Hello happy Commander and self-bounce fans! I am building today around the Turtle Ninja himself, Taeko, the Patient Avalanche in a self-bounce brew! Here is our fun guy:

He costs four for a 4/5 ETB tapped and then when something else leaves without dying, you can toss a +1/+1 counter here and then scry 1 too. When he swings, you can spend Dimir mana to make an attacker unblockable, like say, for ninjutsu...or winning with him. Love him loads! The idea here is to make something unblockable and then Ninjutsu them.

Let's turn to my deep dive now!

Mana, Lands, Ramp, Rocks

Now let's start with mana, ramp and rocks and lands too! Our Commander costs four, so I need to drop it turn three with a two-drop rock, like the Signets. Patchwork Banner costs three, taps for any color of mana and pumps your Ninjas in size like an anthem. The three-drop 3/2 Blue dork Prosperous Thief will turn hits by it and your kindred type into Treasures. Great here!

Since I am running tons of Ninjas, I am running the legendary land above that turns your mana made into each one you control, ditto their devotion with Blue or Black, and I am running Cabal Coffers too.

Otawara, Soaring City will bounce a non-land permanent for no more than four mana. Cavern of Souls will choose Ninjas and then when it taps for their mana they are uncounterable! The just printed Soulstone Sanctuary will spend four mana to turn into a 3/3 Ninja with vigilance and it doesn't end EOT, and I also tossed in Mutavault which does end then.

Fun Ninja and Self Bounce Stuff

Now let's turn to the fun stuff we're built around in self-bounce, Ninjas and things to bounce. The Dimir five-drop Zombie has ninjutsu four on a 5/4 body and has a combat damage to make them exile the top two of their library and you can cast them for free this turn! Nasty good there. The two-drop, Rat with two ninjutsu, and 2/2 body is a lord for our team and then pumps them, and then your ninjutsu costs are one fewer.

Erratic Portal costs four, taps with one and bounces a dork unless they spend one, use this to bounce your stuff to save it from removal, or trigger Taeko, or just to hit your foe if they've tapped out. I also tossed in Crystal Shard. Cunning Evasion will turn blocks of your stuff while attacking to self-bounce if you are about to lose but that's may. Equilibrium will turn casts with another mana into bouncing any dork like your foe's or yours too. This won't work with ninjutsu, but there are plenty more times you can use it, like when casting your Commander.

The two-drop enchantment dork is unblockable and has a combat damage trigger to draw, make it bigger or copy, but just once each, great to ninjutsu bounce after card flow happens. I am also running two unblockable Ninjas that are pumped by my stuff and uncounterable too for bouncing. The four-drop 3/2 ninjutsu three turns combat damage of it into making a 1/1 Illusion with flying. The five-drop four mana ninjutsu is with the same body will turn combat damage into a Mind Rot of them.

Synergies and Win-Cons

Now let's turn to synergies and backup win cons! We love Kaito here! His four mana Dimir four ability three ability loyalty is first, with the ability to bounce what dealt damage this turn to activate him twice, trigger Taeko! The first is +1 for making a dork unblockable to trigger ninjutsu, the 0 Is drawing a card and the -2 is to make a 2/2 artifact dork with deathtouch and when it leaves the battlefield (note not a death trigger) you'll drain two life from your foes. The five ability Kaito with four loyalty and the same cost has ninjutsu for three and is a 3/4 Ninja with hexproof on your turn, and then +1 to give the emblem to pump your dorks by +1/+1, and 0 to surveil 2 and then draw for each dork taken damage and then -2 to tap an opposing dork and toss two stun counters to really lock them down and swing past them.

Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator is next with the ability to turn combat damage into loyalty counters huge here with the unblockable engine and then +1 to make a dork unblockable and then draw and discard, and then -2 to make a Ninja 2/1 dork, and then -9 to get an emblem that turns casts of anyone into 2/1 Ninjas. The three-drop 3/1 Mist-Syndicate Naga is turning combat damage into a copy of this, fast win there. The one-drop 1/1 Thousand-Faced Shadow with flying in the first turn it arrives will turn an attack into a token copy of another attacker and it doesn't leave and it's tapped and attacking too.

Let's finish with this old school Ninja caring duo in mono-Blue. The five-drop 3/4 ninjutsu four with the combat damage ability to Tutor for a Ninja and put it into your hand, and then makes them unblockable with the two-mana activated mana sink ability. The three-drop 1/2 ninjutsu two turns combat damage into looking at their hand, and it's here for that mana sink two mana activated ability to bounce your Ninjas to trigger Taeko, save them and then re-play them with ninjutsu.

Answers

Now let's turn to answers! The two-cost exile a permanent and return it later this turn with a counter of the +1/+1 persuasion is there to answer targeted removal (or mass I suppose) of a key thing while triggering your Commander. Then since we are in Blue, I tossed in some counters, like the two-cost counter anything above, but you have to bounce a dork to trigger your stuff or reload a ninjutsu thing. I also tossed in counters like Cryptic Command and Dismiss to draw and tap their stuff or bounce for tempo or trigger your stuff.

Now let's turn to targeted removal! I pulled a land for the modal spell Fell the Profane that destroys a dork or planeswalker for four mana and then the three-cost it's based on in Hero's Downfall. Then I have the five-cost three mana ninjutsu Throat Slitter.

Now let's turn to mass removal! I started with mass bounce. Since we can trigger our stuff then I kept my stuff and steered clear of Cyclonic Rift. The first one I tossed is the harder to cast Inundate, your foes may get a bunch but not you since most of our good Ninjas are Blue. Evacuation bounces all dorks for five mana, yours too is next. It used to be heavily played, bring it back!! The four-mana Black sorcery Crippling Fear will -3/-3 all non-Ninjas on resolution which will slip past indestructible and not target for hexproof and indestructible.

Card Drawing

Let's finish with card drawing, which this deck is deep on! The Ninja classic common is a four-drop two ninjutsu with the 2/2 body and card draw from combat damage. The 1/3 Commander ninjutsu three 1/3 will turn Ninja combat damage into revealing the top card of your library, drawing it and shooting all foes. The Adventure dork is a four-cost that has 2/2 and flying and on arrival will draw equal to your foes' damaged this turn. Her spell costs two and gives three of your dorks flying. She is here to bounce after swinging with flying and then ninjutsu and cast for more cards. Ditto Mulldrifter, Baleful Strix and Cavalier of Gales.

Bident of Thassa costs four, turns combat damage to foes to card draw, and then you can tap it with two mana to make your foes swing this turn to ensure Ninjutsu/combat damage triggers. I am running the other three. Ingenious Infiltrator turns combat damage by all Ninjas into card draw just like the four ones above. Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion will turn combat damage into exile the top card of each library and then cast one for life loss of its mana value instead of mana. Nasty trio!

The three-cost Dimir planeswalker with three loyalty is next! At the end of the turn you dropped it he phases out, and then you can +1 him to draw and then discard only if you didn't attack, here? Pretty rare. The -2 will make a 1/1 unblockable Blue Ninja. Nasty. The three-drop legendary 1/3 will trigger when you use ninjutsu to dig three, and draw one, and then your stuff gets ninjutsu four! The two-drop 2/3 menace one has the ability to turn other arrivals to the battlefield that you didn't cast into drawing a card, and there's no once per turn cap there either...nasty here!

Now let's turn to my decklist:

Taeko Bouncing | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Taeko, the Patient Avalanche

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Baleful Strix
• 1 Cavalier of Gales
• 1 Changeling Outcast
• 1 Dour-Port Mage
• 1 Enduring Curiosity
• 1 Fallen Shinobi
• 1 Higure, the Still Wind
• 1 Ingenious Infiltrator
• 1 Mistblade Shinobi
• 1 Mist-Syndicate Naga
• 1 Moon-Circuit Hacker
• 1 Moonblade Shinobi
• 1 Moonshae Pixie
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion
• 1 Ninja of the Deep Hours
• 1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
• 1 Orochi Soul-Reaver
• 1 Phantom Ninja
• 1 Prosperous Thief
• 1 Silver-Fur Master
• 1 Thousand-Faced Shadow
• 1 Throat Slitter
• 1 Satoru, the Infiltrator
• 1 Satoru Umezawa
• 1 Silent Hallcreeper
• 1 Walker of Secret Ways
• 1 Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
• 1 Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator
• 1 Kaito, Dancing Shadow
• 1 Kaito Shizuki

• Spells (13)
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Crippling Fear
• 1 Cryptic Command
• 1 Dismiss
• 1 Evacuate
• 1 Familiar's Ruse
• 1 Fell the Profane
• 1 Hero's Downfall
• 1 Inundate
• 1 Malakir Rebirth
• 1 Refute
• 1 Snap
• 1 Teferi's Time Twist

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Coastal Piracy
• 1 Cunning Evasion
• 1 Equilibrium
• 1 Reconnaissance Mission

• Artifacts (13)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Crystal Shard
• 1 Decanter of Endless Water
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Erratic Portal
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Patchwork Banner
• 1 Sky Diamond
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Staff of Compleation
• 1 Talisman of Dominance
• 1 Thought Vessel

• Lands (37)
• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cabal Coffers
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Contaminated Aquifer
• 1 Fetid Pools
• 1 Ice Tunnels
• 1 Morphic Pool
• 1 Mutavault
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Path to Ancestry
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Soulstone Sanctuary
• 1 Sunken Hollow
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1 Three Tree City
• 1 Undercity Sewers
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Watery Grave
• 1 War Room
• 8 Island
• 6 Swamp

Buy This Deck Export text

There we go! With 39 lands or modal spells and one more Island than Swamp since it's not in our casting cost of our Commander and most of our Ninjas are Blue first. I am running all cheap Black/Blue duals due to Cabal Coffers and Polluted Delta which I rarely run, but like it here for that reason. You could add in Expedition Map or Demonic Tutor quite ably. There are tons of great Ninjas or self-bounce you could also run here like Azra Smokeshaper. You could toss in my dedicated unblockable stuff, but I felt that having it in our leader and a few adjuncts like Rogue's Passage and the three dorks and then flyers and other unblockable stuff is enough but Archetype of Imagination or Sun Quan might work as well as equipment. I hope you enjoyed this, see you next week!