User blog comment:AmazingPST"Providence"/The Art of Secret sword/@comment-11095802-20150305164323

Super lethal formation does have it benefits. I know for a fact that it helps units like rinzo to be harder to defeat and several key ninja cards have low power, so the +1k pwr does help. However, like you said, the extra 1 gauge does hurts. Using lock ninja setsui might mitigate the issue, but it is not a reliable method if your opponent is ready.

Also, I do not think that moon fang is the least pratical of the six secret swords. If anything, glittering star is the most situational. There is a reason why it deals five damage instead of three. It is actually the least useful if you have not cards in your hand to counter with and your opponent has 4 life or more. Especially if your opponent has monsters several monsters with 4k that will render morning star and comet useless.

Also, while casting multiple secret sword, lethal formations sound good for security, it can mess up your hand size. It does not help that ninjas only have 2 cards for drawing(shiden and shinobi scroll). Also, if your opponent guess your secret swords correctly and/or has enough life to take the damages of the secret swords, then you can lose easily if you do not have enough counter cards in your hand.

That is why the two agent ninja units are very useful for the secret swords. Rinzo allows you to search either secret sword, lethal formation or super lethal formation while keeping your handsize intact. Which one you get is up to you, either secret sword, lethal formation for gauge or super lethal formation for a 7k def rinzo at center. Mamiya allows you to get a secret sword from the drop zone and put it face-down into the soul of a existing secret sword, lethal formation or super lethal formations. which allows you to have another secret sword on standby without having to cast another secret sword, lethal formation or super lethal formation.