Twilight Ninja Jogen

I’m not even sure why Konami released some of the cards in the 2017 Collectors Pack. The two new ninjas highlight a handful of cards that are disappointing simply by the sheer lack of thought that went into them. We live in a super-powered world, and while ninjas have always had a soft spot in my heart, Twilight Ninja Jogen and Kagen do not make the cut.

We start with Twilight Ninja Jogen, a generic piercing damage monster with horrific stats but a nice pendulum scale. Unlike Kagen, he can realistically be pendulum summoned as well. But that’s about all there is to him. Is there any reason to really use him? I can’t think of a single one. He’s a warrior so he’s not a target for the two Ninjitsu Art transformation traps, he doesn’t help you plus at all, and he couldn’t beat a Cyber Dragon in battle without help.

Like his brother Kagen, I can’t help wishing Jogen had been taken seriously so as to boost the forgotten ninjas. Imagine if Jogen were a scale 0! It’s no longer unprecedented and it could have led to some interesting plays. Perhaps using Ninjitsu Art of Duplication to summon out all 3 Kagen and then pendulum summon them later. Whatever the reasoning, Konami tossed garbage out instead. There’s no reason to ever think a monster with such archaic effects could ever be useful in today’s game.

Advanced: 1.5/5

Future Potential: 1/5

Another week, another batch of Battles of Legend cards to discuss. This is also the first official week of the new Link Era, and I'm sure we will review Link monsters very soon. Until then, we got a Twilight Ninja Jogen to talk about.
 
Jogen is Pendulum Monster with a scale of 1. 1 is the best scale to have if it isn't zero. As a Pendulum Scale, Jogen allows all Ninja monsters you control do piercing damage. Piercing is always nice, I think the strongest Ninja is White Dragon Ninja at 2700 ATK, so there is a monster to do some nice piercing with. Jogen himself has 2000 ATK, so there's another good card to have piercing.
 
As a monster, Jogen can be special summoned from the hand of you reveal a Ninjutsu Art in your hand. Not very Ninja like to reveal a potential strategy you have up your sleeve, but at least he has a nice summoning condition if you don't want to Normal Summon or can't Pendulum Summon him. Also, Jogen has built in piercing, so I guess take back what I said with his Pendulum Effect giving another copy piercing.
 
Solid card to play in Ninjas, just the downside that this is now Link Era, so Pendulum Zones are in the S/T Zone.
 
Advanced Rating: 3.25/5