After taking Mum for her weekly Monday shopping trip to Morrison’s, I needed to play some MtG to unwind.

Luckily my FLGS as regular readers will know, runs a Commander Monday thing for those that find themselves at a lose end on a Monday afternoon.

When I got there all that was going on in store was a game of 40k. So while I was waiting for other Commander players to show up I made some changes to the ninja assassin deck.

Andy and Sam turned up with their Commander decks, and thus combat was started.

I was stuck on 3 mana for a few turns. It didn’t help that Sam countered or removed a couple of pieces that would have aided in me being able to play stuff. Whilst I was basically defenceless Sam then got a few cheap shots in with a 1/1 flyer. I was feeling a bit targeted by Sam.

For a ninja deck, my ninjas were staying rather well hidden. The only one I was able to ninjitsu out was my Commander!

Once my deck started delivering lands and cards so I could start stabilising and doing stuff, I was way behind on the mana front. Luckily Andy saw Sam as more of a threat than me, so he targeted Sam and not me. That really did give me the breathing space to get ready for the moment Sam was killed.

Fortunately for me, in a fitting moment of revenge it was me that delivered the killing blow to Sam.

The showdown between Andy and me was epic. He was casting cards from hand for free. Luckily Rhystic Study and God-Pharaoh’s Statue provided some cost to him. It also helped that he was top decking as well. Andy also had a massive life total. My only chance of victory was Commander damage.

But I was getting to a board state that if Andy didn’t do anything was going to give me the win. My Commander was buffed and unblockable by Andy. Archetype of Imagination really helped with that. Plus all my creatures were ninjas thanks to Conspiracy.

So I was swinging in for 4 Commander damage each turn. And that’s how I won. Sadly for Andy his Cyclonic Rift remained locked deep in his deck.

I like this deck a lot. It’s fun to play. At best I’d say that power wise it’s a 6.

On the way home I started thinking about updating the mono red aggro deck. I’ll play that next.

Ok you are probably at least curious about the changes I made to the deck. So for your entertainment and great comedic effect here is the section of the post that lists version 2 of the deck.

But before I go any further it’s probably best I give my boiler plate get out of jail disclaimer for my decks.

“I’m not claiming these are the best decks in the world, they certainly are not top competitive decks. They are hopefully fun, affordable (subjective I know) decks. I don’t try and keep to a target price point. I try and use as many cards in my collection as possible to keep my costs down. I’m certainly not a master deck builder claiming this deck will win tournaments, if it is fun to play and does it thing then I’ll be happy.“

16 new cards (bold italics below), which sees lands decrease to 34 from 37. The lands also see a rejig with the number of basic lands dropping also to make room for some more non-basic lands, including the new staple (for me anyway) Lotus Field.

I’ve added a bit more removal that allows me to handle Planeswalkers. But still nothing that allows me to get rid of enchantments specifically. I’m still relying on the rather blunt instrument of bouncing all permanents back to hand. Not ideal. But for now it’ll have to do.

Creatures:36

1 Changeling Outcast
1 Hired Poisoner
1 Mist-Cloaked Herald
1 Pilfering Imp
1 Siren Stormtamer
1 Cerulean Drake
1 Daring Saboteur
1 Duskmantle Operative
1 Metropolis Sprite
1 Skullsnatcher
1 Thrill-Kill Assassin
1 Warkite Marauder
1 Adaptive Automaton
1 Eyeblight Assassin
1 Mist-Syndicate Naga
1 Mistblade Shinobi
1 Slippery Scoundrel
1 Stronghold Assassin
1 Throatseeker
1 True-Name Nemesis
1 Walker of Secret Ways
1 Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow (Commander)
1 Azra Smokeshaper
1 Etrata, the Silencer
1 Ingenious Infiltrator
1 Moonblade Shinobi
1 Ninja of the Deep Hours
1 Storm Sculptor
1 Fallen Shinobi
1 Higure, the Still Wind
1 Ninja of the New Moon
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
1 Throat Slitter
1 Archetype of Imagination
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
1 Silent-Blade Oni

Spells:30

1 Bag of Holding
1 Brainstorm
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Price of Betrayal
1 Scheming Symmetry
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Silent Gravestone
1 Sol Ring
1 Crook of Condemnation
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Pillar of Origins
1 The Elderspell
1 As Foretold
1 Commander’s Sphere
1 Golden Demise
1 Icon of Ancestry
1 Rhystic Study
1 Urza’s Incubator
1 Cryptic Command
1 Damnation
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Mass Manipulation
1 Mastermind’s Acquisition
1 Vraska’s Contempt
1 Conspiracy
1 Devastation Tide
1 Increasing Ambition
1 Vanquisher’s Banner
1 God-Pharaoh’s Statue
1 The Immortal Sun

Lands:34

1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Barren Moor
1 Blasted Landscape
1 Command Tower
1 Cryptic Caves
1 Crystal Vein
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Dimir Guildgate (a)
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Dreadship Reef
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Field of Ruin
1 Gateway Plaza
1 Guildmages’ Forum
1 Halimar Depths
5 Island
1 Isolated Watchtower
1 Jwar Isle Refuge
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Lotus Field
1 Morphic Pool
1 Mortuary Mire
4 Swamp
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Unknown Shores
1 Watery Grave

So now you know the cards in the deck, it’s time for those pointless graphs.

What do you think of the changes?

I’m thinking I might try and squeeze in the leylines. Not sure what they would replace.