Alrighty guys, here's the next article!  I'll be firing out a few more over the next couple days.  Finally got Vista and Microsoft Works to properly cooperate lol.

Hello.  This is a deck I made about a year ago.  Throughout that year it's been through dozens of slight modifications that have turned it into the beast that it is.  I have recently looked at Pojo's card of the day sight and mumbled with disappointment when I saw how low they rated the majority of the ninjas.  Fortunately, I had this deck made before I actually started looking at this sight, and my opinion didn't change.
 
I play with friends only, therefore it's casual and all cards are legal.  The downside of this is that I absolutely refuse to spend money on MTG.  So no buying cards for me.
 
Before I explain more about how this decks works, here is the deck itself.
 
Total:61
Lands: 20
20x Island
 
Creature: 19
3x Spire Golem
4x Ninja of the Deep Hours
4x Mistblade Shinobi
2x Cloud Pirates (yes, my ninja deck has pirates in it)
3x Teardrop Kami
1x Escape Artist (the inspiration for the deck)
2x Ornithopter
 
Other: 22
1x Levitation
1x Gigadrowse
2x Telling Time
4x Remove Soul
3x Writ of Passage
2x Cloak of Feathers
1x Phantom Wings
4x Consuming Vortex
4x Unsummon
 
 
The deck was originally inspired by Escape Artist, and it's a lovely little card.  The original deck was based on unblockable/flying creatures, or making creatures unblockable/flying and then boost them up with any of 4 Bonesplitters or 2 Loxadon Warhammers.  While this strategy worked wonders (a 5/2 trample Ninja of the Deep Hours is nothing to scoff at) it was too slow.  Eventually, I ditched the boosts and went straight into making my guys unblockable.  Writ of Passage (another card Pojo gave bad reviews) was this deck's godsend.  I can forecast it onto a creature, attack, ninjutsu a ninja into play, then hardcast the Writ of Passage onto the ninja next turn.
 
Writ of Passage, Cloak of Feathers, and Levitation let my ninja's fly over my opponent to deal damage while simultaneously activating their effects.  (note: this deck has quite a deal of draw power due to Ninja of the Deep Hours, Cloak of Feathers, and Telling Time)
 
The other main strategy of this deck is the Unsummon effect.  As you can see, I run 4 Unsummons, 4 Consuming Vortex's, 4 Mistblade Shinobi's, and a single Phantom wings.  These cards are wonderful at slowing down my opponent and has given my deck a reputation of being incredibly fast (it isn't, it just knows how to control the board).  Remove souls are for more board control.
 
Ornithopters and Spire Golems are great for ninjutsu, because I'll then play them again for free after my attack phase.
 
Teardrop Kami's and Gigadrowse are good for tapping their creatures.  The Kami's like to block sack, in essence tapping 2 of their creatures (the attacker, and the target of their effect).
 
As you might have noticed, my deck's biggest creature is Spire Golem, a 2/4 with flying.  My late game win condition is generally either Levitation, or Gigadrowse (generally speaking, the game is over early).  I had 2 Gigadrowse's previously, but found that it was unnecessary, and would rather draw an Unsummon unless it was time to finish them.
 
Here is a typical game.
Turn 1- I play a cheap creature, such as Ornithopter or Cloud Pirates.
Turn 2- Attack with small creature, they can't block, I ninjutsu for Ninja of the Deep Hours.  Then replay Ornithopter.
Turn 3-Cloak of Feathers on Ninja of the Deep Hours, attack with Deep and Ornithopter, ninjutsu Ornitiopter for a Mistblade Shinobi to bounce one of their creatures.  They have lost 5 life, and I have drawn 3 cards.
 
The game continues in my favor with me bouncing their creatures and myself drawing cards until I kill them (half the time, I remain at 20 life).
 
 
Now that I've shown how a normal game goes in my favor, there are a few problems with the deck.
1- if I can't draw both a cheap creature and a ninja, I lose early game advantage and it's a struggle to get on top (but is possible)
2-if I draw too many Unsummons/Writ of Passages (generally Telling Time helps through this, but it has happened once or twice where I've lost because of this)
3-Red=this decks spawn from hell.  I can save my own creatures with Unsummon, but it leaves me with nothing to attack with and slows me down too much.  I need to keep the field control.
5-Life gain (although admittedly rare even in my casual corner of players) can be hard to press through.
4- I am afraid of this new set's vanishing cards.  My friend has recently made a white vanishing deck.  Honestly, I haven't played it yet with my Ninja Deck (I have other decks that are better suited for fighting it), but I feel that my strategy of Unsummoning would be a waste, due to the fact that the cheap creatures with good effects when they come into play or leave play, and I would be continuously letting him do that.
 
Some cards I have considered but haven't taken the time to test are Neurok Stealthsuit, Shuriken, or any variety of counterspells other than Remove Soul (these will be especially hard to get my hands on).
I am still toying with Phantom Wings, and it is a good choice while I'm on top of the game by giving my creature flying and protection from destruction, but the Unsummon on my opponent's creatures is not a surprise instant.
 
Basically, I would like help enhancing this deck to fear Red (or black) less, as well as find a way to beat a vanishing deck.  Other than that, this deck is the one deck that most people are afraid of when I pull it out, as it easily controls the progress of the entire game.  If you know of any useful cards that would be easy to get my hands on, please let me know.
 
Thank you.



    Ah, and Ninja deck, this takes me back.  Kamigawa Block was my favorite block sense it’s what brought me back into Magic.  Ninja’s were particularly flavorful, and of course they spawned Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni, one of the most abusive reanimator powerhouses of the time.  Something I’d like to address right off the bat about ninja decks is that unless your going to go U/B for Ink-Eyes and then drop the cash to get 4 copies of Umezawa’s Jitte, Ninja decks tend towards a more casual environment, though a well constructed casual Ninja deck can dominate.  Another problem your going to encounter is what is know as “anachronism.”  Kamigawa is 2 blocks behind the current environment and many of the cards from Time Spiral are quite powerful, but do not despair!  The key to improving your deck is to streamline it as much as possible!
    So, having established that let’s take a look at the deck.  On the Ninja front we’ve got Ninja of the Deep Hours, a staple ninja, who digs into your deck every time he connects to your opponents life points.  Next we have Mistblade Shinobi, an obnoxious little pest who, if played very early in the game, can hamper your opponents board development.  Non-ninjas we see are Spire Golem, Ornithopter, Cloud Pirates, Teardrop Kami, and Escape Artist.  
    While I feel you on the flying/unblockable front, 1 Escape Artist just isn’t enough, and while the Cloud Pirate only cost U to play, you’d be better off replacing them with 2 more Ornithopter.  Ornithoper is always free to play, it’s essentially the best mode for ninjas to slip into play and besides, I don’t think the ninjas want the pirates stealing their thunder.  Teardrop Kami was one of the creatures included in the original Ninja Starter Deck, but it really ought to come out in favor of creature who can do more than sit quietly waiting to neutralize two creatures.  Control decks are the only decks that have any business attempting that and this deck lacks the elements of control that would prevent your opponent from playing around your strategy.  So, I think you should take them out in favor of 2 Walker of Secret Ways and 2 Higure, the Still Wind.  The Walker can bounce a ninja back to your hand to be ninjutsued back into play and when it hits your opponent it lets you peak at their hand, letting you know just what to expect.  Higure is the blue legend counter part to Ink-Eyes, and 1) let’s you fetch out more ninjas and 2) makes ninja’s unblock able.  Despite his Legendary Status you really shouldn’t have any problem getting a couple copies of him on the cheap.
    Now let’s look at your spells.  Firstly, I’m seeing several one-of’s and I’d like to remind the readers that one-of’s should be avoided unless they are cards that can win you the game AND you have the means of calling them up.  I also see a handful of creature enchantments (aka auras) and while they can be very powerful, the universal consensus is to avoid them since they are incredibly vulnerable to removal and can put you behind on card advantage in a big way.  The obvious exception here is Writ of Passage, which with forecast is less of an aura and more of an uncounterable “attack for free” spell.
    So, Levitation, Gigadrowse, Cloak of Feathers, and Phantom Wings can all come out and sheer principle alone.  Telling Time is admittedly one of your card drawing/smoothing spells so you should try to get 2 more of those.  I like Writ of Passage so I think upping it to a full 4 would be a good move.  With those minor tweaks taken care of, let’s look at the other spells.  Remove Soul is your counter magic, but honestly you should replace it with Mana Leak.  It’s a card that was re-printed in 9th Edition and should be fairly easy to get your hands on (check with your friends).  Consuming Vortex is a narrower version of Boomerang, and while it’s an ok card, I think you might want to experiment with a little artifact equipment card known as Ronin Warclub, or as I like to call it, the “hit you in the face stick.”  Your ninja’s sneak into play, deal a couple paltry points of damage and activate a special effect, but if you want to put your opponent on a clock (life gain decks beware) then these little beauties are just what you need.  Here’s how it works:  Have Ronin Warclub in play, attack with Ornithopter, Ornithopter theoretically goes unblocked, Ninjutsu a Ninja into play/Ornithopter back into your hand, the Ninja picks up the Warclub and crack your opponent in the head with it.  Then play Ornithopter for free.  Voila!  Lastly, Unsummon is an ok spell, but it must be played defensively; that means holding it to save a creature, because if you use it just to be able to ninjutsu a Ninja into play, odds are that Red mage is just going to burn it to death in response.
    On a final note I’ve increased your Island count to 21, 20 is fine, but odds are you’re going to have to “hard cast” some of your ninjas and you really do need mana open for that.  With these changes in mind I present to you your tentative deck:

Blue Ninja’s v2

Creatures (19):
4x Mistblade Shinobi
2x Walker of Secret Ways
4x Ninja of the Deep Hours
2x Higure, the Still Wind
4x Ornithopter    
3x Spire Golem
 
Spells (20):
4x Telling Time
4x Mana Leak
4x Writ of Passage
4x Ronin Warclub
4x Unsummon

Land (21):
21x Island

Total: 60

    And look at that, we managed to get it to 60!  Well, on that note I’ve done what I can for this deck and I hope the advice I’ve given will be helpful.  May all your duels end with your opponent lying brained on the floor and their secrets and goods safely in your possession!  *Ninja Vanish POOF!*