User blog:Kuroxander/Oni Assassin Guide-How to properly set up an ambush

Introduction
is a new attribute from Katana World debuting in X-booster set 1 The Dark Lord’s Rebirth. It primarily focused on the new keyword Ambush which works when card facedown in soul of your cards on the field are sent from the soul into the drop zone doing so calls them to the field and activates their effects. Oni assassin is a fun and combo oriented deck kind of like how D/D/D deck in yugioh plays, chaining effects to gain advantage over the opponents. But the deck requires a good understanding of each card in the attribute to build a deck around it as there are too many good cards in the deck and it is hard to create a deck of 50 cards in it and need to be skillfully played in order to unlock the full potential the attribute has to offer. So with the whole set being revealed I decided to spend my Saturday writing this guide in order to help others understand better on how the deck works and each cards function in it and help them enjoy the deck when they decided to build one. If you have no interest in building the deck, the guide can also be used to learn about the deck therefore knowing how to counter the plays made by the user of the deck. As this guide is purely based on my experience and thoughts when playing the deck, it may be has a bit of bias from my playing style and opinions when play testing the deck in BFA, there may be some mistakes or things in the guide you may not agree with. If so it would be best for others Oni Assassin players to share their thoughts, experience and opinions about the attribute and help correct my mistakes or misconception. So after the long introduction, let’s move on to the guide.

Monster and Items
So let’s start with the key parts of any deck, the monsters. The monsters are divided into two types, the monster that ambush and the monster that set up ambush. The monsters that ambush call themselves from the drop when they are sent from the soul into the drop zone if they were facedown when sent there. The monster that setup up ambush put soul facedown from your hand or deck as part of their call cost to setup for triggering ambush. Now let’s move on with what each monster in the attribute does and what part they play in the deck.

Size 0
There are currently 4 size 0 in the attribute in which one is a promo so we English player might not be able to get them as soon as the set is released for us and all them are really good size 0. They all have about 1k to 2k power and 1 crit so the main usage for them are for filling up the field when the size limit is hit to push for more damage and to activate their effects.

So let’s begin with my favorite one among the bunch which is Little Fiend, Amanojaku. This card has ambush and when it enters the field by ambush, you draw a card. It’s obvious on how good this card is should run at 4 copies and can be buddied because you almost always can call and want to call it using ambush.

The next size 0 is Half Fiend, Yasedouji. Its effect activates when it enters the field by ambush and let you pops an item on the field by paying a gauge. Quite a good ability but does it fit into the deck space? Well it depends on how you value item destruction in your main deck, in the current pre X booster meta, the dragon forces cannot be destroyed by effects, the main item centric deck which is danger has an item that has soulguard and eagle A, for the post X booster meta, Thunder Empire has an item that cannot be destroyed by card effect and Prism Dragon does not really need an item to wall you out. But this monster is still good and should be put at 4 in the side deck and 1 to 2 copies in the main deck if you want to run it in there.

The next size 0 is the only size 0 in the deck that does not have raid. Little Fiend, Sanki only ability is once per turn counter to put a soul from a card on your field to drop. It function to counter trigger raid during the opponent turn for example counter calling Ibuki Douji during the start of opponent’s attack phase to pop their monster and burn them. It’s a good card but I don’t see it worth running in the deck that much as you can counter remove soul using your spells rather than using a monster that does not have raid, it’s better to run any other size 0 than running this card. But if you play tested with this card and found some neat combo that I miss then I would be delighted if you share it in the comment as I like this card but couldn’t see the need of putting it in the deck.

The last size 0 is the promo dual card from hero world and katana world which is also a darkhero. Demons Assassin, Jiorge's effect is you can during your main phase put it into the soul of a monster on your side of the field face down, has raid and return to hand if you have item on the field after battling with this card as most of darkheroes do. So is it worth running? I think not as it mainly function to act as soul to activate the effects of your spells such as Hiding Oni, but if you run the Set Spell, it would make this card rather obsolete as the set spell can put any card in your hand to the soul of a monster on your field to draw a card, making it significantly better than this card. But alas, it’s my opinion if you like the card, run it as it is still a good card.

Size 1
So we currently have 5 size 1 in the deck but I will only be covering 4 of them as one of them is just a Red Fiend, Kid Kaneguma that has ambush nothing special.

So let’s start with White Fiend, Torakumadouji. It has 5k attack and 1 critical with the call cost of putting soul facedown from your hand into this card soul and has move. So is this card good? Eh…not really, firstly this card cost a card from your hand to call, that’s already a minus for this card, also the set spell mentioned earlier serve this card’s purpose as setup for ambush better, sure it has move but it lack soulguard and has paper thin defense. Also the size 2 and 3 ambush setup monster offers more than this card and is better overall. You could argue that this card is a size 1 so it would have some uses compared to the size 2 or 3 setup but the next card just setup ambush better than this card.

So the card is Eyes Fiend, Ayo. It has 2 crit and crappy attack and def stats but it does not matter as the ability sure make up for it. When entering the field you can look at the top 3 cards of your deck and choose one of them to be put into the soul of an Oni Assassin on field facedown including itself. This card has higher crit, selective adding soul while not costing any cards in your hand while also having ambush himself and its effect isn’t restricted to once per turn so with right cards in your hand you can spam this card eff and gain lot of soul and advantages. The only thing holding it back is the attack stats but it’s only a nuisance when fighting wall deck in which the next card help to deal with.

Evening Fiend, Yagyou has 5k attack and 1 crit, has ambush and an effect that remove soul from monster on opponent’s field when called and when called with ambush can remove another soul from the chosen monster. This card may seem like a sideboard card at first but it is advised to run 2 to 4 copy of this card in the main deck. Why? Because wall deck really hurt the deck as most of the other monster has low attack and the deck need as much attack power as they can to run over deck like prism which is sure to be meta and soul remove can also be used to counter neodragons, ancient world in general, balle solleil, gojinmaru and other example that I can’t think of from the top of my head.

The last size 1 is Apparition of Disease, Plague Demon. It has a call cost of 1 gauge, 3k atk and 1 crit and ambush and when enter the field can search for an oni assassin item and when call by ambush, you can then equip an item from hand, any item not necessarily the item you added. As the deck currently only has 2 items in which one is vastly superior to the other, the existence of an item searcher is really good for the deck and can reduce the number of item need to be put into the deck as this card can search it. If your run 4 of these, you can run about 2 to 3 items to minimize the chance of you not revealing ambush monster with effects like Eyes Fiend, Ayo.

Items
Since we’re in the topic of item, let’s take a break from reviewing monster effect and take a look at the items eff. The first item is Dark Device, Kozanshi. It cost 1 gauge and a life and has 4k power and 2 crit with the effect of when this card attacks, you may put a card from your hand face down into the soul of an Oni Assassin on your field, if you do, put the top card of your deck into your gauge. So quite a decent item, help set up ambush and gaining a gauge is quite okay but the set spell does the job better so it’s better to just run the next item.

has 2 crit and 3000 power and cost a gauge to equip, has a lower stats than the previous item but does not cost 1 life. It increases the attacks of all Oni Assassins monsters on your field by 1000 so good for wall breaking and also an effect which is once per turn, you can pay 1 gauge to destroy a monster on opponent’s field when a card enters your field by ambush. Wait, this effect can be used on the opponent’s turn to destroy their monster whenever you ambush, it’s really a good effect and when combining with Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki you can pop 2 monster for 3 gauge during your opponent’s turn.

So it’s quite obvious on what item to run for the deck but if you like both you can play 2 of each and you can use plague demon to searchwhich want you want to equip for you.

Size 2
Now for the deck’s size 2, there’s about 3 size 2 in the attribute so the choices are limited but all 3 of them are good cards and all have move so they can protect your center. They all act as the main raid setup for the deck and are essential to the deck imo.

The first size 2 I want to cover is Pale Yellow Fiend, Hoshigumadouji, which was I think he was the first card revealed for the attribute. He cost 1 gauge and you can put 1 card from hand into his soul facedown. He has 5k attack and 2 crit and boast the highest def among the size 2 or lower Oni Assassin monster with a mind blowing 4k def….eh maybe the def can be useful to block attacks from some size 0…Yeah it’s not much difference from 1k def most of the time but I digress, he has double attack alongside move, being the only non-size 3 monster in the deck that can push for 4 damage single handedly. It’s comparable to the Torakumadoji, but at least it has double attack, does not force you to put soul into him to call and that simply amazing 4k def…(eh that 4k def was never useful from my play testing of the card but the double attack pushed the damage of the deck significantly provided you manage to keep him alive, I like his artwork which was what interested me to build the deck in the first place and I like double attacker and he was useful until I play test the next card…)

Like Torakumadouji before him, Hoshigumadouji is outclassed by Fiend of a Hundred Flogs, Rashomon. It has 6k attack which is the highest among the size 2 or lower Oni Assassin, has 2 crit, move and one of the only 2 monsters in the attribute to have soulguard. It cost 1 gauge and gain soul by looking at the top 3 cards of your deck and chooses one of them to be put into his soul face down. Like the comparison between Eye Fiend Ayo and Torakumadouji, gaining soul from the deck prevent you from losing card advantage and at the same time let you select one among them which makes him a better ambush setup than Hoshigumadouji. Rashoumon also has soulguard which makes it stay on the field longer and with cards that put soul into it for example the set spell, this card can stay on field longer and trigger ambush for a bunch of times before leaving the field. Definitely run 4 of these.

Next is my favorite monster of the attribute which is Red Ogress, Kureha (who is also the buddy I run for the deck). She cost a gauge to call has 5k attack 2 crit and like all the size 2 before her, has move and also the only size 2 that has ambush which set her apart from the other size 2 and imo is the key play maker of the deck. Why, because of her ability, when this card enters the field, put up to one card with “Ambush” that is not "Red Ogress, Kureha" from your drop zone to your hand, then, if this card entered the field by the effect of “Ambush”, you may put a card from your hand face down into the soul of an Oni Assassin on your field. This effect is stupid good as she is currently the only monster in the attribute that can call herself from the drop zone with ambush then setup for another ambush with her effect. Although she gain soul from hand, her ability to retrieve ambush monster from the grave when called prevent you from minus and she is useful to call directly from hand without using ambush just to add an ambush card from drop to hand. Definitely run 4 of her and also a good buddy material for the deck as well since she cost 1 gauge and you almost always want to call her each game.

(Not important but, it’s crazy when a monster on your center that has kureha in soul is destroyed, you call her with ambush to the center, add an ambush card from drop to hand, and then if you have another copy of her in your hand (which happen quite a few times from my playtesting of the deck), put it from your hand to the ambushed kureha soul if you have it in your hand then call the second kureha from soul which then added another ambush card from the drop into your hand which then put a card (preferably with ambush) from your hand into her soul, which then call the card with ambush, making you able to prevent damage from yourself up to 3 attacks after the initial attack(provided the opponent does not have penetrate) or even more if you more than one kureha in your hand when this happen...All while preventing you from minus…This card is imo the key monster of the deck, the combo you can do with this card is insane.)

Size 3
Now for the size 3 of the deck, there are currently 3 size 3 for the deck, but sadly the best of them is a promo so yeah hope we get it soon.

First we have the size 3 ambush setup which is Former Fiend, Kibikaja. He has 8k attack, 2 crit, move, soulguard and double attack (It has like all generic keywords except Penetrate and Counterattack, which not a single card in the attribute has.), and that ever so amazing 4k def….Has a call cost of 2 gauge and gain soul(s) by putting up to 2 cards from your hand into his soul facedown. Straight to the point with the pro and cons. Pros: Does not necessarily need to put cards from hand into soul to call this card like Hoshikumadouji, has Soulguard like rashoumon so can last on the field longer, is currently the only monster in the deck that can stack 2 soul when called, decently high attack power. Cons: Gains soul from the hand instead of the deck, although can gain 2 soul, unless you put specific Assassin technique spells which I will elaborate on later or size 0 into it, the investment from the hand is not worth it, because if you put your size 1 or 2 that has ambush into it, you would not be able to call it unless you put Kibikaja to the drop due to size limit or until the size 1 or 2 was the last soul removed so it limit its usefulness compared to other ambush setup like rashoumon and kureha and if he has counterattacks he would be more worth running, so Imo better run both forms of Ibuki Douji rather than it as your size 3.

Let’s move on to the Triple Rare boss monster of the deck which is Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki. This one hell of a giant boss monster cost 2 gauge to call has 8k attack, 2 crit, ambush and double attack and has the astonishing highest defense in the attribute with whopping….5k def. When called normally, it destroy a monster on opponent’s field, and if called when ambushed, it becomes a Graybard. So his effect is really good for a size 3 boss monster and not much cons for running this card other that it does not have move so it will sometimes hinder you when you run items if you called him to the center and draw an item later on which happened quite a lot of time with me…As you mainly want to call this card with ambush on your opponent’s turn, I would suggest not maxing copies of this card as it tends to become cloggy in hands sometimes (and even save some money by doing so). Besides you can put it facedown into souls of cards on your fields using the Impact for the deck or even better with Art of Explosive Hades Fall, as ibuki eff burns the most when destroying size 3, combining with hades fall, it can burn the opponent for 5 damage!!! Anyone would be scared to call size 3 when you do so (other than Zwei and Drei deck). If the size 3 the opponent calls only gain 1 soul when entering the field, like for example Balle Soleil, the opponents wasted gauge for nothing and took damage as a result so Ibuki Douji is really great boss monster overall.

Last but not least for the monsters, here come the promo (that I suspect is promo because bushiroad do not want Oni Assassin to curb stomp Thunder Empire with) which is Whole Body Dark Device, Ibukidoji. This nightmare inducing card cost 2 gauges to call, has 2 crit and the currently highest attack Oni Assassin with 9k attack (great for beating up Astra), Ambush and Double attack like Kid Ibuki before him. What makes this Ibuki Douji better than the previous one? In the current or post X booster set 1 meta, his ability to prevent a monster or item (yeah a counter for Dragon Force) from standing in this turn or next turn is really amazing. “Why that effect is useless when called during the opponent battle phase,” you may ask, yes it is since unless the opponent has double or more attack it is useless, but when you called this card with ambush that card is rested and the opponent takes 1 damage! So yeah this card is really good to stop cards like Batsu and Astra and even Dreieck and Gargantua Punisher The Even More Broken! from going off, it is best called during the start of opponent’s attack phase to really make your opponents suffer. This card is stupid good and will continue to be good as long as Bushiroad keep printing multi attack monster and item that cannot be destroyed as this is one of the few cards that can stop something like that.

Spells and Impacts
Finally moving on with the spells, almost all the spells in the deck are stupid good and are on Magic World level of insane. Most of the spells in the deck consist of Assassin Technique spells and the Impact is also an Assassination Technique.

So let’s start with instant 4 of without hesitation, Art of Explosive Hades Fall. This card functions as a search for the deck and disrupts the opponent’s play as this card triggers ambush with its effect and is really useful to destroy the opponent's monster and hindering their plays.



The next card I would like to review is the set spell mentioned bunch of times in this guide which is Assassin Clan, Oniwabanshu. This card is a better Shinobi Scrolls for the deck and does not cost a gauge unlike Shinobi Scrolls but you can’t set multiple copies so extra copies can be seen as dead in your hand but you can put extra copies of it into the soul of a card on your field to draw a card with this card eff. Amazing card overall and should be maxed out.

Next is the “shield” for the deck which is Dark Night Bodyguard. It can only nullifies an attack while you have oni assassin on field but when using it you can also put a soul from a card on your field into the drop zone to gain a gauge and 1 life. This card in my opinion is the best defense card in the game along with Thunder Dragon Shield. The effect to trigger ambush while plussing and nullifying an attack is crazy insane. Since it said cards and not monster, you can send a soul from hades fall to the drop to call Ibuki with Ambush, and stops your opponent’s other attacks by destroying or resting them. With this in hand, you can setup Ibuki using Hades Fall even when your opponent does not play or want to call a size 3 monster.

You thought the shield was insane? The next card is even more mind blowing. Outer Arts, Yamiuchi has an effect that counter destroy a card (yes card not just monster like most counter destruction, set spell and items are also included) by removing a soul from an Oni Assassin on your field…It’s that even a cost anymore, it triggers ambush while destroying a card on opponent’s field…That's borderline broken...And same with shield above it is a common, understandable as both this card are important spells in the deck that need to be run at 4.

That’s not where the insanity stops. Hiding Oni serves as a Nice one! for the deck that lets you draw 2 cards and gain a gauge by sending a soul from a card on your field into the drop zone (since it does not specify face down soul, this card can be ran in Gojinmaru or other katana world deck that has soul to spare to let you draw more cards). So it triggers ambush, gain you a gauge and draw a card…The amount of plusses from this card is insane. Let’s use this scenario for example; you have a Oni Assassin and the set spell on field, and Hiding Oni along with Little Fiend, Amanojaku in your hand, use the Set Spell to put the size 0 into the soul of the monster on the field and draw then use Hiding Oni to draw 2 cards and gain a gauge then draw again by using Amanojaku’s Ambush, so you draw a total number of 4 cards with the above combo while also gaining a gauge and calling a monster, the advantage gain is broken for the deck imo.

The next card is which is a spell that has “ambush” like effect. Under the Hood when played normally you lets you gain 2 gauge and 1 life but when sent to drop zone from the soul of a card facedown, you gain 3 gauge. This card is essential for the deck cause the deck cost some amount of gauge to be able to do much and the attribute lack monster that help you gain gauge so for now this card is a 4 ofs.

The next card is Essence of Ambush. Like the previous card, it also has an “ambush” like effect, its normal effect is counter destroying a size 1 or less monster opponent control while its “ambush” effect is to destroy a size 2 or less monster on opponent’s field. This is a good card but we already have Yamiuchi so the need of this card isn’t that crucial and combining with the fact that this card is a promo so it make it harder to obtain compared to the common Yamiguichi. But, if you want to run it when it comes out in the English format 2 to 3 copies is fine.

Next is the dual world spell of the deck which is Feast of Evil. It is both katana world and darkness dragon world and has an effect that let’s use look at the top 3 cards of your deck and put 1 into your hand which is a good draw card but the interesting effect is that this also lets you to put a card from your drop zone facedown into the soul of a monster you control, meaning that this card can setup ambush and also makes you able to resuse the effects of the two spells mentioned above. This card should ideally run at 4 because it helps setup your combo while also give you a choice to selectively draw a card. But its status a Triple Rare make it a bit expensive to obtain a full play set so 2 to 3 is a nice number for it.

The last of the Assassination technique spells is Outer Arts, Kakuremino. The worst spell among them all in my opinion, counter reducing 2 damage isn’t a necessity and counter triggering your ambush and gaining a gauge can easily be done with other spells that the atrribute has to offer so I would advised against running this card because imo it isn’t worth it. (I may be wrong though, correct me if so)

Other options for spells are Demon Way, Oborogenbu (which got reprinted as a common in the set), Art of Body Replacement, and Ninja Arts, Snake Gaze. They are all common staples in other Katana World deck and are considered as your defense cards to go along side Dark Night Bodyguard. But in my opinion, since the deck mostly has monster in the center with the effect of move (most of the time you want to move to trigger ambush), I personally think that Art of Body Replacement is better than Oborogenbu, also the monsters has low defense so the opponent would not bother to link attack them at all. But I personally prefer to run snake gaze as it can stop batsu from going off and stop the impact while also a great to counter the rising increase of double attacking monsters in the meta while also preventing on attack effects or link attacks. So yah if you want run 8 defense card run snake gaze with Dark Night Bodyguard, if you want more defense, run Body Replacement along with them.

Last but not least, the single impact of the deck Dark Arts, Guikujiujiu. It cost two gauge and has two choices of ability, the first is adding 2 cards from your deck into the soul of an Oni Assassin on your field which is really good as you can add Under the Hood to gain back the gauge you lost from using the impact while also gaining 1 more gauge out of it while setting up for an ambush. The next effect is counter removing the soul of a card on the field, means that you can clear the soul of your monster to trigger ambush or remove the soul from the wall opponents controls (or cards like the new asgard set spell and Mission set spells that gains soul), you mainly use the first effect of the impact but the second eff is mainly used to clear soul from cards like Jacknife, Duel Yeagar and Atra, using it on your monster for ambush triggering is good but using 2 gauge to teigger it is kinda wasteful in my opinion as you find that your gauge is easily used up if you do not draw Under The Hood early on. Therefore I would recommend running 2 to 3 copies of this cards as running more will clog up your hand and you can quite often draw into them with your effects so there's no need to max it out.

Size 0

 * 4x Half Fiend, Yasedouji
 * 1x Little Fiend, Amanojaku

Size 1
Size 2 Size 3
 * 4x Apparition of Disease, Plague Demon
 * 2x Evening Fiend, Yagyou
 * 4x Eyes Fiend, Ayo
 * 4x Fiend of a Hundred Flogs, Rashomon
 * 4x Red Ogress, Kureha
 * 4x Oni Boss, Kid Ibuki (2x when we get the promo Ibuki)
 * 2x Whole Body Dark Device, Ibukidoji (2x when we get him)

Items

 * 2x Dark Device, Hishujin

Spells:
Impacts
 * 4x Assassin Clan, Oniwabanshu
 * 4x Dark Night Bodyguard
 * 3x Hiding Oni
 * 3x Outer Arts, Yamiuchi
 * 4x Under the Hood
 * 3x Feast of Evil
 * 4x Art of Explosive Hades Fall
 * 4x Ninja Arts, Snake Gaze
 * 2x Dark Arts, Guikujiujiu

Closing Thoughts
So what further support I think the deck need? I think a size 0 that has on enter gain gauge if you have an Oni Assassin on field and gain another gauge when ambush is quite needed actually, a better secondary item as well as another utility and/or damaging impact, a better size one ambush setup, more size 2 ambush monster and another boss monster would be good. So what do you all think the deck need? I would like to hear your opinions for it as well and your experience and thoughts while playing the deck and if you have any critics or differing opinion, let me know in the comments below. Well that’s 10 hours of my life I’m never getting back but I enjoy making these for you all so I’m happy with it. Thanks for reading it through till the end, I really appreciate it.