Stilljutsu - UB Ninja Still

[scaryrawr]

After playing in a few pauper tournaments, I've really fallen for ninjas...

Should be be Stilljutsu, Stillnobi, Still Silence???

After looking at common shells, it hit me the best shell (IMHO) for a serious ninja deck would be the UB Standstill list... also, ninjas so far have only been printed in blue and black.

This is my first attempt at a deck like this, and I hope to actually get good with it and tune it.

I kind of want to run Silent-blade Oni main in place of Ink-Eyes or Higure. Being non-legendary it avoids Karakas and his ability is pretty awesome if you get a hit. Another big thing is he pitches to Force of Will as odd as that sounds. I think the list would probably be better if Higure and Ink-Eyes were taken out for a 4th Snapcaster and Vendilion Clique, but that just doesn't sound as fun. Higure can actually be crazy helpful since it can guarantee ninjas getting through, and Ink-Eyes having regenerate can actually come up at times when trading with Tarmogoyfs or Batterskulls..

The awesome thing with this list is the fact you get to buy back your Spellstutter Sprites and Snapcaster Mages.

Our main board is a pretty standard with the exception of ninjas thrown in. One of our big draw engines is Ninja of the Deep Hours which we can actually get out even with a Standstill in play. The Ninjutsu mechanic can get pretty crazy if you shortcut things since it can only be activated after the declare blockers phase, and before moving on to the second main. That means if an opponent tries to Lightning Bolt one of your creatures mid combat, it's really important to be in a spot where you really know if you can ninja that creature out or not. Other nifty tricks are that Maze of Ith does not stop a creature from attacking (it just prevents the damage and untaps it), which means you can still ninja that creature back out, and if you have enough mana, ninja it back in.

Main
16 Creatures

4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
3 Mistblade Shinobi
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
1 Higure, the Still Wind


17 Sorcery/Instants

4 Brainstorm
4 Fatal Push
4 Force of Will
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
2 Diabolic Edict
1 Counterspell


4 Artifacts/Enchantments

1 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Standstill


23 Lands

1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
3 Underground Sea
2 Swamp
3 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Flooded Strand


15 Side Board

2 Flusterstorm
3 Skullsnatcher
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Sakashima's Student
1 Pithing Needle
1 Silent-blade Oni
2 Throat Slitter
1 Invasive Surgery


The side board is a little odd right now, and then packed with some powerful side board technology, the non ninja cards are actually pretty serious side board tech. The Ninja's are there for utility and to apply more pressure on the opponent. Skullsnatcher is definitely useful against graveyard based strategies, the downside is he can only trigger during your turn. Sakashima's Student I think is a very cheap and efficient clone, which is useful against some of the bigger threats out there. Throat Slitter is extra creature removal.