The Top 20 Ninjutsu Enablers for Yuriko

Jake FitzSimons • December 5, 2022

 

Greetings, Ninjas, Jake FitzSimons here to run you through the best Ninjutsu-enablers ever printed for Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow. She's the de facto Ninja commander, a complete and total departure from fair design, and easily my favorite legendary ever. If you've somehow avoided running into the third most popular commander of the last two years, I'll run you through the opening play pattern.

  1. Play a ≤1-mana creature
  2. Attack with said creature
  3. Pay UB for Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
  4. Drown your opponents in damage and card advantage

Regardless of power level, Yuriko's first two turns are a foregone conclusion. But it's step one I want to dig into. Dimir decks have access to over 300 creatures that could work as enablers, so how to choose? The easiest solution is simple: creatures with unblockable somewhere in their text. Which brings us to a prelude, the dishonorable mentions.

Dishonorable Mentions

While they can't be blocked - and an unblocked creature is just what you need to enable Ninjutsu - this is taking the requirements way too literally. Compare "unblockable" to flying? If all three of your opponents have a flying blocker, you've got bigger problems than not being able to activate Ninjutsu. On turn one, there's no chance. This line of thought goes even further. In cEDH, creatures are smaller and less expendable than in typical Commander, meaning there's effectively zero chance, even going last, that a Yuriko pilot will ever run into three viable blockers on turn two.

In the majority of situations, opponents are not willing to trade their own development tools to slow your own. Of course, fast mana exists, and bigger creatures can land sooner than you anticipate, but the chances remain low that you'll run into a completely locked board before getting Yuriko into play. If this does happen, you'll need to rely on effects like Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive and Cover of Darkness to get through once Yuriko lands anyway. This means unblockability, while nice - particularly as the game goes on - is not good enough by itself.

In fact, some of the strongest creatures on this list have no form of evasion to speak of. They're as susceptible to blockers as Yuriko herself, and yet they're still leagues ahead of the Shorestalkers and Tormented Souls of the world, either due to their additional utility, nonexistent cost, or weird and wonderful applications at the Commander table, so read on for the best twenty Ninjutsu-enablers ever printed.

Finally, I'm looking at Yuriko from a cEDH perspective here. A lot will hold true in high power games, less so the lower power levels. I'm of a mind that Yuriko is so inherently broken that she's inappropriate for anything less than high power games, which is why I'm assessing these enablers from a cEDH perspective. 


Top 20 Ninjutsu-Enablers For Yuriko

Silver Raven

To see the negligible difference between flying and unblockable, compare Silver Raven to Mist-Cloaked Herald. Imagine how many scenarios where true unblockable would prove more beneficial than being able to scry 1, something you'll do more than once if you replay the Raven after Ninjutsuing Yuriko. If you still prefer Mist-Cloaked Herald, bravo, you have a very active imagination.

Silver Raven is the first artifact-enabler on the list, so it's worth noting their major upside, synergising with Covert Technician and enabling Mox Opal, and their major downside, feeding Dockside Extortionist. There's not a lot you can do about the Goblin, but if you're trying to eke extra advantage out of artifact synergies, bump Silver Raven a few spots up the list.

It's also important to realise blue cards have an inherent advantage: you can pitch them to other blue spells. Yuriko absolutely loves free spells because they flip for a lot of damage and she rarely has the mana available for conventional counters. Force of Will, Force of Negation, and Misdirection are Yuriko staples, and the more adventurous will dabble with Commandeer and even Subtlety. For this reason, it can often be better to return a blue creature than a black or colorless one when Ninjutsuing an unblocked creature.

Stonecoil Serpent

Stonecoil Serpent has a very specific form of unblockable, one that scales with power level like few other creatures. Competitive EDH is overrun with the terrible trio of Thrasios, Triton Hero, Tymna the Weaver, and Kraum, Ludevic's Opus. These Partners are so common and played so early that being able to dodge them completely can function as pseudo-unblockability in the early game. Trample won't come up in any appreciable way, but, speaking of Kraum, Ludevic's Opus, reach will. In a drawn-out game, that 4/4 flying can become a real threat, not to mention trigger draws when paired with a Tymna the Weaver. It goes beyond Partners though. Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, Pako, Arcane Retriever, The Gitrog Monster, Niv-Mizzet, Parun - there's a surprising number of threatening creatures that can't touch Stonecoil.

It also plays nicely with Dark Ritual and Mana Crypt1 in the event you have spare mana, and it dodges Abrupt Decay, Assassin's Trophy, and Fire Covenant. A final cool trick with Stonecoil Serpent is casting it for zero. Don't laugh! Yes, it'll go to the graveyard, but that's good news if you're looking to feed a Temporal Extortion or Dig Through Time. If you've got a Flusterstorm in hand and you're anticipating a counter war, you can even use it to raise the Storm count preemptively, same as any other zero-cost spell. Just hope your opponents don't have Flusterstorms of their own!

Sidisi's Faithful

As a 0/4, Sidisi's Faithful is almost the worst attacker on the list. By turn three, you don't have much hope of actually connecting (insofar as a 0-power creature actually "connects" with anything) unless someone swings out, but the good news is you don't need to. By the time the board is full enough that a 0/4 can't go unblocked, there's a big enough target it will switch to its second mode, Unsummon.

Spending a single mana to bounce a Kraum, Ludevic's Opus, a Kenrith, the Returned King, or a The Gitrog Monster is a massive tempo swing, but even hitting a Tymna the Weaver will suffice. What matters is spending one mana to their three or more. Sidisi's Faithful might not have any evasion of its own, but this Exploit effect can easily clear the board of the most threatening blocker in your way. One of the strongest things about this bounce effect is that it's stapled to a creature. You won't trigger Mystic Remora, and you won't be stopped by the majority of blue counterspells, like An Offer You Can't Refuse, Swan Song, and Fierce Guardianship.

Finally, the Exploit trigger can even be useful to get Yuriko back into the command zone if you need to Ninjutsu her back into play or on the off chance you're dealing with a Kenrith's Transformation or Darksteel Mutation2. Hey, I've stolen an Academy Rector with Gilded Drake and sacrificed it to Sidisi's Faithful to pull Cover of Darkness into play. Get creative.

Fourth Bridge Prowler

While Fourth Bridge Prowler lacks unblockability in the conventional sense of the word, the ability to remove x/1 creatures and force opponents into making unfortunate blocking decisions can often prove just as good. The rogue from Aether Revolt is at its most potent in the early game, where it can snap up opposing creature development.

The easiest, most common targets are dorks. A quick glance at green staples shows that Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Noble Hierarch, Ignoble Hierarch, Arbor Elf and Birds of Paradise are all heavily played cEDH cards and common turn-one plays. Nothing feels quite as good as having removal stapled to your opening play. Beyond the greenery, Notion Thief, Aven Mindcensor, and the almighty Esper Sentinel sit at one toughness, the perfect targets for Fourth Bridge Prowler

It gets really interesting when you start playing it from from turn three and beyond, around the time the board gets gummed up with 2/2s and beyond. Usually a 2/2 is a roadblock for a Yuriko, but Fourth Bridge Prowler's debilitating effect solves this in two ways. Play it before swinging and force your opponent to lose their now 1/1 creature if they want to avoid damage, or play it after they've blocked, thinking their creature was safe. The best Fourth Bridge Prowler is the one you never cast. Flipping one with Yuriko and letting the table know they can't safely play an x/1 is even better than ever actually having to spend any mana on it.

Siren Stormtamer

Siren Stormtamer is one of the most meta-specific choices on this list. It's flying, it's pitchable, it passes the basic requirements, but its ability to neuter a removal spell is what makes it worthwhile. Granted, Yuriko is much more resilient to removal than other commanders by virtue of totally avoiding commander tax, but that's not to say she's impervious. She'll still eat her fair share of targeted removal when opponents get desperate enough. Time Yuriko spends anywhere other than tapped and attacking is time wasted, and if that's something you're running into frequently, Siren Stormtamer is your answer.

I also give extra points to Siren Stormtamer for warding off stray Gilded Drakes. While she's not particularly useful for an opponent, it's debilitating having Yuriko stolen, and given how frequently she's in play, she's almost always a target. You still need to hold up mana to make Siren Stormtamer worthwhile (if you're tapping out with this Pirate in play, you may as well be playing anything else) but creature-based countermagic has the same advantage I discussed with Sidisi's Faithful: it's harder to counter.

Gingerbrute

There are only two hasty creatures in Dimir's whole cardpool that cost one mana and work as a Ninjutsu-enabler. Given that lifelink may as well be flavor text, we have no interest in Banehound. But Gingerbrute has baked-in (literally) unblockability, making it at a Yuriko deck's only real way to Ninjutsu her into play on turn one. That's unlikely though. The real appeal is how Gingerbrute helps compensate in the wake of a boardwipe.

The broken nature of Commander Ninjutsu makes Yuriko more resilient to removal than other commanders, but a resolved boardwipe will set your creature development back to zero, the same as everyone else at the table. No creatures means no Ninjas, and no Ninjas means no flips. Gingerbrute doesn't solve this, but it does get you back up and running faster than anything else in the deck. With enough mana and a defenseless opponent, Gingerbrute's speed can come in handy by getting an extra Ninja into play on turn three with the likes of Moon-Circuit Hacker, Skullsnatcher, or Mistblade Shinobi.

If your local meta is heavy on Toxic Deluge, Fire Covenant, or the recently printed Brotherhood's End, Gingerbrute is a great response. When presented with a choice of enabler to run out while developing in the midgame, take note of your opponents. If you suspect a boardwipe, remember nobody can catch the gingerbread man and hold it back.

Thieves' Guild Enforcer

Thieves' Guild Enforcer is one of two creatures on this list with flash, a keyword Yuriko would love to have a lot more access to. One of the most challenging decisions any Yuriko pilot has to make is when to develop and when to hold back interaction. This is a challenge for all decks, but Yuriko is uniquely starved for mana and dependent on permanents to make much of anything happen. Flash creatures simplify this, allowing one to develop if their interaction proves unnecessary. This small change in flexibility can be the difference between a Dispel that saved the game and a Demonic Consultation that went unchallenged.

As to Thieves' Guild Enforcer's specific advantages, she doesn't begin the game with an unblockable effect, but she gains one quickly as your opponents fill their own graves. Presuming she's your opener, you'll mill two on turn one and another two on turn three if you redevelop with her as your enabler. That means by the time you really need unblockable, she's a 3/2 with deathtouch, which is awfully close. Beyond self-enabling, that mill is the best part of Thieves' Guild Enforcer, the perfect counter to the topdeck tutor cycle that sees play in nearly every deck with access to them:

Try this one weird Rogue. Topdeck tutors hate her!

This is an almost Opposition Agent gotcha moment in my opinion. People play around three open mana if they suspect an Agent, but nobody plays around just one open mana, particularly not when it's black. Sending someone's combo piece directly to the bin is a very satisfying feeling, especially when you can do it again post-Ninjutsu. If Thieves' Guild Enforcer is your opening enabler, you have two choices: make sure your opponents realise you're holding it so they play awkwardly and leave their tutor in hand, or hope they forget it and surprise them when they should have known better.

Hope of Ghirapur

Hope of Ghirapur is the closest thing you can get to Ranger-Captain of Eos without being in white. It's limited, conditional, and only targets one player, but you just can't find this elsewhere in Dimir3. An opponent's hand with seven counterspells is as good as a hand with zero when a Hope of Ghirapur is swinging in their direction. If they don't have removal, Yuriko will have protection.

This little Thopter is very good at protecting a Thassa's Oracle win, not so much at protecting a big board of Ninjas. Because you can't sacrifice and Silence until after combat, Hope of Ghirapur won't be useful until your second main phase, but that's still more than enough protection to make a win happen. You can also use it as a straight tempo play if you're especially confident the chosen opponent doesn't have many creatures to play. I'm fond of targetting Polymorph lists with Hope of Ghirapur because you can be sure you'll stunt their growth. It's almost a Time Walk! Finally, remember that, despite its legendary status, Hope of Ghirapur will not turn on Mox Amber, a common misplay/misconception.

Phyrexian Walker

An important feature of zero-cost creatures is how much they improve the first three turns for any Yuriko deck. Freeing up your first mana on turn one can be an additional enabler, a bonafide Ninja, or holding up crucial interaction, that's obvious. Less so is how it prevents discarding to hand size. Yuriko players often find themselves with too many cards in hand at the end of turn two, thanks to flipping a card with Yuriko and bouncing an enabler back to hand. "I have too many cards" is the opposite of a problem, but free cost creatures more than solve it by virtue of being... free. This also means you already have an enabler in play on your third turn, increasing the likelihood of getting a second Nina into play. It's almost worth thinking of zero-mana creatures as fast mana in a Yuriko deck.

As for Phyrexian Walker itself, it's the weakest of the bunch. At 0/3, it won't lose a fight with a wet tissue, but it won't win either. From the moment all three players have untapped creatures in play, Phyrexian Walker becomes a Phyrexian Sitter. At least, until it has a friend. More creatures on board is still better than fewer because you can concentrate multiple creatures at a single player and guarantee a few are unblocked. While Phyrexian Walker will go from one of the best creatures in the deck to one of the worst as the game goes on, you can always count on it as a sturdy blocker. Thankfully, the immense power of having it in an opening hand overcomes any flaws it may have down the track.

Mausoleum Wanderer

If you have any experience with Merfolk, you'll know how deceptively powerful Cursecatcher once was. I'm repeating myself when it comes to counters attached to creatures, but the broad utility of Mausoleum Wanderer's is one of the best things about it. It's a rattlesnake, a promise of a counterspell to come and a powerful psychological tool. You'll never know just how much impact Mausoleum Wanderer actually has because you can't see always see how it's changing your opponent's development.

They might have had an Ad Nauseam to go on turn three, but there's no way they'll spend five mana when you can sacrifice Mausoleum Wanderer. They could have had a turn one Wheel, but they weren't willing to spend their fast mana on the chance you countered to blow them out. This makes it a powerful political tool, but one that can be used against you. Take care not to be bullied into sacrificing Mausoleum Wanderer ahead of schedule when an opponent claims to have no counters of their own. Unless it's a life-or-death situation, call their bluff.

It's also worth remembering a good Yuriko deck has more than one Spirit. Universal Automaton, Mothdust Changeling, Changeling Outcast? All Spirits. If it's your turn and you're anticipating countermagic, be sure to buff Mausoleum Wanderer with those enter-the-battlefield triggers. If its not your turn, try flashing in Spectral Sailor.

Universal Automaton

The weakest of the three Changelings and a card I one day look forward to cutting. It's tempting to say "Universal Automaton is a colorless Ninja" and leave it at that, but because this is the first enabler that's also a Ninja, it's worth discussing. No matter how hard you squint, there's no unblockability to see here. There's no utility, no repeatable effect, it can't even be pitched to anything. But a Ninja it remains, and that's enough. If Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow could play more one-mana Ninjas, she would.

Universal Automaton is a feast or famine sort of card. On turn one, it's an average enabler, unlikely to blocked, good enough to get Yuriko into play. Thereafter, it either sits in place like a bump on a log waiting for an open opponent or it goes to town swinging alongside its flesh-and-blood Ninja siblings. The former is undeniably dismal, but the latter is so good as to make it worthwhile. One-mana Ninjas are incredible for the incredible opportunities they create with fast mana and zero-cost creatures. If you can land Universal Automaton alongside another enabler on turn one, you'll be rewarded with two flips when you Ninjutsu in Yuriko. Those are the sort of hands you want to mulligan for.

Signal Pest

The most important thing to know about Signal Pest is that you're probably misinterpreting the art. It's not a beak with a blue eye you can see pointed to the right, it's actually the pest's claw. Look closely!

Yuriko Ninjutsu Enablers - Signal Pest
At a glance, I still see some kind of robot chicken. It's more obvious on the WPN Printing.

That aside, Signal Pest is an incredible tool at all stages of the game for a Yuriko deck. It has flying in all but name, and a boon that gives it all but unblockable, already putting it a few steps ahead of Mist-Cloaked Herald and its ilk. Signal Pest's real power lies in its anthem.

While the Battle Cry trigger can add up to enough damage to get someone over the edge and out of the game (seriously, think about how often you flip enough to get someone in single digits), the major benefit comes from getting otherwise blockable creatures to a power level that they force opponents to either trade or make unfavorable blocks. The best example is Yuriko herself. There are no shortage of x/2 creatures floating around in cEDH, total roadblocks for our Ninja queen. Tymna the Weaver is the worst of them, sitting smug at 2/2, just the right numbers to bounce harmlessly off Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow. Take Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow to a 2/3 and that'll be a one-sided bounce.

Memnite

The most vanilla creature ever printed, and for my money, the best Construct ever printed. Everything above about Phyrexian Walker applies to Memnite, except being 1/1 helps make it useful for a little while longer. An opponent with an untapped x/1 creature will block Phyrexian Walker till the Crows come home, but they'll have to make a real decision blocking Memnite. If the untapped creature at their disposal is a high-value creature, like Notion Thief, Aven Mindcensor, or Esper Sentinel, blocking is out of the question. If it's a lower-value creature that's outlived its usefulness, like Elvish Mystic, they may well block, but the Yuriko player is still ahead. Memnite traded up!

Spectral Sailor

Spectral Sailor is to Cloud Pirates as Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is to Jackal Pup. In the modern era of Magic, a single mana buys a lot of text on a creature. Spectral Sailor is great for similar reasons as Thieves' Guild Enforcer, plus it has superior evasion and a better color identity. While it can't counter topdecks like its black counterpart, it can serve as a slow source of card advantage and even as an infinite mana outlet, similar to Thrasios, Triton Hero.

This looks neat but useless given Yuriko decks don't naturally run ways to produce infinite mana. Or don't they? Any Yuriko player worth their salt is going to be playing Sakashima's Student, one of the finest Ninjas ever printed. Likewise, any cEDH pod with red is going to have Dockside Extortionist. Courtesy of the strange way Ninjutsu works, you can put these two together and make infinite mana.

Combo explained here on Commanderspellbook

The only limit on how many times you can activate Ninjutsu is the amount of mana you have. When one of those creatures is Dockside Extortionist, if you can produce five or more Treasures (presuming Yuriko is the other Ninja, four Treasures is enough with a cheaper Ninjutsu creature), you can create infinite mana. That's usually good enough to carry you to victory, but if you have Spectral Sailor in play, you can draw your whole deck on the spot and win as you please.

Mothdust Changeling

Mothdust Changeling was once the only one-mana Changeling Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow had at her disposal. Back in 2018 when she was still fresh off the presses and easily the most interesting card printed in Commander 18. We've come a long way since then, but Mothdust Changeling hasn't gone anywhere, and for good reason. It isn't quite on the level of Changeling Outcast, the best of all Changelings, but it's a few steps ahead of Universal Automaton courtesy of the conditional evasion and being pitchable to free blue spells.

Faerie Seer

We've now reached the must-haves. If you have a Yuriko deck and you're not playing any of these next cards, I'd love to know why!

Faerie Seer was direct confirmation that someone on the Modern Horizons design team had a Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow deck. It's one mana, it's blue, it's evasive, it has utility at all stages of the game and it manipulates the top deck. What more could you ask for? Paired with fetchlands, tutors, Scroll Rack, Brainstorm, and a host of other tools besides, Faerie Seer is always pulling serious weight in any Yuriko deck.

Whether it's smoothing your opening draws, shuffling away useless cards or best of all, setting up Shadow of Mortality, Blinkmoth Infusion, or Draco for a double-digit damage explosion, Faerie Seer is being useful. Perhaps moreso than any other card on this list, Faerie Seer benefits from being played over and over again. For that reason, when presented with a choice of creatures to return with Ninjutsu, Faerie Seer is almost always the right choice.

Wingcrafter

Unblockable might not be enough by itself to justify an enabler. But double unblockable? Like Daedalus, Wingcrafter is here to help you soar, and it's a must-have for any Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow lineup. Any opening hand with a Wingcrafter is likely to be a good one because it means you don't have to worry about finding evasion for Yuriko and you can swing with impunity. Just don't fly to close to the sun: having Wingcrafter removed after you declare attacks is going to cause problems.

Wingcrafter really shines as a gap-filler. Few Ninjas actually have unblockable, and given the likes of Ingenious Infiltrator or Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion is a sure path to victory. If you have Cover of Darkness/Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive in play or Wonder in the graveyard, Wingcrafter suddenly becomes redundant, but like everything else on the list, it's still a creature and it can enable Ninjutsu all the same.

Changeling Outcast

It might seem funny that one of my top picks for best enabler is almost identical - in fact a direct reference - to Tormented Soul, one of my Dishonorable Mentions. The only difference between the two is the Changeling typing. And just like Universal Automaton and Mothdust Changeling before it, the fact that Changeling Outcast is not just a permanently unblockable enabler but also a Ninja makes it one of the best all round creatures for Yuriko of all time. You can't go wrong with Changeling Outcast, it's as good on turn one as it is on turn ten.

Ornithopter

Regardless of the pilot, playgroup, or budget, developing Yuriko players never fail to include Ornithopter4. For good reason, it's everything you could ever want in a Ninjutsu enabler. For all the utility of everything above, it's impossible to beat the raw efficiency of a completely free creature with unblockable. If I could run thirteen copies of Ornithopter, I think I would. It's the best possible enabler you can have on turn one and it retains relevancy at every stage of the game. It's the smoothest Ninjutsu-enabler ever printed and you won't find a better one in all of Magic.

It has all the upsides of Memnite and Phyrexian Walker with none of the downside. Being an x/2 means it can start blocking Tymna the Weaver attackers if they start coming your way. Being zero mana means the only reason not to play it is a Rule of Law or a Rhystic Study. Being one of the oldest creatures and more frequently reprinted creatures in Magic's history means there's over eight different art treatments and 25 Commander-legal versions. What's not to love?

Thousand-Faced Shadow

Thousand-Faced Shadow is a little like Trickery Charm5 in that it reads like something printed alongside Yuriko in a precon. It's just that perfect, that specifically designed to do everything a Yuriko deck could possibly want to do. I'll always be thankful for everything Yuriko got in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. 

It flies, it has Ninja typing, and it even has Ninjutsu. No other creature on this list ticks all three of those boxes and it's unlikely we'll see another for a very, very long time. Even without Ninjutsu it would be exceptional, but the activated ability takes it over the edge and pushes it into "greatest Ninja of all time" territory. Four mana looks prohibitive, but there are a lot of attacking creatures in a Yuriko deck worth copying. Prosperous Thief and Ingenious Infiltrator are easily the best, but having a second copy of Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive in Ninja form, getting an additional Faerie Seer trigger in Ninja form, just about anything will do.

Unfortunately because Thousand-Faced Shadow can only target your own creatures, you can't assemble infinite mana with an opposing Dockside Extortionist the same way you can with Sakashima's Student. However! If you have assembled infinite mana with that trick or any other, Thousand-Faced Shadow can stand in for Spectral Sailor in the outlet department. Simply go to combat with a nonlegendary creature, a Ninjutsu creature and a Thousand-Faced Shadow and you can loop the Ninjas for infinite attacking clones. This is of course not something that will come up often, but knowing just how much mileage you can get out of every enabler is crucial for a good Yuriko pilot.

We've reached the end and I can't stress the point enough: Ninjas are everything. Like any Dimir or Dimir+ deck in competitive EDH, the final goal is Thassa's Oracle. You can mess around with Doomsday, raw damage, or casting Enter the Infinite for free off Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion, but the path of least resistance and the best way to win the game is via Thassa's Oracle. But unlike other decks that rely on a myriad of card advantage pieces, Yuriko gets there with Ninjas. Without them, you may as well play Tymna the Weaver.


And that's it, those are the brightest bulbs in the barn. They come in many shapes and sizes, they've all got different tricks up their sleeves and not one of them is playable for the sake of unblockability alone. Granted, the average Yuriko needs somewhere between twelve and fifteen Ninjustsu-enablers, so ranking 20 might seem overkill, but it's important to tailor your list to your meta.

If you're running into a lot of creatures, Sidisi's Faithful and Fourth Bridge Prowler are going to be a lot more effective than Hope of Ghirapur or Mausoleum Wanderer. If your meta has homogenised into a Partner party, you'll have better luck with Stonecoil Serpent than you will with Gingerbrute, and the inverse is true if you keep coming up against boardwipes. There are even cards I've left out that have their place, like Sage of Epityr, in a hyper burn focused list, Deepwood Legate, in a green-infested meta, or Lantern Bearer, if you're seeing boards too gummed up and you're forced to out-grind your opponents.

What matters is making the enablers work for you. Time marches on, 2018 is long gone, and Yuriko players are spoiled for choice. It won't be long before we see the above cards powercrept, so keep your eye out for improvements and make sure you know the strengths and weaknesses of every Ninjutsu-enabler in your deck.

Just whatever you do, don't play Mist-Cloaked Herald.


Special thanks to fellow Yuriko expert, Strix

  1. Yes, Sol Ring as well, but most Yuriko lists at a cEDH level have completely abandoned Sol Ring. Even Mana Crypt itself is contentious in the eyes of some pilots
  2. Attacking and activating Ninjutsu with a Ninja in hand to return Yuriko also works.
  3. Conqueror's Flail exists, but two mana to play and two mana to equip makes it much too slow.
  4. How great is that iconic flavor text on Mirrodin's Ornithopter?
  5. Don't play Trickery Charm in cEDH, you don't have room for it.


Jake FitzSimons is a writer from Sydney and a Magic fiend. He's either the johnniest spike or the spikiest johnny, nobody is sure which. When he isn’t brewing or playing cEDH, he can be found writing, playing piano, and doting on his little cat.