Kaito, Bane of Nightmares is a fantastic card that has made a name for itself in Standard. Alongside cheap, evasive creatures, sneaking Kaito into play isn’t too difficult. Not only does Kaito have Hexproof during your turn, but you also don’t have to worry about getting your Kaito countered this way.
Kaito is at its best in Dimir tempo shells in Standard. We’ve seen Kaito pop up in similar decks in Pioneer as well. However, did you know the card is so strong that it’s seeing play in Legacy?
That’s right. In fact, it’s not just seeing play, it’s putting up excellent performances. This week, Dimir Kaito made top eight of a Magic Online Legacy Challenge. This deck’s sudden surge is certainly worth discussing, so let’s start by looking at how the deck works to enable Kaito.
Enabling Kaito
- Mana Value: 2UB
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Card Type: Legendary Planeswalker- Kaito
- Starting Loyalty: 4
- MTG Sets: Duskmourn
- Card Text: Ninjutsu 1UB (1UB, Return an unblocked attacker you control to hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand tapped and attacking.) During your turn, as long as Kaito has one or more loyalty counters on him, he’s a 3/4 Ninja creature and has Hexproof. +1: You get an emblem with “Ninjas you control get +1/+1.” 0: Surveil 2. Then draw a card for each opponent who lost life this turn. −2: Tap target creature. Put two stun counters on it.
For those unfamiliar, a huge part of what makes Kaito so strong is its Ninjutsu ability. So long as one of your creatures goes unblocked, you can put Kaito into play tapped and attacking. Not only does this put pressure on the opponent, but you’re free to activate Kaito’s zero to generate card advantage right away. If the opponent can’t kill Kaito during their turn, the game will start to slip out of their control.
In order to maximize this Ninjutsu ability, though, you need access to efficient creatures. Luckily, in Legacy, you have a wealth of options.
At the top of the list, we have Baleful Strix. Baleful Strix is the perfect precursor to Kaito. As a flier, the opponent often won’t be able to block it. Thanks to Deathtouch, even if they have something like a flipped Delver of Secrets, chances are they won’t want to make that trade.
Plus, Baleful Strix even drew you a card when it entered, so if they do make the trade, they’re down on resources in the exchange. Of course, if you get to return Baleful Strix to your hand, you can replay it and draw even more cards.
Besides Baleful Strix, Dauthi Voidwalker is another tough creature to block. It’s a strong card in its own right, especially against Reanimator decks that rely on graveyard synergies.
Another solid creature to play prior to Kaito is Orcish Bowmasters. Once again, Orcish Bowmasters is just a good card by itself. In the context of Kaito, it creates two bodies and can ping down an opposing blocker. With these three two-drops available, getting Kaito into play is as easy as ever.
Tempo Gameplan
- Mana Value: B
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: */1+*
- Card Type: Creature- Lhurgoyf
- MTG Sets: Modern Horizons 3
- Card Text: Nethergoyf’s power is equal to the number of card types among cards in your graveyard and its toughness is equal to that number plus 1. Escape- 2B, Exile any number of other cards from your graveyard with four or more card types among them. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its escape cost.)
All of these cards help supplement this Dimir shell’s tempo gameplan. However, there are some major differences that separate this Dimir shell from other tempo decks.
Unlike Delver strategies, you don’t have enough blue cards to reliably use Force of Will. Thoughtseize provides you with some interaction for combo decks, but it’s not quite the same beast. You also don’t have cantrips to go dig for your interactive spells.
Luckily, this deck makes up for this by having some blazing fast starts involving Dark Ritual. Dark Ritual is a messed-up card that accelerates your gameplan significantly. Playing Barrowgoyf or Opposition Agent turn one can be a great way to steal games.
Dark Ritual also lets you cast multiple spells on the same turn, such as Dauthi Voidwalker and Thoughtseize or Dauthi Voidwalker and Nethergoyf for maximum pressure. Even using Dark Ritual to hard cast Kaito turn two can be helpful in a pinch.
Once you land one of your premium threats, Fatal Push can clear away blockers, and Wasteland can keep the opponent off-balance. It doesn’t take long before the opponent takes a boatload of damage.
Strengths and Weaknesses
- Mana Value: 1GU
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/4
- Card Type: Legendary Creature- Bird Wizard
- MTG Sets: Modern Horizons 3
- Card Text: Flying. Creatures you control have “Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, reveal the top card of your library. If it’s a land card, put it onto the battlefield. Otherwise, put it into your hand. This ability triggers only twice each turn.”
The way this deck is constructed, it has a rather strong gameplan against other tempo archetypes. Baleful Strix and Orcish Bowmasters do an excellent job keeping Delver of Secrets at bay and punishing Brainstorm, respectively.
Kaito is also an incredible card in tempo pseudo-mirrors. Once in play, it pulls you ahead on resources, keeps the opponent on the backfoot, and taps down problematic threats like Murktide Regent.
From there, Dauthi Voidwalker and Leyline of the Void help you stop Reanimator decks in their tracks. Tempo and Reanimator decks are very popular at the moment, so there’s definitely some appeal to playing this style of archetype.
The issue comes against combo decks. Even with a quick start, racing Nadu combo or Storm is difficult. The nice thing is that if you’re worried about combo decks more, you can build your deck a bit differently. Some Kaito enthusiasts have opted for more blue-heavy builds, using Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student in place of Nethergoyf and playing Brainstorm. This, in turn, raises the blue card count for Force of Will.
Losing a super beefy threat in Nethergoyf and missing out on Dark Ritual does come at a cost versus the various tempo decks you’ll face, though. So, it’s up to you to assess the metagame you expect before deciding which road to go down.
Either way, it’s remarkable what Kaito has been able to accomplish in one of Magic’s most powerful formats. Duskmourn really gave rise to an array of multi-format staples.