Would Agent 47 from the Hitman series be an unexpected ninja? If you play smart you aren't going in guns blazing. You use improvised weapons on the map, environmental assassinations, using a disguise and only killing your target and not anyone else.
Kamigawa was one of my favorite sets for this reason alone. I got into magic at the talenend of that set and was disappointed when I saw it discontinued.
I got back into magic a bit because of kamigawa, but sadly I do not have the money now to keep up with it. Really wish they'd let sets last more than a year.
I was shocked that not a single mention of Kamigawa was in the video. He'd have a field day looking at all the kami, moonfolk, equipment, and so much else they do.
yes I can see him having a field day with one of the least popular sets. Except bushido. i don't think a simple code of conduct would make you physicaly stronger. Also I think splice into arcane wouldn't have a cultural reference either.
I would love to see this, it was one of the sets to got me into the game, the story is a little long n cheeze but I would love to see someone like Gaijin to do it justice.
What do you mean no fun. I find my blue/black decks loads of fun. “That card looks dangerous, let me nope it out of existence.” “Ah, that’s an impressive lineup of creatures you can attack or block with. Do I tap all of them, send them to their owners hand, or kill them all? So many choices.” In my blue/black zombie deck I’ve been having fun recently giving a creature that just got to 11/11 (or some insane amount) Aether Tunnel (enchantment aura, enchanted creature gets +1/+0 and can’t be blocked).
@@berkiangamesandacts6270*in Heavy weapons guy voice* that is little baby unblockable; look at this Master Warcrafted 20/20 with indestructible and flying.
@@berkiangamesandacts6270 master Warcraft the card i was talking about, and it is a bit over the top; though i was specifically referring to a Marit Lage being used as an unblockable 20/20 in conjunction with MW
Will you cover Snake-eyes and Stormshadow from G.I. Joe? I personally would love to know what happens when ninjas from the same clan end up feuding with each other.
I mean... it probably wasn't a coincidence because they introduced ninja in a set all about a Japan-inspired setting. They probably did research for their designs.
I need to hear his take on Magic’s Kamigawa block. Feels like it would be a HUGE episode, there is SO much to dive in with that block, but it would be so worth it
Kamigawa is notorious to be very copy pasted from japanese mythology, which was problematic because the general public is not well versed in japanese mythology, not even people from Japan, really. Since then, Wizards is basing their sets more in popular culture, including the ninjas from Modern Horizons.
Alfredo Saint-Jean ya Maro has said they should have put ninjas in the first set for that reason. Even if they were not a huge part of Japan’s actual history, they resonate in pop culture so much
A couple of things worth mentioning. 1. Mana in MTG is drawn from land cards, color of mana based on the type of land. Red for mountains, white for plains, green for forests, black for swamps, blue for islands. Ninjas in MTG are mostly blue, meaning island cards, and real ninja came from the island nation Japan. 2. The insinuation that a 2/2 creature card is about as strong as a paper wall needs to be corrected. An angry mob armed with torches and pitchforks is a 1/1 creature. An angry mob, is a 1/1. Use that as a point of reference when thinking about the stats on a given creature's card. 3. "That's on paper, but what about the game?" The game is on paper. Lol. Couldn't help myself. 4. While demon ninja were never a thing, ninja DID take advantage of the superstition of the people and used fear and misinformation to their benefit.
Sir, I am so happy you got a chance to checkout the ninjas of MTG. So much information, and you didn't even get a chance to critique the ninja weapons (equipment)
The indigo that the dye was made from does have repellent qualities (among a few other awesome features) so the plant made it possible through the dye to actually repel insects and such.
I'm so out of the loop when it comes to Magic (that's my friends' territory), but this video does give me a slightly better idea on how it work. More importantly, the fact that actual ninjitsu is reflected in the mechanics is pretty impressive!
Thanks so much for taking a look at ninja in MtG, Gaijin! I'm really happy to see the design and execution meet your standards. A lot of other commenters are suggesting you take a closer look at MtG's Kamigawa block, and I totally agree. There's a lot that can be picked apart and talked about there. Another thing to note; not just visually but also thematically, Ninja align with the "philosophies" of Blue and Black. You talked a bit about the resource gathering/denial aspects of these colours, but there's a little more there too. Blue is about the pursuit of knowledge, about setting aside things deemed unnecessary or distracting to follow that path; while black is about ambition and personal gain and the sacrifices necessary to make those gains. Together, they form the colour pair most associated with spies (see House Dimir in Ravnica block), courtly schemes (see the Sultai/Silumgar clan in Tarkir block), and pirates (Ixilan block); people who are willing to take carefully-researched, underhanded routes to personal gain and enlightenment, and aren't above selling or leveraging those secrets for even more gain.
Speaking of card game, how about do an episode on Nubatama and Murakumo clan in Cardfight Vanguard? They certainly are the closest thing for a ninja in the game.
So basically they need to hit fast, debilitate the opponent and cause enough chaos to make the player second guess their move. This fits the ninja tribe to a T
Overall, like others have said, a lack of talking about the Kamigawa block does the Oni and Rat ninja a disservice. Also what i'm suprised at is the complete lack of acknowledging the books that accompanied the sets, as the cards from MTG reference events, people and creatures from the actual books themselves. I would like to see a followup video talking about the books and how ninja are portrayed in the Kamigawa set of books :)
On the topic of Wizards of the Coast, D&D has Shadow Monks and numerous Rogues that can fit the bill for ninjas, depending on how magical you want them to be. Maybe even Rangers or Fighters!
The PC I did when I did DnD was a ranger whose specialties were tracking/hunting and archery with some sword mastery whose origin/background was street-urchin and the race I went with was surprisingly the Dragonling race.
Thanks for covering this! While I also wouldn't mind seeing coverage of Kamigawa, I'd also be curious of your analysis of Legend of the Five Rings - either the current or the original. Thanks for the videos!
Actually, this fits in even better with the lore and mechanics of the colours than already shown. Yes, mechanically, blue commonly gives card draw and black makes them discard. But if you look closer throughout the years, you'll see that blue is control and black is debuffs. By lore, blue is intelligence and wisdom, control over knowledge, while black is everything evil, control over death, poison, and fear. Blue gives control over the playing field, letting you know what your opponent has, giving you cards to expand your options, giving plenty of options to just stop your opponent. And black will just make things die without worrying about dealing damage (as in "destroy" or "kill" instead of "deal X damage"), will weaken the opponent to make them easier to kill, making their monsters deal less damage and take fewer hits, while also giving control over death, with creatures that can't die or that return from death under your control. And blue and black together, called Dimir for a guild in a different set, uses both to control the board. You gather information while sabotaging your opponent. They get hurt, you draw a card. You see their hand and they discard a card of your choosing. This perfectly fits the more assassin style ninja. Together, their frequent mechanics include hexproof, which protects things, deathtouch, immediately killing, poison and wither, giving counters that weaken them, and unblockable, letting things slip by. But I think you're focusing too heavily on the non-human ninjas as an issue. Remember, this is a world where humans aren't the only sentient creatures. Demons and oni are real, there's various anthropomorphic animal races, and magic as a whole is real. This allows various ninja traits and abilities that were exaggerated but hold some truth to be entirely true. And besides, its also fitting that some of the ninjas aren't human when there's different races. They also help explain some of the other traits unique to those cards, like how a ninja can be so strong compared to the others, by being of a race that's inherently more powerful with natural weapons like claws. Focusing on things like that as a problem feels like saying they can't be realistic purely for being in a fantasy world. Might just be how I see it though But yeah, seeing this, I want a video on Kamigawa block, an older block completely themed to Japan. Not sure it would be best for Which Ninja specifically, though. While being where ninja creatures and the Ninjutsu mechanic first came from, there's more to the block than just ninja. Culture Shock may be better, or something like that
As a fan of both your content, and magic the gathering, I'm really happy you covered this. It doesn't need to be your main content, obv, but I'm glad you include it.
If you go over other card games with ninja themes the Murakumo and Nubatama clans in Cardfight Vanguard go over a fair few tactics used by ninja and other common shinobi traits i.e Kage Bunshin no Jutsu gaining resources hindering the opponent and Nubatama is infamous for messing with the opponents hand and returning back to hand after battle.aswell the decks are filled with Yokai inspired cards
I recently got back into a show called Huntik Secrets and Seekers. It's a show focused on exploring ancient ruins in search of artifacts, but the main gimmick of the show is that every character can summon creatures of mythology to fight. I'm interested in your take on how accurate the show is to real life mythology.
dunno if it's intentional or not, but playing magic makes me feel like a onmyoji, drawing upon the energy of the elements in order to summon powerful and deadly creatures that fight along side of me, though still never 100% at my whim as they will still act of their own accord, as with red and black often will. i dunno, probably wasn't intentional, but it does feel nice y'know
Let’s not forget the ninja archetype in Yu-Gi-Oh. Although I think you could probably get more interesting cultural stuff from the Six Samurai archetype
Yeah with the Murakumo having a focus on gathering resources to get out stronger creatures and unleashing powerful and useful buffs on yourself and the Nubatama being infamous for royally screwing over an opposing player over if said opposing player isn't careful.
I feel the nezumi fit that method of using pests as distractions, with themselves being physical representations of the technique. I mean Gnat Miser and Locust Miser exist as well.
The Demon ninja is probably connected to how Ninja might wear Oni masks for intimidation. And having them be a legitimate demon is bonus points since that'd make them more effective against there samurai foes so that could be one angle
I'm DMing a D&D campaign right now and one of my players is playing a monk and wants to go way of the shadow with him. Because of all you've taught me I gave him a pair of shuko and I'm giving him a special book to teach him advanced techniques based off the nine kuji. Thanks for all the cool ideas!
WotC did their homework for Kamigawa. While of course there are exaggerations and magical super things, they kept a lot of lore and mythology references close to their origins.
At first I was wondering who posted this video with a weird Ninja MTG thumbnail. I am subbed to a few channels and none of them fit the bill till I finally looked at the channel name (which I don't usually do cause I can tell who is who by thumbnail design). I knew I had to watch this, I enjoy the which ninja series a lot and am always interested in the deep dive into the characters to tell if they fit the bill. But this... I would have never expected in a MILLION years, and as a very avid magic player and fan I am so SO happy you made this video :)
I know you like to do mostly Japanese folklore and history but it’d be really cool to do a few episodes about other folklores and references in other Magic the Gathering cards
I love how when they talk about the strawman decoy from Bushin no Jutsu, you show Hurricane Yellow using it :D the strawman decoy was always my favorite Ninja trick from the three Ninja Sentai
Love to see my favorite csrd game getting a chance to impress one of my favorite UA-camrs. The original introduction of Ninjas into the game came from a heavily researched fully top-down designed set about Japan and its mythos.
True, rat ninja and demon ninja were never a thing, but the worlds of MtG do include rat people and demons, so they would be plausible in the context of that reality.
7:39 As someone who plays with friends, I had a very frustrating game. While we were playing, one of my friends managed to summon a 3/1 ninja naga that made copies of itself. He swapped out one of his creatures with one that has deathtouch that killed my main defensive creature, he continually amassed an army that was practically unstoppable. I was running white and green and had no multi-target spells to deal with them. The only reason I managed to survive multiple turns was Congregate and my Orbs of Warding. Even then, I was too late and was eventually overwhelmed.
Something that went unmentioned in the video. Blue as a color has the most Flying creatures, and Black has a lot of Fear, Intimate, and even Shadow creature, which limit your Opponent's blocking options.
Ninja being blue and black has nothing to do with ninjas wearing blue; rather it's about what the colors mean philosophically. Blue is the color of knowledge. It wants to understand. Black is the color of self. It wants to make sure it is on top, no matter what. What is knowledge you keep for yourself? Secrets, which is what Ninjas are all about. Also, taking points off for non-human ninja hardly seems fair, seeing as it's explicitly not taking place in historical Japan, but on its own Asian themed plane.
Some Which Ninja suggestions: Daredevil/Matt Murdock Kay Faraday (Ace Attorney) Espio the Chameleon (Sonic the Hedgehog) Black⭐️Star (soul Eater) The Robins (Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake and Damian Wayne)
25 years old and Magic is still going strong. Man do I feel old, though. Remember my young days hearing about this game and picking up cards to play. Still have em to, just don't play anymore. :)
Just woke up, a LONG day is ahead of me. And seeing this just made me feel a whole lot better! Magic the Gathering is a game i enjoy to this day, and i was suprised you've played this game as well. (Since you've done only anime reviews, or talked about japanese culture.) ^_^ thank you for making this video sir.
I might be able to explain the demon ninja and rat ninjas. I know you once said that ninja would sometimes wear demon masks to intimidate their opponents if they got caught, and looking at not only its power and toughness, but also its kinda BS effect that's only tempered by its fairly steep mana cost, pretty intimidating. And as for the rats, i think you've also said that ninja would utilize animals in various ways, like making people think they could turn into animals by dressing them up in miniature versions of their cloths, dropping a smoke bomb, and running away with the animal in their place. That's how I rationalize those cards creation anyway.
Yup. Demon masks were most commonly used on Shinobi own territory, to scare random trespassers and enemies (most commonly used were tengu, foxes and Hania masks). If forest have bad reputation not many people did go there, especially as most of them were extremely superstitious. During infiltration mask would too stand out, though some thieves did use them as scarring they oponent was they only chance (in this case those were usually on back of they head as it give them erratic nature) if someone notice thief during sneaking (I forget how this yo-kai was called, but it is quite well known one). And yes, ninja rats were a thing. I can't imagine how confused guard would be after something like that ;D
I'm really surprised that you haven't covered Power Rangers Ninja Storm, Samurai, and Ninja Steel yet. Because....you know....Ninja and Samurai are literally in the title.
Oh it gets better on making sure that Ninjitsu can trigger. There is a land called Rogue's Passage that has the following text (Fellow magic players, I am using the older text to explain things to non players): Tap: Add a Colorless to your mana pool. 4, Tap: Target creature can’t be blocked this turn.
Basically an expensive way to ensure that you get to deploy your Ninja. Pay the four for the second effect of Rogue’s Passage, then pay the Ninjitsu cost, and if your opponent has committed all their blockers, the damage effect will trigger.
Will you be checking out & reviewing the next Magic The Gathering set, "Kamigawa Neon Empire," basically a Cyberpunk version pf Japan? It expect that will keep a lot of the "spirit" mechanics of the original Kamigawa set, because the setting borrowed HEAVILY from Shinto for the first block in the setting, & they have been posting the story on their website as of late for current sets if you're curious.
Kamigawa is known for a lot of things, but being inaccurate isn't one of them. Would love to see a video breaking down some of the other influences from that block.
Kamigawa was amazing for Japanese lore. Sucks that it wasn’t fun mechanically. But everything from the Kami to the Ninja is so wonderful. Whenever Magic bases their planes on a real historical time, they do their research
Okay, the video jumps the hype for ninjas in magic and I cant help but notice that Silent-Blade Oni isn't given as a reference to the Ongyo-ki demon mask, which might I add was believed to have actually been used in one of the more well known battles involving shinobi.
Wow, I didn't expect to see MTG here. Super happy about that. The designers of MTG knock it out of the park set after set. I'm not surprised to see this high praise for the best mechanic of the Kamigawa block.
so the obvious ninjas in magic are the ones from kamigawa and horizons, but it would be really cool to look into the hidden guild from Ravnica. Lazav the multifarious and the rest of his CIA buddies in the Dimir would be a wealth of references to study.
"Buyer's remorse at the age of 16" was the heartbreaking and too close to home thing I've heard about this game. That money could've been used for my college.
I would love a Kamigawa video from you. Kamigawa was one of my favorite settings (along with Mirroden and Ravnica) and wish Wizards would revisit that setting. I had a really good Samurai deck back in the day.
Since you did Magic the Gathering for Which Ninja, how about a Yokai Hunters episode on some Yu-Gi-Oh cards? Specifically the Mayakashi archtype since it has Yuki-Onna, Tengu, Kyubi, Oboro-Guruma, Tsuchigumo and Gashadokuro.
now i'm interested in what you have to say about the ninja cards from yugioh and the whole entire ninja world from buddyfight. yes, there's a whole entire world full of ninja's as a card game. i think cardfight has something similar too
The Nezumi may not be real but heck, it's fantasy. Thematically appropriate. They always have a few beastfolk. Cat warriors, minotaur, tigerfolk, Leonin. The moonfolk of Kamigawa look like rabbits to a degree. I think it's only a tragedy they're all evil. Rats are adorable creatures. I still miss my little snuffling nuggets.
The character I'm playing in a Strixhaven Campaign a Leonin Pact of the Blade Fiend Warlock as part of her backstory after forming her pact with a Arch-Devil class Succubus named Mira had her Planeswalker Spark awakened and during the final two weeks of Summer Vacation in between years 1 and 2 of going to Strixhaven used her Planeswalker spell to accompany one of her fellow cheerleaders a Tabaxi Artificer going to Quandrix named Akane to her home universe of the now futuristic/cyberpunk universe Kamigawa and my character got to meet and learn from the Ninja Planeswalker Kaito Shizuki who taught her more about being a Planeswalker, and why people make a big deal about them along with learning more about how to properly utilize her Necromancy Spells as like my character Kaito has one of his 2 mana colors Black.
The Ninja archetype's colors being black and blue make even more sense than just the fact that, when put together, they form the most common color worn by ninja. Blue makes sense from a gameplay standpoint since it's all about control and using whatever tricks you have up your sleeve to hinder your opponent, which is what a majority of ninja tools were used for in combat. Black makes sense from a lore standpoint since it's the color of pragmatism, which is one of the core focuses of ninja.
Hey, genji isn't exactly your typical ninja. I mean. Active during the day wih out a disguise. Launching big shurikan that hit like trucks. He's kind of a ninja tailored more toward combat.
Pretty much got the commander sets last year to grab Yuriko and build up a ninja tribal for that game type. I was ecstatic when I saw the new ninja love in Modernho. And then we have this video, which is just making me like my deck even more. Might not be able to take it apart after this.
If you ever want to dip out of video games and anime again for an episode, I would love to see you cover the ninja classes found in Pathfinder and D&D.
Even though ink eyes is probbably the most unrealistic ninja, shes still a fantastic card in my opinion! hell, ninja tribal is probably one of the more agressive blue black decks out there aside from dimir. Great video, Gaijin! never thought there would be an mtg video!
Hey gang! Trying to figure out what's up with the 360p display. I'll fix it when I can.
Would Agent 47 from the Hitman series be an unexpected ninja? If you play smart you aren't going in guns blazing. You use improvised weapons on the map, environmental assassinations, using a disguise and only killing your target and not anyone else.
Hey. Great idea. Which Ninja: Toothless- a Shinobi Dragon?!
@@tjbolton3728 great idea? Did i miss something?
@@wolfhurricane897 I dunno? What do you mean?
@@tjbolton3728 you said great idea. What was a great idea?
Kamigawa was an entire block based on Japan. It was full of legendaries tied to Japanese folklore and history.
And we NEED our Gaijinboi to tackle this world. He's the only one who can
Kamigawa was one of my favorite sets for this reason alone. I got into magic at the talenend of that set and was disappointed when I saw it discontinued.
Thats why I love that some came back. Maybe Ninjitsu can escape to be around beyond Kamigawa
I got back into magic a bit because of kamigawa, but sadly I do not have the money now to keep up with it. Really wish they'd let sets last more than a year.
Gaijin's bank account now hates you.
I love magic the gathering and this channel, would you consider just doing a video covering the Kamigawa block?
Also thanks in advance for jacking up ninja prices, I was trying to make a yuriko tech deck, lol.
I was shocked that not a single mention of Kamigawa was in the video. He'd have a field day looking at all the kami, moonfolk, equipment, and so much else they do.
yes I can see him having a field day with one of the least popular sets. Except bushido. i don't think a simple code of conduct would make you physicaly stronger. Also I think splice into arcane wouldn't have a cultural reference either.
I would love to see this, it was one of the sets to got me into the game, the story is a little long n cheeze but I would love to see someone like Gaijin to do it justice.
Raven Branwen you like rwby and you like Mtg you are amazing
I love how he used a 'No Fun Allowed' meme for blue...it's so true
Blue has exactly 3 settings for playing the game:
1. No fun allowed
2. I know everything
3. How the F*€k do you have 20 damage already?!
What do you mean no fun. I find my blue/black decks loads of fun.
“That card looks dangerous, let me nope it out of existence.”
“Ah, that’s an impressive lineup of creatures you can attack or block with. Do I tap all of them, send them to their owners hand, or kill them all? So many choices.”
In my blue/black zombie deck I’ve been having fun recently giving a creature that just got to 11/11 (or some insane amount) Aether Tunnel (enchantment aura, enchanted creature gets +1/+0 and can’t be blocked).
@@berkiangamesandacts6270*in Heavy weapons guy voice* that is little baby unblockable; look at this Master Warcrafted 20/20 with indestructible and flying.
@@berkiangamesandacts6270 master Warcraft the card i was talking about, and it is a bit over the top; though i was specifically referring to a Marit Lage being used as an unblockable 20/20 in conjunction with MW
brendan vaught I see what you mean. That one scary combo. I’d hate to be on the receiving end.
Will you cover Snake-eyes and Stormshadow from G.I. Joe? I personally would love to know what happens when ninjas from the same clan end up feuding with each other.
I mean... it probably wasn't a coincidence because they introduced ninja in a set all about a Japan-inspired setting.
They probably did research for their designs.
YES YES YES! I HAVE WAITED FOR THIS VIDEO FOR SO LONG! I REALLY WAS HOPING YOU WOULD COVER THE NINJAS OF MTG!
Tyrage's Fantasy World same
I need to hear his take on Magic’s Kamigawa block. Feels like it would be a HUGE episode, there is SO much to dive in with that block, but it would be so worth it
Kamigawa is notorious to be very copy pasted from japanese mythology, which was problematic because the general public is not well versed in japanese mythology, not even people from Japan, really.
Since then, Wizards is basing their sets more in popular culture, including the ninjas from Modern Horizons.
Alfredo Saint-Jean ya Maro has said they should have put ninjas in the first set for that reason. Even if they were not a huge part of Japan’s actual history, they resonate in pop culture so much
A couple of things worth mentioning.
1. Mana in MTG is drawn from land cards, color of mana based on the type of land. Red for mountains, white for plains, green for forests, black for swamps, blue for islands. Ninjas in MTG are mostly blue, meaning island cards, and real ninja came from the island nation Japan.
2. The insinuation that a 2/2 creature card is about as strong as a paper wall needs to be corrected. An angry mob armed with torches and pitchforks is a 1/1 creature. An angry mob, is a 1/1. Use that as a point of reference when thinking about the stats on a given creature's card.
3. "That's on paper, but what about the game?"
The game is on paper. Lol. Couldn't help myself.
4. While demon ninja were never a thing, ninja DID take advantage of the superstition of the people and used fear and misinformation to their benefit.
Sir, I am so happy you got a chance to checkout the ninjas of MTG. So much information, and you didn't even get a chance to critique the ninja weapons (equipment)
The indigo that the dye was made from does have repellent qualities (among a few other awesome features) so the plant made it possible through the dye to actually repel insects and such.
I never realized how much I wanted GG to talk about Kamigawa
Sounds like they did some legit research before making those cards, in addition to making cool fantasy creatures out of them.
I was hoping to hear more about the classic Kamigawa series.
Let's get Umazawa, Kami, and cloud people up in here.
I'm so out of the loop when it comes to Magic (that's my friends' territory), but this video does give me a slightly better idea on how it work. More importantly, the fact that actual ninjitsu is reflected in the mechanics is pretty impressive!
Thanks so much for taking a look at ninja in MtG, Gaijin! I'm really happy to see the design and execution meet your standards. A lot of other commenters are suggesting you take a closer look at MtG's Kamigawa block, and I totally agree. There's a lot that can be picked apart and talked about there.
Another thing to note; not just visually but also thematically, Ninja align with the "philosophies" of Blue and Black. You talked a bit about the resource gathering/denial aspects of these colours, but there's a little more there too. Blue is about the pursuit of knowledge, about setting aside things deemed unnecessary or distracting to follow that path; while black is about ambition and personal gain and the sacrifices necessary to make those gains. Together, they form the colour pair most associated with spies (see House Dimir in Ravnica block), courtly schemes (see the Sultai/Silumgar clan in Tarkir block), and pirates (Ixilan block); people who are willing to take carefully-researched, underhanded routes to personal gain and enlightenment, and aren't above selling or leveraging those secrets for even more gain.
Speaking of card game, how about do an episode on Nubatama and Murakumo clan in Cardfight Vanguard? They certainly are the closest thing for a ninja in the game.
So basically they need to hit fast, debilitate the opponent and cause enough chaos to make the player second guess their move. This fits the ninja tribe to a T
Thank you for uploading which ninjas it’s the best
This BGM is like a ninja.
*I CAN'T FUGGIN FIND IT ANYWHERE*
I haven't played magic in a while, but this sounds like a really cool mechanic that I haven't seen in a card game before.
After watching all the which ninja videos I'm glad that even i now can see all the details that make a ninja. Thanks Gaijin
Overall, like others have said, a lack of talking about the Kamigawa block does the Oni and Rat ninja a disservice. Also what i'm suprised at is the complete lack of acknowledging the books that accompanied the sets, as the cards from MTG reference events, people and creatures from the actual books themselves.
I would like to see a followup video talking about the books and how ninja are portrayed in the Kamigawa set of books :)
I gotta give ya props for going out of your comfort zone for Which Ninja. Shows how far you will go to find good and bad ninjas.
On the topic of Wizards of the Coast, D&D has Shadow Monks and numerous Rogues that can fit the bill for ninjas, depending on how magical you want them to be. Maybe even Rangers or Fighters!
The PC I did when I did DnD was a ranger whose specialties were tracking/hunting and archery with some sword mastery whose origin/background was street-urchin and the race I went with was surprisingly the Dragonling race.
Thanks for covering this! While I also wouldn't mind seeing coverage of Kamigawa, I'd also be curious of your analysis of Legend of the Five Rings - either the current or the original. Thanks for the videos!
So... now that Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is out and is reintroducing Ninja to the Standard format with a cyberpunk twist, any chance of a Part 2?
Actually, this fits in even better with the lore and mechanics of the colours than already shown. Yes, mechanically, blue commonly gives card draw and black makes them discard. But if you look closer throughout the years, you'll see that blue is control and black is debuffs. By lore, blue is intelligence and wisdom, control over knowledge, while black is everything evil, control over death, poison, and fear. Blue gives control over the playing field, letting you know what your opponent has, giving you cards to expand your options, giving plenty of options to just stop your opponent. And black will just make things die without worrying about dealing damage (as in "destroy" or "kill" instead of "deal X damage"), will weaken the opponent to make them easier to kill, making their monsters deal less damage and take fewer hits, while also giving control over death, with creatures that can't die or that return from death under your control. And blue and black together, called Dimir for a guild in a different set, uses both to control the board. You gather information while sabotaging your opponent. They get hurt, you draw a card. You see their hand and they discard a card of your choosing. This perfectly fits the more assassin style ninja. Together, their frequent mechanics include hexproof, which protects things, deathtouch, immediately killing, poison and wither, giving counters that weaken them, and unblockable, letting things slip by.
But I think you're focusing too heavily on the non-human ninjas as an issue. Remember, this is a world where humans aren't the only sentient creatures. Demons and oni are real, there's various anthropomorphic animal races, and magic as a whole is real. This allows various ninja traits and abilities that were exaggerated but hold some truth to be entirely true. And besides, its also fitting that some of the ninjas aren't human when there's different races. They also help explain some of the other traits unique to those cards, like how a ninja can be so strong compared to the others, by being of a race that's inherently more powerful with natural weapons like claws. Focusing on things like that as a problem feels like saying they can't be realistic purely for being in a fantasy world. Might just be how I see it though
But yeah, seeing this, I want a video on Kamigawa block, an older block completely themed to Japan. Not sure it would be best for Which Ninja specifically, though. While being where ninja creatures and the Ninjutsu mechanic first came from, there's more to the block than just ninja. Culture Shock may be better, or something like that
One: first
Two: can you do a which ninja on Snake eyes from the "G.I Joe" franchise
yess please I second this,hes even getting his own movie if im not wrong
I would personally want to see the ninja team from Lego Ninjago get anaylized.
@@thebardofshale304 really, ok I guess that makes sense
I second that, and raise another Hasbro ninja: Prowl from Transformers Animated.
STORM SHADOW.
If you're going to do a Ninja from Joe, it has to be the Head of the Arashikage clan
"Huh, Magic the Gathering Which Ninja. That's pretty cool."
0:39 sees Pathfinder iconic ninja Reiko
"DUUUUUUUDE!!!!"
Yeah, I thought it was kinda funny that he used Pathfinder's Iconic ninja in a video about ninja from a game by Wizards of the Coast.
As a fan of both your content, and magic the gathering, I'm really happy you covered this.
It doesn't need to be your main content, obv, but I'm glad you include it.
If you go over other card games with ninja themes the Murakumo and Nubatama clans in Cardfight Vanguard go over a fair few tactics used by ninja and other common shinobi traits i.e Kage Bunshin no Jutsu gaining resources hindering the opponent and Nubatama is infamous for messing with the opponents hand and returning back to hand after battle.aswell the decks are filled with Yokai inspired cards
I finally understand Ninjutsu. I really want a Ninja deck now. The playstyle seems fun. I do have a lot of Japanese theme MTG cards in my backlog box.
Ninja decks are fun, but they take some tweaking to get the synergy going. Kind of like running a Boros (Red/White) deck to win by turn 5.
If you want to check out another card game that has ninjas, try Cardfight Vanguard. It has two clans that are based on ninjas: Murakumo and Nubatama.
1.gumbas Rating is missing :(
2.i would give them a 10/10 or at least 9/10 nearly perfect score
I recently got back into a show called Huntik Secrets and Seekers. It's a show focused on exploring ancient ruins in search of artifacts, but the main gimmick of the show is that every character can summon creatures of mythology to fight. I'm interested in your take on how accurate the show is to real life mythology.
I wish it had a third season.
dunno if it's intentional or not, but playing magic makes me feel like a onmyoji, drawing upon the energy of the elements in order to summon powerful and deadly creatures that fight along side of me, though still never 100% at my whim as they will still act of their own accord, as with red and black often will.
i dunno, probably wasn't intentional, but it does feel nice y'know
Normally, I would've said "Not very." But GG keeps shocking me with the answer.
If you're doing card games now, do a Which Ninja episode for the Murakumo clan of Cardfight Vanguard.
I would actually like to see you go in depth about how believable the rat and demon ninja are, within the context of Magic's world.
If your looking for ninjas in a card game Cardfight Vanguard has two ninja clans Nubatama and Murakumo
Blazing torchic
I have watched a few episodes of that show but could never realy get in to it. But it stil seemd prety good
There's also Katana World in Buddyfight
Let’s not forget the ninja archetype in Yu-Gi-Oh. Although I think you could probably get more interesting cultural stuff from the Six Samurai archetype
I would seriously suggest this if I was on their patron lol- So interesting to see how he analyzes Dragon Ninjas lol
Yeah with the Murakumo having a focus on gathering resources to get out stronger creatures and unleashing powerful and useful buffs on yourself and the Nubatama being infamous for royally screwing over an opposing player over if said opposing player isn't careful.
I feel the nezumi fit that method of using pests as distractions, with themselves being physical representations of the technique. I mean Gnat Miser and Locust Miser exist as well.
Ooh I've been waiting for this episode ever since you showed Kamigawa in your earlier videos. ^_^
this episode makes me really happy and it shows the amount of details rnd puts into their sets.
The Demon ninja is probably connected to how Ninja might wear Oni masks for intimidation. And having them be a legitimate demon is bonus points since that'd make them more effective against there samurai foes so that could be one angle
I'm DMing a D&D campaign right now and one of my players is playing a monk and wants to go way of the shadow with him. Because of all you've taught me I gave him a pair of shuko and I'm giving him a special book to teach him advanced techniques based off the nine kuji. Thanks for all the cool ideas!
Rewatching this after the "Which Samurai" video on Neon Dynasty.
WotC did their homework for Kamigawa. While of course there are exaggerations and magical super things, they kept a lot of lore and mythology references close to their origins.
At first I was wondering who posted this video with a weird Ninja MTG thumbnail. I am subbed to a few channels and none of them fit the bill till I finally looked at the channel name (which I don't usually do cause I can tell who is who by thumbnail design). I knew I had to watch this, I enjoy the which ninja series a lot and am always interested in the deep dive into the characters to tell if they fit the bill. But this... I would have never expected in a MILLION years, and as a very avid magic player and fan I am so SO happy you made this video :)
I know you like to do mostly Japanese folklore and history but it’d be really cool to do a few episodes about other folklores and references in other Magic the Gathering cards
I love how when they talk about the strawman decoy from Bushin no Jutsu, you show Hurricane Yellow using it :D the strawman decoy was always my favorite Ninja trick from the three Ninja Sentai
Love to see my favorite csrd game getting a chance to impress one of my favorite UA-camrs. The original introduction of Ninjas into the game came from a heavily researched fully top-down designed set about Japan and its mythos.
True, rat ninja and demon ninja were never a thing, but the worlds of MtG do include rat people and demons, so they would be plausible in the context of that reality.
I'm surprised there wasn't a red black ninja archetype in the most recent block.
FINALLY; A BRAND NEW WHICH NINJA VIDEO!!!
Honestly; I'm MUCH more into Shinobi than I am into Japanese Monsters from Japanese Folklore
Well I do love both of them, but there's always going to be a new episode of each every month! ^_^
I love both because I can sneakily try to make more interesting D&D characters
I need a Ninja of the New Moon poster for my bedroom now! That card's illustration is just badass awesome!
7:39 As someone who plays with friends, I had a very frustrating game. While we were playing, one of my friends managed to summon a 3/1 ninja naga that made copies of itself. He swapped out one of his creatures with one that has deathtouch that killed my main defensive creature, he continually amassed an army that was practically unstoppable. I was running white and green and had no multi-target spells to deal with them. The only reason I managed to survive multiple turns was Congregate and my Orbs of Warding. Even then, I was too late and was eventually overwhelmed.
Something that went unmentioned in the video. Blue as a color has the most Flying creatures, and Black has a lot of Fear, Intimate, and even Shadow creature, which limit your Opponent's blocking options.
Every time I see Antony Cummins and Yoshie Minami's names put a smile on my face.
Ninja being blue and black has nothing to do with ninjas wearing blue; rather it's about what the colors mean philosophically. Blue is the color of knowledge. It wants to understand. Black is the color of self. It wants to make sure it is on top, no matter what. What is knowledge you keep for yourself? Secrets, which is what Ninjas are all about. Also, taking points off for non-human ninja hardly seems fair, seeing as it's explicitly not taking place in historical Japan, but on its own Asian themed plane.
How about the skaven ninja clan in warhamer fantasy, that would probably be an interesting topic.
Some Which Ninja suggestions:
Daredevil/Matt Murdock
Kay Faraday (Ace Attorney)
Espio the Chameleon (Sonic the Hedgehog)
Black⭐️Star (soul Eater)
The Robins (Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake and Damian Wayne)
25 years old and Magic is still going strong. Man do I feel old, though. Remember my young days hearing about this game and picking up cards to play. Still have em to, just don't play anymore. :)
Just woke up, a LONG day is ahead of me. And seeing this just made me feel a whole lot better! Magic the Gathering is a game i enjoy to this day, and i was suprised you've played this game as well. (Since you've done only anime reviews, or talked about japanese culture.) ^_^ thank you for making this video sir.
I might be able to explain the demon ninja and rat ninjas. I know you once said that ninja would sometimes wear demon masks to intimidate their opponents if they got caught, and looking at not only its power and toughness, but also its kinda BS effect that's only tempered by its fairly steep mana cost, pretty intimidating. And as for the rats, i think you've also said that ninja would utilize animals in various ways, like making people think they could turn into animals by dressing them up in miniature versions of their cloths, dropping a smoke bomb, and running away with the animal in their place. That's how I rationalize those cards creation anyway.
Yup. Demon masks were most commonly used on Shinobi own territory, to scare random trespassers and enemies (most commonly used were tengu, foxes and Hania masks). If forest have bad reputation not many people did go there, especially as most of them were extremely superstitious. During infiltration mask would too stand out, though some thieves did use them as scarring they oponent was they only chance (in this case those were usually on back of they head as it give them erratic nature) if someone notice thief during sneaking (I forget how this yo-kai was called, but it is quite well known one). And yes, ninja rats were a thing. I can't imagine how confused guard would be after something like that ;D
Not sure if you're reading this, but there are also Shinobi in Fire Emblem fates you could cover.
Good Vid!!
I'm really surprised that you haven't covered Power Rangers Ninja Storm, Samurai, and Ninja Steel yet.
Because....you know....Ninja and Samurai are literally in the title.
This show doesn't cover samurai, just shinobi.
@@raymondbrasuell2564 I know, I just mean in general I'm surprised he hasn't covered them yet.
Kamen Rider Shinobi?
Cool vid. One of my first EDH decks was ninja tribal. One of my fave creature types from way back.
Oh it gets better on making sure that Ninjitsu can trigger. There is a land called Rogue's Passage that has the following text (Fellow magic players, I am using the older text to explain things to non players):
Tap: Add a Colorless to your mana pool.
4, Tap: Target creature can’t be blocked this turn.
Don't forget Suspicious Bookcase.
Basically an expensive way to ensure that you get to deploy your Ninja. Pay the four for the second effect of Rogue’s Passage, then pay the Ninjitsu cost, and if your opponent has committed all their blockers, the damage effect will trigger.
Fantastic episode! My favorite card game now with an awesome episode of one of my favorite shows. Wonderful!
This was quite a surprise. Another great analysis video!
@11:49
Ninja Score = 8/10 Shuriken!!
Will you be checking out & reviewing the next Magic The Gathering set, "Kamigawa Neon Empire," basically a Cyberpunk version pf Japan? It expect that will keep a lot of the "spirit" mechanics of the original Kamigawa set, because the setting borrowed HEAVILY from Shinto for the first block in the setting, & they have been posting the story on their website as of late for current sets if you're curious.
Loved this video! Please consider doing a Tenchu video for this series at some point!
Kamigawa is known for a lot of things, but being inaccurate isn't one of them. Would love to see a video breaking down some of the other influences from that block.
How Ninja is Konoe Kikyo from Bravely Default?
I feel like Oboromaru is a blend between popular , folk and historical Shinobi
Kamigawa was amazing for Japanese lore. Sucks that it wasn’t fun mechanically. But everything from the Kami to the Ninja is so wonderful. Whenever Magic bases their planes on a real historical time, they do their research
Btw, Kami of the Crescent Moon is one of my favorite cards of all time. Fits perfectly in my Nekusar commander deck
Okay, the video jumps the hype for ninjas in magic and I cant help but notice that Silent-Blade Oni isn't given as a reference to the Ongyo-ki demon mask, which might I add was believed to have actually been used in one of the more well known battles involving shinobi.
MTG has a ton of cool history inspired lore. Glad you are grabbing some.
Wow, I didn't expect to see MTG here. Super happy about that. The designers of MTG knock it out of the park set after set. I'm not surprised to see this high praise for the best mechanic of the Kamigawa block.
so the obvious ninjas in magic are the ones from kamigawa and horizons, but it would be really cool to look into the hidden guild from Ravnica. Lazav the multifarious and the rest of his CIA buddies in the Dimir would be a wealth of references to study.
"Buyer's remorse at the age of 16" was the heartbreaking and too close to home thing I've heard about this game. That money could've been used for my college.
I was talking about magic the gathering just YESTERDAY! HOLY HELL MAN!
I would love a Kamigawa video from you. Kamigawa was one of my favorite settings (along with Mirroden and Ravnica) and wish Wizards would revisit that setting. I had a really good Samurai deck back in the day.
Since you did Magic the Gathering for Which Ninja, how about a Yokai Hunters episode on some Yu-Gi-Oh cards? Specifically the Mayakashi archtype since it has Yuki-Onna, Tengu, Kyubi, Oboro-Guruma, Tsuchigumo and Gashadokuro.
Here's something I REALLY think you should cover:
What is the most historically accurate ninja game?
now i'm interested in what you have to say about the ninja cards from yugioh and the whole entire ninja world from buddyfight. yes, there's a whole entire world full of ninja's as a card game. i think cardfight has something similar too
The Nezumi may not be real but heck, it's fantasy. Thematically appropriate. They always have a few beastfolk. Cat warriors, minotaur, tigerfolk, Leonin. The moonfolk of Kamigawa look like rabbits to a degree. I think it's only a tragedy they're all evil. Rats are adorable creatures. I still miss my little snuffling nuggets.
The character I'm playing in a Strixhaven Campaign a Leonin Pact of the Blade Fiend Warlock as part of her backstory after forming her pact with a Arch-Devil class Succubus named Mira had her Planeswalker Spark awakened and during the final two weeks of Summer Vacation in between years 1 and 2 of going to Strixhaven used her Planeswalker spell to accompany one of her fellow cheerleaders a Tabaxi Artificer going to Quandrix named Akane to her home universe of the now futuristic/cyberpunk universe Kamigawa and my character got to meet and learn from the Ninja Planeswalker Kaito Shizuki who taught her more about being a Planeswalker, and why people make a big deal about them along with learning more about how to properly utilize her Necromancy Spells as like my character Kaito has one of his 2 mana colors Black.
The Ninja archetype's colors being black and blue make even more sense than just the fact that, when put together, they form the most common color worn by ninja.
Blue makes sense from a gameplay standpoint since it's all about control and using whatever tricks you have up your sleeve to hinder your opponent, which is what a majority of ninja tools were used for in combat.
Black makes sense from a lore standpoint since it's the color of pragmatism, which is one of the core focuses of ninja.
Hey, genji isn't exactly your typical ninja. I mean. Active during the day wih out a disguise. Launching big shurikan that hit like trucks. He's kind of a ninja tailored more toward combat.
I've never really played the game, but I still have a Samurai deck that my uncle gave to me many years ago.
"Alright, I guess that's my cue! *Reeeal ninja wear blue!* "
Rhymes! 😃
Any chance we can get the deck list of the Ninja deck you were playing? I'm curious
Pretty much got the commander sets last year to grab Yuriko and build up a ninja tribal for that game type. I was ecstatic when I saw the new ninja love in Modernho.
And then we have this video, which is just making me like my deck even more. Might not be able to take it apart after this.
What's this? A new Which Ninja? ABOUT MAGIC?! I'M DREAMING THIS IS THE BEST
Edit: Please, PLEASE talk about Kamigawa!
If you ever want to dip out of video games and anime again for an episode, I would love to see you cover the ninja classes found in Pathfinder and D&D.
Even though ink eyes is probbably the most unrealistic ninja, shes still a fantastic card in my opinion! hell, ninja tribal is probably one of the more agressive blue black decks out there aside from dimir. Great video, Gaijin! never thought there would be an mtg video!
I like how you say that blue is no fun allowed when my favorite color to play is blue, followed by white