The ninja’s path is lonely. If you trust unaffordable luxury, fear and danger are your only constant companions beyond the pale shadow of death. Thankfully, at least in Magic: The Gathering, there are notable advantages to pursuing this particular profession. You can do that, especially with the help of Yuriko, the tiger’s shadow.
Consistently ranking as one of the most played and best-known commanders in the format, which makes the ‘stealth’ aspect of ninjutsu a little flimsy, Yuriko has a powerful collection of ninja skills that can contribute to a variety of strategies. Here are 10 of her most ruthlessly effective options.
Tiger’s Shadow Yuriko
Before we immerse ourselves in Yuriko’s dark world, let’s quickly recap what she does. On the surface, she’s not very impressive. A 1/3 ninja’s 3 mana doesn’t exactly scream ‘broken’ after all. Appropriately, though, her true powers are hidden just beneath the surface.
Yuriko has two abilities, one of which is completely unique to her. This is ‘Commander Ninjutsu’, a variation of Kamigawa’s ninjutsu mechanic that also works in the command zone, providing a consistent means to bypass the Commander tax and play Yuriko for only 2 mana. Her second ability is a great addition to ninja focused decks. Whenever one of the Ninjas damages an opponent, draw a card and deal damage to each opponent for its cost.
10 ninjutsu
By leaning heavily on her ninjutsu mechanic, she can utilize both of Yuriko’s abilities to great effect. Her first ability encourages the use of evasive creatures, and when a ninjutsu user is unblocked, she can switch from hand to a ninjutsu user (or Yuriko herself), and her second ability rewards such diverts with a card draw and AOE damage. .
The Silver-Fur Master plays an important role in strengthening the ninja while lowering the ninja’s powers. Beyond that, you’ll want to include as many ninjutsu users and cheap dodging creatures as possible to round things out.
9 Top
Yuriko’s AOE damage for each ninja strike is based on the mana cost of the cards at the top of the deck, so manipulating the order of those cards is a powerful strategy to pursue. With spells like Brainstorm and Ponder filtering out the cheap cards for the expensive ones, every Ninja damage trigger can reel the entire table.
This build allows you to finish the game naturally quickly, especially if you have a few ninjas attacking at once, but it also allows for a more reactive game as you sift through your deck for answers to any given situation. A fun and flexible way to play Yuriko.
8 Ninja
No one will be surprised. A simple ninja-themed deck is perfect for Yuriko as a commander. Her second ability is triggered from a ninja that deals damage, so she can use it more often the more ninjas she plays.
You’ll want to include a ninja with built-in dodge in this build, especially the phantom ninja. Creatures with changeling are also fair game thanks to their full suite of creature types, and you’ll want to slot Fugitive Tetsuko Umezawa for its massive evasion-granting ability.
Yuriko’s second ability is particularly powerful in that it hits all opponents at once, and can even wipe out an entire table simultaneously if given enough time. And while that time builds up naturally over long games, you can also make it your own using Magic’s myriad extra turn spells.
Time Warp, Temporal Manipulation, and Part the Waterveil all offer roughly the same effect for the same cost. The effect, of course, is the ability to take an extra turn. If you find a clear window where you can safely attack one opponent with a few ninjas and take an extra turn or two, you can easily end the game on the spot.
6 big mana
Yuriko’s second ability can be rewarded for playing cards with high mana costs. So why not take that as a theme and enjoy some of Magic’s biggest bombs along the way? There are many different directions for taking a theme like this, from simple Ramp builds featuring Eldrazi titans and more to something a little more stealthy.
Many cards have huge base mana costs, which are reduced by other factors such as Shadow of Mortality. These cards do double duty in decks like: It serves as a huge number for Yuriko to unveil with her abilities, while also making casting fairly easy when her in-hand reduction is applied.
5 wheat
Mill may be the most infamous archetype in Magic’s colorful history. It’s terrible to play against when it’s good, and completely unplayable when it’s bad. Whatever your thoughts on this divisive deck type, however, there’s no denying that Dimir (blue/black) is the color combination that shines the brightest. By the way, Yuriko’s color combination.
While it may seem counterintuitive to focus on using Yuriko’s ability to reduce your opponent’s deck instead of doing the same to their life total, doing so will fool your opponent and allow you to spend your initial resources fighting what your opponent misestimates. may entice you to use it. It’s a strategy to keep it wide open for good milling when the time comes.
4 ice depth
A bit of an archetype cocktail, this build combines Yuriko’s love for ninjas with snowfields and sea monsters. On the surface, it sounds like a disgusting and expensive concoction, but in reality, the three flavors go surprisingly well together.
Building a mana base with solid eyes gives you access to a variety of efficient board clearing options, clearing a path for ninjas to enter unopposed. This is also the case with support packages for sea monsters (Krakens, Leviathans, Octopuses and Serpents). This package washes opponents’ powers back into their hands, leaving no veil between them and the eyelidless eyes of deep-sea horror. .
three aggro
With a low mana cost and the ability to generate both AOE player damage and card advantage, Yuriko is ideal for an aggressive deck. She’s more difficult to put together in Dimir than other colors, but it’s definitely doable.
Black gives you access to a lot of great blobs, including Bloodsoaked Champion and Dread Wanderer, while blue provides massive dodges and jams to help hordes get through. When the early creature pressure and Yuriko’s pressure start to build up, few opponents will be able to resist the rift underneath.
2 equipment
While not sharing the same gear affinity as their close cousins the samurai, ninjas are still more than capable of handling weapons, especially when the weapon grants a double strike. This allows the equipped ninja to deal two instances of combat damage, triggering two instances of Yuriko’s second ability.
The best options for this role are Brass Knuckles, Fireshrieker, and Grappling Hook. You can also further support your ninja with equipment that grants evasion, such as the Cliffhaven Kitesail. This strategy allows Yuriko’s ability to move in height rather than width with more gear to support the ninja.
One thief
Yuriko may not be a rogue, strictly speaking, but she certainly has a lot in common with Magic’s street-smart types, especially her love of dodging. Legendary rogues like Krydle of Baldur’s Gate pass your ninjas unnoticed, triggering Yuriko’s trading abilities.
Apart from this, you can play fairly simple mixed type builds and see great results. Especially since Rogues tend to be cheap enough to play on the same turn as Yuriko. Ninjas have a strict code of honor, but ignoring them can lead to great success at the commander table.