Notes & Combos

Hello, I'm the long text guy. You probably know me already, unless it's your first time reading my stuff. In which case...you poor thing

So, uh, it occurred to me that my Ninja list is outdated after the banlist and that I had no deck for the event.

So, instead of getting creative and making a (non existent) original deck (with resources I don't have), after finding out it's one of the few decks not gutted by the banlist, I decided to get ideas from the most recent Ninja tops and copy @pjim 's instead! Yes, I'm about to explain Ninja. Get ready.

What is Ninja?

Ninja is a midrange deck (that isn't stun only because it lacks the cards to do so, as it would definitely try otherwise) that is composed of many flip (not Flip) effects that lack a cohesive theme outside of the actually good ones, those being Set-locking monsters with Jioh, tributing what they have Set with Leaves, negating with Mitsu, and looping with Saizo as well as every other card that has even just ONE practical effect for the above.

Given that Ninja often Sets its own monsters, you may ask how can that be possible: by being able to use Set monsters as Fusion Material, that's why. Now now, you know how modern Yu-Gi-Oh works: rules are made to be broken, legally.

I'm not really known for handing out compliments, but I have to recognize that Konami found a way to make support that doesn't reject the previous monsters by making a nonsensical gameplay overhaul, and...the banlist killing everything that's not FTK, Hero or the only allowed Synchro and Xyz events, thus making this deck one of the best decks in general.

Except Cross-Sheep is banned. And Fenrir. Also Ash, Maxx C and Called. And Elf. Sigh

Ninja, much like Suship, is known for not being good in this event, but also very cheap thanks for coming only from Structure Decks and Bundles, outside of Veiler, HFD and Super Poly

The Ninja Gameplan

Technically speaking, Ninja doesn't have a fixated plan ("because it actually takes skill" blah blah blah), but rather, a series of possible RNG-dictated actions to arrive to the same ideal result: The Quartet+1, composed of Saizo, Meizen, Jioh and Mitsu + Leaves, with Book of Moon as an extra sixth if you actually draw it.

As the Fusions can use even materials (on your field) that are Set, all you need to summon Meizen (and occasionally, Yagura) is 2 Ninja with different Types (which, in the context of Warriors, can be a problem, as explained below), which can be accomplished in several ways:

• SS Hanzo to add Baku, who will then special summon
• By using Tobari's effect to SS another Ninja, then NS another one
• By Normal Summoning Kagero to Special Set a non-Warrior Ninja from the hand or GY
• By Normal Summoning a Ninja then SS Mitsu from hand ...and if your board is at first insufficient, with Leaves, with the help of Book of Moon and Mystery, especially if you can NS Mitsu. Or cry. That's an option.

The List

For your reading pleasure (read: because I can't take hours just to write stuff), I divided the following section in paragraphs to better understand the theme behind each group of cards. Let's get this over with

The 5 Staples

• Veiler: Veiler should be banned in events like this but it just happened that Yusei used this, and with all those cards banned and Imperm limited, I don't see why we shouldn't run 3. Pretty much one of the only 2 necessary URs to craft
• HFD: Well, it wipes the entire backrow. But feel free not to run it. See what happens...
• ROTA: Adds Hanzo, which could add Baku, which is Meizen. Is there a moment where ROTA was useless?
• Super Poly - While several fusions have been banned, Earth Golem and Draco Equiste are still legal. And it's the same broken card as always. But if you don't have it, add a third Kagero and a second Village, or 2 Book Of Eclipse.
• Imperm: Negates, can be activated from hand, neuters columns if activate from Set. In case you didn't know already (Book of Moon is in the Ninja section, if you were wondering. An honorary member, if you will)

The Ninja Mains

• Hanzo: Hanzo is the most important card in the deck, unfortunately... Why, unfortunately? Well, the optimal effect is only on the SS/Flip Summon (the NS mainly adds Leaves, which was made SPECIFICALLY to make him viable), and he is a "when" effect, which can miss the timing in so many ways it's absurd. Still a NS that does something, and there aren't many like him in that case, plus there are several ways to SS him, notably Tobari, and he does add Leaves or Duplication.
• Jioh: Jioh is the second most important card in the deck, for the very simple reason that HE FLIPS MONSTERS AND MAKES THEM UNABLE TO FLIP BACK, CONCEALING-STYLE. Now if only Fusions weren't a thing. Force-Setting them allows you to use them as cost for Leaves and Set-locking them means you'll get an unfair advantage while they're trying to play. Yes, Jioh is the deck-fixer alongside Meizen...if only it weren't for the fact the guy is a rampaging level 8 which the deck has no feasible way to bring out via Tribute Summoning, often relying on Leaves, Meizen, Mystery and Tobari. But he's also level 8, which means that he's the best target for Duplication to swarm multiple lower leveled Ninjas. And given that Mitsu can flip him from Set after being placed there from the Deck by Mystery, it's a price you have to pay. And then there is that second effect that pops card when a monster is flipped, I guess.
• Mitsu: Bug Waifu/Honey is the third (fitting given that's how her name can be read) best card in the whole deck, and the cornerstone of the deck, given she's a free SS if a Ninja is on your field, her Insect type (for Fusions) and her combo with Jioh where she flips both her down and Jioh up during said negate. Sadly, Elf is banned, so she's more vulnerable, but she's still a 200/2100 body that's going to be the main target of Meizen's summon, given that Jioh can be properly set up with Mystery.
• Mystery: Mystery is that one beast of a card held by the hefty limitation that is requiring your opponent to control even a single card, thus unactivable if their field is empty. Mystery is able to recycle the GY, and Set monsters and S/T at the same time, so as long as each card-type is different from each other (S/T from the GY and Set Monsters from the Deck, or Monsters from the GY and S/T from the GY)

The Ninja Supports

• Tobari: Tobari has varying function depending on whether it's your turn or your turn. During your turn, they force out a Ninja from the hand at the cost of themselves, no matter the level, very useful to clutch Meizen. On theirs, albeit only if it's on the field, it will perform a Quick Ninja Fusion Summon, with or without themselves, bringing out Yagura to control and stop the opponent's play. Given that Jioh is a brick and that several Ninjas have on summon effects, especially Hanzo, whose best effect is on SS
• Green: Green is very weird, given he only summons when a monster has been SS'd to your field and only by flipping them, and because Special Set is obviously not face-up, he doesn't work with Mystery. But the Summon is still nice for Meizen, even if he's Warrior, and the card flip upon being sent to the GY can be useful to summon Saizo, or trigger Jioh or Hanzo
• Baku: being summonable whenever they're added to the hand except by drawing, whether from the Deck or GY, is immensely useful and not just for the S/T recovery, but even for just adding one body to summon Saizo or Meizen. The recovery in particular is going to be your main way to recycle Mystery (and unlike with Village, it can be activated during the same turn) or Leaves, so they're a safe 2 of, even if bricky at times
• Bearer: Bearer exists to trigger Baku, and works perfectly for that
• Kagero: Kagero, Warrior Type not disallowing it, upon being summoned in all of the three methods, Sets a Ninja fron the GY or hand thus being an important Meizen setupper. She also has that target protection + self (Set) revive effect, useful for target dodging, but that's only if they do target a single Ninja, which doesn't happen as often as you think. Very good to run at 2 or 3 in this event.
• Alchemy: While it is true that it nukes every Ninjitsu Art Spell on activation as cost to draw 2, as @pjim made me appreciate, the fact that it's not once per turn, that Baku and Village can recycle it, that it can trigger Digger without it having to pop itself, and that Village has an innate protection effect, make it incredibly useful, even if at just 1 to avoid bricking
• Digger: Albeit coming with a paltry ATK boost that assures an OTK only after 7 solstices, Digger allows to turn a single Ninja in the GY into a body by banishing it as a cost, to then revive the same monster from banished when it hits the GY. The ways you can do this are either popping itself or Alchemy, so there is a bit of skill ceiling here
• Village: People used to dunk on this card because apparently it's too slow, bricky, and doesn't contribute to summons, given that you can't activate both the cards (if S/T) and the effects on the turn you recover it with Village. Then they realized the deck relies on the S/T and that the revives aren't as many as they thought, and they quickly changed idea. Obviously you're not recovering a card you'd need the effect of for that turn, but the number of plays you can do with it, and the resource management it offers, cannot be understated.
• Notebook: It's counterintuitive if you think about it, but Ninja actually has plenty of monsters that are just not useful at the moment, if you don't bring them out the way they wish, and Notebook allows them to send 1 to set a S/T for setups, Alchemy included, thus being a worthy addition.
• BoM: BoM is a Ninja card except in name only, you see, for it allows to both force Set monsters for Leaves and Jioh, AND make Ninjas like Hanzo and Jioh target-dodge Veiler and Imperm. But it doesn't have Ninja in its name...which just misses 80% of its consistency boost. Nevertheless, the above are just too important

The Ninja Traps

NOTE: if they get removed, they will send to the GY EVERY monster still targeted by it. You can hover on them to see which monsters are still affected. Make sure to Set them or remove them from the field

• Duplication: Duplication before the new support was very slow even if it had practical Hanzo setups. Now with the new support, it's not so much of a thing as you can abuse the "removal penalty" rule by constantly flipping face up and down, or sending them to the GY fot Meizen, Yagura or Saizo. Duplication allows for many things, like SS Hanzo by tributing a level 4, converting a level 4 into Mitsu and Green Ninja, sending a Mystery-Set Tobari for a face-up Tobari during the opponent's turn, and tbat beautiful trick with Jioh. Of course, swarming with its effect will burden this card, as they're leaving the field if they're still latched onto it, but that's why you practice. Just don't rely on the last one and stick to simple.
• Leaves: Main Trap of the deck, actually can tribute THEIR SET monster, for the same cons that Duplication, except for the level requirement, which means you can remove the penalty by simply summoning Jioh. Indeed, Leaves is meant to work with Jioh, Meizen and Mystery, in ways that are best left to practice to properly assimilate its utility

The Extra Ninjas

• Meizen: You may think that Meizen, (or Kotarou/Fuuma, the namesake of that ugly Equip Card nobody plays) is the best card and that it solves every issue of the deck... which is nice to believe, but it's not really a thing. Look, Meizen is indeed a very good card, with an effect that, taken out of context, is indeed broken, especially when playing optimally, but considering he requires 2 Ninjas of different Types and that he needs at least ANOTHER card beside himself (Mitsu or Jioh), he's more of a payoff than an actual gamesaver or playmaker. Summons on grind game are very nice, though, especially when, hear me out, EVERY NINJA WITH HIM FACE-UP CAN ATTACK DIRECTLY. Yeah, he makes BAM relevant again after years of powercreep since the days of Rank 4 Toolbox meta...and a DEF value that's just hideous, along with an utter incapacity at protecting himself or the rest from Raigeki or HFD. He needs planning, yes.
• Saizo: While people were distracted at Meizen, I was distracted by the ninja drip of this guy. Fashionability aside, guy was made to compensate for the limitations of MR4, bring a glimmer of hope to the Pendulum Ninjas you wouldn't rely on (unless we get a Wakaushi. Then it's game on), and try to lift the credibility of a deck they just refused to make playable until then (and even after, until they got the support in which Meizen came in), and has 2000 ATK: you know he's gotta be good. Especially when he has that (PAINFULLY IMPERFECT) protection effect that makes use of the arrows and that nice S/T Set effect. Problem is that he's a Link, thus immune from his ally Ninjas' effects, also demanding his materials to be face up, which makes him a rival to Meizen's place on the board, often by sending either to summon the other (unfortunately, he's also a Warrior, the Dragons were just bad, the other Types were absent, and this is the consequence). Because remember: attacking directly is cool, but suffocating your opponent's chances is even better.
• Yagura: Yagura/Watchtower Boy is not exactly something you want to summon most of the time, but he banishes at the cost of banishing a Ninja or Ninjitsu card from the GY (cue Digger), said effect works even if flipped face-up, and has a 2000/2000 body, which is just the type of horsepower you need, especially since Tobari can summon him during the opponent's turn.

Super Poly Targets

• Golem: For Cyberse (ACCESS IS LEGAL, FYI), beatdown function
• Equiste: For Synchro, just a silly body to swing with, as you don't play Synchros in Ninja (DON'T TRY IT).

The Rest of the ED

• BAN: Attack twice, frees monsters, Meizen. Still plagued by being a Rank 4
• BLS: Beatstick for when the situation is dire, with good protection if using Jioh
• Bsword: Sheep is banned...Well, it's always nice to clutch when the occasion arrives
• Access: Like Bsword, but with extra pops with a broken clause, a less strict summoning condition (although needing BLS) and beeg ATK