For the holidays my FLGS is running daily events on the days it’s open. Luckily for me there were a handful of us with spare time and a Commander deck at the store to play some Commander yesterday afternoon.

My initial activities at the store involved me putting the finishing touches to my Ninja Assassin deck. I’d got the majority of the cards I needed. I just hadn’t put the finishing touches to it. So I added some new Core Set 2020 “staples”, plus I took one or two cards out of my Scarab God Zombie deck.

It certainly could do with some optimisation. But as a “first draft” check I’m I’m along the right lines and that the general game plan works, it’d do.

I also got a rather nice fancy deck box for it. That fancy box being the Dragon Shield N100+ (or something like that).

It’s like a slim version of an Ultrapro deck box I have. The Ultrapro box is rather fancy, and was extremely difficult to get hold of at the time. These cool Dragon Shield N100+ boxes are easy to get for starters. Which is a big big plus.

We managed a couple of Commander games. The first one was a 3 player (Glen, Alex and myself) game, and I had Grafdigger’s Cage out, and it was keeping Glen’s deck under control. It stopped him using some graveyard shenanigans. So Alex kept attacking me! Naturally once I was out of the picture Glen was able to step up his game, use those shenanigans I’d kept under control and win.

Our second game was a five player game. Most of us had our moments, and were able to do something pretty cool. I particularly liked that I was getting to play some of those new “staples”. Scheming Symmetry was used really effectively in this game. I went and got a 7 CMC ninja and put on the top of my deck. Whilst the player I selected to join me in finding a card and putting it on top of their deck, went and chose a card that was going to be painless if used against them. That’s the nice thing having a ninja threat that let’s you exile the top 2 cards of their deck and cast the cards for free! Remember that 7 CMC ninja? Well with my Commander connecting that meant I hit everyone for 7 damage.

In the end Glenn and myself were head to head. But he was able to lock me down with enchantments long enough to grab the win.

I actually really enjoyed playing this deck. I love the ninjitsu mechanic. The deck needs some form of enchantment/artifact removal. Also I may have to dig out a Settle the score for those indestructible creatures. But I’m happy with the power level. It’s a 5 at best. Which is about right.

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.“

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 Darkblade Agent
1 Eyeblight Assassin
1 Mist-Syndicate Naga
1 Mistblade Shinobi
1 Slippery Scoundrel
1 Stronghold Assassin
1 Throatseeker
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 Nightshade Assassin
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 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
1 Silent-Blade Oni

Spells:27

1 Bag of Holding
1 Brainstorm
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Scheming Symmetry
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Silent Gravestone
1 Sol Ring
1 Crook of Condemnation
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Dowsing Dagger
1 Pillar of Origins
1 Assassinate
1 Commander’s Sphere
1 Dimir Locket
1 Icon of Ancestry
1 Murder
1 Rhystic Study
1 Urza’s Incubator
1 Creeping Chill
1 Cryptic Command
1 Damnation
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Drawn from Dreams
1 Mastermind’s Acquisition
1 Conspiracy
1 God-Pharaoh’s Statue
1 The Immortal Sun

Lands:37

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
8 Island
1 Isolated Watchtower
1 Karn’s Bastion
1 Morphic Pool
8 Swamp
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Unknown Shores
1 Watery Grave

Oh and here is the obligatory mana curve.