Ninja strike from the shadows and steal victories from under enemies. - AEG
If you can see a ninja, chances are you're already dead (and if you can see them while dead, skip ahead to the zombie section). I don't want to give away the secrets or anything, but most of what this faction does is sneaky, happens fast, and at the last second. So look out for that.
- - Core Set rulebook
The Ninjas are one of the eight factions from the Core Set.
Ninjas focus on destroying opponent minions, and surprise moves.
Other factions from the same set: Aliens, Dinosaurs, Pirates, Robots, Tricksters, Wizards, Zombies.
Name
The original Core Set rule book named this faction the "Ninja". However, The Big Geeky Box named this faction the "Ninjas". Both words are considered correct plurals in the English language.
Cards
The Ninjas have the usual 10 minions and 10 actions. The total minion base power (not counting any abilities) is the usual 30 or an average of 3 per minion.
Among their actions, there are:
- 3 play-on-minion actions: Assassination, Poison, Smoke Bomb,
- 2 play-on-base actions: Infiltrate (2x),
- 5 standard actions (4 that affect one or more minions, in bold): Disguise, Hidden Ninja, Seeing Stars (2x), Way of Deception,
- 0 actions that directly increase a minion's power.
Minions
1x Ninja Master - power 5 - You may destroy a minion on this base. FAQ
2x Tiger Assassin - power 4 - You may destroy a minion of power 3 or less on this base. FAQ
3x Shinobi - power 3 - Special: Before a base scores, you may play this minion there. You can only use one Shinobi’s ability per base. FAQ
4x Ninja Acolyte - power 2 - Special: On your turn, if you have not yet played a minion, you may return this minion to your hand and play an extra minion on this base. FAQ
Actions
1x Assassination - Play on a minion. Ongoing: Destroy this minion at the end of the turn. FAQ
1x Disguise - Choose one or two of your minions on one base. Play an equal number of extra minions there, and return the chosen minions to your hand. FAQ
1x Hidden Ninja - Special: Before a base scores, play a minion there. FAQ
2x Infiltrate - Play on a base. Destroy an action that has been played here. Ongoing: You may ignore this base’s ability until the start of your next turn. FAQ
1x Poison - Play on a minion. Destroy any number of actions on it. Ongoing: This minion has -4 power. (Minions have minimum power of 0.) FAQ
2x Seeing Stars - Destroy a minion of power 3 or less. FAQ
1x Smoke Bomb - Play on one of your minions. Ongoing: This minion is not affected by other players’ actions. Destroy this card at the start of your turn. FAQ
1x Way of Deception - Move one of your minions to another base. FAQ
Bases
Mechanics
Ninjas main mechanic is being sneaky, drop power on bases by surprise at the last second straight from players hands. This usually guarantees them at least second or third place on a base, and gives them a greater advantage with fewer players. When combined with a powerhouse faction they can win bases as they break even without minions originally there.
To assist with this, Ninjas also have versatile ways to weaken and destroy opponent minions, ideally to make the base break with everyone at roughly the same contribution, so they can lay down surprise additions to win the base. Ninjas have to be very opportunistic and patient with playing cards to use them to their full advantage, which can often be limiting but also offers them a diverse platter of subterfuge.
Strategy
Minion Destruction
Ninjas are very good at destroying minions. While their boss minion, Ninja Master, and Assassination can destroy a minion of any power, their other destruction cards are limited to minions of power 3 or less, which is still an acceptable limit as that means you can target 14 out of 20 minions in an average faction pairing.
Against a minion of power 4 or more, Ninjas can use their one copy of Poison to bring it down within destruction range. For example, Poison is enough to weaken a power-7 King Rex down to 3 power.
Assassination is a delayed destruction card. While it can destroy a minion of any power, the destruction only occurs at the end of the turn, meaning the minion will still be present if you score its base on the same turn. So, it's usually not useful to play it on a minion if you intend to break the base unless the minion stays in play after the base scores, e.g. First Mate.
Sneaking a Minion Before a Base Scores
A unique ability of the Ninjas is playing a minion right before a base scores.
Your Shinobis can be played as normal power-3 minions without ability, or they can be saved for a surprise play when a base scores. This surprise attack can be done on any player's turn. You're limited to one surprise Shinobi per scored base, but that's still a 3-power drop, which can sometimes be enough to improve your position on a base.
While the other players usually expect you to play a Shinobi, Hidden Ninja is a fearsome card, allowing you to play any minion in your hand before a base scores and like Shinobis, this can be done on any player's turn.
Minion Switcheroo
A minor ability of the Ninjas is switching some of your minions in play with some minions from your hand.
Ninja Acolytes have a very situational ability. It really is only useful if you have two minions in your hand that you want to play at the same time. You can play one as a setup for a future double-minion play, but being a power-2 makes it very susceptible to minion destruction, unless you can protect it with Smoke Bomb. Please note that if you have several Ninja Acolytes in play, using the ability of one will prevent you from using the others' ability.
On the other hand, Disguise can be a very versatile card. Since you can return any of your minions in play, you can use this to retrieve a minion with a useful on-play ability to replay it, or if you previously played a Shinobi as a normal minion, you can return it to your hand to save it for its Special ability. Also, simply returning your minion usually means that you lose presence on a base, but Disguise allows you to replace the returned minions with other minions.
Synergy
Ninjas are great teammates for just about any faction. They are versatile, fairly powerful, and capable of a wide variety of different things. This does mean that they aren't usually the greatest partner for most factions, but their ability to sneak onto bases for an effortless second place affords them utility with any other faction.
Dinosaurs - The two factions have a good amount of power and destruction that opponents will likely have a difficult time having any sort of unified front. Hidden Ninja + King Rex can be a surprisingly devestating force however.
External Strategy Guides
FAQ
Questions on Ninja Master
Q: I play a Ninja Master on a base, which brings the total power there above the breakpoint, but I use its ability to destroy a minion there, bringing the total power below the breakpoint. Does the base still score?
A: No. You only check if a base scores during phase 3 of a player's turn.
Rule: Before phase 3, it doesn't matter how much power each player has on each base, they will only score if they meet the requirement during phase 3, and phase 3 only.
Q: There a Leprechaun that's somehow at power 6. I play a Ninja Master there and destroy the Leprechaun. Is my Ninja Master still destroyed?
A: No. The Leprechaun is no longer there so it cannot react to the Ninja Master being played.
Rule: An Ongoing ability lasts for as long as the card is in play.
Questions on Tiger Assassin
Q:
A:
Rule:
Questions on Shinobi
Q: I don't get its ability. Can I only play this minion before a base scores?
A: No. Minions with a Special ability can be played as a normal minion without invoking their Special ability.
Rule: N/A
Q: Does the Shinobi's ability play itself as an extra minion or a normal minion? Can we use the abilities during our turn even if we already played a minion?
A: The text should say "as an extra minion", but that would only clarify, not change the meaning. "Before a base scores" is after the time for playing normal minions. The ability to play a minion before a base scores necessarily makes it an extra minion. Whether or not you played a normal minion that turn does not matter.
Rule: Cards played outside the Play Cards phase of a turn are counted as extra cards.
Q: I have a Shinobi on a base. Another base scores, can I use Shinobi's Special ability to move it to that base?
A: No. You can only play a card from your hand (unless otherwise stated). A Shinobi's Special ability only works if it's in your hand.
Rule: "Play a minion" refers to minions in the hand.
Q: Before a base scores, I manage to play a Shinobi there through another card's ability. (e.g. Hidden Ninja) Can I play another Shinobi there with its Special ability?
A: Yes. The first Shinobi was played without invoking its own Special ability, so it doesn't count into your one-Shinobi-per-base limit.
Rule: Do exactly what the card says.
Q: On my turn, I play a Shinobi on a base normally (i.e. without using its Special ability). Then I manage to break that base on that same turn, so before it scores, can I play another Shinobi there with its Special ability or did I already missed that chance with the previous Shinobi?
A: You can play your second Shinobi. The first Shinobi was played without invoking its own Special ability, so it doesn't count into your one-Shinobi-per-base limit.
Rule: Do exactly what the card says.
Q: Before The Homeworld scores, I play a Shinobi as a Special there. Do I get an extra minion to play?
A: Yes. And because it's outside of your Play Cards phase, you have to play it immediately or not at all.
Rule : Do exactly what the card says.
Q: Before a base scores, I play a Shinobi as a Special there. Another player manages to take control of it (i.e. Control Minion, Can Has Cheeseburger?) Since I lost that Shinobi, I can then play a second Shinobi as a Special on that base, right?
A: No, you've already used a Shinobi's Special ability (that's what allowed you to play one in the first place). So even though you don't control it anymore, you've already invoked a Shinobi's Special for that base.
Rule : Do exactly what the card says.
Questions on Ninja Acolyte
Q: The card says "Special" so I can play it outside of my turn, right? So why does it say "on your turn"?
A: "Special" does not mean the card can be played out of turn. "Special" simply means that it's an ability that can be used when its condition is met. Whether it can be used out of turn, activated straight from your hand/discard pile, or if it can only be used when it's already in play (essentially being a synonym of Ongoing), it entirely depends on the wording. In the case of Ninja Acolyte, the condition is "on your turn", which means that you can only activate it during your Play Cards phase, not at any other times. Furthermore, it mentions "this base", which means the base Ninja Acolyte is currently on. Obviously, if Ninja Acolyte isn't in play, there's no "this base" that the card can refer to. So Ninja Acolyte is actually a Special card that can only be used when it is in play
Rule 1: A Special ability will describe how it can be used.
Rule 2: On a card, "this base" refers to the base where the card is. If the card is attached to a minion, it refers to the base where the minion is. And if the card is a base, it refers to the card itself.
Q: How does Ninja Acolyte's ability work?
A: First of all, Ninja Acolyte needs to already be in play. Supposing you're its controller, on your turn, i.e. during your Play Cards phase (phase 2), you can activate Ninja Acolyte's ability at any moment of that phase. When you activate it, check if you have already played a minion or not:
- If you have, then nothing happens.
- If you haven't, then you can decide if you want to use its ability or not. If you do, then you must return Ninja Acolyte into its owner's hand. After doing that, whether Ninja Acolyte was effective returned or not, you get an extra minion play that you must play immediately or not at all.
Rule 1: "You" on a minion or action means the controller of the card.
Rule 2: "On your turn" means "during the Play Cards (phase 2) of each of your turns".
Rule 3: When a card leaves play, the card goes back to its owner's hand, deck, or discard pile.
Rule 4: Cards are resolved entirely.
Rule 5: Extra cards gained by a Special ability must be played immediately or not at all.
Q: Can I choose to play the extra minion and not return Ninja Acolyte? It says "you may" after all.
A: No. It doesn't say "you may return this minion to your hand and you may play an extra minion on this base." So, if you choose to do the "you may", you then have to do all of it. The extra minion is actually optional though, but you do have to return Ninja Acolyte.
Rule: Extra cards are always optional.
Q: If I have two Ninja Acolytes in play, can I return both and play two extra minions?
A: No. Firstly, you can only activate one Ninja Acolyte at a time. Secondly, when you return the first Ninja Acolyte, you must play the extra minion you gained immediately or not at all. If you do, the second Ninja Acolyte can no longer be activated because you have already played a minion.
Rule: Extra cards gained by a Special ability must be played immediately or not at all.
Q: I already have ten cards in hand. If I decide to return Ninja Acolyte to my hand, is it immediately discarded instead? Or do I return it and immediately decide which card to discard before I play an extra minion?
A: You don't discard any card until your upcoming Draw 2 Cards phase. At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
Rule: On your Draw 2 Cards phase, if you have more than 10 cards in your hand after drawing, discard until you have exactly 10 cards left in your hand.
Q: Since Ninja Acolyte is essentially replaced by another minion, do I transfer actions played on Ninja Acolyte onto the new minion?
A: No, as soon as Ninja Acolyte is returned, the actions played on it are discarded.
Rule: When a card returns from a base, discard attachments.
Q: Ninja Acolyte is a Special, so I can use its ability during the Scoring phase, right?
A: No, its ability specifies when it can be used: "On your turn", which means during phase 2 (Play Cards) of your turn.
Rule: "On your turn" means "during the Play Cards (phase 2) of your turn".
Q: At the start of my turn, a Sprout made me play an extra minion. Since it wasn't played during phase 2 of my turn, I haven't played a minion "on my turn" yet, so can I use Ninja Acolyte's ability?
A: TBD
Rule: TBD
Questions on Assassination
Q: When does Assassination destroy the minion it's attached to?
A: At the end of each turn (phase 5), starting with the turn the card is played, it tries to destroy the minion.
Rule: "At the end of the turn" means "during the End Turn (phase 5) of the current turn".
Q: What happens if the minion cannot be destroyed?
A: Assassination remains attached to it and the destruction fails at the end of the turn. But, at the end of each following turn, Assassination tries to destroy the minion again. Who knows? Maybe the minion won't be immune anymore.
Rule: Do exactly what the card says.
Q: It says "Ongoing", so after it destroys the minion, I can reattach it on another minion, right?
A: No. If the minion it's attached to is destroyed, Assassination is immediately discarded.
Rule: When a minion leaves play, discard attachments.
Q: Why can't it destroy the minion immediately?
A: The minion could still contribute power toward breaking a base if you still want to score a base, then Assassination would ensure that the minion is destroyed at the end of the turn in case it was supposed to survive. (e.g. First Mate) Or it can be played on a lone Polar Commando to dissuade its controller from playing another minion there.
Rule : N/A
Questions on Disguise
Q: How does Disguise work?
A: When you play Disguise, you must choose either one or two of the minions in play that you control. If you choose two, they must be on the same base. After choosing your minion(s), you get that many extra minion plays:
- If you played Disguise outside your Play Cards phase, then you must play the extra minion(s) immediately or not at all before doing the rest of Disguise's ability.
- Otherwise, the extra minion(s) is(are) not played immediately, but is(are) actually "banked" to be used later on your current Play Cards phase.
After doing that, whatever happened with your extra minion plays, you must do the following to the minion(s) that you chose at the beginning:
- If it's a minion you own, it's returned to your hand.
- If it's a minion owned by another player, it's returned to that player's hand.
- If it's a minion that noone owns (e.g. a treasure, a monster), it's discarded into the appropriate discard pile.
Rule 1: "Your minion" means "a minion that you control".
Rule 2: An extra card isn't played right away, unless it was gained by a Special ability or outside the Play Cards phase.
Rule 3: When a card leaves play, the card goes back to its owner's hand, deck, or discard pile.
Rule 4: Monsters and treasures go to their own discard pile when they leave play.
Q: It tells me to choose "one or two of my minions". Can I choose a minion I own that I don't control?
A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
Rule: "Your minion" means "a minion that you control".
Q: Can you choose two minions, then choose to play one or no extra minions, and still take both of the chosen minions back to hand?
A: Based on the wording the extra minions aren't played before the chosen minions are returned, but the intent of the designer may be different.
Rule: TBD
Questions on Hidden Ninja
Q: When can I play Hidden Ninja?
A: On any player's turn, when a base has been chosen to score and before its victory points are awarded. To be more precise, it can only be played during phase 3 and only during the "before scoring" step.
Rule: "Before a base scores" means during the before-scoring step of any turn.
Q: Does Hidden Ninja's ability play the minion as an extra minion or a normal minion? Can we use the abilities during our turn even if we already played a minion?
A: The text should say "as an extra minion", but that would only clarify, not change the meaning. "Before a base scores" is after the time for playing normal minions. The ability to play a minion before a base scores necessarily makes it an extra minion. Whether or not you played a normal minion that turn does not matter.
Rule: Cards played outside the Play Cards phase of a turn are counted as extra cards.
Q: Can I use Hidden Ninja to play a minion that gives me an extra card to play? (e.g. Zapbot, Chronomage)
A: Absolutely. And you do gain an extra card to play, but you must play it immediately or not all.
Rule: Extra cards gained outside the Play Cards phase (phase 2) must be played immediately or not at all.
Q: I used Hidden Ninja to play a minion that destroys another one there, bringing the total power below the breakpoint. Does the base stop scoring?
A: No. Once a base has been chosen to score, even if the total power there changes during the before-scoring step, the base keeps scoring.
Rule: The base is scored regardless of how much power is still left on it after the before-scoring step.
Q: I play a minion with Hidden Ninja but the minion also has an ability that works during the before-scoring step when it's in play (e.g. Pack Alpha). Can I activate its ability or is it too late?
A: TBD
Rule: TBD
Q: I play a Repeater Perfect with Hidden Ninja. Can I use Repeater Perfect's ability to put Hidden Ninja on the top of my deck?
A: No. Since Hidden Ninja is obviously played outside your Play Cards phase, the minion must be played immediately, that is before you discard Hidden Ninja. So, Repeater Perfect's ability is resolved before Hidden Ninja is discarded.
Rule: Extra cards gained outside the Play Cards phase must be played immediately or not at all.
Questions on Infiltrate
Q: Can Infiltrate destroy an action played on a minion, or just an action played on a base?
A: It can only destroy an action played on the base.
Rule: "Here" means "on this base".
Q: If there's no other action played on the base, do I have to destroy Infiltrate?
A: You do have to destroy an action on the base if there's one, but it says "an action that has been played here", so it's an action that was already on the base before Infiltrate was played. A better wording would be "Destroy another action here." or "Destroy another action played on this base."
Rule: Do exactly what the card says.
Q: How does Infiltrate's "Ongoing" ability work?
A: The official ruling seems to be that the card should be reworded as "Play on a base. Destroy another action played on this base. Ongoing: You may ignore this base's ability. Destroy this action at the start of your turn."
Rule: Do exactly what the
cardofficial answer says.
Q: Who ignores the base's ability, all the players or just the one who played Infiltrate?
A: The player who plays Infiltrate is the only one who can ignore the base's ability.
Rule: "You" on a minion or action means the controller of the card.
Questions on Poison
Q: Can I use Poison to destroy Incorporeal?
A: No. Attaching an action to a minion counts as Affecting the minion, so you cannot play Poison on an Incorporeal minion in the first place.
Rule: Definition of "affect".
Q: Can I destroy Poison among the destroyed actions?
A: Yes, Poison can be among the actions you choose to destroy.
Rule: Do exactly what the card says.
Questions on Seeing Stars
Q:
A:
Rule:
Questions on Smoke Bomb
Q: When do you actually destroy this card? Does it remain until the player who played it chooses to destroy it or is it destroyed at the start of that person's next turn?
A: It's destroyed during the Start Turn phase of that player, and it is a mandatory destruction, so as soon as it's their Start Turn phase, they must destroy it. Even if it is played during their Start Turn phase, they must destroy it during that same phase.
Rule 1: Do exactly what the card says.
Rule 2: During the Start Turn phase, if you play a card, it is still the start of your turn.
Q: Why is it Ongoing if it eventually destroys itself?
A: It's an Ongoing, so its protection lasts for as long as the card is in play. But the protection only lasts until your next turn, so it needs to destroy itself to make itself stop.
Rule: N/A
Q: It tells me to play it on "one of my minions". Can I play it on a minion I own that I don't control?
A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
Rule: "Your minion" means "a minion that you control".
Q: Does Shielding or Steam Queen protect Smoke Bomb or Infiltrate from their own destruction?
A: No. Steam Queen and Shielding protect against other players' abilities or actions, not your own. Neither can prevent a self destructing action. (See also the question above about whether or not Infiltrate self destructs at all.)
Rule: Do exactly what the card says.
Q: An opponent plays Bear Hug (or Unfathomable Goals, Griefer, Out of Sight), forcing me to affect one of my minions. Can I choose my minion with Smoke Bomb on it? If so, does Smoke Bomb protect it?
A: First of all, you can indeed choose any of your minions, but you must choose one if you have any in play. Secondly, since the cause of the affect is "another player's action", then yes, Smoke Bomb protects it, even if the card makes you do the affect.
Rule: The card you target may be immune to the effects of the ability you are performing, but it is still a valid target.
Q: An opponent plays this card on one of their minions. If I transfer it to one of my minions, e.g. with Tinx or Rules Lawyer (possible here, because transferring the action affects the action, not the minion!), I have control of it, so my minion is therefore protected until the start of my next turn, right? Or does the "Play on one of your minions" prevent me from transferring it to my minions?
A: No, transferring an action doesn't make you its controller and transferring it to a different player's minion doesn't grant that player control of the action. The action's controller simply doesn't change. Also, you can transfer it to your minions; "Play on one of your minions" is simply a restriction for when the action is played, and is no longer relevant once the action is in play and doesn't further restricts how the action can be transferred (because transferring is different than playing!) So, the player who played it still controls it, and therefore the action only addresses them and the ability must be interpreted from their point of view. So "your turn" means "their turn" and "other players" means "their opponents". In summary, what you just did by transferring the action to your minion is make it unaffectable by any player that isn't the action's controller (so you included!) and the action will be destroyed at the start of the action's controller's next turn anyway.
Rule: When you transfer an action, it doesn't change controller.
Questions on Way of Deception
Q: It tells me to move "one of my minions". Can I move a minion I own that I don't control?
A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
Rule: "Your minion" means "a minion that you control".
Trivia
- The artists are Isuardi Therianto (most cards and the bases) and Crut.
In other languages
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Chinese | 忍者 |
| French | Ninjas |
| German | Ninjas |
| Greek | Νίντζα |
| Italian | Ninja |
| Japanese | 忍者 |
| Polish | Ninja |
| Portuguese | Ninjas |
| Russian | Ниндзя |
| Spanish | Ninjas |
| ||||||