Deck Profile - Secret Ninjas (Outdated)

Like my Devil's Era (Creation Control) deck, this is another deck that attempts to utilize a certain mechanic available to a World and take it to the extreme. This time, we'll be heading over to Katana World. While there are multiple unique builds in Katana outside of the standard Ninja and Skull Warriors decks (like Water), I've been more interested in trying to get Secret Swords to work. They cost a lot of gauge and they require a lot of forethought, but each Secret Sword is really worth its weight in gold. 3 damage and the ability to negate an effect is incredibly powerful - it all just comes down to how you build and prepare for it.

This deck not only tries to catch your opponent with Secret Swords, but also constantly reuse Secret Swords in a massive counterfest. To complement this heavy-resource strategy, the only other cards we're running are gauge-ramp and stall-related. Essentially, you burn your opponent down until they have no choice but to step on your Secret Sword landmine, where you kill them off anyways. Win-win.

I'm sure there are a lot of skeptics out there, but rest assured - I actually based this deck off a real deck I saw my friend playing with moderate success. By streamlining some of the numbers and adding more resource engines, I think I've got it to the point where it does what it wants to do best.

Water

While BT05 gives support to both Ninjas and Skull Warriors alike, they also introduce a new attribute titled "Water". How vague. I'm not sure what's so Katana about H20 but if Bushiroad decrees so, so be it. Either way, Water seems to be a very interesting archetype filled with spiritual beings and mythological creatures.

Somehow, Water seems to be concerned with power and defense, of all things. Instead of traps or tricky manipulation, Water appears to have no interest in that and instead just uses power to simply beat people up. Turns out to be pretty novel, actually. Alongside Katana World's unique and control-oriented spells, Water can play a powerful field game and still go for Secret Sword traps and other power plays.

Ninja

So many people are playing Ninjas wrong.

It's not that surprising to me, since the entire Katana World is built up around a high-knowledge high-skill level of play. You definitely can't do well just by slapping some cards together and playing by a general idea of field control and card advantage. Ninja decks have to go beyond that. To make the most of their superb prediction and highly advantageous traps, a player must be willing to consider every possibility and take calculated and intelligent risks. We're not talking about risks that can lose advantage if they fail. We're talking about risks that bait all but the smartest of opponents into continuing their predicted strategy. When a Ninja slips into the shadows, he forces the entire enemy army to waddle around like ducks, poking at every shadow out there.

Ninjas thrive on a non-optimal way of play. To them, field advantage and field control have entirely different meanings. Card advantage is gained not only from drawing extra cards but also from forcing your opponent to commit more cards than necessary. Ninja's start off relatively strong and increase their attrition as the game goes on. Sapping advantage like a leech, Ninjas force their opponents to die a slow, painful death all while waiting for the chance to strike. And when they strike, there can only be one acceptable outcome.

One slash. One kill.

Skull Warrior

Every man's one true wish is to die honorably. Don't deny it; nobody wants to die in a miserable or pathetic fashion. The desire to die fighting and valiant to the very last breath is the spirit of the samurai, those ancient warriors of Japan's feudal times. Needless to say, Skull Warriors imitate this same kind of fighting style by putting everything on the line. In exchange for good abilities and above-average stats, the warriors that do get this bonus are often sacrificed at the end of the turn. It's alright, however, since their sacrifices are not in vain. There are multiple support cards for Skull Warriors that mitigate or completely reverse the "handicap" of being destroyed. They can also come back to life, truly living up to their name.

On a whole, Skull Warriors are strong at rushing, but their rushes are of a somewhat different tone than the traditional rush. Instead of rushing to end the game or push damage, Skull Warriors rush in order to gain field control and hand advantage. Because of awkward logistical problems with size limits and certain on-hit effects, Skull Warriors are hard-pressed to create explosive turns and thus must use a combined strategy of force and cunning to maneuver their opponents into disadvantage.

The War of Nobunaga (Overview)

Welcome to the Sengoku Era!

It's hard to compare the totally differing styles of the two warring factions of Katana World, since it's based on the ancient longest-running clash in all of Japanese history. On one hand, the Ninjas (Shinobi) are focused on setting traps and anticipating your opponent's strategies only to counter it with flair. They aim at perfecting the skills of their arts and outmaneuvering their opponents in every possible way. On the other hand, the Skull Warriors (Samurai) are focused on fighting to the death, ready to charge into the face of battle and die honorably. You think they're gone, but they keep coming back. Truly, they are undefeatable.

While a shogun or a daimyo could only choose to support one side, as a Buddyfighter you can patron both factions into your Katana army. You can find the right balance between the traps of Ninja Arts and the ruthless assaults of Demon Way. Together, they form a powerful combination of strategy and power, force and cunning. Katana World has an answer for everything, and they've got the firepower to back it up.

Katana World revisits the everlasting feud between the Ninja and the Skull Warrior. If you're feeling wishy-washy about which side you favor, you can always go with the flow of Water.