heck, I can't remember the last time I used the life gain effect of Ninja Arts, Hiding in Fallen Leaves but I still run it at four and think it's a staple for any Ninja deck. 

To be honest, these revelations remind me of back when Demon Way, Arakuyou came out and without playing the card at all in my deck, I thought it was a literal trash card. I mean, 2 Skull Warriors being destroyed to trigger it and a gauge? That's too much of a cost. Yet, here we are. I run at as a 4 of in my Skull Warrior deck. 

I did some more testing. Wondering if maybe I could replace Guardian Electrobeast, Goryou with Secret Scrolls but this is where my testing started to not be as fruitful nor feel so good. I want to do a comparison of Shinobi Scrolls and Secret Scrolls one day but needless to say, I was disappointed in Secret Scroll. Mainly due to how slow the card is. It's almost painfully slow. I realized with this test that Goryou was a kind of "oil" for the deck. It helped the engine get going. If I was struggling to get to what I needed turn 1 (Soarspeed Tsukiage, Byakuya and Gojinmaru), Goryou would help extend my chances and options and it almost always was successful.

So, here we are now. I write this not to say these are the best decks that can be made in the archetype but, if nothing else, at least a good jumping off point for you to create your deck or, maybe give you some ideas on swapping a couple cards around based on my given opinions. Decks can have multiple strategies and techs due to outside forces, so I hate to ever say there is a "best" deck for an archetype. 

Especially Ninjas. They have gotten so much support there's at least a handful of ways you could play them. 

Also, please feel free to check out my YouTube video below of me explaining the deck as well. It's the exact same deck but I know some people like videos more than reading:

Alright! So, let's start with the deck list and go from there:


Main Deck

Alright so the overall idea of the deck is pretty simple. You want to get Gojinmaru out and try to control the opponent's board as much as possible on being set up by nullifying spells they cast. Everything should support the deck to these ends so, the deck needs two things badly. A lot of Ninja Arts cards and gauge ramp. Gojinmaru isn't cheap to summon and his effects aren't cheap to activate. Especially since both require not just "a card" to discard but Ninja Arts must be specifically discarded. Also, if we can thin out the monsters in the deck to make the deck mainly comprised of Ninja Arts, by god let's do it. 

Sure, there is also the aggressive Ninja deck where you summon a million Tsukikages, Byakuyas and Gojinmarus but that's boring. Ninjas have fun control options. Let's making them interesting and fun to interact with your opponent instead of being a one dimensional aggro deck. 

Soarspeed Moonglow, Tsukikage - He costs a life but it's not a huge deal. He's not only a tutor for the Gojinmaru I want to go into but he's also a solid damage boost to Gojinmaru and I think he's the best Tsukikage soul to put into any Gojinmaru. 

Many people may just assume you want to discard some of the discard effect cards like Fuuton for Tsukikage's effect but, might I suggest something else as an option. You can thin out the monsters in your deck a little bit by discarding a copy of an extra monster you may already have in your hand to search for Gojinmaru in the deck. Whether its extra copies of Tsukikage, Byakuya, Goryou or Gojinmaru himself. It doesn't matter. At the end of it, it's still a 1 for 1 so you're not losing anything but you are thinning the deck which is more important. The Ninja Arts spells you'll be discarding for Tsukikage's tutor effect are better off being used for Gojinmaru's spell null effect later one. Especially since you'll have more odds of drawing into more Ninja Arts by thinning the deck down of monsters.

Also, I have this Tsukikage as buddy because you always want him out on the field and there's basically 8 copies of him in the deck since there's also 4 Tsukikage Re:Bs in the deck.

Byakuya, "Shiroyasha Mode" - This Byakuya is the one that gives Shadow Dive to Gojinmaru if he's in Gojinmaru's soul. In my opinion, the only other viable Byakuya for Gojinmaru's soul is Soarspeed Moonglow, Byakuya for the anti destruction effect but, Gojinmaru has 2 souls so he's already beefy as is and most decks don't run card destruction effects nowadays. Plus, Tsukikage Re:B is going to be the usual size 1 monster on the side so you can discard cards to keep Gojinmaru on the field. The deck isn't very aggressive without Gojinmaru having Shadow Dive. On average, you'll have two attacks per turn. Three if you have the luxury of discarding a Ninja Arts to give Gojinmaru Double Attack. You need Shadow Dive to get anywhere.

Nanomachine Ninja, Tsukikage "Re:B" - A great tutor to grab literally any 2 other size 1 ninja in the deck. Helps thin out the deck of monsters as well. You can just grab one card from the deck for free or, if you do need 2, discard a card after you grab it. The discard isn't even a real downside thanks to Fuuton, Sweeping Whirlwind and Ninja Arts, Hiding in Fallen Leaves but, might I suggest to just discard one of the two cards you grab from the deck instead of discarding a Ninja Arts. You need those Ninja Arts much more later for Gojinmaru. Tsukikage "Re:B" is also the card I mainly keep to the left or right for Gojinmaru to basically have more "souls" from the hand.

Guardian Electrobeast, Goryou - Good consistency card for the deck. Especially before you play Gojinmaru. Or, if you have your hand already set up to play Gojinmaru, just play Goryou first to grab a Ninja Arts instead. 

The only time you don't really want to play it is when your board is set up but at that point, you can throw her under Shinobi Scrolls to hopefully draw into more Ninja Arts. I suppose an alternative is Banquet for the Unrighteous even though it's not as good for the deck in my opinion. Mainly because Banquet only grabs a monster and you want to thin the deck of monsters with other methods so the odds of finding a monster with Banquet is quite reduced.

Gojinmaru "Ghoul Deity Arts, Dance of Yashagami!" - The beefy boss monster of the deck. At 2 gauge, and you must put a card with "Tsukikage" in its name and another card with "Byakuya" in its name in his soul, he's pretty expensive to summon. However, there's enough tutor for the brothers and gauge ramp that it's not a terrible hurdle to cross. 

With Soarspeed Moonglow, Tsukikage and Byakuya, "Shiroyasha Mode" in his soul, his stats are 11,000/3/11,000 with Shadow Dive. I rarely discard to use Gojinmaru's double attack effect and usually prefer the spell null effect.

Gojinmaru has two more abilities. The first is, after he attacks, you may discard a Ninja Arts card to give him double attack. I don't use this too often but it's still a perfectly fine ability.

The second ability allows him to nullify a spell cast by the opponent and deal two damage to them by paying 2 gauge and discarding a Ninja Arts card. This is the real point of the deck. Shadow Dive and burn the opponent to death by trying to play spells. Did I mention this is not once per turn?  Some test hands I've had enough gauge and Ninja Arts in hand to be able to pretty consistently nullify 3 or 4 spells in a turn. 

Art of Truancy - This might seem a little unexpected. Especially since I also don't have Electron Ninja, Shiden in the deck but just bear with me for now. Sure, the Deity Dragon Tribe effect is useless but, it has a few other purposes that make it better. 

1. It has the same effect as Shiden of discarding a Ninja Arts and pay a gauge to draw 2. You may think its a waste because you're putting the set spell on the field(-1), discarding a card (-1) and paying a gauge (-.5. Total resource cost of -2.5) to draw two so you're -.5 in resources but, Art of Truancy will be around the next turn for you to use again. Then, you can use the effect again and you'll get .5 in advantage. 

2. By comparison, Shiden, who, for the most part will always be called over for other more preferred size 1's in the deck so the resource loss will be the same -.5 every turn. Also, let's face it, even if you do leave Shiden on the field for the turn, no one is leaving a perfectly good Shiden on the field. At least Art of Truancy is harder to get at since it's a set spell.

3. Truancy synergizes with its own effect. Redundant Art of Truancys in the hand can still be pitched by Truancy itself. Unlike Shiden, where copies of himself can't be discarded to draw more.

4. Unlike Shiden, you can also discard Art of Truancy for Gojinmaru's spell null effect. 

5. You can put Art of Truancy under Shinobi Scrolls and still cast it. Unlike Shiden who would be a dead card under Shinobi Scrolls.

Now, none of this means that Shiden is now a trash card and Art of Truancy is just the "better" card. I still like Shiden and heck, you could in theory play both in the deck if you want. For the sake of this deck though, it needs to be heavy on two things. Ninja Arts and gauge ramp. Art of Truancy just does this better than Shiden.

Clear Serenity - Easy gauge ramp and Ninja Arts. I run it at 4 because you absolutely will need the gauge and it can be played once on each player's turn so you can have 6 gauge and potentially null 3 spells.

Art of Warm Pleasant Happiness - This one was a sleeper card for a long time for me. I sort of dismissed. I saw Garga ninja characters on the art and read the first effect pertaining to summoning size 0 Dragod tokens and just thought it wasn't for the ninja brothers but boy am I wrong! I primarily use it for the easily obtainable 3 life and 3 gauge. You can even cycle copies of itself back into the deck. Also, as far as you potentially decking out, you don't need to worry about that with this card because it's a net 0 loss between adding the ninja arts back to the deck and putting the exact same amount into your gauge.  

The Dragod clone skill is certainly viable if you just need that extra couple hits to finish off the opponent too. It's not something that I think will happen frequently but it's there. Also, at most, you'll probably want to call two clones. One to the left and right of Gojinmaru

Fuuton, Sweeping Whirlwind - The infamous staple for all ninja decks. Need an easy 1 for 1 exchange for a ninja in the drop? Fuuton's got you. Need your hand replenished after discarding the card and gain a gauge? Fuutons got your back.

Fuuton effectively makes Gojinmaru's spell null effect cost only 1 gauge which, for the usual cost of spell nulls, is a crazy low cost requirement.

Art of Getting Fish - Yet another sleeper card for the deck for me. It's secondary ability is useless for the deck since we don't have any Deity Dragon Tribe cards so we'll focus on only the first ability. Also, I'm just going to refer to this card as "Fish" from here on out.

The first ability allows you to gain 2 gauge when the card is discarded by card effects. This makes it so Gojinmaru's spell null effect basically costs 1 hand card. Like I said earlier, the deck needs a lot of 2 things. Gauge ramp and ninja arts and yet again, we have another valid candidate to fulfill both requirements! With this card, you are prime and ready to re-use Gojinmaru's spell null effect after you discard Fish since you'll regain the 2 gauge needed for the next spell null. Or, gain some gauge after using Art of Truancy to be able to call Gojinmaru later in the turn.

Also, how annoying would it be for the opponent to think that you can only spell null one spell only to discard Fish, gain 2 gauge and be ready to spell null another spell? It would make me a little mad.

Not including Ninja Arts, Hiding in Fallen Leaves, I'm honestly torn between which is better for the deck. Fuuton or Fish. Sure, with Fuuton, you're technically getting better advantage because of the draw but, if you're down to only 2 gauge and you use Gojinmaru's spell null ability, you can't cast another spell null ability. With Fish, even with only 2 gauge, you can regain the 2 gauge needed to spell null again and getting Ninja Arts in hand is usually an easier feat than the gauge gain from play testing with the deck.

Ninja Arts, Hiding in Fallen Leaves - From here on out, I will be referring to this card as "Leaves". The least good discard card for the deck in my opinion. While it may be the worst of the 3, it's certainly not bad at all overall. When it gets discarded, you gain 1 life and draw a card. It has a skill that at counter speed, you gain 3 life but that's not the main reason you run this. You run this to hopefully draw another Ninja Arts that you can then use for Gojinmaru's next spell null effect. It could be helpful to survive a game ending impact though so it's not like its completely useless.

I also wanted to mention something in regards to the 3 discard Ninja Arts spells in general. There is a kind of order you will frequently discard cards in. Between Fuuton, Fish and Leaves, you should discard Fish first, then Fuuton then Leaves. Reason being is, if you only have 2 gauge, Fish will guarantee you will have the gauge for another spell null. I understand that you can also not be guaranteed another spell null if you don't have another Ninja Arts in your hand but I rarely find that to be the reason you can't keep playing spell nulls. 

Fuuton may guarantee you another spell null depending on the situation. If you have 3 gauge and discard Fuuton, you will gain a gauge back which means you will have 2 gauge remaining for another spell null. However, if you only have 2 gauge, Fuuton will not guarantee another spell null. 

With Leaves, I understand that you could have enough gauge for spell nulls and hand size is the limiting factor thus, making Leaves kind of the inverse of Fish where you have a lot of gauge but no hand. However, from my experience, the biggest limitation isn't the hand. It's the gauge. 

Katon, Blazing Armors - I struggle with which attack nulls to use in the deck. My favorite attack null is Art of Shadow Stitching but it only works on monsters and the Laevateinn decks are very prevalent and popular so Art of Shadow Stitching does nothing against that deck. Katon, Blazing Armors at least works against everything and with Gojinmaru having 11,000 defense, using this card gets him up to 16,000 defense which is effectively anything that's not a huge monster/item. This card is probably the one you can swap out for other attack nulls you prefer based on what you want your main attack null to be or you can swap sideboard cards out for.

Shinobi Scrolls - It's a set spell that once per turn (per copy of card), you can pay 1 gauge, put one card facedown into its soul and draw another card. If the card underneath Shinobi Scrolls is a Ninja Arts, you can cast it from underneath by paying its call cost. Shinobi Scrolls is basically like a secondary hand except, you can't "discard" cards for card effects from it like Gojinmaru.

I have always found Shinobi Scrolls to be a rather unique and interesting spell. The first time you cast it and use it, it's a -1 from hand. Then, you pay 1 gauge (-.5), put a Ninja Arts under it (0) and draw a card (+1). If used this way, it's a -.5 in resources on the first use. Subsequent uses will be a +.5.

If you cast it, use it and put a non-Ninja Arts card underneath, it'll be a -1.5 but sometimes, that one extra draw can get you where you need to go.

I use Shinobi Scrolls mainly to help cycle out Clear Serenity and Art of Warm Pleasant Happiness out of my hand to draw another card. Then, I usually cast them right afterwards out of Shinobi Scrolls. Also, since Clear Serenity gives you +.5 in advantage. 2 gauge equals 1 card so by getting 3 gauge for 1 card, you regain the -.5 initial loss in resources with Shinobi Scrolls by using Clear Serenity.

I like those cards but they're basically dead end cards. They just do their effect and don't really progress anything further. At least with Shinobi Scrolls, you can pay 1 gauge to get an extra draw before casting them and you get your gauge back from the Shinobi Scrolls effect.

Another option is to put Art of Truancy under Shinobi Scrolls and then just cast Art of Truancy right afterwards! Then use its effect to draw even more! Also, if push comes to shove and you have too many monsters and want to dig for a chance to get a Ninja Arts spell, you can throw monsters in the soul but keep in mind, they're basically out of the game if you do that. 

Or, better yet, Shinobi Scrolls synergizes with itself. You can cast one copy of Shinobi Scrolls, use its effect to put another copy of Shinobi Scrolls facedown underneath the first copy and draw. Then, cast the facedown Shinobi Scrolls onto the field and use its effect to pay 1 gauge, put another card facedown, and draw a card.

Also, I don't tend to leave many, if any, Ninja Arts cards underneath Shinobi Scrolls. I have paranoia that my opponent will use an effect to destroy Shinobi Scrolls which means all the cards underneath are sent to the drop. Remember that because Shinobi Scrolls has no soulguard so if it's destroyed, all the cards underneath go to the drop.

Sideboard

Sword Skill Bare Hand Intercept - Extra attack nulls for weapon heavy decks like Laevatein. Keep in mind the card says "weapons" not "items" in its activation requirement which does matter. When you transform in Hero World, you're an item but not a weapon. Weapons are specifically items you equip from basically any world other than Hero World. If I use this spell, I would probably just slap it into the deck to make it 53. There's enough tutoring in the deck that I'm not worried about slamming 3 more cards in.

Secret Sword, Lethal Formation - Used to play Secret Sword, Dragon Vanquish Formation. I prefer to use the original Lethal Formation over Super Lethal Formation because the 1 gauge is more valuable to be used elsewhere (like Gojinmaru's spell null) and the extra 1,000 power and defense for all ninjas on my field has virtually no impact on the game.

Secret Sword, Dragon Vanquish Formation - To be used with Secret Lethal Formation. Also, the vast majority of decks in the game have the word "dragon" in its attribute so if you know the boss monster they use is a dragon, you can just sit on this until they play it. Sure, they may have another copy in hand but if the boss monster is expensive in cost, that'll be a lot of resources lost just to get on the board. I usually just slap both this and Secret Sword, Lethal Formation into the deck without taking anything out.

Art of Shadow Stitching - The alternative spell null you can swap out Katon, Blazing Armors for. Or you can just slap them into the deck if you want. I don't judge. Keep in mind the spell only works on monsters so if weapons/items attack, you can't cast it.

So, that's pretty much it. Hope the list helps!

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