This weekend, the United States Regional Championship in Washington D.C. gives us a great opportunity to see how Duskmourn cards impact the Pioneer metagame in a competitive setting. Over 1,800 players earned their spot to compete for Pro Tour invites, cash, and glory. Decklists are finally now available, and there are some very intriguing deckbuilding decisions across the tournament.
Perhaps the most exciting deck of the bunch is none other than Dimir Ninjas. Dimir Ninjas is an archetype that has essentially made no noise whatsoever in Pioneer up to this point. Yet, in the hands of Gabriel Brownfield, Dimir Ninjas is off to a quick 4-0 start at the time of writing this article. This is certainly an off-the-wall choice for the tournament, but based on the metagame breakdown, it may actually be a solid option for the weekend. Let’s take a closer look at what gives the deck legs.
Ninjas Galore
- Mana Value: 2UB
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- 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.
The way this deck is constructed is relatively simple. There are a bunch of powerful Ninjas present, many of which have Ninjutsu and can be put into play tapped and attacking at a discounted rate. Cards like Moon-Circuit Hacker and Biting-Palm Ninja have decent triggered abilities when you can connect in combat.
The release of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty provided Pioneer players with a boatload of strong Ninjas to choose from. The problem was that, up to this point, there just hasn’t been a big enough incentive to stick with a dedicated Ninja theme. Sure, Silver-Fur Master is a nice lord, but the deck clearly needed more to perform.
This is where Kaito, Bane of Nightmares comes in play. Kaito is an incredibly powerful card if you put in the work. For three mana, as long as you can connect in combat with another creature, you can Ninjutsu Kaito onto the battlefield. From there, you have a few options.
In creature matchups, Kaito’s +1 ability is an absolute nightmare (no pun intended) for the opponent. As long as you can protect Kaito, you can keep spamming the +1 ability and make all your Ninjas humongous. This gives you plenty of inevitability.
Of course, in attrition battles where your opponent has lots of removal, the 0 ability can generate a ton of card advantage so long as you can attack with Kaito unscathed. In a pinch, you can even tap down a massive flier like Archfiend of the Dross to let your Ninjas keep swinging. The world is your oyster, and it’s really cool to see Kaito starting to shine in a competitive environment.
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Enabling Ninjutsu
- Mana Value: 0
- Rarity: Common
- Stats: 0/2
- MTG Sets: Antiquities, Revised, Fourth Edition, Fifth Edition, Sixth Edition, Mirrodin, Ninth Edition, Tenth Edition, Magic 2010, Magic 2011, Magic 2015, Aether Revolt, The Brother’s War Retro Artifacts, Dominaria Remastered
- Card Text: Flying.
As strong as the Ninja core is with Kaito at the helm, you still need ways to reliably enable Ninjutsu. Typically, the best way to do this is to supplement your Ninjutsu cards with cheap, evasive creatures. Not only does this make it more likely you can get a creature through unblocked in the early turns, but if the creature is super efficient, you can replay it to the board in short order to help with your other Ninjutsu creatures.
This is why a playset of Ornithopter really is the glue that holds the deck together. Ornithopter doesn’t do much on its own. Luckily, it doesn’t have to. It’s easy to soar past ground blockers, put in one of your Ninjas before combat damage is dealt, and replay Ornithopter on the same turn. Ornithopter (along with any creatures you put into play via Ninjutsu) also has the added bonus of triggering Satoru, the Infiltrator when it enters.
Outside of Ornithopter, Thousand-Faced Shadow does a decent job helping out your other Ninjas. It has Ninjutsu itself, though it’s a perfectly fine turn one play when applicable. Similarly, Mockingbird is a solid Clone variant that functions just fine as a one-mana 1/1 flier. If the opponent is playing cheap fliers, you can always use Fatal Push to help clear a path for your threats.
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Attacking the Metagame at Hand
- Mana Value: 1W
- Rarity: Rare
- MTG Sets: Outlaws of Thunder Junction
- Each player can’t cast more than one spell each turn. 4R, Sacrifice High Noon: It deals 5 damage to any target.
This Dimir Ninjas deck is a breath of fresh air. Importantly, Dimir Ninjas is also well-positioned, considering what archetypes were the most played at the Regional Championship. For instance, this deck has all the tools necessary to punish Azorius control, which was the most-played deck over the weekend. It’s easy to get your cheap fliers under opposing sources of counter magic.
From there, you can put your Ninjutsu creatures directly into play without exposing them to Counterspells. Kaito is a beating for Azorius control decks to face down, and Thoughtseize and Spell Pierce allow you to push your advantage. This deck’s high density of Ninjutsu cards even line up well against High Noon. You aren’t casting your Ninjas if you’re putting them into play with Ninjutsu, so you can freely develop your board without fear of High Noon slowing you down too much. It’s no wonder this deck’s pilot hasn’t dropped a game against Azorius control yet at the time of writing.
Where this shell can run into some issues, though, is when facing down decks that can reliably kill your early fliers or present a ton of pressure. Izzet Phoenix, for example, can remove your Ornithopters on the spot. Ledger Shredder then acts as a brick wall that may make it difficult to get your Ninjutsu train rolling. Rakdos aggro doesn’t necessarily seem the easiest to beat, either. If you don’t have Fatal Push at the ready, you risk getting run over.
The good news is that the sideboard is packed with a playset of Leyline of the Void and more cheap removal in the form of Nowhere to Run to make these matchups run smoother. We look forward to keeping up with this strategy this weekend and seeing how it ends up performing. There are a lot of rounds left, but the deck’s hot start is certainly worth noting.
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