I hated this guy when I first saw him, but I
think this was because I first saw Ninjutsu only
as a new version of Onslaught block's Morph
mechanic. I thought that the Shinobi, once he
was 'Ninja'd' into play, was too weak to be any
good. I'm still not thrilled about his power and
toughness, and I think the Ninjutsu cost is
slightly too expensive. However, in limited
games especially, if you have other Ninjas in
your deck already, Mistblade Shinobi is worth
including, even if JUST BARELY. Even though this
creature is tiny and expensive to use, it is
ALWAYS GOOD to be bouncing your opponent's
creatures. You could feel a lot BETTER about
running the Shinobi if your deck includes the
Equipment that rewards you for playing more
Ninjas. While I DO think the OTHER blue common
Ninja is constructed worthy, I do not think that
Mistblade Shinobi is good enough for constructed
play.
Its the bound Ninja! When I first saw this guy I
was so excited, he bounces a creature for one
blue mana which seems like such great tempo
control, but the more I play him, the more I
realized that, if they had a big creature, they
just blocked. If they had a smaller creature
that they didn't block with, well, you probably
didn't care about bouncing it. The additional
temp sit back of bouncing your Ninjitsu'd
creature probably was just as bad as the guy you
bounced. So it really only worked with
sufficient evasion, and that was hard to pull
off in block or limited. In short, this card has
moved down in rank for me.
Creatures with this ability never seem to work
out. The ability honestly doesn't seem that
strong. I'd stay away from it. I'm already leary
of the Ninjas and this one doesn't have a great
ability.
Tricks are what Blue mages like, and this card
is full of them. He's a bit whimpy for his
normal cost, and I can't imagine him ever
hitting the board outside of Ninjutsu. If he
finds a niche against a particular type of deck,
he could be interesting. In limited, if you are
going Blue, play this guy. He can always be used
to off a creature enchantment.
Mistblade Shinobi is not the ultimate ninja,
that would be the obfuscating ophidian, but it
may be the American ninja. Ninjitsu is a really
solid ability that is so perfectly useful for
agro Blue builds that it is amazing. Blue has
the most creatures with evasion and who doesn’t
want a little suppertime surprise. For all
intents and purposes, Mistblade Shinobi is an
undercosted Man-o’-War and that was the very
definition of a solid card. Perhaps the Ninja
will revitalize Blue Skies in casual formats. I
would look for him and his brethren in decks
that carried evasion creating enchantments to
make sure that the good times keep coming.
