Players wanted Ninjas in Magic: The Gathering and now, according to Mark Rosewater, Modern Horizons is making them an official tribal theme.
Set to release during the first weeks of June, Modern Horizons is an attempt by Wizards of the Coast to revive interest and stimulate play through formats of Magic: The Gathering outside of Standard. Expanding upon previous and underdeveloped tribal themes, Wizards of the Coast revealed the second ninjutsu ninja in Modern Horizons, Ingenious Infiltrator.
This Veldaken ninja costs four mana (one blue, one black) to cast and has a power of two, along with a defense of three. Sticking with the symbiotic themes throughout the Modern Horizons tribals, Ingenious Infiltrator’s ninjutsu mechanic can return an unblocked attacking creature to a player’s hand for an additional cost of one blue and one black mana.
Related: MTG Modern Horizons planeswalker and zombie ninja revealed
As a static ability, Ingenious Infiltrator provides card draw, in that anytime a ninja does damage to a player, the owner of that ninja may draw a card. Regarding static abilities in MTG tribal themes, having tempo and card advantage is a big deal.
Ingenious infiltrator and Fallen Shinobi won’t be the only ninjas joining the Modern Horizons tribal theme party. According to Mark Rosewater (MTG’s head designer), ninjas are one of many tribal themes being expanded upon or reintroduced in the Modern Horizons set.
“Modern Horizons was leaning toward tribal themes,” says Rosewater in his MTG article. “Ninjas seemed like a good fit.
MTG Modern Horizons releases in card form on June 13. Digitally, Modern Horizons will be available to play in full via Magic Online on June 6. In addition, there will be a pre-release weekend from June 8 to 9.
